JestersHK

I too hope they figured this out. Had my daughter down there the other night and had to explain what a pop a squat was... after getting a few feet from the boat launch port a potty she decided to hold it until we got back to condo... Much easier for us guys, but def feel sorry for the ladies...

With water off its pretty uneventful wading. I did hold hands with my kiddo just because her waders boots are rubber and not the best... Plus who knows how much longer my teenage daughter will willingly hold my hand 😄😐😢 My wife worries as well but mines almost 16 now and shes way more safe wading in the dark waters of Taney versus driving lol. We got to see a really curious raccoon too who watched us for a while and lots of bats out too which were cool for her to see. Get those kids out there with you, they grow up way too quick.

Did we ever get anything going on this? I'm still down for whatever dates but I'll need to do some planning...

So def a fun night for sure. Little guy was rocking some solid fish. This was also my daughter's first trip out at night and she got rewarded with a nice brownie. I think I've started a new thing with her lol Always a great time fishing with you buddy, In don't think of myself as much of a teacher, but I do enjoy trying to get the youngsters on fish.

No was just wade fishing. Might of been Blake or Mike in the boats.

Awesome! Pretty sure I saw ya out there! Night time pictures are just awful lol... I give up sometimes trying, but that's a chunk beast there. Glad you got into them, and yeah I fished a jerk bait one night with only 1 hook on the back for like an hour lol.

Well I didn't get to fish much last night... another trip to lovely Branson ER... my b wife is scheduled to get her gall bladder out next week, but it decided not to be cooperative last night and the night before. She's doing much better today and finally they gave her some pain management meds until she can get that sucker taken out on Tuesday. I fished mostly at the drop off past rebar, and I was getting hit on just about every other cast. Hopefully tonight's the same deal. Taking my oldest kiddo out tonight for her first night time trip!

I ended a bit early last night, did not fish till daylight but had a really above average hookup kind of night with some below average mediocre fish size night. They weren't dinky stockers, but just your every day rainbows. Plus I was worn out from Monday still and the 4 hour drive down... getting old lol. I did have one stand out chunk who made some good runs and hit me way out on my cast. He didn't make 20in but man was he built and just thick. Overall a good night. I slept a bit and we just finished up at the water park... time for a shower and maybe a quick nap and I'll be ready to hit it again this evening.

Just made it back down... a little birdy whispered French Pearl to me, so I'm gearing up and likely hitting my usual spots this evening. I'll try to keep this post going till Saturday with some pics. Edit: Not a bad start and got my brownie out of the way.

Glad your little ones feeling better Tyler. Oh and my wife scored us a place to stay Wednesday through Saturday so I'll be heading back down tomorrow for more antics to keep this thread going. @Seth you're finally gonna get to hunt with me at night hopefully. Bring @Ryan Miloshewski too and anyone else that wants to come over to the dark side lol

You're very welcome buddy! As John said allot of great memories made all due to you! Including last night and into this morning as we continued to whack em good on the French pearl. As dawn was creeping up I ended my jerkbait slinging with a solid 20in rainbow. Had a few 18 and 17s thrown in the mix. At dawn I switched to a jig and then the long rod, but bite died for us at daylight. Turn and burns over now, back to reality and daylight lol

Pretty decent night tonight throwing jerk baits. Started up by dam and worked our way down to the drop off past rebar. My buddy Rob finally got to fish at night with zero flow and he was putting the hurt to them. I started with a 762 sculpin signature series and Rob was throwing a green weenie 606. He got hung up and broke off so switched to French pearl and it was game on. Down at the drop off we just hammered them. As soon as it was hitting the water we were getting blow ups. We doubled up a few times. Mostly just average stockers, but they were hitting hard. Rob got a rod jerker hit finally and sadly it broke off 10lb braid on his hook set... Not sure what it was but he said that's the hardest he'd been hit down here. We just had 4th meal and are going to wander down past the boat ramp and see what's up. There are sculpin everywhere in the water too, just crazy the amount of them we're seeing. Bats are out in full force too and man they're bumping lines left and right... Beautiful night on the lake though. Maybe someone will catch whatever broke him off as it should have a shiny 762 French pearl stuck in its face.

Good to hear and welcome to the dark side lol... it's my favorite way to fish by far.

Heading down now to fish through this evening. Have to take advantage of this water being off. Hoping for a good night slinging jerks with me and my buddy. If anyone's down or around and wants to chase night time sea monsters shoot me a PM. Should be down around 10 or so.

Tyler buddy glad you made it down. Just remember to breathe and don't sweat the work stress. I know easier said than done. 4 units can be tough as you're very limited to where you can get in to fish... I'm about due for another trip down so I'll hit ya up after I get back from hog hunting next week. Most important question though, did the peanut go in water? We got rules to our madness man!

Gators sure will make night wading interesting!!! Sign me up lol

I used and abused a lot of rappallas. X raps and husky jerks were my go to before Duane started up the signature series. After finding wlure I'm not sure I'll go back to rappalla... I've broken more bills and had more hooks pull out of them than I'd expect. I bounced a brand new x rap off one rock and broke a bill on the 1st cast... they just dont seem as durable or last as long as they used too... The WLures on the other hand I've only broken 2 bills so far out of all the models. Just a tougher bait. I have one of Duanes original 2018s, that's way over the 100 fish mark. Beside the walleye paint removal she's in great shape.

Not sure what brand on the SS they are using but wlure has at least 2 different types of hooks. The cheap ones that break off after one fish then another type that is pretty serviceable although they're a bit on the heavy side. Those cheap ones are terrible and I've broken them taking the covers off which really suck too. I've gotten both types on the same baits from the same orders...

All of us threw signature series that Duane and Blake hand paint. They sell them at Lilleys Landing. The numbers represent the lure models. The 606 is a medium sized 2 hook offering that seems to out perform the other models for me anyways. The French Pearl white was the hot color although I did catch a few on a rainbow pattern too. Good luck on your trip!

Yes we do my friend. I don't mind the cold, but last night was just splendid. No wind at all and just me and the other crazy cooks who will stay out and fish all night lol. Hopefully we can get our girls back out as well. Those were some super great days on the water.

So I feel human again after a nap so on to a more detailed report. We fished from the Dam all the way to the last outflow last night with 2 units running. We finished up in the AM down past the boat ramp. We covered some ground and hit most of my wading holes that I know are accessible with this CFS flow Blake and Tyler left around 1AM and honestly it was just getting started as the almost full moon was finally all the way over the bluff. We picked along the banks and worked an area over with Signature Series 606 and new smaller cousin 762 French Pearl's and they were lights out. I've had nights where the fish were hitting hard, but last night when that moon popped out it must of done something to them as they were just hitting like a mack truck. All of them were fat and stacked with big shoulders on them too. Not a single one broke 20, but a few were 18, and one 19 fatty. As we got past outflow we carefully waded out to the grassy knoll there to fish the seam by the grass flats. That's when it happened... Rob got flat out smoked on the 762. He uses a really stiff 7ft Loomis bass rod for throwing jerks and I'd never seen it bent over like that. The fish made a small run then turned and ran upstream right at Rob. He did his best reeling like a mad man and finally got tight again then the fish just stopped and turned back and he was bent over drag screaming again. He turned him back towards us and head and mouth porpoises about 20 feet from us. With the moon out I could tell it was a beast. And then hetheashed twice and Rob ate his jerkbait and a bunch of slack line right in his arm. A true soul crusher... Robs caught lots of big fat bows and has a handful of 20in plus fish to his name down here and he said that's 1. The hardest hes ever been hit, and 2. Biggest fish hes ever had on that rod... Wish we could of got him into the big boy net, bit that's fishing. Overall we had very good consistent catching all evening with very few small fish. By small I mean 14 and 15in were the dinks tonight and even they put up a good fight. Just another awesome night on Taney. After morning bite was over we headed out and hit Bennett Springs on the way home. Place was a zoo and after beating on some stocker rainbows it was time for this quick trip to come to an end. Thanks again Blake and Tyler for hanging with us again. I enjoy the camaraderie as much as the fishing my friends.

Was a pleasure meeting up with you buddy. Im glad we were able to get schedules figured out and glad the fish cooperated. The one fish guarantee lives on! And don't forget, the peanut has to go in the water! Looking forward to our next adventure.

Im back home now. Great quick trip and great night bite. Was great finally getting synced up with Tyler and always fun fishing with Blake. Gotta crash for a bit now and I'll add some more pics and a better write up when I awaken from my slumber. Yes I do sleep occasionally... lol