196champ

Bill, Ill take the graph

Bill, If the float n fly bite fires up let me know, id like to try a trip around that presentation!

Time to hit up Battery Outfitters in St. Peters i suppose! The Pro Guides i have now are on year 6, they served their purpose

When running your old battery set up, do you prefer AGM or Deep Cycle Batteries for trolling motor operations?

What do you recommend?

I have a 2016 Sierra 2500 Duramax, knock on wood i have had next to no issues and owned it since new. It now has 160,000 miles. My uncle purchased a 2020 Sierra 1500 as a retirement gift to himself, at 13,000 it exploded due to the issues stated above. He now runs around in a 2021 F150.

We launched in Ephriam. Mainly fished a swim bait and tube but did have a few on suckers. That bite hadn't really come on just yet as all of our big fish came on artificial. The layout boat hunts are usually out in the bay, protected by nothing as this is where the birds typically are. Good thing with the layout is it disappears about anywhere with a little chop.

Bobby - my duck hunting days have really tapered off the last several years, i love to go but access and time have put a damper on that. I am on the hunt for a deer lease if you know of anything! Even a small piece for 1 or 2 people would work, its tough going knocking on doors these days.

The duck hunting is for divers: Blue bills, Cans, Red Heads, Bufflehead, Old Squaw (Long Tails), and other diver species. We do this out of a layout boat, one guy in the layout and a tender boat. Typically it is extremely good hunting but with only 1 day we got blown off the water pretty quickly. The birds were there by the 10's of thousands but 1.5 miles off shore and we could only get out a half mile due to the wind. We hunt with Jeff Van Remortel - WDH Guide Service - Class act and has us on birds every time. He spent 6 hours scouting prior to our hunt, found the birds and said it was going to be tough to get to them with the wind. He offered up to cancel and give us first crack at dates next year or we could hunt knowing it was going to be tough. We elected to hunt since we were there but made the most of it. Great time every year we go and you get to shoot them at your feet most days.

We typically bring a boat and fish on our own as my friend is from the Chicago area and has fished the bay for quite some time. This time we used one of his good friends, Jimmy Doering, he operates Cast N Catch Charters LLC, (920) 535-3474. He is a blast to fish with a really knows his stuff! Paramedic by trade and guides on his days off.

I know this isn't Table Rock specific, but wanted to share my spoils from last week. I took a trip to Green Bay for a duck hunting/small mouth trip that we try to fit in each fall. Typically we focus on the duck hunting but the wind kept us out of the layout boat for the most part on Thursday. Friday it was still kicking pretty good but was scheduled to slack off as the day went on, we decided to small mouth fish. That turned out to be a wise move as we boated 40+, largest was 6.36lb's, with many over 5lb!!! It was a day to remember to say the least! Below are a few pictures and i highly recommend the trip up north!

I'm on the Bill plan too, haha! When i see them doing this i am rarely within 5 casts of the bank 🤪 At first i thought they were bass surfacing but after sitting and watching for a while it is usually a gizzard shad gymnastics show

I noticed some large gizzards porposing in one of these main lake locations last weekend. I also remember seeing this more than ever in the past few years, visually and on the graph through the water column. Has there been an increase in these larger shad over the last few years or have i just not been paying attention?

Fished the Shell knob Area Saturday and Sunday Morning. Stayed off the bank both days and had a few spots produce, mixed bags. Saturday was tougher, had 15 or so, most off of 2 spots. One deep dock and a main lake gravel roll off, 30ft, dixie jet and a small swimmer, very few keepers. Sunday was a bit better, found a few more gravel spots that produced and leaned on them pretty good. Multi species kind of day, on the spoon and swimmer again. Crappie, walleye, bluegill, Spots and LM's Doubled up once and had a solid 4lb LM Lake was very quiet compared to this summer, glad to see that!

knock on wood, i've only had 1 such instance. It was with a rock crawler, flipped a fish in the boat, grabbed him by the back and he went full blown crazy. Only 1 of the hooks got me under the knuckle of my pinky finger, fish flopped so much the hook ripped out. I was fishing in a small buddy tournament and my partner said he was sure we were on our way back to head to the ER! Been close a few other times flipping spoon fish in the boat, those things come out like they were shot out of a cannon, first instinct is to put you hand up. One of these days one will punch me in the hand or another place it shouldn't be

Although I'm sure they didn't think that was funny, it gave me a chuckle reading it. Follow the rules! haha if your ever in the mood to share more such stories, bring it on!

Ahhhhh yes, that ER visit business makes total sense!

Any idea why that front runner fell off and isn't utilized more? Seems like a great idea, especially in a spotted bass fishery. I have noticed a few running a fluke off the rear, anyone try that trick?

Do you target these on deep gravel, 35' on the bottom? or is it more of a hunt and peck to find the magic depth and rock?

This topic got me thinking, i know i have had quite a few doubles in the past few years but in review it was more that i had remembered. a few of my favorites were the white with the LM (5.02lb) and the smallie/spot on the spook, that smallie went 4.97lb. The rig gets lots of doubles, and it doesn't just get thrown in the winter......it is a pain to throw and can say that rod hasnt left the basement this year.

Good Looking Gear, Tickets purchased!

What I run into is I only get to fish a few days at a time and cover the boat prior to going home. If it rains while I am there, covering up a wet boat doesn't work well. The wet spot is usually in the cockpit. I spoke to Nauti Renovations, they are out of the LOZ area and have been installing AquaTraction for 5 years or so. They scan the area (can do it with the carpet still in) and said it usually takes a few weeks to get the pre cut material back for install. He did mention the fit if you decided to do the entire area as they will have strips made for the friction seal. Not sure the longevity on that as i'm sure that would be a PIA. Looking forward to having it installed in the cockpit area for sure!

I haven't had it installed yet but hear nothing but good things. Honestly, i would like to strangle whoever thought it was a good idea to put carpet in a boat

I was quoted Aquatraction, just the cockpit area was $650. That was removing the carpet, glue and installation of new. I believe the entire boat was around $3,000.

I fished Saturday morning around Campbell Point and Sunday Morning from Shell Knob Bridge to a few miles up the Kings. Saturday Morning I had 12 Walleye spooning docks with 2 at 19". caught them in all different age classes from 6" to 19", pretty unbelievable. Not sure where the surge came from but it sure tastes good.