Sam

bigdub - I'm glad you had such a good trip, and though I guess I'm one of the K-Dock regulars I've got no problem with reports like yours. General reports are helpful, and real specific reports don't matter much because things change so fast. If you tell me on Monday that I oughta throw 10 feet to the left of the flat rock, that'll probably change by the time I finally get there on Wednesday. I went out of K Dock yesterday (Tuesday), and I had a real good trip. Based on what you wrote I tried the K Dock cove first but couldn't get a bite. Things change, and the crappie might have been biting before I got there or after I left, but not while I was there. In fact, I haven't found spawning crappie up shallow yet this year, but I'm looking for 'em. A couple of miles from there and with completely different conditions I got a crappie limit. I'm not sure what to think - they were in one of my old spots in 25' of water. I caught about half males and half females and about half black crappie and half white crappie all from the same spot on a main lake bank. The females' eggs were no where near ready and I'm not sure whether some of them decided to skip the spawn or just haven't done it yet. Their size was great - all over 12" and I caught one black crappie that was 16" (with immature eggs). Water temp was 60 to 62 everywhere I went. I also caught some white bass while crappie fishing, and I caught and released about 10 bass, all small except for 2 keeper largemouths, 16" and 17". Those were a lot of fun to catch on a light crappie rig - they took me around the boat a couple of times! As I launched, I noticed about 100 three-inch crappie under the end of the little courtesy dock there at the ramp. That's something I've never seen there before, and I think it's real good. Those hatched out in the high water last year, and if there are little crappie all over the lake like that we'll have some good years coming. The water's over the low road at K Dock, and most of the lot's underwater leaving parking for only about 10 rigs. I was the third rig to park there in the morning and there were only five parked when I came back in, but that parking situation may become a real problem on weekends if the water stays high.

I'm sure sorry to hear someone broke into your rig. I always put in at Charlie's $2 hole at McCord Bend. There's a little campground and a fairly good ramp - better than the one at the end of Blunk Road anyway. There's nearly always some campers and bank fishermen around where the vehicles are parked, and since you have to drive right through Charlie's front yard and put 2 bucks in his mailbox, there's at least a little control on who's coming and going. I've never had any trouble there. The water's so swift up at the ramp where you got broken into, I have a hard time launching and taking out there if I'm by myself. I'd a lot rather put in down below, and it's just a short run if I want to go upstream.

That's a great report on a great trip - thanks. It's sure fun when fishing is like that. The proper name for the sunfish you were catching is "green sunfish", but everybody around here calls them "black perch". They're one of my favorite fish because they're always hungry, they put up a good fight, and those little filets taste real good. Too bad they don't grow to 6 or 7 pounds - if they did, I think everybody would just forget about bass. I put an 8" mark on the handle of all my spinning rigs. If a black perch, bluegill, or goggleye measures 8" or more by that mark - into the live well he goes.

I took my 10 y.o. granddaughter white bass fishing there today and we had a ball, with easy limits of (mostly) small males. They're everywhere - and we didn't even go up to Taylor Shoals and Blunk Hole. We put in at McCord Bend and fished up to the ramp at the end of Blunk Road. Apparently all those males still think there's a bunch of sows coming up. I'm afraid it's going to be over quick, though. Starting tomorrow there's heavy rain predicted all week. By the time the river gets back down and fishable, the spawn may be over.

I'm just a speed bump to you Bass guys - a floating obstacle.

Yeah, but distinctive as your boat is, I'm not gonna remember that and be able to put that with your user name if I see you out fishing. I'm in the Tracker with a Suzuki motor and a small depth-charge rack and a Ranger-seeking missile mount on the afterdeck. Pretty distinctive, but I still think the stickers are a great idea.

Me too - something that's a bright color that would show up at a distance. In passing other boats on the lake, if they look my way I always wave to say "hi" and they'll wave back. Sometimes there's a chance to exchange info - "Ya doing any good?", and so forth. If I'm catching fish and someone else isn't (and if they pass the attitude test) I always tell them how I'm catching 'em, and I've been helped lots of times like that, too. Sometimes just one bit of information can change a poor trip into a good one. If we had a distinctive O.A.Com sticker on our boats, we'd get to say hello and meet each other - and we could help each other out, too.

How 'bout a secret handshake - or better yet, gang signs. You know, those elaborate gestures with hands and fingers that identify street gang members to each other. We can do that to everybody we pass on the lakes, and we'll know who's a member when they reply. Even better, we'll really worry everybody else.

The one we caught was in a nesting area in a side cove in about 3' of water. There didn't seem to be any others up shallow there because we fished it hard after catching the one. I figured they'd be in the usual staging area outside the cove and we drifted through that with the wind, but no crappie bites there. So, I don't know. My guess is that they're still on the edges of the flats at Ashercane, but the wind was so bad we couldn't find out.

We got easy limits of small male white bass on James. We put in at McCord Bend and went up to the launch ramp at the end of Blunk Road, throwing Roostertails to the bank - and they're everywhere. We didn't catch any sows, though, and didn't see any caught. Water temp was 61. We didn't do near so well on crappie, though. We had our white bass limits by 11 a.m., so we went down toward Ashercane to some crappie spots that have been good in past years. The south wind was blowing a hurricane down there, 3 foot waves and whitecaps, and it was just too tough to fish. My partner caught one 11" white crappie and we headed for home.

PM sent with some super-secret confidential crappie holes in the Bee Creek area. It looks like we're going to James again tomorrow instead of Long Creek. It's supposed to be real windy, so James oughta be easier with my aluminum boat that scoots sideways on the water like a dead sycamore leaf.

Yes. A branch of my family has owned a farm Beaver Creek runs through, about a mile of both banks, since 1892. Not below Brownbranch but above it - the Campbell Ford area near Rome. That's where I got started fishing as a kid, and you wouldn't believe how good it was then with fewer people around. We caught big goggleyes and smallmouths even with the primitive tackle of the time - mostly with cane poles. About the only good thing that's come from more people and increased fishing pressure is that they've pretty well got the snakes stomped out now. That creek sure used to be snaky. It's fragile. My cousin tells me he can tell when even one float trip has been through because the fishing goes down so. When several bunches of floaters go through, that's it for the year. So have a great time, but try not to hurt those smallmouths - they're not easily or quickly replaced.

Nope, I put in at Beaver Creek and stayed there. I've never liked Swan and the dam area much, and I've decided it's well worth the 3 bucks to avoid the crowd at K Dock (where I used to go to avoid the crowd). There's power in advertising - there were only 12 rigs parked at Beaver. I threw a jig a little looking for crappie, but didn't do any good. Every crappie tree I know there had a boat on it with markers out, minnow fishing with about 4 poles with slip bobbers, staying all day and catching about one crappie an hour. The few crappie I saw caught were real small. Feeling kinda lazy, I switched over to trolling for whites. I just went back and forth between the mouth of Beaver and the first sharp bend up the creek, staying on the edges of the channel. Water temp was 56. I started out with a Roostertail but caught only two males with a long time in between. I noticed two other boats catching a lot more fish than I was, and they were trolling small plugs with a diving lip. Figuring my Roostertail wasn't running deep enough, I switched over to trolling a small chrome Rattletrap and started catching fish. I ended up with 12 white bass including 4 big sows, 1 big crappie, 1 bluegill that must weigh a pound, and I threw 6 largemouths and spots back including 2 keeper largemouths just over 15". It sure wasn't quick - sometimes I'd go an hour between bites, then they'd turn on for a little while. The fish quit biting entirely about 1 p.m., and I quit at 2 - it was hot out there and I was burning up. Not a bad day - and maybe with this report now everybody will go to Beaver and I'll be able to find a parking place at K Dock next week. Hey, I'm thinking about trying to find a crappie at Long Creek on Tablerock on Friday, putting in at Gage's. I haven't been there this year and I haven't heard any reports - does anybody know what's going on over there?

All I know to go by is crappiefisherman and lilley's reports from yesterday in the "caught some crappie along with white bass" thread here. It sounds pretty good. I'm going tomorrow, and since I'd guess James is still too high and muddy after the rain, I'll probably go to upper Bull Shoals around Beaver, Swan, and Snapp Holler.

Are they fishing out of a boat or from the bank?

I've been wondering where to go too. I saw the James up by Springfield yesterday afternoon, and it's really up and rolling. I bet the white bass deal at Galena is impossible now for a while, and a lot of them will spawn out before the river goes down. Beaver Creek must be the same. Crappie in the main lake coves oughta be OK, though - and like Phil said, improved by the colored water. If they go on the nests now, they'll be shallower than they would if the water was clear.

I sure wish everyone else would start throwing their keeper CRAPPIE back. Man, there's thousands and thousands of those removed from the lake every year. If they'd do that, the crappie would get bigger and I could catch a limit to take home a lot quicker and easier. I guess that thought's a little different from what we're saying about bass. Well, maybe not so different.

rangerman - Would you mind taking me fishing so you can show me how? 'Cause I've been at it for 50 years now, and that's a statement I sure can't make.

Like I said earlier, I target other species and throw bass back. But my ornery side has me wanting to research it and post some "Delicious Smallmouth Bass" recipes right here, right now. Maybe grilled with croutons and lemon sauce, ya think? Sometimes it's fun to stir the pot, but naw - I'll be good. I really agree with the statement above about PETA - we're all on the same side here, or should be. Most of us release bass, but I doubt that those who don't release them impact the population much. How many times a year do they fish, and how many times do they catch a significant number of keeper bass? Conservation must figure the impact of some fishermen keeping legal-size bass isn't hurting the fishery - after all, it's been legal forever and bass fishing is still good. If that wasn't so, they'd get legislation passed to change it.

Following the reports here, I put in at McCord Bend about 4 p.m. yesterday and headed upstream. I trolled a small Roostertail a little along the flats below the Blunk Road launch ramp, and caught 2 male white bass. I kept working my way up and got past the shallow stretch above that launch ramp. Got to trolling the Roostertail again, and caught 2 more. By then I was up to Blunk Hole - lots of boats and shore fishermen there. The current's real heavy and what all the boats are doing is anchoring and throwing small jigs to the bank on the right-hand side as you go up the river. I was by myself and wasn't really set up to anchor. I've got an anchor, I've got a rope in another compartment, and by the time I got all that set up the current would have washed me back down to Blunk Road - so I didn't try it. I got up around that sharp point at Blunk Hole and was into 2' of water and heavy current. I think that stretch above the sharp point is what you guys are calling Taylor Shoals - I didn't know that name. I know the stretch just above that is what we call Gentry Cave Hole. Anyway, there weren't any boats above there - it was shallow and too much current. There were bank fishermen on the left hand side who had walked down the bluff path. I actually caught 2 more by keeping the boat pointed upstream, the motor on 1400 rpm, and casting to the right hand bank. Boy, that was fun - trying to control the boat in shallow water with heavy current, and catch a fish at the same time. I've got a 17' aluminum Tracker, and you bass fishermen who run the Los Angeles-class heavy cruisers couldn't have got up there. I tied up to a tree and caught one more - but the current was beating me up too bad and I decided to go back down to Blunk Hole. Water temp up there was 63. In Blunk and below I finished my limit before dark by trolling and casting a Roostertail and a swimming minnow. All the fish I saw were small males about 9" to 11". It was a fun trip, but I think we're still early in the run and the sows aren't up yet. With the current and river conditions at Blunk and Taylor Shoals, you're about as good walking in as to take a boat.

I'd say catch-and-release is real, real important to keeping Tablerock as a good bass fishery. You guys have got a good recycling program going there. I target other species, but I seldom catch a Tablerock bass that doesn't have fishhook-holes in its' lips. A Tablerock bass must get up every morning and say "Aw, man - am I gonna get dragged to a boat again today?" From what I've seen, chances are that a legal-size bass there has been caught over and over again. If everybody was keeping them, I think they'd be real rare. That's a lot different from a legal-size crappie or a white bass, more prolific fish that are only going to get caught once and then end up next to the fried 'taters.

I like Delco Voyager marine batteries real well. I don't fish for a living, and I'm not saying they're the best ('cause I don't know) - but I've been real satisfied with them. That's what I've used for about 15 years now, and I've never got less than 3 years out of one. They'll last all day with my trolling motor on high speed when I'm fighting the wind. Bumper-to-Bumper Auto Parts carries Delco Voyagers. They have them on sale every spring through April, and the regular price is about $90. On sale, they're $70-something.

I love to fish, and our family loves filets. My wife has developed some secret recipe for the breading, with seasoning and so forth, and she's become an artiste at deep-frying them. Fresh fish filets, along with fried 'taters, onions, and sweet peppers, plus some home grown corn on the cob - and maybe some morels in season, well, I'm making myself hungry here. I've actually got a permanent campground-style fish cleaning table in my side yard. It stands on two sections of well drill pipe set in concrete in the ground, it's 8' long, and includes plug-ins for 4 electric knives, overhead lights, running water and a sink, and a metal chute to the gut-bucket (those end up in my compost pile and I grow a heckuva garden with 'em). I've got this down to where fileting takes me 1 minute per fish, including cleanup. Fellers, I'm serious about this. I've cleaned literally thousands of crappie, white bass, walleyes, perch, goggleyes, and suckers on that table - and hardly ever a bass. The last bass I kept was about three years ago - I gill-hooked him and he was bleeding, and he went belly-up when I put him back. He was still floating 10 minutes later when I was leaving that spot, so I figured I might as well eat him. Y'all enjoy chasing those big green fish - I'll put 'em back for you. You're having fun, I'm having fun, and bass fishing pretty well keeps you away from the tasty fish I'm looking for.

Well, it's mine now - hehe. You'll have to go by your ratty ballcap, which is still hanging on a bush nearby. Yeah, I know I got out too late - I got lazy since it was 37 degrees when I should have got there. I guess I'm turning into a fair-weather fisherman, I'll do better about that next time. The way all those boats were acting, I know crappie were being caught early.

I sure didn't find anything I need to be quiet about today. I didn't get to K Dock until about 9:30, and there were about six boats fishing bushes on the edges of the K Dock flat. I bet they were catching crappie early, because they had markers out and were jigging and casting around them. The bite must have quit because I could scope crappie on brush around there but I couldn't get a bite. Also, all the boats doing that were leaving and going somewhere else about the time I started. I ended up fishing from K Dock up to the first bend in Beaver Creek and back, and I spent some time at Snapp Holler and Cedar Creek. All I could get going was small male white bass right up against wind-blown banks in about 2 feet of water - and if you could get one of those every 20 minutes, you were doing good. Crappiefisherman - I worked every stump I could find for crappie, both near the bank and out deeper. Nada. I'm sure somebody will read this who tore 'em up there today, but it wasn't me or anyone I talked to. Surface water temp was 49 in the morning and 53 in the afternoon, and I think that's what's set things back. High pressure and an east wind didn't help any, either. The best thing I found today was a new 8 foot 2" x 8" floating between Snapp and Cedar, with not even a nail hole in it. Hey, that's a $5 board, and I brought it home. If you saw a guy fishing today with a big board laying across the back of his boat, that was me. Overheard at the ramp as I was taking out - "We didn't catch nothing, and neither did anyone I've talked to. Man, there's 50 rigs parked here, SOMEBODY must have caught something!" I ended up with a limit of small white bass that I worked 8 hours for, 1 short crappie, 1 short largemouth, and one big bluegill. Not such a bad day, but better days are coming.