top_dollar

Ill be down next week outta kimberling and will have a real time detailed report of the specifics. Will be trolling and spooning for walleye, as well as probing deep haunts for bass and bluegill. IDK where the thermocline is setting up, but this time of year ill be looking for large schools of suspended spotted bass around the thermocline depths. Mostly around main lake points, deep docks, and bridge pilings.....look at a contour map of point 7...go fish point 7...then go find other areas on the map that look like that point. Long gently sloping gravel on 1 side and plummeting into the abyss on the other side. Go try it!! It works!!

Just trying to help with the techniques i know best, jiggin spoons and top water lures are about my two most effective. Ive gleaned my fair share of information from here!

Good tip.....This problem is caused by the free slack mostly, I am a jigging spoon fanatic. If you use short and steady 2-3 inch pulses, it will rarely happen. The problem comes, as was mentioned, when the fish want a hard fast 1-2 foot hop. Controlled slack is the absolute key here. I almost exclusively use braided fishing line, however, another thing that will help with the spoon on the treble hook, is to use a short leader of 17# FC line. Its so stiff and springy that it keeps itself away from the hook pretty well.

Not many crappie reports come from table rock this time of year. Nice catching.

Soooo....a soft plastic stick bait? Truly innovative.

This must be the main event.....FIGHTING!! out of the red corner.....jet boat guys with no regard for anything around them, flying up and down small rivers with unseen bends at incredibly unsafe speeds quickly eroding the banks and muddying up the river. ANNNNDDDD out of the blue corner...the heavy beer drinking, awful country music blaring, urban cowboy types floating en masse like a raft of otters huddled together.

caught a few last summer around the kimberling area using jigging spoons and trolling crankbaits, youll be fighting off bass the whole time though. If your really interested at some quality walleye fishing stockton lake is your best bet. Good numbers of quality eaters. This time of year main lake points with jigs and crawlers and trolled crankbaits on stockton, on table rock, bass and bluegill will steal ur worms too often...use spoons. Concentrate on areas where the shallow flat areas drop down into the main river channel..all the better if that drop is near the thermocline depths with some junk to get snagged on. If you pick one up on a trolled crank, mark that spot and go drop a jigging spoon down there...there will usually be more than one hanging out. I know that walleye are known to suspend...but in my experience if your not within a few feet of the bottom...your out on walleye and will be bass fishing. I start with very small 2-3 inch hops with the spoon, to make it look like a rubber pencil. If no strikes ill use 1-2 foot short fast jerks and let the spoon flutter...this works but often will hang the line on the treble hook. Lastly ill do a very long and steady pull by putting my rod tip at the water and steadily raising the tip well over my head, this moves the bait 8-10 feet through the water column. Then letting it fall back on controlled slack...90% of bites or more will come on the fall...hence the controlled slack. The spoon will either stop sinking, or your line will "flinch" youll need to set the hook immediately and keep steady constant pressure, as a heavy jigging spoon is essentially a lure retriever as well...its very easy for fish to sling the dense bait. (more tips...bang the spoon off the rocks on the bottom to get attention, then work the lure normally. Cast the spoon parallel to the bank, count it down, then "yo yo" it back through the strike zone.) My 2 cents.

When can folks buy some of these?

I dont color them. Grey and fox squirrel tails both mimic missouri craws pretty well. Grey squirrel tails also mimic many baitfish. I love to tie up squirrel jigs, they really worked well for me this past year.

anything shad colored or white....table rock bass are shad and crawfish eaters almost exclusively. Obviously they are opportunistic and will eat what they can...but they target large schools of shad. At any given time on table rock i think you only need 3 rods....a shad imitation, a craw imitation, and a worm.

large bluegill every summer after june seem to head out on really long flat points on both table rock and bull shoals. Summer time table rock bass are such suckers for a split shot rig with a crawler, and a jiggin spoon....occasionally those same areas will hold monster bluegills by the hundreds.

I think this bait has serious potential. Im really looking forward to get my hands on one.

What color bandits do you use? and size 200? I have 2 tackle trays full of em, great baits, i just need to get the confidence to use them over flicker shads sometimes.

Good point...another way to do this is using a "lazy S" pattern as the outside bait will speed up and the inside bait will slow down, or simply pulling your rod forward, then dropping it back. That helps me often times to see if i need to speed up or slow down. I too have run flickers side by side with bandits and shad raps to see about a preference....I have never had flicker shads lose that battle though, so now i just use them from the start unless im needing to go deeper than 20 feet.

It has been about a month since i was down last, but i did pretty well with a 1/4 oz ball head jig and half a crawler (tipped with a yellow crappie nibble). Although, the biggest ones came pulling crankbaits. Im sure its totally changed since then. I was fishing on the bottom in 25fow around the mile long bridge and hawker point.

Trolling has been tough on stockton this year for me....no idea why. For long lining cranks, each person fishing will do well with 1 8-9ft, med heavy power, moderate slow action rod (OKUMA Classic Pro rods are perfect for 30 bucks a pop...but any downrigger rod works great). I would highly recommend metered braid line (power pro depth hunter), but as has been mentioned simply marking your spot with a sharpie works too. Tie a snap to the end of the line and everyone put on different color flicker shads (size 5,7, and 9 are good). Let out 100-200 feet of line out (vary this as it effects how deep your lure is going). After catching a few fish youll be able to put together a pattern of best color, size, and running depths. Trolling speeds of 0.5-3.5 mph has been effective for me, usually i like 2-2.5. Dont be afraid to go way faster than you would think...aggressive fish will chase it down, especially in hot water. I like the soft action rod with the no stretch braid, seems to give me the best hookups, and keeps em on for the long ride back to the boat, more of a personal preference though. When i detect a bite, i immediately put the boat in neutral and begin hauling in the fish...other fisherman in the boat also reel in to 1.) avoid tangles and 2.) many many times get a bite on the retrieve. I often times will simply make a U turn and go back over the area where i got a bite. Quite often you can triangulate an area where your getting multiple bites..especially if you have good electronics..then simply go to where x marks the spot and begin a more methodical approach to catching the less active fish. Its a great way to find fish and quickly pattern them. A rubber net, good pliers, and no carpet in your boat will also help you spend more time fishing and less time with a walleye pinned to the boat carpet/net with 2 sets of treble hooks. Get the precision trolling app. Its nifty if you dont wanna fork over hundreds for the book.

Never targeted them, but catch several every year while crappie and bass fishing. Most are 10-15inches long. Caught them out of lakes 33, 34, and 35. Last year i caught dozens out of lake 34 fishing for panfish, they were all 5-7inches long.

Just when im about to pull the trigger on one of these dumb things i see this post. :/ Im sure i will still buy one, but idk that it will replace a well walked chug bug or top dollar for me. From the videos i see, it seems like it causes a commotion much like a buzzing frog or shad (rage tail shad).

Walleye were biting good on jigs and crawlers on the main lake for what it's worth.

I went a few weeks ago and also struggled when I expected to be catching em...I was pulling flicker shads in spawning coves 15-17ft down. Only caught 10 keepers and 4 keeper walleye in 2 days.

30 dollar lures makes me think of effective cheapos. Rip bill Norman top dollar. Most underused and underrated top water lure ever. not to mention 5 dollars. There is no lure that I'm aware of that has the same profile and perfect pop/walk motion. If anyone has any they don't want pm me and I'll buy em from you! Down to my last 9. :/