Seth Clarkson

Put in at Beaver creek Saturday and fished from around 6 to 1:30 with the only fish being a sunfish caught by my Dad on a ned rig. I think the lack of wind and heat combined with the continued flooded lake just killed us. We tried a flooded cove above the cold water line, flooded cove below the cold water line, main lake bluff, couple points and up in the creek, it just didn't happen. I had a follow on a small swimbait from a small spotted bass and that was it. Saw the dang bugs everywhere again and that should have been a sign. Up in the creek the water was dirty and everywhere else was pretty clear. Did run into some floaters but sparingly. The main that had been working didn't Saturday (Rage bug around wood cover) and couldn't find anything else either. Pretty much tried texas rigs, jigs, chatterbait, ned rig, swimbait and a tube with no luck. Kept saying I needed to throw a spinnerbait or crankbait, just never did. I'm curious if anyone else on here was out Saturday and how they did, and if they did something different.

I'm not able to get out this weekend, so hopefully you can!

I would be surprised if it stops there, but that would be nice! Would be even better if it stopped raining, and got back to normal levels prior to winter.

Don't remember the exact size but it was either 3/16, 1/4 or 5/16. Can't give you the best details on the banks especially with the water up, but I know on the main lake they were steep and didn't have a bite, where I did get them was in less than 10ft off of trees and logs, not floaters though, in the pockets. As far as the height, yeah it's still going up, gonna get worse with the water coming out of beaver lake and all that rain this weekend too.

Off mission road, it's a gravel put in. Parking isn't good now that the water is high but the level it's at you can turn up the road and back down to it. Someone put in off the road at kdock I saw, just limited parking.

Fished from 6 to around 3, caught just under 10, only 2 keepers. Still not finding a great pattern, but did catch one around the silver beetles (kinda anyway, it was in the same cove but sectioned off somewhat by logs). Caught 3 or 4 off one point with a small speed shad and very small jighead, had a few other pulls of the tail and follows that didn't get hooked. Saw some very small what I am guessing were spots busting, but didn't hook one and other than that no topwater activity. Everything else I caught came off wood inside a cove flipping the rage bug. Tried a whopper plopper, sexy dawg, popper, jig and a tube for a bit with no luck. I should've ran a chatterbait and spinnerbait but didn't. There was some floaters here and there and a lot of debris back in the coves still. Water was still fairly clear for Bull in most places, especially after rains and flooding.

I think I'm headed back to Bull tomorrow, I was curious when you are throwing a jig with it flooded where you throwing? Around timber, points, rocks, flats? I assume the worm is what you were throwing around the bushes.

Me either

Those beetle things is what I'm talking about. Never seem to catch any fish around them. Not sure if that's a coincidence or not.

Was running plopper along the bank, didn't see much surface activity. The wind was spotty so I'm sure that played a factor and most of the wind was just too much to control the boat, so it didn't help. We didn't throw a jig or worm, my dad threw a spinnervait but not very long and no bite. I had one absolutely demolish a popper around a flooded point so figured that was the right presentation. As our usual we may have just not been around fish. I was marking what I thought was a bunch of fish but couldn't determine if it was bass or carp.

Fished from 6 until about 11 then made a run down to Mincy but ended up turning back before a potential storm came through. With the conditions I figured it would be a good topwater day, but it didn't pan out. Only 6 total between Dad and I, one on a Whopper Plopper 75, 2 on a popper, couple on a tube and 1 on a rage bug. Didn't come up with a pattern at all. We had some other hits on whopper ploppers but only one connected. I had one that hit at the boat as I was lifting the bait out of the water otherwise I may have hooked it. Not sure if there is anything too this, but we seem to struggle when we see Carp or a bunch of bugs around on top of the water (typical in most shallow places when the water is up). Is this something that should try to be avoided because it is an indicator not many bass are nearby or not going to eat?

This may be a dumb question but the line ratings on reels are whats recommended right like the bait weights on rods? I am assuming this is based on line diameter and spool size but was just curious if going lighter than what is listed doesn't matter, but going higher does.

I have had issues before when working a spook out of kayak for sure (may be the angles i was working the rod not sure). At the time i didn't understand why and eventually after attempting to figure it out I attributed it to not using a stiffer line to keep it out of the trebles. There are a lot of people who use braid with a mono leader seems like, is that just to give it some stretch, rather none with straight braid? What is the benefit in using the 20lb vs a higher strength?

I have never heard of that line but I will look into it. I don't plan on having to break it off since I will almost always be using it for topwater so I'm not so worried about that as I am the way the size of the line affects my casts. Will the 20lb perform as well as a stiffer line on a smaller baitcaster like the SLX?

Thanks Bill, Bass pro has the power pro on sale right now, so that along with the fact that I have had good luck with power pro is why I figured I would go that route. In general the larger diameter/weight the more stiff the line will be right? So if you like the 30lb Tracer because it is stiffer I may go ahead with the 40lb. What reel do you throw your topwaters on?

I am planning to pick up some Power Pro to spool up on my new Shimano SLX for throwing mainly topwater walking baits. My plan is to use a braid to avoid the stretch of mono on those long casts with a mono leader and to hopefully last longer, but I am not sure what size of braid to use. I figured I would go with 15lb mono for the stiffness of it to keep the hooks away from the braid, but for the braid should I go with 40lbs? My initial thought was 20lb, mainly because I would also use that on my spinning setups and I don't plan to use this set up around heavy cover at all, but I read that lower diameter braid can dig into itself easier on a baitcaster. Also looking at the specs for the SLX it lists 12lb and 14lb mono for the spool rating capacity. If I followed suit on that for the 12lbs it would be 40lb power pro. Will the 40lb have less casting distance than a 20lb, but be less apt to birdsnest? I want to make sure to set this up to make it as smooth as I can. Thanks

Have you made any setting adjustments to your Striker? My Dad just got a Striker 9 from the BPS outlet and we haven't messed with it much yet. The imaging on the left looks a little different than what i have seen with the little time we have had it. I really like the downview but if the sun comes up at all it can be really hard to see with that black background, especially in deeper water.

Looks like someone bought the land right at the bank on 4/26/19. Did they block it with a gate or fence or put up a sign or something? That effectively just made 16.9 miles of river very very difficult to access between hootentown and kerr.

Didn't Ott win the classic this year? Is it next year that it's not possible for them to do both?

We ended up putting in there at Beaver off the road. Didn't do all that great, but the little bit of a pattern we came across seemed to be about midway back in a cove on wood cover. Only caught a handful but they came on a rage bug and one on a whopper plopper (exception to the wood pattern, but was mid way back in the pocket). There were floaters different places from Snap up to the first cove down past Barker hole.

Has anyone put in at Beaver Creek recently or have any info about the location and/or magnitude of floaters right now?

I haven't put in there, but I do have the border permit. Last time I went by there on the water it was crazy packed and that was on a Friday during the day. I figured with the water high you might be able to launch but just not have much area to park. I would just like to try and fish an area that isn't an absolute fight to move from cove to cove. A few weeks ago when I went there was a crazy long stretch of logs and junk that you could barely get through in an idle just below KDock and the water was so muddy I couldn't fish it anyway. Anything has got to be better than that haha.

Anyone launched somewhere from Elbow in Cedar Creek up the lake to Beaver Creek recently? Wanting to get out this weekend and thinking about trying to put in at Beaver Creek but was wondering about the launch areas and if anyone has seen walls of floaters in certain areas or if they are just spread out throughout the lake. Thanks Seth

Mine is usually 5 to 10 minutes after leaving fine addition in Cedar Creek haha

I can definitely attest to the lack of cell reception on Bull Shoals, sometimes it's nice not being badgered but other times your wife may chew you out for a phone call or voicemail you didn't get until you were leaving the lake lol.