BassPastor

At the family condo in Hollister near State Park. Where could a guy buy Keitechs that is actually open right now?

Wow great fish! Glad TR rewarded your efforts. If you're like me, there is a point where my expectations drop a little bit, and I just find contentment with exploring the lake and keeping those lures in the water. I haven't found water as high as 61 degrees yet, that's a good little tip. We have a family condo just behind State Park Marina. I fish out of a 40 year old Crestliner with an equally old 35 hp Johnson, so I don't tend to venture more than 2-3 miles from home. Hopefully the warm water finds it's way down lake fairly soon. Good work!

Wow! I don't even think my local shop carries a 3/4 oz spinner. You must have been fishing that with some speed to keep it out of the bushes. Great job, a bite like that makes up for a slow morning.

Great thoughts @Bill Babler, I appreciate it. Fishing this far offshore for staging fish is new for me. I've been fishing this lake for about 3 years now and just starting to put things together (though obviously not this weekend). Affirming to know that I was doing a lot of the right things, I was just likely sitting on top of the fish that I was trying to catch. Part of that is I'm still learning to fully utilize the Garmin beyond just depth and water temp. I'll be back this upcoming weekend, hoping they have moved up a bit by then. My luck will have another pressure front coming through on Friday afternoon.

@Brian D you're in good company my friend! Still a great way to spend a spring weekend.

@mixermarkb thanks for sharing your tips. I agree, we were in too shallow. It's really tough to fish what you feel like is in the middle of nothing. I just hope to get a little better every year and at some point I'll gain some confidence in this spring fishing in the Ozarks.

Sometimes I like to add reports from tough days that I have because I feel like all you read is how great everyone else is doing, while you continue to struggle. So for those who struggled this weekend, this is for you! Fished the lower lake area most of the day on Friday and Saturday. I've got bad luck, I tend to pick weekends that directly follow pressure fronts that pulls all the fish back out. This weekend was no different. Tried to commit to Keitechs on 1/4 oz heads off of main and secondary points, no bites working that. Noticed the water had more stain than usual following Friday PM's rain so switched to the big thumper double Indiana spinner. Got a nice ready to spawn smallie on that. Stuck with the spinner, mostly working back into creek arms and picked up another couple bites that way. Today was just as tough. Threw the boat at these fish including Keitechs, rock crawlers, Jerk baits, spinners and even a little Ned Rig. Today was good for two short spots in total. Seeing reports that folks found fish suspended in 25' water at about 15'-18'. This makes a lot of sense as I started seeing some shad under the boat and some suspended fish towards the end of the day while fishing around Big Cedar area. I suck at catching suspended fish. Maybe I need to pick up an A-Rig or two. Back next weekend, hope the fish move back up for the likes of us lesser skilled anglers. :D

Pressure is relative I guess. I live in the KC area where your likely to see more hunters than deer on any public ground within an hour. I imagine you could bow hunt around the lake and get access to some good habitat diversity, particularly if you use the boat for access.

Yes! Was hoping you would post a pic of the champion fish from the weekend.

Was waiting for @MO Huzgr to update on our trip this weekend but got tired of waiting. Hate a great few days of fishing the dam area points on my first trip to Stockton. Primarily targeting Walleye but more than happy to catch bass along the way, or whatever else wanted to bite. Didn't take long to become impressed with the quality of the fishery in both size and numbers. Over the few days of fishing we caught, largemouth, smallmouth, walleye, sunfish, catfish, white bass, and drum in abundance. Had success with a variety of lures/techniques but focused primarily on jig/crawler, Flicker Shad, Bomber 200, and a 3.8 Keitech on 1/4 oz white head. Great times and look forward to returning when possible! Also found interest in hunting the area, seems like a great spot to find unpressured public land. Anybody ever try? View full article

It’s only fair to provide an update for all the tips. Finally brought a few up from the deep this morning. Found shad at 40’ on main lake and caught a few on the dropshot. My buddy caught a nice 19” smallie on a jig last night. We tried a tactic that I recently read from Bill Babler to back the boat off and cast to where you would normally keep the boat. Thanks for all the help. Even when fishing is tough, this lake is hard to beat. Here’s one that I caught this morning.

Sounds like a good couple days. I agree on Panoptix. I don’t have it but my tourney partner does. Can I ask what areas of the lake you were fishing? Going to try the die trick. Anything to get a few extra bites.

Definitely not seeing as much as I’d like to. Been seeing shad busting first thing in the morning and thrown a Keitech and top water but no takers. Will try and key in on the Garmin tomorrow morning.

I know this time of year can be tough but it seems I couldn’t buy a bite right now. Our condo is near State Park and I have a smaller boat so can’t travel too far. I’ve focused on gravel points and tried dropshots, spoons, jigs, and Ned’s, without a bite. Today I was dropshotting a plum zoom finesse worm with about 12” of tagline. Focused on 25’-35’ on long gravel main lake points Im not asking you to catch the fish for me, but what are the obvious factors that I’m missing? Any better bites that I should be focusing on?

I've been enjoying several of the BTL episodes lately. The Mike McClelland interview from last week is worth a listen as well.

Thanks for this report, it helped me find some fish this morning on the lower lake. Spots were going crazy busting on the surface way out on a gravel point. I wouldn’t have believed they were K’s until I threw the Keitech in there and caught one. Fun morning!

Whoops, looks like there was another thread about this. Admins feel free to delete.

Note that the rounds will be later, 12p - 8p.

Looks like we’re getting another round. https://majorleaguefishing.com/featured/flooding-moves-mlf-bass-pro-tour-stage-seven-from-grand-lake-to-table-rock/

Agreed I like them both. Hope Montgomery can win one of these things down the road.

Isn't this why we all love fishing so much? It can't be mastered.

I recall a few weeks ago that some Youtuber helped a guy that thrown from his boat under similar circumstances. He said that he left his cell phone on the front deck and reached up to grab it when the wheel turned and threw him. A good reminder of something that seems obvious, boat steering systems aren't meant to be let go of when under power.

Somebody mentioned an idea a few days ago that I liked. What if these MLF style events had a big fish kicker that automatically qualified to advance to the next round, etc.? This way, we'd see anglers who aren't on the numbers transition back to chasing big fish. Possibly bring in the best of both worlds a bit more. Just a thought.

Great report. Have you tried any topwater first thing in the morning?