merc1997 Bo

sitting 4th and 7th now. i haven't seen mccelland weigh. going to be a close shoot out for sure. bo

well, my two boys (drew sloan and ted vaughn) that i guided sat. and sun. before the cutoff, are sitting in 2nd and 3rd right now at 15lbs. and 14.2lbs. more to weigh yet. so, we will see how tomorrow goes for them. bo

you are dead right about sustaining 15 lbs. plus for three days. it will be interesting whether the ones fishing out deeper or those that are grinding wiggle warts will prevail. mike certainly has had a history of success on table rock and would not be surprising to see do well here. the fact that there are still many deep bass out in the lake might bring into play someone that is from out west and is used to dealing with deep open water bass. i feel there will be more than one successful pattern in this tournament. i have my eye on an unknown to do well in this one. we will see how the weigh-in goes. bo

actually, the first folks that i know that began swimming anything in deep trees was dick collier and his buddy jerry, way back in the early 80's. dick is who taught me the technique. they used predominately jig and pigs. it is a deadly technique for big bass both winter and summer. i turned dick onto using one of my rocker head twin spins to use sometimes in place of the jig. we also used a big bladed single spin in the winter. swimming grubs is another adaption of the same technique. a-rigs work well also, as it more resembles a bait ball passing by. those that use the right jig heads for either technique avoid being hung up every cast. one thing that i have been going to as far as swimmers is to use the elaztek minnows. glue them on and you are good to go without losing a tail off of one every bite. they seem to as good of tail waggle as keitech or any other brand. bo

quill, you pretty much proved than many times, no one fishes an area through enough and do not catch what is there. sometimes having to fish a limited area is good for us. pretty darn good fishing from the bank. bo

i hear you on that account. pretty much true. bo

below cow creek. bo

right now there are some areas of the lake that the shad have finally came up shallow and fish have followed to some extent. a good portion of the day they are still staying out in the channel and suspending. but, right at dark, there is a mass movement to the bank and gorge up and then it is over. don't forget that with lower water levels the feeding flats are now shrunk in size and that alone changes how fish position and move in and and out. i would assume that whites on bull are making a mass movement to shallower water as they have on table rock. i go with length of day light for spawners, and then add water temps. there will always be early spawners that stay shallow year round in skinny water. those deep bass are not aware the water has warmed up. bo

there are many big whites already up past jackie'sin the kings. several are also as far up as the blue hole. bo

you apparently do not watch or pay attention to those people. if it is wet it is good. most of the time babler is safe and champ is the one dealing with the grief. bo

believe me if you put on as many split rings as i do, you will understand why the xurons are worth the money. they will even work on the small split rings on ball bearing swivels. bo

definitely the best ones to get. bo

how they ever know what the lake wide bass population might be when they do not shock lake wide??? notice that there is not a comprehensive detailed report about where they shocked? if we have as many bass as they claim, then why is it that you can spend all day running a graph and see very few?? wish i had kept all the graph paper that i burned up back when this lake was full of fish. most would not even believe what they where looking at. yes, if you go and shock the most populated area of the lake and use that as what the entire lake is, you can make it seem like there is an abundance of bass in the lake. i know many on here think that catching 15 keepers in a trip is really doing well, but not by what we used to catch. in the fall and winter, we consistently would catch 80 to 100 keepers in one day, and that is with 2 to three people in the boat. that is not counting shorts and whites caught on the same trip. after the fish kill and no stocking help, coupled with how many more people are fishing the lake, i seriously doubt we could ever expect to see fish populations anywhere near what we had before the fish kill. however, with stocking help, i fell those levels could be attained again, and it sure would not hurt to stock some crappie while they are at it. the last time that i can recall the mdc doing any shocking in the eagle rock area was 1971. if they have ever done anything since, everyone missed it, and the boat dock usually knew when they were going to be shocking. the mdc does some things right, but are also lacking in effort in other areas. great example is winter gigging of bass in the meramac river. a friend of mine that fishes that river a lot started noticing bass he was catching with gig marks and a noticeable decline in populations in holes. he reported the problem to the mdc on more than one occasion but there never was any time and effort to set up and watch for the giggers. what that means to me is that the mdc does not see any value of that fishing resource. what do the agents do anymore? i could not even tell you the last time i saw one on the lake, and back in the day john frye and charlie marrs were everywhere. i've seen them many times at roaring river checking, on the lake checking, and in the woods checking. how is it that we have more fisherman and more hunters, but rarely ever see an agent out working?? just asking. i need to add bryant ward to the list of agents out working and visible. bo

nothern strain bass can be stocked just the same. what type of bass do you think the mdc stocks in ponds? it is not florida strain. florida strain would not do well this far north because most winters get too cold. crappie could also be stocked. there are many crappie fisherman that would like to see better crappie fishing lake wide. bo

good post bill. most anglers do not realize just how far bass can and will move overnight. bass can easily move 1 1/2 miles over night. sometimes they will move close to that distance during a day of fishing. depends on the time of the year as to whether it is food related, spawning related or both. right now the big schools are on the move daily and it has to do with where the food base moved to. with the low water levels do not be surprised if the bass stay deep into a good portion of march. wind has been playing havoc with the deep bite, but they are still out there in big numbers. as our bass become more and more off shore feeders, using and understanding what your electronics becomes more essential all the time. you literally have to go find them every trip. as you stated understanding seasonal patterns is a must as well as understanding the food base and where and how it travels. bo

alex, unfortunately the mdc can not see past their nose to realize how many more tax dollars could be garnered by stocking bass in table rock. texas is the prime example of how stocking benefits their lakes, and how many tourists dollars they are taking in because of all the out of state folds that fish their lakes. the mdc has their philosophy, but it is easy to just sit back and observe and see that stocking works. table rock could hold a whole lot more bass than it has. we still are not even close to having the numbers this lake had before the fish kill. table rock really needs the help from a stocking program just from local fishing pressure alone. most parking lots during the week look like what they did on a weekend in years past. the mdc stocks trout, and they stock everyday because they are taken out of the stream everyday. bo

yep, it is nice to just put in where you want, when you want when possible, and just enjoy the day. you can put the hammer to them when the bite is on and not have to catch one and leave to save them for a tournament and they they are not there by the time you need them, lol. grand for the last several days would have been a beast to fish. the wind has been so bad that you would have to travel 5 miles to go one tacking back and forth in-between the troughs. grand can really be a fun lake to fish this time of the year though. bo

definitely a day relegated to chunk and wind fishing. great day for sailing though. bo

i am one of the few that do not use attractants, but if they give you confidence use them. for those that keep fish in their livewell, i would think that would be a good place to get fish scent on your hands or even your lure. bo

we oldsters always think the industry standard for a longbill jerk bait is the spoonbill rebel.. and they still catch bass every year. bo

i just about bet you were behind me when you turned off 76 onto m. i had you in mind when the truck and boat turned off. it seemed like a weekend even though it was tuesday. doesn't anyone work anymore? bo

it is a great lure for vertical fishing deep winter bass. bo

very nice ladder. looks to easy to deploy and easy step-ups. i thinks that is the best one that i have seen idle time. thanks for sharing. bo

way back when i was a young child, my granddad had fishing ponds that he stocked. otters got into them and killed everything in them in a matter of just a few days. he killed all of the otters and had to restock the ponds. no fishing for a few years because of that result. in a lake, creek, river or pond, otters do not have any enemies. they do a very good job of breeding and expanding. not only do they kill all of the fish, but they also decimate the food sources such as minnows, perch, and crawdads. in the emerald beach area, all the dock owners were all complaining about not having any fish around their docks. the problem was otters. one of the neighbors there built some traps and started killing them. after most of them had been killed, it took another year for any fish to return around those docks. bo

that was really a close call being in cold water that long. i took notice of one of their comments about having to keep pulling their pdfs back down to keep from coming off. that is a great reminder to everyone to check the fit of their pdf. they really need to be a really snug fit to not have the same issue while in the water. thanks for posting such a great reminder to all of us about being safe and wearing your pdf. bo