merc1997 Bo

here are a few pics of some our 24 keepers today. we had a lot of lmg's today. many more that 5's. 56 to 62 ft. dead on the bottom. 3/4 Zinc Spoon. most of them were caught casting rather than vertical. bo

anyone heard of blair's dock service. had a run in with them at the mill creek ramp today. they seem to think that the parking ramp and courtesy dock are places for them to work. they had boats tied up to the dock completely blocking the side the wind was blowing into, which was the only side to safely pick up someone or to drop them off. the wind would blow the boat away from the dock on the down wind side before anyone could safely enter or exit a boat. i intend to have a visit with the corp about them. bo

i hate losing at anything, and even includes fishing against my wife. attached are some pics from saturday's fishing. first, time linda has been able to go in well over a month. we ended up with 12 keepers, which was not too bad considering we were fishing the second day after a front. well, anyway, linda had 7 of the 12 keepers and had some dandies. this why i have to fish everyday. i need the practice to be able to beat her😃. bo

fished yesterday and today and what a difference when you are not fighting the wind. i fished yesterday with just toby and it was on once i found them bites were 40 to 50, until late evening, and the shad came up, and i just trashed them 20 to 30. the 1/2 Zinc Spoon was getting them. had a couple of lmg's that were around 4 and a 5 lb. walleye. had somewhere around 20 keepers. ol' sleepy knickmeyer went today, and the catching was phenomenal. somewhere around 40 or more keepers. ol' sleepy showed out a bit with some nice ones. caught some giant whites both days. even had another walleye today 3 lb. range. and got a bonus perch. days like the last two days are getting closer to what fishing was like before the fish kill. however, you do have to spend a lot of searching time. bo

if only the darn wind would not blow a hurricane every day, there is not telling how many bass could be caught. still doing the same thing. caught most of them 50 ft. deep, and of course right in the teeth of the wind. had around 15 keepers today. did take time to take a picture of ol' sleepy knickmeyer's bass. we did have some thumpers today. yesterday, we caught every bass suspended above or right on top of the shad 30 to 35 ft. as far as i can tell, for deep fishing, the lake is really fishing tiny. i feel lucky each day to find one little bunch to shoot at, and this dang wind really makes it difficult. we only had 8 keepers yesterday, but they were all good lmgs, and one brownie that was pushing 4. i sure would appreciate a calmer day for a change. bo

despite the hurricanes we have been having, have still managed to round them up. never in the same place though. still getting them from 40 to 60 depending on the day. the shad these bass are eating are very small. i have been having the best luck on the 1/2 Zinc Spoon, and am fishing it on some 10 lb. test braid that is a 2 lb or smaller diameter. this is allowing me to fish that spoon in the teeth of the wind and get it down there and the spoon cut up because of not having line drag. i did take time to snap a couple of pics this afternoon. bo

the lake might be on a slow down note as far as level. but, the amount of current running through the lake and the dropping water level is the major reason that the bass seem to be here today and gone tomorrow. i fished yesterday and about 3 hours this afternoon in the hurricane. wednesday, we had around 20 keepers and caught them in a different place, again. bites were still 50 to 60 with a few around 40. this afternoon, had to go looking again and found another area with some shad and bass. we ended up with 10 keepers and six of them were really nice lmgs. 1/2 and 3/4 oz. Zinc Spoons did all the catching. i did find one place with lots of shad, but no evidence of bass around. found two other places with both shad and bass. there are not any secret places, you just have to put in the time to go looking. however, with that said, even when you find them, you have to work at getting them to bite. i talked to a couple of boats this afternoon that were fishing shallow on windy banks, but had not had much luck. if i were to try shallow fishing, i would probably give the eagle rock area a shot or way up the kings or james. i have not looked at these areas, but because of lack of water depth and cooler water temps, if there is any bait left in the area, there would be a better chance for it to be fairly shallow. there will definitely come a time that the deeper shad will bust up and come up near the surface. when that happens, a better percentage of the bass population will follow and i will be fishing up in the zone. i still like jerk bait fishing. for those that like to venture to other lakes, if the water clarity on grand is decent, there is a lake with a great winter jerk bait bite. i have a younger buddy that lives over by anderson that is busy getting things rolling with his new place of employment, and is in the middle of house building to boot. he says that he is going to be ready to start fishing very soon. maybe i will go over and we will go see what is going on on grand sometime this winter. but, there is still a bunch of catching here on the rock. bo

fished saturday and today (monday). drove a lot of miles gobs of stops and lots of time idling around, but managed to find the right area saturday, and one today. you literally have to go find the everyday. i have not caught them in the same place on consecutive days. i swear i do not know how the bait can completely disappear overnight, but it does. anyway, the 1/2 and 3/4 oz. Zinc Spoon, and a 3/4 GrassJig, with a 4" swimmer has been all that is needed to get them. the 1/2 Zinc Spoon, i am fishing on 10 lb. test braid. you need the thin line to get down to 50 to 60 feet and the spoon fall like it needs to. yes, i said 50 to 60 feet deep. some are on the bottom and some are suspended. casting your lure has produced way better than trying to fish vertical. we've had around 30 keepers both days. mostly k's . none that would weigh 3, but lots of them 2 1/2 to 2 3/4. but, both days has produced 3 lmg's in the 4 to 5 lb. range. so, three big lmg's and two big k's make for a very good 5 fish sack. and, we have caught 2 4 to 5 lb. walleye on both days. and have had a handful of thumper sized whites. don't start out with any preconceived notions. just go looking. you do have to know what you are looking at on your sonar. i just have regular 2d sonar, but i pay attention to the very slight differences in how the bottom appears. i believe that many are not recognizing bass glued right to the bottom. lots of shad of course is a must. bo

after doing a lot of running and looking at a lot of water, figured out that many bass seemed to have skipped the shallow water and went straight to winter depths. maybe they know something we don't. looking at the forecast for next week, that could be true, brrr. started catching a lot of bass 50 to 55 feet deep the last two trips. that is about 20 to 25 feet deeper than normal for this calendar date. the 3/4 Zinc Spoon, and the 3/4 Naked GrassJIg loaded with a 3 or 4 inch swimmer is getting the job done. yesterday, toby and i manned the gun alone, but managed to get 14 keepers. plenty of shorts and several big whites. plus a bonus 5 lb. walter that fell to the GrassJig and swimmer. it was 56 ft. deep on the bottom. well, a few days of rain and gloom, a couple days of sunshine, and then winter temps. makes me wonder if i need to start looking at calling in some paybacks with some folks that live further south. i do love fishing this time of the year though. my kind of fishing. do a lot of looking, but catch a bunch when you find them, from one spot. i am a lazy basser. i like getting a lot of bites on a minimum amount of casts. by the way, even though these bass are 50 ft. deep, you still had to cast to them. vertical did not work. i understand that many love there video fishing, but a lot of the time, you will not catch the numbers, and most certainly not the quality that you can by sitting off of them and casting. bo

i got out yesterday, and covered three areas of the lake. lots of boat riding, graphing, and searching. started out at cape fair. looked from bear den to past piney. looked every creek all the way to the backs. loaded up and went to kings river. looked from viola to the blue hole, then loaded up again and checked out the big m and eagle rock area. the lake is fishing extremely small again, but is changing rapidly from colder weather and cold rains. wt were mostly 65-66 to 61-62, but upper kings got a lot colder because of the amount of rain. bait fish for the most part are still in smaller pods and on the surface. this alone will tend to scatter fish. i have not really looked and how much water is going through the lake right now, but when there is a lot of water going through the lake, it will tend to scattered the shad. there are some shallower bass to be had, bank to 12 feet, but the ones in 10 to 12, most of the time, you will be a long way off shore. this is where you guys with the side scan and all of that should be able to quickly pinpoint some bass to catch. 2d will find them too, but takes longer because in that depth, everything tend to move out from underneath the boat when that shallow. good hunting. bo

headed down after the rain quit and got in about 3 hours of fishing. found them on the flats 8 to 10 feet bottom depth. caught them of two baits. a lipless, and a 1 oz. Elite Blade in a silver shad color. this is not the big wobbler, but has the normal size blade. they were just knocking the soup out of the Elite Blade. i believe because i could fish it faster and keep in near the bottom better than the lipless. had a limit of keepers, nothing special. several shorts and some bonus whites. the whites like the Blade too. needless to say, there were lots of shad piled up on the flat i was fishing. i believe these bass up shallower on the flats will work pretty good for a while. depends on how fast the water cools. water temp was 63. how do you like the upholstery job with the 100 mph duck tape? bo

got into the water around 1 pm. caught 3 keeps, several shorts, and a few nice whites. caught all of them on a spoon. most were 20 ft. deep. some areas are trying or are turning. probably due to all the rain. water temp was 71-72. was fun to get that tick on the spoon. we caught them on 1/2 and 3/4 Zinc Spoons. white and chartreuse both worked as far as color. flats were the ticket. bo

well, after being gone for a week to alabama, it took a bit to locate some willing bass. fished monday night with ol' sleepy knickmeyer around big m. 4 keeps and several shorts. 1 oz. wobbler and 1 oz. elite black widow did the trick. most were in the 15 to 20 ft. range. they were on flat terrain, but pretty close to some deeper water. tuseday, it was just toby and me. went to the lower end. 8 keeps, just chunks, nothing big. caught them on all three, 3/4 grassjig, 1 oz. wobbler, and 1 oz. elite black widow. these bass were also a bit closer to steeper stuff, which i figured because of the fronts. wednesday, took ol' sleepy again, and we put in a viola. caught a few before dark on spoons and lipless. mix of bass and whites. after dark fished a couple of bluffs which produced a couple of keeps and several shorts. switched gears and began exploring out on flats and bingo. the wobbler and widow did a number on them. 10 out to 20 was the ticket. did have a huge black that broke off as i was lifting it over the side of the boat. hit on the deck and went back in. got it on the widow. bo

the catching can be really good when you find them, but they will not be just everywhere. bites are still in the 20 to 25 ft range for the most part, but you will get the occasional bite a bit shallower once in a while. on monday, leonard and i ended up with 20 keepers or so, and it one of those deals where the spot happened to be bait specific. caught them pretty good in one area on a 3/4 oz. GrassJig. the Black Widow bite never happened for us. it was the GrassJig on the 1 oz. Elite Mega Jig. we caught a bunch in another area all on the big wobbler, and they would have nothing to do with a jig or the Black Widow. Wednesday night was different. took ol' Sleepy Knickmeyer with me. his eyes always manage to be shut when you take a pic😂. same depth, different spots. but, started out just wrecking them on the big wobbler, and ended up after that getting everyone on the 1 oz. Elite Black Widow. did not take any pics with leonard. he does not like taking them. one reason is he can't see to read what is on the camera and won't wear glasses, and if he does ever take one, it is always blurry, so not worth the effort. knickmeyer and i did take some, and if leonard would have taken pics, they would look pretty much just like the ones that knickmeyer and i took. we also had 20 keepers or so. bo

decided to give eagle rock a shot last night and got reminded why i avoid that area this time of the year. caught half a dozen dinks. went up to the state line and fished my way back to roaring river. on the electronics especially the further downstream you came, there was a band of clutter 15 to 20 ft. in depth . it started in the water column around 15 ft. don't know that was supposed to be telling me about fish positioning. weird is all i can say about that. on another note, the corp has taken it upon itself to block off all boat parking by the ramp. so you have to put your boat in, tie up the the crappie courtesy dock, which most of the side protectors are gone, and while you drive back to the highway to park your trailer and hike all the way back to the ramp, your boat is getting bounced up and down and the exposed metal on the crappie dock is gouging holes in the gell coat on your boat. who the hell are the idots running the corp????? they are the ones that started the whole issue with the crappie parking there to begin with when they stuffed the camping areas down on top of the launching ramp. there used to be ample parking by the ramp without blocking the road to maneuver back around down the ramp. people unfamiliar with the situation unknowingly, to them, do not pull up far enough and their trailer is blocking everything off. is the corp just trying to block lake access to the tax payers that paid for the lake and all of the ramps to begin with??????? seems like we need to have a public forum with the corp and have a come to Jesus meeting and remind them they work for us not the other way around. this is just total BS. the poor guy at the steal your dollar shack is just getting his butt chewed off, and he has nothing to do with it. it would be better if you could pull your boat up on the gravel while you are getting your exercise, but you can't do that either because of all the shot rock they lined the bank with. something has got to give. the ramps were built and paid for by the taxpayers, and we should still have reasonable access to any of the ramps, including viney creek. bo

got several trips in since last post, but somewhat the same, but the last two trips seemed to be dealing with post front conditions, and we had to work for what we got. did not find the stacked in any one place. does seem that they might be heading deeper again on the lower end. the same 3 lures have been getting most of the attention, but the black widow has caught more than the wobbler the last two trips. also, the jig has been getting more love even though my boat is covered in grey shad poo. took a pic to once again have proof that i do catch some in the daytime😄. old sleepy again gives proof that the sleeps through a lot of bites. bo

toby and i went after "em last night. it was typical second day after a front. sky was cleared out, and really had to work for your supper so to speak. i caught two keeps on a 3/4 GrassJig, two on a 1/2 GrassJig inserted into a 4" tube, 3 on the 1 oz. big wobbler, and 3 on a 1 oz. Black Widow. did you notice that i actually can catch them in the daylight?? some of these daytime bass like to be stuck right to the base of the trees in the 30 ft. range. something that was going through my mind is from the chart someone posted on my last post, and it had the o2 levels and the various depth. the 20 to 25 ft. range seems to be a bad area for any bass to be feeding in, but have been catching several in that depth of water. have caught some in that 30 ft. range which is where that chart indicates where you should be catching them. in fact according to that chart, the o2 levels are not really good at all. something to ponder. bo

the catching has remained fairly steady, but a couple of trips while we had the cloudy rainy weather were a bit harder to find any areas with shad. on both of those trips we caught a dozen keepers, and on those two nights, we did catch some a bit shallower, which could be expected by lack of sunshine. last night we had 16 keeps, but had some good ones. couple of 4 lb. brownies and a 4 lb. largemouth. we caught a lot of them from one area. lots of bait there and lots of bass. best bait by far was the 1 oz. Elite Mega Blade. the bite was very funny though. if i had hooked all my bites, we could have easily had 40 keepers. i had several literally knock the reel handle out of my hand and no hookup on the jerk. i finally made myself to basically let the bass nearly hook itself, and then i went to putting them in the boat. that bait sure does have a learning curve to it, but it is a fish catching machine. the guy fishing with me last night was not getting any bites on it, but, in watching him fish it out of the corner of my eye, i felt he was never getting enough speed on the bait when we was cranking it. so, he was never getting his lure up off the bottom far enough to get it in front of the bass. most of the bites were occurring while the lure was coasting back to the bottom. we've only been fishing to 12:30. so, that is pretty good catching for 4 hours of fishing. i did notice a strong crap line out in the lake at 30 ft. last night. bo

i got a call from a long time friend of mine that was going to come to the house this morning, but could not make it because his daughter that lives in bella vista, thier house got hit by a tornado last night. he took them to a motel sometime last night and was heading down to get them this morning to further assess the damage. sounded as though half the house was damaged, and luckily no one injured. prayers going out for everyone in that area that had storm damage. bo

linda and i put in a bit before 8 and was back on the trailer at 11. but, we did catch a few. 10 keepers. caught 3 off one spot and 7 on another. all brownies and most of them were thumpers. some of these were pushing 30 ft. deep. seems like they are creeping out a bit more. the Elite Mega Blade got everyone of them. bo

still getting them deep. big wobbler. bo

been out enjoying the beautiful moon the last two nights, and there were a few meteors thrown in last night to boot. too knickmeyer fishing on monday night and taylor for his last trip before he is back to college. on monday, the bite was pretty good, but knickmeyer was not feeling too well and left all the catching to me. ended up with 12 keepers, and what i discovered was that the fish are making a major depth change. caught most everything 25 ft. deep. caught them on the same three baits, 3/4 GrassJig, 1 oz. Elite Mega Blade, and 1 oz. Elite Black Widow. still had to have lots of bait in the area, and the bait is still coming up close to the surface after dark. really seeing more evidence of a thermocline beginning to form. tuesday night we really put the hammer on them. over 20 keepers, with most being of the brown variety and nice ones. same three lures, but the big wobbler really was putting the hurt of them. taylor caught 3 or 4 on a naked 3/4 GrassJig head with a rage craw. we caught a good bulk of them off one spot. it was about the only place we could find any breeze at all. had some idiot in a big boat dang near run over us while fishing that spot. i should have bounced that big wobbler off his head while he went by. got water in the boat from his wake. had we not been just railing them at the time, i would have picked the trolling motor up and run him down to get his boat number. what the HELL is wrong with people???? rant over. anyway, it has been fun getting out to enjoy the big moon. bo

linda and i got out for a bit last night thinking that the lake would be calmed down, wrong. we were still trying to stay in the boat at 11:30. caught them on 3/4 GrassJig, 1 oz. Elite Black Widow, and 1 oz. Elite Mega Blade. caught 10 keeps total, and a 7 lb. flathead. most bites were in the 18 to 22 ft. range. same old thing about not fishing until you find an area full of bait. we quit about 12:15. the moon was pretty. linda claimed victory on the basis that she got the big one, even though it was 7-3 my way on keepers. she got the big one on the big wobbler (1 oz. Elite Mega Blade). bo

took ol' kinckmeyer fishing last night. they were a bit hard to find. lots of bait out in the middle of the lake and scattered. was a strange line of something on the electronics 35 to 40 feet deep our in the lake, but disappeared when getting closer to shore or inside a cove. it is a crazy lake this year for sure, and i never can catch them in the same place twice. jumped around looking and had two keepers at 11, and them bam, put 6 good ones in the boat in just about that many casts. caught them from 10 ft. to 22. real pattern. best lure last night ended up being the 1 oz. Elite Black Widow. stay on the move and keep looking for areas with tons of bait. bo

got to take by buddy mike sowders and a friend of his last night. catching has been kind of spotty the last two trips and last night was starting out much the same, but mike and i decided to just take a creek arm and break down everything in it. paid off in finding a group. had some really good quality. did not get a pic of the biggest one. it was a lmg in the 7 lb. range. was too big to swing with 3 in the boat, and hard to anyone to get too. mike had it in tow, but lost his balance trying to get back up, and it went back in. makes no difference because it was going back anyway, and i got all the good out of it. so, ended up with 8 keeps. one whopper brownie, one brownie in the 4 lb. class, two other brownies in the 3 lb. class, two more lmgs in the 3 lb. class, one big kentucky, and one more keeper lmg. we did have a few shorts. everything was caught on the 1 oz. Elite Mega Blade (big wobbler). they were located in the back 1/3 of the creek. still had 45 ft. in the creek channel. the area was loaded with bait. mike had not been able to catch anything on the big wobbler yet, but now sees what a great fishing tool it is. there most certainly is a learning curve to how to fish it. mike and his buddy got a great crash course. most of our bites came from 15 to 22 ft. i had one other bite in that same area that jumped my line about two feet, and when i set the hook, the line just cut into. don't know if it was a gar or a walleye. i've caught walters in that very area before. bo