merc1997 Bo

bad enough to deal with when just out on your own, but i would be very uneasy with folks in the boat that are not very water wise. i worry enough when i have linda in the boat, and very good reason that i just will not get her out on the water in those conditions. bo

http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/magazine/2015/october/boat-wake-damage-liability.asp. read this article. the water patrol is just using an excuse. bo

well, they just watch the shady characters. bo

they mandated a 30 mph night time speed limit right???? besides it is the law that you are responsible for your wake. they just need to start enforcing it. bo

pretty sad when a normal fishing boat is not safe to be in on the water, and the safety issue is not weather related. bo

here is a better pic of the 1 oz. GrassJig with the musky size chatter blade. thinking about naming it the Elite Thump. bo

here a few pics from the last trip. the young man is taylor sanders. i am thinking he had a pretty good time. notice the big bladed grassjig we have been working on. the bass seem to have a liking for it right now. bo

one thing i did not mention about movement of thermocline. most people do not really realize that after a thermocline develops, water clarity and heat somewhat determine the depth. however, as the water cools, the sinking cooler surface water begins to push that thermocline layer deeper. kind of why it has been 15ft. deep on most of the lake, and suddenly, it is at 25 ft. downstream right now. this is what will eventually cause fall turnover. so, as water cools going into fall, this is why we really develop those two separate groups of bass. those that continue to go deeper with the thermocline, and those that move up with the cooler water temps as O2 levels accommodate that move. the other factor that drives where the biggest percentage of where the bass population resides is where the food source decides to go. right now, even though many bass are moving out deeper, there are still lots of shad right at the surface down to 10 ft. this is definitely a time that versatility in your fishing approach can be a big plus. bo

well, it has been here and gone, and things will change once again, but this past full moon cycle was pretty darn good for catching lots of bass. out of the last 4 trips a total of 48 keepers were boated. one bass over 5, a few 4 lb. range and several 3 lbers. plenty of shorts in the mix also. so, there was plenty of fairly constant action. 3/4 GrassJig has done most of the damage, but we have caught several on a 1 oz. Elite bladed jig we have been tinkering with. bass have been relating to points quite a bit, and steep of flat will both produce provided they match up with the depth the bass want to be. yep, some of these places are out in the nose bleed section. meaning you are about 4 long casts to the bank. a certain depth of water is just the same right close to the bank or a quarter mile out in the lake. some bass have set up residence in 25 ft. of water and in some areas of the lake, there will be many more follow. weather will be a major factor and area of the lake will be a factor as to whether the local population moves out deeper or shallower. there will be some areas that will contain both shallow bass and the deeper ones that are following the thermocline. will be interesting to see what the next moon cycle will bring. bo This post has been promoted to an article

nice catching. the bass down stream seem to have the feed bag on right now. fished monday and sunday nights and just put s smacking on them. we fished until 1:30am sunday and ended up with 11 keeps with six of them in the 3lb. range. the really strange event was that 8 of the keeps were lmg's. monday night stayed another hour later and it was non- stop catching. bites are from the bank out to 20 ft. deep. best two lures are a 3/4 oz. grassjig with a bluegill skirt and a solid blue trailer, and a 1 oz. spinjig. monday night ended up with 17 or 18 keepers, but most were just keepers only a couple that would make 3 lb. and most were brownies and k's. bo

she is not running the trolling motor or selecting fishing locations, but the is learning what a bite is and to set the hook quite well. bo

i think it is time to stop the fishing lessons unless i want to be outfished every trip. bo

daytime fishing is not much different, but i do not like sitting out in the hot sun and battling all the pleasure crafts. come fall and winter, i have no problem to fish during the day. anytime of the year on clear water lakes, the bigger bass will be more accessible at night than they are in the daytime. plus, the lake is much calmer and makes the trip more enjoyable and also because of cooler air temps this time of the year. bo

have been catching several keepers most trips lately, but the bass are still pretty much 15' or less, and many of the better bass have literally been on the bank. right now a 6" hawg craw on a 1/2 GrassJig head has been a good bait, and a senko on a 3/8 GrassJig head is getting part of them. however, the later it gets the better the bite gets on a 1/2 skirted GrassJig with a larger trailer. not really any pattern as to where you might get a bite other than look for the areas with the most bait hanging around. went downstream on night and chased the brownies around and did well on a 3/4 GrassJig and a 1 oz. SpinJig. depth was still around the 15 ft. or less. bo

hate to mention this since you have a dock, but the docks are what invites the bigger boats. if there were not any docks, the size of the boats would decrease. i have always been one to take your toys back home with you, and not leave them in the neighbors yard. i always figured that everyone had a right of way to the shoreline on public waters, but it is being covered up with docks. bo

really nice. the walleye seem to be available right now. i know of some that have really been whacking some really big ones up to 10 lb. on spoons. they showed me the pics and commented they were all in the 30 ft. range. nice to see there are some that have had a chance to get bigger. that was a great fishing trip. bo

what eric prey was saying about fishing not being as good goes right along with what i was saying about the bass in the process of making a change. they do not do it over night. it most often takes around two weeks before they get gathered up into their next "pattern" so to speak, but actually their next home for a while. bass fishing (catching) is a very mental game. use your electronics for a while before you begin fishing. take note of changes since you last fished. where are most of the shad located? are they deeper or shallower than when you last fished? leave the rods on the deck for a while and go looking first, and it will increase your catching. bo

too bad you cleaned it up. you can not catch bass in a clean boat. bo

hope champ sees this post. he had better be getting out while they are still shallow. bo

it is crazy that this time of the year the quality bites are very shallow still, but i am seeing signs of that changing, but not too much of a depth change. those are some really nice bass. bo

Bass right now are in the process of making another move. Take in account of falling lake level. Bass will tend to suspend with falling levels and you also have the last spammers which just got finished. You have to go find every time out. bo

darn good trip! also, goes to show that small profile lures are often better to use than the standard fare. bo

got in a short 4 hour trip last night. had to make a stop in the eagle rock area to pick up hand tied jigs that were ready for a customer in alabama, and it is way too hard to be that close to the lake and not go fishing, right? every trip seems to be just like fishing a new lake. have to go hunt them up everytime. never the same as last time. the 1/2 GrassJig got most of them, but a few came on a 3/8 GrassJig head with a zoom worm on it. none of the better bass were over 12 ft. deep. ended up with 7 keeps total. bo

try a spoon. bo