merc1997 Bo

way to whack them. bo

the lake is fishing very small right now, and even fishing the right areas, you have to really work for what you get. bo

well, it could also mean that you were just in the 90% of the water that contains no fish. the entire lake is fishing very small right now. bo

with the entire lake being in the limbo it is, moving water or at least being able to get shallow enough to get away from the bubbling areas of the lake was a good move. those bass that are there have a better O2 level and will be more active. I can tell you that from the next to nothing bites lately and how slow you have to fish, the O2 level is not too good in a lot of areas. bo

great job! I know that night fishing is still better than daytime fishing for the time being. bo

i was wondering when someone was going to point out that fact. a lot of very capable bassers were fishing that event. bo

i agree that without the presence of wind, it could be as difficult as it gets. especially since what shad schools that had gathered up have all seemed to have scattered with the summer like temps. bo

i would rather spend one quality hour of fishing than an entire day of bad. bo

the weather will play a factor. if the temps drop, and we get cloudy rainy weather, there could be some nice bass caught up shallow. i do know that the other evening, on the lower end of the lake, the main lake surface was small pods of shad as far as you could see in any direction. very good reason that bass seem so scattered and many fishing are finding the catching on the slim side. looks like rain wed. and thur., partly cloudy friday and sat., and sunny on sun. so, the weather alone will make it different each day. i do know a few that have been out practicing and they are having a hard time in finding any bites. someone will figure it out though. bo

darn good day quill considering the fog issue and the rain the day before. some days of sunshine will help to gather them up better. we actually need the water to cool for it to really get good. that was a dandy brownie! bo

great job. I have heard of some nice catches in the k dock area really shallow. lipless seems to be working in that area. bo

well champ, I really do not give a flip what you believe or do not believe. in fact, myself and some others on here do not have to tell anyone one darn thing about how to improve their catching abilities. when one has fished and lived and breathed fishing for over 40 years, I would hope that one might have learned something in the process. one of those things is how to pick and choose, when possible, the right times to go, and that alone helps to increase what you might catch. as an example, I took a couple of guys that are trying to learn how to fish for bass. neither could hardly cast and I spent a good portion of the 5 hours we were on the water with casting lessons and electronic lessons as to what to look for. today was one of those days that I really would not have bothered to go since it was the day after the rain and the fog was going to hang around until after 1 pm. however, this was the day they could go. with that said, they both caught two nice white bass each and two short bass on spoons. I fished for about an hour after the sun got out, and managed to catch 4 nice keeps, three on a spoon and on swimming a 1/8 jig and 1/2 of a senko through a couple of treetops that I was marking some moving fish around. I also recall stating that fishing the right hours can improve your catching. I think babler and beck are often off the water by 3:30 pm, and from that time to dark is often the best feeding time for this time of the year. also, I fish at night quite often. why? because the chances of catching bass go up tremendously, especially on being able to pick the right type of nights to go. remember babler talking about all the big bass that the minister was showing him on his phone, and they had been catching them like that every time they were out. remember they were fishing from 10 pm to 5 am. pretty much the very best hours to be fishing table rock and be able to catch those types of bass. the best thing for you and the others that liked your post is to just not read what I posted, and then you will not be mad all day. here is another thing that comes to mind that might help many of you and that is to go to the coffee shop and listen for someone that is catching fish the way to want to catch them. that will help you a lot. I apologize to anyone that it might offend for me catching bass and telling type of depth and what to look for. if this is a club thing here and you would want to vote that I not post anything, that will be fine by me. I really do not have to tell one thing about what I am doing and I never did for years when I fished tournaments all the time. but, I don't do that anymore and just like your money, you can not take with you into the next life. bo

when I am talking early, I am talkin not long after light. about the same low light level you would have in the evening. you are right on about the evening bite being much better right now, but that will change as the days get shorter and colder water temps. I would almost guess that your better evening spots also have a shade layer created by the under water drop off and the sun angle. it is a whole lot of fun when you get one of those schools fired up and get a bite on almost every cast. bo

tournament, and they were weighed in. bo

when tournament fishing, I have always had the mind set to fish for whatever the limit is, in quality bites. I really like those guys commitment and confidence to stay with it. it paid off! bo

those guys caught some nice ones, and first and second place did also. a 3 lb. average is very good. bo

yes, they were. all the shad where up higher near the surface, but the bass were holding on the bottom underneath them. this is where knowing what your electronics is telling you comes into play. i could see fish on or near the bottom in the area, and we manged to get one of them to bite, and then it was game on. bo

bill as for cindyjo, there is another part of her answer that not anyone is paying attention to and that has to do with timing. she stated very clearly than she was fishing from 3 to 6 o'clock. these bass are on a pretty specific eating cycle right now as far as the ones that are gathered up on shad. you can whack them first thing in the morning, i little bit mid day, and then late of the evening, and when they are done, they disappear like they were ghosts. right now, there are very few areas of the lake that the bass has any shad really gathered up. yes, there are shad all over the lake, but they are all in very small pods scattered everywhere, and they might have a fish of two with them. but, which ones? so, as with cindyjo, she has learned and understands the when and where to look. the catching is easy, but it is the knowing when and where to look for them that get much more complicated. many bassers seem to forget that locating the bass is, by far, the most difficult part of the process, and you understand that. i can not count how many times, you have suggested to everyone to get off shore once in a while. sure, there are always a few bass on the shore, but not the majority of them. a bass by itself can be quite difficult to get to strike at anything, but when there are lots of bass together, they are much easier to get them to strike at something because of the competition. so, since i am not that great of a fisherman, i feel the need to try to find those bass that are much easier to get to bite. bill, thanks for sharing, but way to many bassers do what they see most of the pros do, and that is rev up the troller and cover as much water as possible.. bo

great job! and, it sure sounds like you just might have a full time fishing partner! great job of knowing what you are looking at on your electronics and then figuring out how to catch them. we used to do this very thing using nothing more than a flasher. the newer electronics makes it much easier to interpret than all those small red specks coming and going on the flasher dial. but a good flasher will show you everything the graphs are. yep, the younger generation liken it to playing a video game and for those that seem to have a need to be able to watch their lures, it is a great aid for them. again, great fishing trip, and the really best part is the time spent with your grandson! bo

bass are not just everywhere right now. it took a lot of looking today to find them. a good limit was put in the boat in not much over 5 minutes. of the six keepers there a 4lb. and two 3lb. lmgs, two big k's and another 2 1/2lb. lmg. caught three other keeps scattered here and there. when you find the right school, it happens in a hurry. if you find a big enough school, you can catch them for quite a while, but releasing bass back into the school you are catching them from almost always shortens the action. you have to leave them and come back after while and try to get the fired up again, but sometimes, they are just gone back to wherever they came from. catching will get more consistent and be more general lake wise with cooling water temps. best depth today was 20 to 25 ft. and caught them all on a spoon.

he can not be fishing table rock right now. it is off limits for him. bo

just sayin', aren't one of the many that complain about fish care?? why would not release as that has come up from deep water immediately so it does not get the bends?????? the quicker you get them back into the water the better. just sayin". bo

when you get on the right school of bass, there is nothing that will put them in the boat faster than a spoon. in a winter series tournament out of 13, i put a 28 lb. limit in the boat in less than 5 minutes. in fact, it was the firs 5 minutes we fished. kelly williamson was fishing with me and we was fishing picking them off the floor and getting them into the livewell. it can literally every cast of drop. and here is where you do not want to be taking pics because when you get them fired up, you need to get back in there as quickly as possible. bo

well, this same pattern works in many places, not just not everywhere on the lake at the same time. so, where i end up tomorrow, i may not find anything. you never know until you go looking. may not find squat, and you can not catch them if they are not there. bo

got out to do some daytime fishing and the catching was not too bad for not being out daytime fishing for quite a while. put in at 12:30 and had a limit before 3:30. caught few on a jig, but all were short. the best lure was the lowly spoon. depth 15 to 25 ft. most were caught off the bottom, but did catch a few suspended mid-range. ended up with 7 keeps, and they were all 16 to 17 inch largemouth, just nice chunks. might go again tomorrow and fish a different area to see if i can find them in another area of the lake. water temp was 74 this afternoon. bo