merc1997 Bo

Waiting for more shipments of head to get here so I can fill a TW order so I went fishing in the Kings for some crappie. Glad the rain chased everyone away. was an enjoyable day. Saw two bald eagles. Ended up with 10 keeper crappie. Some were as deep as 15 ft. Had to do some adjusting because there is a lot of water coming down the kings and the current was rolling. Finally lost the crappie jig i have been fishing with all spring. I think it was a toothy critter, but i was still pretty bummed. I think I could have made it all spring on one crappie jig. before dark tried a crank bait even though it was slick water, but sure enough the bass made a move to the bank to get in a feed before it got dark. caught lots of shorts and three keeps. caught them on the model a bomber and the iovino crankbait. when it got very close to dark the bite quit. idled back to the ramp and came home. the lake has many floaters again. be safe while navigating. bo

you still need to kind of hand pick your nights right now, but there will be some catchable bass in areas. my primary weapon for early night fishing is a 3/16 to a 1/4 NuJig tied with hair, and an 800 uncle josh spring lizard pup for a trailer. you can use a spinner bait and catch some bass, but it will not consistently catch as many big ones as the hair jig and pup. of course finding any bigger bass is a hard challenge in table rock anymore. i am pretty tickled anymore to catch 4 lb. bass. bo

nice bunch of bass! bo

very great keeper ratio, and a darn good average weight. bo

Wow! Everyone is out enjoying the weather and doing some fishing or just boating. I will remind everyone to follow the rules of navigation. And, in narrow confines, idle by those that are fishing. Plus, it is smart to get off plane and idle by each other when meeting an oncoming boat. There are places for everyone to fish, but lets keep safety in mind, with all the boats that are out. Fishing wise, I started Linda on catching bass on a crankbait. Unless, they are on one of those days that they are just crushing it every time, it takes a while to learn those bites that just interrupt the vibration pattern. so, it takes a while to learn the difference between bumping into something and a bass taking a pass at the lure. Linda did manage a few shorts, and we did stop along the way to chunk around in some crappie hangouts, and came up with 8 nice keeps. on the bass side, 3 nice keepers, one being a 3 1/2 fattie, and lots of shorts. cranks that seemed to get the most action were a deep wee r and a model a bomber. i did catch a few on iovino's crank bait, and those that i did get on it, just knocked the tar out of it, but it would be a long time between bites with it. sounds as though there were some with some success on spinner baits. water temps are about to get high enough that i will venture out at night much more that daytime. i love fishing while the rest of you are sleeping. i can actually hear myself think and do not have to put on a seat belt to stay in the boat. will be interesting to see if home boy christie can put away the win at grand. bo

since i have been working lots of 20 hour days, i got my stuff rounded up this morning and decided that i was taking the afternoon off for some fishing. chased crappie and bass both, but the bass got the nod for the most part. did manage 4 keeper crappie, but the wind really got to howling, and pretty much gave that up. caught a 16 inch kentucky on the old yellow long bill rebel and not much else. started going through the gambit of cranks and found the bite on a model a bomber and stayed busy until almost dark. we probably caught around 40 total, and had 5 pretty decent ones among them with a 3 1/2 and a 3. a smaller crank with a tighter wiggle seems to be the ticket right now, and if i still had one, a tini wee r would have really killed them. it has always been that way when the bass first come up. i know many of you will not put down a wiggle wart, but there are just times that other cranks will put a stomping on a wart, and i don't care who is throwing it. fishing will keep improving and we gain higher water temps. i am sure that the methods to catch them will expand also. bass this time of the year seem to always be on a constant move, fueled by either bad weather or good weather. so, stay flexible, and don't be afraid to try a variety of things in the way of presentation and locations. are they on the bank or out suspended. big lure or little lure, crank bait or jerk bait. some type of jig or plastic. certainly time on the water helps cut down the amount of time to figure out the variables, but if you want to be successful at catching, it is just like anything else and you have to work at it. bo

i am fairly certain he caught them on main lake points and just inside the mouth of the cove. i would imagine that timing had a big part in the success. he happened to be there at the right time while some bass were up. bo

well, you are right, they all come with paint. but, you can buy some pretty cheap that had a color that no one would buy, and they run just the same as those with paint schemes that everyone wants. you then just get busy with a pocket knife and go to scraping the paint off. i paint them because you can not buy the color schemes that i throw. when i say work of art, just take a look at the yellow rebel, the paint is uneven, lines are uneven and nothing artistic about it. you could put it on the shelf to sell, and no one would buy it because it is not PRETTY. the bass do not seem to mind how crappie the paint job is though. bo

quill, did you happen to throw a jerk bait or crank bait at all?? one of my retired buddies that lives in emerald beach went out this afternoon, and did quite well, but caught everything in about a one hour stretch. he did comment that he fished an area that the wind was flat busting. bo

dang good job. bo

i really do not throw a factory paint job at all. i have always painted them myself, and it goes to show they do not need to be a work of art to catch bass. bo

we did catch a few crappie very shallow, and i am talking in two or three feet of water, but most of them came on the flat side of the river channel right on the river edge. of course it helps to locate an area with something for them to gather around. bo

nope, that is a rebel, and you need some rebels and smithwick both, because the wobble is different between the two. the rebel wobble is more subtle than the smithwick. bo

good way to miss lots of lake traffic is to go on bad days that everyone else stays home or went trout fishing. spent a good portion of the trip chasing crappie and had 12 to 15 keepers. actually caught very few shorts today. we caught them from two feet of water to 16 feet. several keepers were in very shallow water. on the bass side, just had one nice 2 1/2 lb. chunk, and it came on a jerk bait. the jerk bait produced about a dozen bass, crank bait 4, and jig 8, depths for the bass varied just as much as the crappie. caught a couple 20 ft. deep on the jig. attached is a pic of a crappie double, and the days arsenal of lures. don't laugh at the longbill and the particular color. that funny looking thing has won a ton of money over the years, and they keep biting it every year. bo

that was a great trip! bo

a written test is a whole lot different that actually passing an on board operators test of the vessel you are going to be operating. does a drivers license allow you to operate a motor cycle?? i will answer that for you and the answer is no. you have to pass a motor cycle driving test. bo

no fog, just both boats did not bare to the right, and neither one just shut down and stopped before the sad ending. cut to the right, and when the other boat does not do the same, just shut down and hopefully not become part of a boat crash. bo

well, a bad day of fishing still beats working. it is nice to just get out and enjoy the sun and scenery. we watched two bald eagles saturday playing and cutting didos. bo

champ there is a difference in dealing with all the traffic, and putting up with idiots that do not know rules of navigation. bo

well, spring is here and from now on there will be a daily rise and fall of water levels of at least two feet. this makes fishing very difficult to say the least as fish do not know where to go. at least there is a daily crest when all the boats have got on the water, and then towards dark there is the falling water to deal with. welcome to spring fishing! all the parking lots at the ramps are full. look for ticket booths on points and banks to get your number to fish behind all those already in line. for those that are fishing in the narrow confines of a creek or river, just calm down from all the idiots that come right by you on plane. they are just watching their side scan as they come by to see what you are fishing and mark a gps way point. who says cheaper gas prices do not help the economy? i have not seen all the ramps so full and busy for a lot of years. since the lake is busier, please know the rules of the road when meeting an oncoming boat. i had to shut down and stop because an oncoming boat yesterday did not bare to the right . idle by those in the creeks and rivers where you are running way to close to be on plane. in the kings above jackies, that is anyplace. well go figure out how to deal with the daily up and down water levels and enjoy. bo

we caught more of them on mud flats. bo

very healthy bass. it is nice to see bass that look like table rock bass should look. it has taken way too long to get back to any type of bass population without any stocking help. but, the mdc just gave cambell point $100,000 dollars for building a dock that accomodates 26 ft. and longer boats, and claimed that having a dock such as that really opened up fishing in the area to a whole lot more people. i do not ever recall seeing anyone fishing out of a 26 ft. or bigger boat on table rock. just my opinion, but someone got their pockets lined, and that $100,000 could have been better spent on some stocking programs. i've put in a couple of call to our local state rep, but have never received a return call. oh wait, they are in the dock building business. maybe that is why no return call. bo

fished in the kings. bo

figured i had better get out ahead of the cold and nasty coming. dinked around for bass with several attacks, but to no avail. caught one short on a jerk bait. so, decided to give the crappie a try, and once discovered the pattern, stayed pretty busy all afternoon. tons of shorts and ended up with a dozen or so keepers. many of these crappie were very high in the water column. well, hope it is better weather next week. sure did enjoy the day. bo

still a nice day. very nice healthy bass. bo