merc1997 Bo

as expected was a frontitis bite. quit just before midnight and ended up with 12 keepers. had to stick to steeper stuff with a jig, which is very typical when dealing with post front bass. most bites in the 25 to 30 ft. range. they did seem to be getting more active when we quit. all bites up to then were nothing bites. just about like a fly might have brushed your line. we had one lmg, and 3 k's, and the rest brown fish. those brown fish seem like they are willing a bit despite frontal conditions which makes it nice to be able to catch something instead of nothing. bo

went again for a bit, but the incoming front had them shut down. what shad that were grouped up all seemed to be out in the lake more. ended up with 10 keepers. nothing that would make 3 lb. bites were still in the 25 to 30 ft. range. it was a trolling motor pattern for sure. about one to a stop. sure glad we got in on the better catching the night before. caught them on the 3/4 GrassJig and the big wobbler. going to be a chilly one tomorrow night. bo

fished from dark thirty to 1 a.m.. started out catching them on first stop and left them still biting. started out catching way out on a divider point between two pockets on the big wobbler. these fish were all in the 25 ft. range. these bass seemed to quit when it got good dark. tried something steeper next, and whacked them on a 3/4 GrassJig, and that bite seemed to fade out or we just ran out of the area where they were all concentrated. went back to flatter stuff back in pockets and the big wobbler was the ticket again. it was important to fish areas where you saw lots of shad on the electronics. majority of the bites were in the 25 ft. range but did catch a few up in 15 ft. ended up with 31 keepers. only two were in the 3 lb. range and the rest were chunky 2 1/2 lb. type. there were 3 k's in the mix and 5 lmg's. these bass are pot gutted and are very active after dark right now. fall night fishing can be just as good as spring night fishing. i believe these same bass will be around these same areas during the day and are most likely some of the same ones that the jig had been working on in the daytime. gauging from all the shad poop on the carpet, it goes without saying the importance of spending the time to look for areas where plenty of bait is present. we fished a couple of areas that we did not see hardly any shad around and did not catch anything. that told us to just keep looking until we found an area with plenty of shad close by. bo

here are the main three weapons that have just wrecked the bass this summer. pic #1 is the 3/4 GrassJig. that one Bluegill color which has been working daytime also. produced 4 keeps before dark last night. pic# 2 is the Elite Mega Blade (aka big wobbler) in a 1 oz. last night the big wobbler did more damage than the other two. just never know from one night to the next which one will do the best. pic # 3 is the 1 oz. Elite Black Widow. on monday night it was doing most of the wrecking along with the 3/4 GrassJig. last night was flat out a catching fest. way over 20 keepers. leonard's brownie was the biggest, but had a lot of 3 lb. brownies. we did get two nice lmg's and two big k's. one thing that was different last night was the fact that you might get bit in 15 ft. and the next cast get bit straight down 30 ft. so, lots of variation in the fish positioning in the same area. they were, however, very grouped in that you would catch several from a small area, and the best areas were still back in off the main lake, especially the better quality. as you can see, i used three different colors, blugill, missouri craw, and junebug. leonard had on black and blue. too bad it is going to start raining friday and into next week. i was looking forward to get linda out friday night and let her have some fun. bo This post has been promoted to an article

the summer heat has the bass grouped back up some. fished from dark to midnight and ended up with 20 keepers and some pretty good ones. we did find most of them off the main lake. around 30 ft. still seems to be where the better ones are. we had a nice of mix of all 3 species. 4 nice lmg's, 4 or 5 k's, and the rest brownies. we caught them on a 1 oz. Mega Elite Blade, a 1 oz. Elite Black Widow, and a 3/4 oz. GrassJig. i believe that there are some areas that a spoon would get them daytime. bo This post has been promoted to an article

boy, talk about frontitis. could not find anyplace where there was any bait gathered. so, it was strictly a trolling motor pattern. ended up with 16 keepers and only caught two shorts. that is a good average. the double trivecta was caught keeps in all three species, and caught them on a 1 oz. Mega Elite Blade, a 1 oz. Elite Black Widow, and a 3/4 GrassJig. i think we did catch 3 keeps from one spot and everything else was one or two to a stop. caught them from everything from a bluff, way out on flat stuff, to very back of pockets. did catch a couple that were more like 15 ft. deep, but most of the bites anywhere were still 25 to 30 and i did a LOT of zig zagging to try to establish if one depth zone was better than another. maybe a few days of sunshine and the shad will gather back up better, but it is pretty much typical fishing for this time of the year. bass are breaking up from summer patterns and changing lanes. whether you are daytime fishing or night fishing this time of the year, you really have to be very flexible in your fishing to catch them. last night was a prime example of that. you have to look high and low and everywhere in-between. my best advice is to leave the rods on the deck and go looking with the electronics for a while to begin with. try to establish if the bait is all on one side of the lake. is it all up high or down deeper. these are all clues to where the biggest percentage of where the bass are going to be. one of the biggest mistakes that i watch many do is to execute what i call go round up the usual suspects. that means they go fish the same cove or point or bluff or flat and never just go exploring. bass are never going to be far from the kitchen. keep that in mind and figure out where the most food is to begin with. then start searching in that area and you will up your catching. this applies to both deep and shallow fishing. bo

decided we were not getting rain this evening so decided to see if we could catch a few. ended up with 17 keepers again. we did catch a few right at dark where there was wind, but they did not stay around long. best lure was once again the 3/4 GrassJig. we did get just a few bites inside of 30 ft., but not many. we did catch quite a few further back on coves and that is where we also found the bait. you literally have to go looking for them every trip. never did get a bite anywhere if there was not quite a bit of bait in the area. if we get much rain, it should change some things in some areas. bo

well, it took up to almost 10 before they all left the lake. consequently there was not much bite until nearly midnight. we fished 2:30. it was a whole lot of looking before i decided that we needed to look in areas protected from the wind. i know that sounds crazy, but on the lower end that is just how it is sometimes. get out of the wind and there is all the bait. speaking of the bait, it is all up near the surface now, but we could not conjure up a bite up shallow. all of our fish still were about 30 ft. deep with the exception of a couple of dinks. final tally was 17 keepers. 3 lmgs, 3 k's, and the rest brownies. the 3/4 GrassJig was the ticket last night. knickmeyer had me down 8 to one before i caved in and put one on. final tally bo 9 larry 8😄. i threw the big wobbler, and a 1oz. Black Widow and caught some shorts, and threw an 1 oz. GrassJig without any love. the other thing was you had to lift the jig up and let it coast back to the bottom to get a bite. here is a PRIME example of why you try different lures with different movements and try different retrieves to figure out how to MAKE them bite. larry was the only one catching much until i put on the same as he was throwing and using the same type of retrieve. hopefully the lake will be much quieter now. bo This post has been promoted to an article

still biting, but seem to be getting harder to find a bunch of them. had to do a lot of looking before i found an area where there were several somewhere close to the bottom. most bites still seem to be really close to 30 ft. tonight the best lure was the big wobbler for some reason. did catch a couple on a 1 oz. GrassJig and a few on a 1 oz. Black Widow. ended up with 16 keepers with 4 in the 3lb. range. i did put in at viola in the morning to shoot some video of new products. did not see much in contact with anything. seemed like everything was suspended more in the 20 ft. range around that area. saw some busting activity scattered around, but seemed they could have been gar. bo

thank goodness for the moon being out or i could have ran into or over a boat sitting out in the lake with no lights on. just happened to catch a white shine off of the hull from the moon. took a pic of his boat numbers and called him in. now back to the fishing. darn easterly wind! we did end up with 15 keepers, but it took quite a bit of looking to find some that were not out in the lake suspended. had a couple that were pushing three and the rest just good chunks. depth was still right at 30 ft. caught more on the 1 oz. Elite Black Widow, but did catch 4 or 5 on a 1 oz. GrassJig. the wind was blowing pretty good and that extra weight seemed to be needed to trigger them to bite. no pics, it was hard enough fighting the wind to keep the boat where it needed to me to fish. bo

got out tonight and mucked around among the tourney fisherman. had a good trip. 14 keepers with 7 over 3 lb. most of the bass we caught were 30 ft. deep. best lures were a 3/4 oz. GrassJig and a 1 oz. Black Widow. we did have to do quite a bit of looking to find something to throw at. they just are not everywhere. leave your rods on the deck and go looking. it is time well spent. bo

i wanted to pass along some info. back in the spring, i ran into a group of MDC folks that were actually getting ready to go out and do some shocking above eagle rock. the MDC biologist's name was Shane Bush. he promised me to pass along their findings which he did. we also had a very long conversation about the state of the lake and he did listen somewhat with open ears, except for stocking, lol. i also asked about the recent fish kill at eagle rock, and he got right back to me with what they thought happened. hopefully he is right in what they think happenend and it is limited in scope. i am going to attach his contact info and i am sure that he will try his best to answer questions and concerns from anyone. the more we voice our observations and opinions the more our voices will be heard. bo Shane Bush Fisheries Management Biologist 610 Hatchery Road Branson, MO 65616 Office: 417-334-4859 Cell: 417-533-2344 shane.bush@mdc.mo.gov

linda and i got in a short trip friday evening. got out on the water a while before dark. had to do some searching around before we found some to sling at. they bit pretty good but got somewhat scarce not too long after dark. seemed to have frontitis. most of our bites were in the 30 ft. range. 1 oz. Black Widow, 1 oz. Mega Elite Blade and a 3/4 oz. Grass Jig did all the catching. quit a bit before the witching hour and ended up with 10 keeper, but 7 of them were really nice ones. never did get any shallower bites at all. bo This post has been promoted to an article

we somewhat caught the weather right between fronts and the bass were fairly active for a bit last night. quit at 12:30. ended up with 12 keepers. nothing exceptional size wise. got a few on a 3/4 GrassJig, but most came on a 1 oz. Black Widow, and a 1 oz. Mega Elite Blade. depth wise was really a mixed bag. some were in the 10 to 12 ft. range and some were 30 ft. we did get a few on something in the steeper incline terrain. some came from back of pockets. bottom line is to not have a preconceived notion of how to catch them. keep in search mode until you find some. i would guess that there will be some bass begin to show up much shallower looking at the extended forecast. somewhat the down side of that is the fact they are normally scattered also. here a few pics that T took. bo

the last four trips have been each different. first, you really do have to spend quite a bit of time in the search mode to find a batch that have laid down somewhere and are not just out in the lake suspended. with the fronts that have been going through a couple of trips have been the type that you get a couple here and a couple there, which means many stops. the other big change is many of them have been caught on a 3/4 GrassJig, but you had better be doing the right type of retrieve or there will not be many bites. it is pretty much similar to casting a spoon and hopping it across the bottom back to you. after you hop the jig up, you let it fall back with a belly in the line so it fall straight back to the bottom. they are catching it in the air, and you have to be lighting quick with your hook set or they have it spit back out. i did hit one night that i caught several on the 1 oz. SpingJig, and on that night we saw 4 nice lmgs in the mix. most bites are still in the 25 to 30 range even though all the bait is showing anywhere from 25 up to the surface. the catchable bass really seem to be tightening up on to a roll off or ledge that occurs at the depth they are wanting to be at. if we do get a big cooling trend here is something to remember. we will begin to see two groups of bass. those that decide to move up shallower, and another group that remains with the thermocline. those that remain with the thermocline keep in mind that as the surface cools that volume of water will push the thermocline deeper. yes, deeper. table rock used to have very stable schools of bass, but with declining trees, most of the bass in the lake have become roamers. this is why to not have any set things in mind on any trip. begin right off the bat looking at a few area with your electronics. see if you bee bait in the area. how deep is the bait? so you see any fish on the bottom or suspended? these clues will help you hone in on the types and kind of areas to do further looking and fishing. in the old days, you could put on a 1/4 sinker and a 6" worm and catch all kinds of bass. mostly short ones, but plenty of action. not that way any longer. good reason that hiring bill babler will help with some teaching of where and how to look for these critters that are deeper. shallow bass catching involves not only covering water, but to pay attention to clues. and as champ alluded to in a post that one needs to learn to pick apart a piece of cover. the best fishing tool you will have in your boat is your brain. it is darn hard to catch the first one if you are never throwing it in front of some. bo

bad news is the big wobbler bite might be quitting. did not get one bite on it last night. good news is that they bit a 3/4 GrassJig. i fished by myself. was bored to tears and nothing on tv worth watching so toby and i loaded up and headed to the lake. was 9:30 by the time i got in the water and quit at 12:45. ended up with 10 keepers. only one that was an honest 3 lbs. it was a brown fish. did have k's and lmg's in the mix, and the 2 lmg's were skinny as a rail. the brownies and k's were fat as ticks. very strange because they all came out of the same location. i caught all of these fish back in a cove where there were a few scattered trees left. and, all the bites were pushing 30 ft. deep. the wind was just a bear last night, and i am getting where i can not stand on the troller and fish twisted around like a pretzel and fish backwards while i keep the boat in position to fish. too hard on my body anymore. guess i am getting old and grouchy. well, guess that i have always been grouchy and just have to add old into the equation😄. easy to see why all the pros are running the Ultrex. bo

not much change in where the bass are, but dang, linda is getting the handle on fishing the big wobbler and giving me a thrashing🙁! got out thursday night in hopes of getting her on the lake minus all the boat traffic, and darn if there was not a derby going on and boat everywhere. anyway, the final tally was linda 7 and bo 5. she keeps this up and she just might find herself on the bank😄. and, i have to listen to the ribbing all weekend. the truth is that it is more fun to watch her catch them than anything. those mlf folks and nothing on linda when it comes to smoking one across the water to the boat.😄. if you are out at night, keep alert at all times. we have way too many dummies running around with no lights on. bo

got linda out to enjoy some of the good catching that had been going on. the front had then a bit in the off mode and the majority of the bait and fish were out in the lake suspended. the funny thing is that the junk line on the graph was showing to be 20 ft., and we did see plenty of hooks suspended at that depth. but, all of what bites we gathered up occurred very close to 30 ft. deep. the 1 oz. black widow, and the 1 oz. big flopper still did all the damage. we have tried to get a bite in the areas that our catches are coming from on jigs and various plastics, but can not bet any love on them. ended up with 15 keepers and we had to work for them. by "arkansas" rules, linda beat me as she had the biggest for the evening, a very nice largemouth. bo

took leonard fishing last night. he is going to be out of commission for a couple of weeks while his wife is getting over knee surgery. had to work for them, but caught 17 keepers. they were a taste deeper - 25 to 30. still getting them on the big flopper and the black widow. we did have 3 keeper lmgs in the mix. bo

went last night and bites were more scattered and deeper. could have been because of the front and north wind or another depth change. everything on the electronics was visibly a bit deeper and what we caught, all the bites were pretty darn close to 30 ft. or even a taste past that. we still ended up with 10 keepers which is not a bad trip. just not one of those killers when it seems to be stupid easy. we did have a couple of nice largemouth in the mix too. bo