ryan

Graphs are the most important piece of equipment on your boat. If he likes to crappie fish down imaging/side imaging is a big plus. I won't fish brushpile a unless I see the fish.

Well this is more of a lack there of. Fished the mill creek Friday nighter and really struggled. Got to the lake around 5pmso I thought I'd fish for a couple hours until take off. Caught a good one right away out of some bushes on a swim jig on 5ft of water. Fished another 30min without a bite so I thought I better check out deep. Ran some docks and caught 3 keepers really quick, 1 SM and 2 K's in around 20fow. All around kimberling city. Ran back to Millcreek got signed in and took off at 730, finally caught a keeper around 1130 (a Kentucky that I had to turn over twice on the board to decide if he would measure). That was the last keeper bite I would get all night. Back to the ramp at 130 hot, tired, and confused. Fished from deep to shallow, back and forth all night. From Jackson hollow down past cow creek. Fished a football jig, big worm and a black singlespin. My one keeper came on the football jig. Last weekend I had 9.5lbs or so (4 fish limit). This weekend I just scratched my head most of the night. I did notice there looks like a pretty well defined thermocline around 20ft deep around KC area towards the dam. Most of my bites last Friday night and this Friday came around 15-20ft deep. I spent the last hour and a half of the tournament just idling around points and ledges using the lowrance to try and find one decent school of fish. No dice, just never found a group of any size anywhere. I know last weekend it was one here and there but the bite was a lot better for me. I think it took 12lbs or so to win. I hope you all do a better job of figuring it out than I did. Best of luck and God bless. Tablerock 1= Ryan 0. :-)

Can't go wrong with Denali, the Kovert series is a great price for the quality of rod.

It's wierd that the fish aren't really shallow if the thermocline has dissipated. You would think that the creeks and rivers where rainfall/fresh water coming in would hold large numbers of fish. I fished from mill creek to aunts creek last Friday and all fish I caught were 15-25ft deep and healthy. They were all full of shad and after a ride to weigh in were released. Hopefully the rain today will help the pockets of anoxic water.

Looks like he got away from a Herron when he was younger

Is there a place to put my 14ft Jon boat in on the lake? Heard the ramp got washed out. Can you put in over by the park? It was blocked off for a while. Thanks for the info.

Buy what you can afford or what you want to afford. If fishing is your passion then you probably want nice equipment to do it with, nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned. In college I fished out of a 14 foot aluminum boat, not as comfortably as my Z520, but then again I would fish out of an inflatable raft if it was what I had. I like the new E-Tec but just don't think I could give up my Yamaha SHO, that thing is a beast and knock on wood has been bullet proof. I know they all blow at some point but I'm really impressed with this motor after two years of running it.

Catching a lot of nice Ks up really shallow. They are around wood in the backs of pockets, have been swimming a bluegill colored swim jig and then topwater. There are tons of 3-4in bluegill up on the banks right now. I don't know if they are eating bluegill or guarding fry. Bluff end pockets have been really good as well as the first couple of dock stalls up against the banks. Cannot get them to eat the jig if I'm fishing it along the bottom but if I'm swimming it they absolutely crush it. I haven't noticed too big of a difference in the population of Ks. I did see a little shad spawn going on last week but not real heavy and the fish were def keyed in on those shad. It wasn't all over the lake though. I'm not really sure if the shad spawn has just started or I'm catching the tail end of it. Water temps were mid 70s. On day last week I threw topwater all day and caught them, and it was sunny most of the day with very light wind, go figure.

Anyone ever use the straight red fin instead of the jointed?

It's always good when you are fishing! Nice job!

I think they are speaking from experience that they have on other lake/state management fisheries. I know that some Arkansas lakes don't have any length limit on Kentuckys they say this is due to the fact that a good majority of fish don't reach 15inches in their lifetime. Don't know how true that is, have a buddy who is a fisheries biologist I could ask him. My own opinion is that I like the 15in length limit on all bass species because it keeps the lake full of bass and our Ks run big on Tablerock. It's been 5-6years ago but I caught a Kentucky that weighed just over 5lbs, seems like there are a good majority of them over 3lbs in the lake. Plus I don't care if they are 12in or 20in they are a blast to catch. Everybody's got an opinion but even the pros can't argue heat an incredible fishery we have here. I mean we all have to make excuses about why we didn't catch a good sack on tournament day. I've come up with tons of them ;-).

I think that the kings is just like every other place on Tablerock in that it's all about timing. You just have to get comfortable fishing behind other boats especially if you fish tournaments. There are def good enough fish up there to win if the conditions are right. Part of unlocking the puzzle is to know when those fish are feeding or pulling up. Most of the time I just put together a milk run and cycle through it all day if I'm on good fish. I think that's the importance of knowing your spots and your line ups on the casts that you make. I think that is one thing that separates really good fisherman and the average guy. I truly believe that confidence is your best asset in fishing, and figuring out the spot within your spots, if that makes sense.

I think they all fish pretty much the same in the sense that the same patterns dominate. Obviously everyone knows what baits will usually play big in tournaments around here at certain times of the year. If I go to beaver, bull, loz, or grand and check 100 boats fishing tournaments a good bet that they all have similar baits/colors ect tied on. The lakes differ in terms of structure but you can't argue that they fish pretty similar.

Can't count out Mike McClelland on Tablerock, or Brian Snowden. Really interested to se how they break down the lake. My tournament partner is a Marshall.

remote=river dang it auto correct

Fished Joe Bass as well had 18.72lb. All fish on a rig, couldn't buy a bite on a jig. Fished up the white all day but I think the bite at the dam is just starting to bust loose as evidence by the top weights. Gonna be on fire in the next week or two. Had a good day just needed another big bite and the dam area guys to struggle. I sure would like to ride along with Fanns this time of year and see how it's done. To win this time of year you just have to have 22+ lbs with that a rig. I just haven't figured out how to do that yet, however it's not for lack of trying!!!! I really need to spend more of my practice from the dam to long creek as I just don't think the remote can consistently produce those 20+ lb bags. Then again it's probably the Indian and not the bow if you know what I mean!

What tournament other than BFL is on for this weekend. Looking to try to fish something

No doubt there is a plethora of fishing talent here in the Ozarks.

Thanks

It's not really about finding the immediate bite I look around using my electronics at places they will be setting up on in a couple weeks. I probably won't fish much but will do a lot of looking on the electronics

Hey guys was gonna come up and prefish/look around for an upcoming tournament. Was planning on fishing grandglaize to dam. Do you guys think there will be open water or open ramps by Friday? Thanks in advance

We have a cabin on greers ferry and target walleye quite a bit. There are some big ones swimming around in all these ozark lakes. As far as growth rates I think they are suppose to grow faster than what you had listed just like smallmouth in southern waters. The catch is they don't live as long. Great article thanks for the good read!!!

My tournament partner has a couple of them. Nice finish on his, they look awesome on the fall the way they flutter. Hasn't used them yet but anxious to see how they work.

Guys prayer is a very powerful tool and I think it's time to start praying that the leaders of this country start to make some better decisions. Sad to think that the mindset of our country has led to such drastic measures. Praying for resolution and that more people start opening their hearts to Gods will. Sad to think that a president like Obama could not only get elected but could get reelected. Phil Robertson for president! :-)

They fight so hard and are really pretty colored fish. Love catching those big footballs!