Fishin' Freak

Techo, I saw your profile picture at the local Nixa coffee shop. I gave the owner a vote for you. Hope you win this month!

Good work Techo! Nice to see you getting your daughter out. I can't wait till my son can go with me!!!

Bill, Great comments on the trailers--no doubt about it, Chompers is still a great product and one I love. I should have added the "right now" phrase with the Yam's!!! Keep jerking their lips for me!!

Keep pounding them Bab's--both the outlaws and the fish!! Let me know if there is anything I could do to help in the fish handling matter--make a complaint call to someone ect.... I also would like to put an end to this kind of thing happening again. Are the fish still on the outside edges of the bushes early? I will also second Bill's comment on the Yam. trailors vs. the Chompers. He mentioned something to me about this a couple weeks ago and I used the Yamamoto's and noticed a difference for sure. I personally think they have more action and the fish seemed to prefer them over both Chompers and for sure over the Paca Chunks.

Great report Chris. Thanks!

RR Vet, I have a Clarus rod that is a 6'6 med. light baitcaster which I use for jerkbaits and spoons. It has a fast action tip and enough backbone for handling fish. I like it for those two baits. A nice rod and it was on sale when I bought it!!!

We found the jig bite this weekend to be really good. Friday and Sat. mornings we put in at Aunts and fished to K-City and the Baxter area with good success on a wide range of colors. PB&J, green pump. candy, brn and purple flash all produced. On Friday we had 30 plus fish with 11 keeps, our best 5 going around 14 lbs. We had one nice black and one nice K with the rest being SJ's! All our fish came much shallower than I anticipated. We caught all our fish just outside the tree line in 15-20 ft of water. If we moved out and fished the 20-28 foot range we would catch a fish or two but nothing like the shallower water. These guys on here that tell you to make 10 casts and if you don't catch a fish go to the next point are right on. We caught all our fish on three points with only two producing keeper fish. Saturday was a bit slower for us but we still managed 7 nice keeps with 15 total fish caught. All our fish came on three points again and were in that 15-20 ft range. We were really shocked both days with the lack of boat traffic considering it was the 4th. I am not sure but I think the cloud cover and rain may have had these fish a little shallower than normal but if the sun was shinning I would still start on the tree line and then move out. If you catch one or two off a point, stick and stay and make her pay!!! The topwater activity and bite was nonexistent for us as was the drop shot bite. We stayed with the feetball and had a blast!

RR Vet, There have been some great posts with some great info. I will throw in my 2 cents and it may not even be worth that. I personlly own a wide range of rods and reels. I will give you my personal favorites. Casting Falcon 7'4 Mike McClelland football jig rod. This rod will handle all football jigs and is also great for dragging a c-rig. It has plenty of backbone for setting the hook in deeper water. A great deep water jig rod. I have also used this rod to flip bigger 1/2 oz brush jigs and I like it for that as well. Falcon 6'10 Eakins jig rod. I use this rod for roundball jigs and football jigs up to 5/8 oz. This is a great all round jig rod. Any 6'6 or 7'0 medium action rod. I have a couple Browning Citori rods that are 6'6 and 7'0 that work really well for fishing topwater, spoons, stickbaits, and crankbaits. As for casting reels I have one that I love--Daiwa Zillion 7:1. It is awesome with a capital A! They are not cheap but I believe you get what you pay for and I would strongly recommend one! I have a couple of the blue Daiwa's (Tierra) mentioned and I also like those a lot. I did buy one of the TD Pro reels that Dawia made for Bass Pro and I am not in love with it. It is a smaller profile than the Tierra but not as quality in my opinion. As for choosing a reel I recommend going to Bass Pro in Springfield and spending a coulple hours trying all the reels out in your price range and see which one works for you. We are all different and we all like different things. What works well for one may not for another. Spinning I prefer Browning Mediallion and Citori spinning rods. They have great feel and are reasonably priced. I have many in the 6'6 to 6'10 range, some med. aciton, med. light and some med. heavy. If I would recommend one it would be a 6'6 medium action. You can drop shot with this as well as fish the shakey head or swim a grub. As for spinning reels I only use one kind--the Okuma Aveon 30. I love these spinning reels. I use both 6 and 8 pound florocarbon on them with little or no line twist. Great reels. These reels are durable and very smooth. I have never owned anything but the Aveon but I hear that all there spinning reels are well built. I do not like there baitcast reels but their spinning reels are good! If I could add one more thing it would be that when you find that combo that fits you perfectly, keep using it. I used to buy all kinds of rods and reels but I have found one or two companies products that I like and I have started sticking with them. It makes a big difference when you start casting 5 different reels in a day trip and they all cast the same or very similar. I hope this helps.

It sounds like I may need to wear bright orange when I fish this weekend!!!

Phillip, thanks for the report and that 4 lb Kent. is a nice fish!! I do have a question for you though--what do you mean when you say you are catching fish on a saddle. What do you call a saddle. Thanks

WOW!!! That is all I will say.

Skeeter you hit the nail on the head. I am biting at the bit to get out. Some days I just have to live my life through Babler's great reports!!! Thanks Bill!!

Bill Beck is an excellent hand on the Rock. I have fished with him a couple times and he is one of the best around. He is a threat to win any derby on Table Rock. He can put you on fish for sure and is great for teaching new techniques.

Wow, what a mess of nice fish! I want Bill's life!!!!!! Are you catching any drop shot fish yet Bill?

Thanks Don!! I am going to give a couple a try! Skeeter--Mikey's, Bonies, and Mudsuckers are made by Jackall. I know Tackle Warehouse carries them.

Don, What colors are you throwing in the Mikey Jr.? How does it compare to the Red Fin. Which do you feel is the better bait? As evidence with the Red Fin post last week--a lot are duds and need quite a bit of adjustment. Do the Mikey Jr.'s need as much tinkering? Do you ever throw the Jackall Boonie or the Mudsucker?

I have a few questions about moon phases and the spawn that I hope some of you can help answer. Just how important is the full moon when talking about the spawn? The full moon in April was on the 20th and then the next full moon will be on the 20th of May. I have been told that the three days before and after are the prime time for bass to spawn. Is this true? With the water temps really warming these past 10 days, will many fish go ahead and spawn out these first couple of weeks in May or will many wait for the moon? I am just wanting to get a feel for just how important the moon phases are to the spawn and how it affects the fish. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks

Nice week dtrs5kprs!

S&M Yes that is 1400 am out of Springfield.

I have had the opportunity to fish with Bill up the White River near Shell Knob and he knows that area of the lake without a doubt. He will put you on fish.

That is a great story!!!

Bill, I don't blame you for wanting to vent. The large majority of us who follow this site realize you do it for nothing and you are providing a huge benefit to us--the novice anglers. We appreciate what you have helped do with this site and we say thank you. Freak

Bill you are exactly right. My partner and I had one of those one fish bags. We only managed two fish all day and we were extremely disappointed to say the least. We are not lucky enough to fish anywhere close to 250 days a year yet we feel we are "decent" fisherman but yesterday was as humbling as humbling gets. We did not have the fish figured out and it showed. There are some great fisherman who fish these derbys and we saw that first hand yesterday.

conman, Thanks a bunch!

Does anyone know if there is a phone number you can call to check generation at the Bagnell Dam? Any help is appreciated.