rps

Welcome Parker! You won't believe how good the fishing was in this time period. Congratulations!

or you will wind up fishing the wrong places the wrong way. I took a retired acquaintance out today. He wanted to see what a smaller tin boat was like He is accustomed to fishing walleye so that is what we did. We caught bass and we caught many blue gill. We did not catch a walleye, of any size. I had one legitimate walleye bite - standard load the rod up type - and managed to hook it well enough to bring it most of the way to the boat. Then, just as I was bringing it up from its at the boat lunge, it was gone. We fished 24 to 32 feet deep. We pulled worm harnesses and trolled with lead core. I even jigged one location with a spoon. Maybe next time ...

Salty and just a hint of sweet from the orange juice.

I do not know real estate or condos. I do know these things. Indian Point is very popular and convenient to many of the attractions (that would make resale easier). Boat traffic in that area is very intense. The fishing, if you can avoid boat traffic and tournaments, in that area can be very good.

End of July and no thermocline. That makes it really hard. Sounds to me like it is time to drop shot and spoon after the early top "bite."

I have a not so secret "go to" marinade. I use it for chicken, salmon, and pork. My bet would be it would be perfect for ducks and geese as well. Let me show you what it does for wings. Tonight I served those wings with a farmers market type salad of zucchini, yellow squash, red onion, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, sweet pepper, celery, salt!, pepper, olive oil, shell pasta, and white balsamic vinegar. The marinade? Soy sauce, orange juice, and dry white wine in equal proportions. Billethead and Feathers and Fins need to try this on their game and tell me what they think. As a clue, I baste salmon two or three times over an hour before I cook. I immerse chicken for 6 to 18 hours.

I don't know why I haven't thought to try those. I have a couple in my box for rip fishing, and they ought to work great vertically.

May I suggest you check out my favorite, the War Eagle spoons: http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/War_Eagle_Jiggin_Spoon_2pk/descpage-WEJS.html#multiview

Two craft are very stable with room for small children, yet transportable in a pickup bed. Google the Jackson Coosa and the Native Ultimate.

The is a very informative video featuring Bobby Murray explaining how to jig for walleye.

Harness worms are year round. BUT, during some parts of the year, trolled cranks deliver better fish, and during other times, jigged spoons are especially effective.

Al, as I hive told you before, you write well. I am sorry but, McManus needed to write about this.

Do you remember when you first thought about fly fishing? And how soon you became addicted? First, you live close to two excellent walleye lakes, Beaver and Table Rock. One of the United States best, Bull Shoals, is only a little farther. Second, a number of really excellent fishermen post to this board. Pay close attention to Feathers and Fins, Powerdive, Rangerman, Mike Worley, Kjackson, and .... drat I am sure I omitted someone I should include. Third, crawler harnesses are one of the top three or four methods used locally for walleye, but they are not necessarily the premier method as they are somewhat seasonal. I got hooked on walleye fishing by long line trolling. Powerdive is a strong leadcore advocate. Fourth, there are many paths to success and what you see on this board and elsewhere are different examples of different paths. I write about what works for me. As do the others. Have you read the articles I wrote for Phil Lilley on nightcrawler fishing and trolling. If not here are links. These are starting points. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/table-rock/trolling-for-walleye/ http://www.ozarkanglers.com/white-river-walleye-on-worm-harness/ Be sure you look at this: Scott, I need your help here. Give him the link to your post that showed your harness creations. If you have already read all of those, please forgive me. Now, to address your questions: IMHO, braid leaders suck. They are so limp that become easily twisted with the blades and such. I use a high quality mono or co-polymer. My choice is Suffix Elite or Yozuri Hybrid. I also like Trilene XT clear. I use 10 or 12 pound. I tie my braid, Power Pro metered multicolored 10/2 directly to the bottom bouncer using a double Palomar. I attach the leader and harness to the bottom bouncer. Scott uses a different and equally workable dropper concept. I made my walleye rod and have another in progress. In the mean time I use a inexpensive Falcon HD 7" medium action as my second rod. The amount of line depends on the weight/depth/speed equation. You want your bait just above bottom so your bait will be 6 to 12 inches above bottom. I use the philosophy that you let out enough line until you feel the bottom all the time. Then you reel in until you only feel it some times. Last of all, hookset - recently discussed. Look at my last two posts for an excellent discussion Good Luck!

You are going to make me pull my boat out of the water and trailer over to fish I lake I have not fished since 1978? Yeah, I may have to do that.

Old story: A man walks over the bridge and looks down. He sees a boy fishing in the stream. He leans over the rail and asks the boy how they are biting. The boy turns and smiles up, "They're biting great!" "Really?" the man says skeptically. "Oh yeah. I've caught a whole mason jar full. Want to see?" Sadly this describes my day. I caught walleye. Five actually. Not a keeper in the group, although one was semi-close. I hope it was me and not the lake turning into an unladylike witch.

Scott, and others who were raised traditionally, let me explain what it is like to teach 13 and 14 year old kids in public school. One of the most common phrases you hear: "Don't Judge Me." Wait a minute child, I am the teacher. It is my job to judge your actions and your work and help you learn to do better. Another very common phrase: "YOLO!" (You only live once) Used to justify any action, no matter how stupid. Child, Darwin had something to say about Yolo. Faced with verbal consequences to an action, you hear, "You're bullying me." [Although they would probably spell it "U R bullying me."] My favorite: "Can I call my mother?" Used to fix any mistake or oversight such as forgotten school work or permission slips. Also used when confronted with the consequences of an action. In most cases the child is sincere as they know mother will drop everything and come to school. Someone raises the children to know and think this way, so your traditional values upbringing is a relic of a different time and place. At some point the pendulum will swing back to make your values more mainstream, but not for a while yet. Of course that means there will a future Timothy Leary and Abby Hoffman out there to fight that repression. God I love teaching history.

Well done! How deep?

BB28, Scott and Mike are excellent fisherman and the descriptions they give are spot on. Both use rod holders more often than not. When I was self teaching from reading, I learned crank bait trolling first and I hand held my rod. When I began to learn crawler fishing, I continued to hold the rod. Although I will now sometimes set a second rod in the holder, I primarily fish one rod and hold it. After time, you begin to learn the different feel that bluegill (machine gun) small bass (1,2...1,2...1,2) and catfish (hello, I am here to take your rod away from you) have. The surprises are the carp and gar. Most of the time the walleye show up, especially when your bait has paused because it hit a limb or rock then bumps loose. The bite my original tip was discussing was the heavy feeling, mouthing, run at the same speed as your troll with the bait in its mouth bite. Those you must wait out, or give line as Scott (F&F) discusses, and stick only when the rod loads up. As Mike (PD) describes, I use 7 and 7'6" long rods rated as medium power with moderate action, so there is considerable give in the top half. I try to wait for most of that flex to bend, then I sweep. Good luck!

It is time to tell the truth. My generation (high school 1966 to 1980) did a very poor job raising children. We were so concerned in finding our own way or truth we forgot the plain value of community standards. All things became acceptable based upon the individual's wants/needs. Since then, none of our children or grandchildren think about or worry about anyone other than themselves. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.

Spoons? I love spoons. Have you actually had a good spoon day recently?

If they are going to set brush, I wish we could teach them where, and why. Many are in the middle of nowhere builds.and set shallow. The time we need piles/brush is when shallow is not working.

What you describe is one of the hardest situations to solve. I have had brown trout pick up sculpin and move to the boat. I have had bass pick up plastics and do the same. When I am lucky enough to sense this is happening, I reel done slowly until I regain contact, then I sweep. It works, sometimes.

Sadly, that means I will be back at work too.

Gentlemen, unless my understanding of science is mistaken, neither TR nor Bull will ever be as good for size as they were in the 60's and 70's. When highland lakes are first flooded, the clear water supplied by the rivers and streams becomes filled with debris and the shores, even if cleared, have trash limbs, grass, and any variety of objects to provide cover. In the nutrient rich situation created the fish population explodes and grows very rapidly. New lakes experience lesser fishing pressure as it takes years, even for the locals, to learn the places and patterns. As access points increase, tourist trade strengthens, and the water clears itself of debris and cover, those classes from the first several years feed well on subsequent year classes. It is because of that time period that we later see huge strings of huge fish. Eventually disease or old age culls those initial classes. Every class after that point is on the same footing and swims in the same highland reservoir (lesser nutrient) water. Once in a while, years like 2008 and 2010 change that fact with high water that lasts through the spawn and beyond, but those two years need to be well in the past (10 years or more) before they will have a real effect on size. Even then those year classes will never enjoy the big bully status of the first three years' classes after impoundment. Now if my understanding is wrong or too simplistic, I am sure the real experts - fish biologists and fishery management staff - will set me straight.

I related discussion is going on in my thread "you would have to be crazy"