rps

Snuck out this morning as soon as I could see. I went up river from Beaver town and fished on top for a while. I had a few slap at the bait, but only one hookup - an almost keeper size smallmouth. The overcast was not enough to cancel the North wind. I started to fish for dinner after that. Found one keeper walleye right where the 30 foot river channel stepped up to a 15 foot deep shelf. I also caught a short out of the brush tops running a crank bait at 20 feet deep. By 11 the weather was looking ominous so I came in.

Does your troll motor extend past the gunnel? If so, be sure the mount does not create a road block when up or down.

I do not have them myself, but several of the folks with lifts here at Holiday Island have them.

Shad colors - pearl with blue or green back, clear, bone, silver with blue or silver with black. Sammy is a good lure, but the Spro Dawg and the Excalibur Jimmy are also excellent and cheaper. You can also go old school with a spook.

I put your numbers in the calculator at Bass Resource and the result was 10.9. Good heavens, even if off by 9/10 of a pound, it is a monster fish!

I was able to finish my must do's yesterday and went out fishing this morning. My partner and I spent about an hour chasing the small number of fish exploding on the 1 inch shad. I managed to catch four with one an almost keeper as well as a white bass. My partner suggested we try out the new leadcore rig for walleye. Fished a small crank at 24 to 25 feet on a flat for a while. Pulling leadcore is much like dragging in a tree limb you have broken off. Nothing bothered to hit the baits. We ran down to Eagle rock area to fish a flat that humps and falls into the channel. Found a friend already fishing there and he said he had caught two off the hump at 24 feet and both nearly measured legal. Tried the leadcore there and also fished a worm harness. Burned up a box of crawlers catching bass and bluegill before I finally caught two almost legals back to back. My partner wanted a change and suggested we fish timber. I motored to a good spot and started long line trolling at 24 feet. Two stops later and I was down to 32 feet and still hadn't connected with anything other than small bass. I finally decided to ignore my partner and switched to the third spot where I fast trolled a crank at 18 feet deep. Caught a keeper right away. I had another, larger fish hit and got it to the boat, but my idiot partner wasn't ready with the net the first time I brought the fish up. On the lunge dive the fish came unbuttoned. That was it, I fired my partner for his bad advice and inexcusable net handling. He refused to get out of the boat! I went back in to the dock then. BTW - I was fishing alone.

Well you hair splitters just go right on ahead. For me, if the limit is in the cooler, I'm headed to the dock. If it isn't, I'm fishing. Since I don't keep bass unless it's a 10 pounder or better (I have never caught one and don't expect to)I never run into the full cooler problem. To be honest, I rarely stay on the bass long enough to catch a limit of keepers. I don't recall a single day this year and only two last year. No, three. Had a day year before last where I caught 63 with ten keepers, all on top water. Come on, who's going to quit a top water bite that good?

Troll or crank, do not worry about the leader. For a slow finesse presentation, like a shaky head, Alberto knot a smaller YoZuri Hybrid leader and knock their lights out.

Now the Daiichi Death Trap trebles are nothing with which anyone needs to argue.

Shhhh. Everyone will do it.

The regulars on this board knew I would chime in. Those are a few of many on a Norman Top Dollar. With practice you can walk it and you can fish it as a popper as well. It spits, dives, waddles, and walks as if it were drug afflicted. AND THEY ARE CHEAP!

What they said. Seriously. What you have already received is everything you need to plan the best trip ever.

You've gotten some great answers. Don't know that what I say will help, but try this. Look at the hills and pastures around here. Some hill sides extend forever. Others slope down for a while and then abruptly end with a drop down. Others are kind of bordered by a creek and that side is is steeper. The abrupt end of the slope and the steep fall off on the creek side are roll offs. Where the flat point rolls off to deeper water at the depth the fish are hanging is what you want, especially if you can find one with an additional something like a sunken lay down. On my end of the lake, that means I run out on a flat point and see if it keeps going or falls into the channel of the White or Roaring River or into Owl or Rock Creek. I have a small mental list of roll offs at different depths for these points and fish the one that the current lake depth puts the roll off in the target depth zone. Have I made this thread clear as mud? Good. I'll quit now.

I have to admit, I cannot complain about this year. Since June 1, I've put a 23 inch bass, caught on a topwater, and the third largest and largest walleyes of my life in the boat. Scares me to think how many seasons I will have to pay for that luck.

Look at the markings - the washout regularity versus bold irregulars. Large mouth.

Seriously large fish. Well done CD!

Mine is the 80 pound thrust, 24 volt system with the 60 inch shaft. A 54 shaft would work. Be sure you have them mount it so the head does not stick out past the gunnel. I wasn't, and they did, and it's a PITA when I put the boat in the slip or pull up to a dock for gas. BTW, I love the boat.

I haven't been out this week - school starting - but, my talk to crowd tells me look around 26 to 28 feet. See powerdive's post.

Many would gladly accept an accident like that.

Al, You write so well. Would you consider doing a day of guest teaching. The art of description and descriptive art?

On Table Rock (I saw your other post)contact Bill Babler, Don House, Bill Beck, Captain Joe, or Jamie Kowalsky. They all guide there and post regularly on the forum. On Bull Shoals, Mike Worley advertises as a walleye guide but catches more bass than most bass guides. He is bullshoalsfishing.com.

I add 1+ to PD. It has showed, then disappeared, then come back. The weather changes plus flow is messing with us. If I were to fish tomorrow, I would fish based on two things - where the bait fish show and and an assumed 28 foot thermocline.

The fishing in that area is excellent, although the depth and the boat traffic may require different tactics than I use here at the other end of the lake. Flip docks and spoon their connective lines. Drop shot and jig would be the other likely producers. Have a great time.

While in law school in Norman, and poor, my boat was one of those canvas sling seat truck innertube rigs. I always called them belly boats. One evening I was flipping up and under flooded willows when a thick blackish snake decided to leave the willow branches and join me in my tube. Seriously, it landed right in my lap. To understand what happened next, you must realize my extreme dislike of snakes. In the next few instants, I somehow wound up out of my tube standing in chest deep water, completely wet with my rod in hand. The snake was still in the tube. I think maybe I hit the release snap at the crotch and slithered out. What I don't recall is how I did that with my rod in my hand. The only other choice is that I paddled so hard with my legs that I came out of the water and the tube and landed some few feet away.

The noodle advice is good. The "be with them" is as well. I don't know about jugs, but trot lines need to be labeled with your name and maybe some other stuff. Maybe someone who knows more than I will help out here.Based on where I have found fish the last 10 days,I suggest you set the weight at 26 feet and have the hook about a foot above that. The bluegills are thick at 26 - 28 feet. Good luck.