rps

They came up near me today Jason. I was just above Holiday Island and they were chopping the 1 inch long shad babies. Took 9 to 2 pounds. I wrote a report.

I am so old they do not expect me to know squat about what I am doing. Remember Sierra Madre: "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!"

If you want rapalas and shad raps that deep, you have to go with snap weights or lead core line. These have their own problems. Seems everything is a trade off.

I troll using Power Pro 10 pound braid. I use the Precision Trolling book to determine depth with their dive curves. I have been using the system for several years and can effectively fish most depths. What I have to do is change lures to target the desired depth. My trolling boxes contain wiggle warts (2 sizes), fat free shad (three sizes), Norman Little N and DD22, reef runners (2 sizes), hot n tots (1/2 oz.) Bandit 300 series and flat max, and Rapala shad raps. Basically, 8 feet to 35 feet.

excellent fish samkam. well done. details! how deep, on what, what general part of the lake?

Fished in the heat today, 6/25, from noon to 4. Caught two keeper fish, an 18 inch walleye and a 22 inch sauger. When I hooked the sauger I thought I had a really big fish, and then was confused when I netted him. Then I remembered the White River system held saugers. I hadn't caught one since the 70's when I used to fish for stripers below Keystone Dam outside of Tulsa. When I loaded at the marina I put three bags of ice in a dry live well. The slurry kept the fish fine. I'm glad I caught some as I would have felt foolish emptying unused ice water. The fish hit lures traveling at 25-26 feet, in or near brush/stickups in water 30-40 feet deep. Both hit after a change of speed caused by nicking brush. Rangerman: Yes the Thursday walleyes were the first for the new boat. I've done well on bass but until yesterday I had been shut out for keeper walleye.

Do you suppose they would call that color Table Rock Tiger Shad?

That is an "original" series which means it has a snap. Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away the warts had a different connector, but even before Normark (Rapala) bought Storm, they had switched to the snap. It is not an original color, but I have done well on TR with chartreuse and with purple so I figured a combination was worth a try.

The one who used a tree to assist its escape "felt" halfway between the small keeper and the big girl.

I cleared the buoys at Holiday Island at 5:12 AM. I wanted to fish the flat points and bluffs between Eagle Rock and Rock Creek so I scurried up there. I didn't want to waste the good time of day. Boy did I waste gas driving fast and far. I put one dink in the boat. I missed one blow up. That was it. I backed off and fished a jig on the Viney Creek Point. Although I marked fish, I did not have the secret. The fish I marked were on both bluff edge sides at the drop off from 25 to deep. Maybe I should give up and learn to drop shot. By 8:30 I was disgusted and began to troll for walleye. So far this year, that has not been a great success, but today I caught 4 fish and lost a good one. Two of the four in the boat were keepers, one 18.5 and one 26.5. Both fish were in stick ups between 20 and 25 feet down. I used this to catch this Anyone find a topwater bite?

Good luck. I will be out tomorrow on TR and probably Friday as well. If I have success I'll post.

Go to my blog and read my fish hook story. Two versions - one is the actual post I put on this board. The other is a rewrite for future inclusion in my soon to be famous collection of short stories. When I say I feel for you, I really mean it.

I think all of us who are regulars have tales of "other boats." Other boats are one of the reasons I first started fishing for walleye by trolling. I found it difficult to jig fish the long points when PWC's and ocean liners towing tubes went on all sides of me - at once. My favorite memory: The wake boat that came so close to the rear of my boat while I was trolling that its lower unit snagged my line. As it headed down the lake it peeled 300 yards of braid from my reel. When it reached the end, the line broke with a report like a gunshot. I headed in and laughed all the way while imagining the wad of braid twisted in his prop. BTW, my new boat, an Alumacraft Navigator, is designed for big waves. As long as I'm pointing into the wave I'll be fine. I just have to watch the wave from the rear risk.

This may be hard to believe, but the package it came in does not have a brand name. It was made in China, and I am sure more than one company sells it. I bought mine through Amazon. What you see is the 18 inch size. The yellow you see is a thin plastic film. At some point I will probably have to peel it off. The unit was 17 or 21 dollars I think.

Oh yes.

glad it worked for you

I'm bumping this to include new pictures.

I was hunting walleyes so I was fishing a slow death worm rig. http://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/fishing/2007/09/slow-death http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/Sources/GetImage.axd%3Fown%3DNC%26imageid%3D114175&imgrefurl=http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/live-bait-hooks/810342.aspx&usg=__o5jaJxO8r0ewoiA7aqbTN1JP_LQ=&h=117&w=150&sz=3&hl=en&start=3&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=dhg9BX-7-RDMtM:&tbnh=75&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dslow%2Bdeath%2Bfishing%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1 In the hole between the 62 bridge and where it bends toward Houseman, I could not keep the trout off. Down nearer Blue Springs, they were not as thick. On the shoal near Cow Patty Flats (island, then bend, then a big cut on the left as you head down) I found trout and small brown bass. No walleye, though.

Fished early. Not great but I did manage 8 on a splashing walker. Two keepers, with one worth a picture. When I pinched her tail she went over 20 inches and the Cabelas spring scale said 5 pounds. Notice her tail has not grown fully back yet. She came off a steep bank near the mouth of Rock Creek just before the lightning ran me back towards Holiday Island. After the topwater bite quit, I fished a jig for an hour. Only shorts. I then went way up river to hunt walleye but found only trout.

There are others who know more than I but I can start and let the experts correct and add. I tie my own bottom rigs. One variety is the traditional spinner - #3 colorado or indiana blade, beads and floats, snelled onto #4 front and #6 back octapus hooks. My leader is 15# Yozuri, 3 to 4 feet long, and tied off on a swivel. I hook the hooks in a piece of a foam swimming noodle and wrap the leader until I can put a small nail through the swivel into the foam. I use gulp worms and leaches simply because I always forget to buy night crawlers. I bought one quart and now add other types to the mix - there is plenty of room. My BB rod is the same 7' medium power rod I use to troll hard baits and is wound with 10# Power Pro green. Two variations: 1. Tie several 6' leaders with a single hook, one bead ,one float, and no blades. Use these with the gulp leaches or floating short worms. Go a little slower than you would with a crawler harness. 2. Tie several slow death rigs. (Google it) Fish these very slow. Good luck.

The fish do the deep thing up here as well, and when they do, I think they are harder to find than down lake. Something about the lack of depth makes them more secretive. Yes we have large barges, but not in the numbers you see downstream. BTW, this morning I went out between storm cells for about two hours. Caught 14 spotted bass and one largemouth. Several were close, but none measured.

No typo. When they release water from Beaver, the water temp is very low because it comes from the bottom of Beaver. That is how the trout fisheries are sustained. Most of the fish I caught came from 75 degree water.

At the risk of boring everyone, I'll report today's findings. Tried a few things different this morning. First 45 minutes I hit my good spots in Leatherwood. Not so good really. Nothing - not even perch. Left the cove and went up river. I started fishing boulders and laydowns on steep shady banks. The pattern still worked. First two fish I had on jumped off. I really wish the first one hadn't as it was a very nice fish - I would guess 5 to 6 pounds. The next four were keepers 15 to 18.5 inches. Last one jumped off too, making me 4 for 7. All were largemouths, but considering the way I was fishing, I was not surprised. What surprised me was the fact none of the fish were dinks. No pictures today because I charged the battery last night and forgot to take the camera with me to the boat. Since I was upriver, I ran up to where the water temp dropped to 53, just down from Blue Springs. I fished a slow death worm rig back down for a mile or so. No walleye, but two large trout and a small brown bass.

Yesterday I did not see another boat until nearly 11:00. Today I counted 11 launches before 6:00 AM. Today also had sun which shut down the topwater bite by 8:30, even on the shaded banks. Can't complain though. I put six in the boat with two keepers, including this one: The pictured fish was 20 inches. The other keeper was 17 inches. One other solid keeper released himself before I could net him.

Friday there was no sun - the reason the bite lasted so long.