rps

TR is in the middle of a chain. You can have four conditions: Nothing in/nothing out, flow in/nothing out, nothing in/flow out, and flow in/flow out. The water coming in is cold enough to change the overall water temp for several miles down stream. The flow out doesn't change our lake temp, but affects Taney. Up at this end I notice fish changes with flow in, of course, but do not see much change with flow out unless it combines with flow in. I will say that falling lake levels have always been a more difficult condition for me to figure. Hope that helps.

you are right. beautiful work.

Whack'em: My fault. I tried to be funny and somehow you became the butt of other's comments. Never intended that. rps

The rods I fish that are not my own making are Falcons. Great rods for the money. Unfortunately, I don't have a clue if the lowrider shakey head rod is what you need.

I had an Eagle 480 and now have a Humminbird 565. Both are good units, but the key to brush piles, seeing your jig, etc. is the unit set up. The default (how it comes from the store) setting on the Lowrance units seems to be more sensitive than on the Humminbird. The final, manual setting I plugged in allowed me to see the drop shot or jigged spoon easily on both units. The 565 has a wider cone from its transducer, which makes seeing your jig/spoon easier if your boat is drifting in the wind. That is the reason I switched to the Humminbird when my Lowrance unit died. Read your manual and experiment with the settings to fine tune what you see to your preferences. BTW - you will be happy you did not buy the inexpensive color. In bright sunlight they are very hard to read. The high dollar color units are much easier, but the low end ones I have looked at in other people's boats are almost impossible to read without a shade cover.

When more than minimum water is on, the current can be seen as far down river as Holiday Island. When the current is on, you can see eddies behind tree stickups and the fish reposition on points. It is not strong enough at Beaver to affect anything other than fish position, but it is there.

After more than one hool in my digits in the last two years, Christmas brought me a boga. They work great. If you have found a less expensive model, even better!

Whack'em: You hurt my feelings. My rig barely goes 32 at WOT. It cruises at 25. It will plane from here to Shell Knob at a little over 20, with a full live well. I guess it doesn't count as a real boat, though, right?

Fished today. For the second trip in a row, the morning topwater bite was only fair. I had 6 fish in the 12 to 14 inch range and nothing larger. Fished a shakey head watermelon candy worm for about 2 hours and caught 5 more shorts. Started trolling around 9:30. Caught a keeper walleye at the mouth of Rock Creek at 18 feet deep. Trolled known locations between there and Beaver until 2:00. Caught two keeper size spots, several smaller ones, and two sunfish. No additional walleye. Several times I stopped to fish boil ups on channel edges. Each time it was 6 inch white bass. In other words, I enjoyed myself, but it sure was tough in the heat.

I ran up to the same area today as I fished on Friday. This morning the wind was from the North instead of the South, the water temp was two degrees higher, and the good fish I found Friday were not anywhere near where they were. I did catch a few dinks, but saw no evidence of decent fish on the flats. The fish busting shad on top were scattered and out in the channel. I've yet to master that pattern. I switched to fishing bluff ends and wound up with eight or ten topwater fish that included two squeaker keepers ( they measure 15 if you pinch the tail). I switched to a C-rig fish doctor in green pumpkin. I fished all depths from 10 to 30 feet. I tried pea gravel and mixed rock. I caught maybe ten fish, but not a one of them was any size. I trolled home from Big M to Holiday Island - well not the whole way - and managed another handful of small spots, one big crappie, and one keeper walleye. The walleye was 18 feet deep in 25 feet of brushy water. On the way home I saw more than one example of idiocy on the water. Be careful out there.

tb In the archives are excellent articles that tell quite a bit about clear water lake fishing. Spend some serious reading time before you start buying. When I moved to TR seven years ago, it took me over a year to adjust my Oklahoma ways. Single biggest lesson? 10 pound Yozuri green is my heavy line.

I have tried Spiderwire Fireline, Suffix, and Cabela's house brand. None can compare, IMO, to Power Pro Green.

Fished Friday morning between Owl Creek and Big M. Bill's description of his Thursday morning trip - big flats, mixed Spots and SM - is what I found. Of course, I used a super spook jr. Took one picture, but wish I hadn't. Not five minutes after I released the picture fish, I landed a fat 19 inch SM with the most handsome tigerstripe I have seen in a while. However, when I pushed the camera button, all it did was tell me, "Battery Depleted." What a shame, especially as I do not catch large SM very often. It seems counterintuitive, but there are fewer SM here on the upper end than down lake. Once the topwater action stopped I looked for but did not find walleye. I caught a little bit of everything else while trolling, but no eyes.

After summer school let out, I decided to try to find walleye. I trolled around four hours. I caught two walleye, one of which went 19 inches. The other was an almost legal fish. Both hit a bone wiggle wart at 18 - 19 feet. One came from an inside bend flat edge. The other was cozied up to submerged trees in 27 feet of water. I marked deeper fish but could not persuade them to bite. I saw one other walleye caught and asked the depth. The man answered 15 to 17 feet, he thought. The keeper I caught was a skinny male (see picture). I hope I find the larger fish soon.

I have had fair to good success on the northwest corner of the island just uplake of the shell knob bridge. In addition, some summer mornings, the spots will chase shad to the top just off that island. I also fish the bluff point opposite that island where the Kings River flows in. Bass suspend in the trees on that bluff and sometimes will come up very early. Good luck.

I hardly consider myself an expert. I am merely addicted and persistent. I prefer what the fish want. I do not mean to make fun of the question. I am serious. I usually guess what to try first based on past experience, reports, and intuition. Then I keep trying until I find something that works. One year seems to differ from another. Four or five years ago I fished all June and part of July with a Super Spook. Lots of big fish that year. The next summer, I couldn't buy a bite on any spook and wound up walking poppers. No it isn't easy, but yes you can do it. In my kit right now, I have eight or nine spooks. They are about half and half originals and super spook juniors. They are all silver or white with accent colors. I lost my clear spook last month and haven't replaced it yet, but I will. If you look at the picture you will notice the silver/blue super spook junior. Also notice that the hooks are not original and I have added white and red feathers to the tail hook. I do that to all my spooks. I also often add gill slashes with red nail polish. I do the feathers and paint to make the bait different from what they see all the time. I do the hooks from superstition. This year, I have had greater success with the junior. I think that is because of the great shad spawn last year and this. There are beau coup 3 inch shad in the lake. I usually start each day with a cast, let it sit, twitch once or twice, and then start a medium steady retrieve. I add pauses, cadence changes, and speed changes until I find a pattern. The last couple of trips have been steady retrieve patterns for me, but I have had a number of hits on the first move after the cast. The above is a long version of "that depends" and vagueness. Sorry, it is difficult to explain what I do with a spook. What is funny, I have fished with others and they do things very differently with great success. Good luck.

Because of the fog, I fished South of 86 this morning. Took 13 total on my spook, mixed LM and Spots. If even half of the fish that slapped at the bait had hooked up and stayed on, the total would be double. As it was, many of those I landed were barely hooked. Took some pictures. The first two fish were the largest off the spook. 17 and 18 inches. They came on consecutive casts from opposite ends of a sunken tree. Around 9:30 I began to troll. The first fish I caught is the third bass picture. 19 inches. I wound up catching two large crappie and a 20 inch walleye trolling. All the trolling fish hit a silver diver at 18 feet in 18 to 22 feet of water.

After more trouble than I thought possible, I have new sonars (less expensive ones than before, but they work), a remounted trolling motor, and a neutral switch in the throttle box that again allows me to start my boat. Some of the problems were wear and tear. Some were the result of goofs by my former marine mechanic. I don't wish to discuss the cost. Instead, I choose to be happy I am again able to go out. I hope to go out again in the morning. If I do I will post results.

LM - Original Mepps size 3, farm pond, Tulsa,OK 1969 nine pounds SM - black twin spin w/ green spot frog rind Bull Shoals 1988? 89? 5.9 pounds Spot - texas rigged watermelon lizard Broken Bow Lake 1974 4.5 pounds Walleye - trolled wiggle wart Table Rock Lake 2006 12 pounds

Left under the moon and ran down past Eagle Rock. I spooked the main lake gravel finger points between the Roaring River and Owl Creek. I caught somewhere between 12 and 15 (I lost count) but only had 2 keepers. I did have one toilet flush bite and had the fish long enough for the drag to go ZZZZZZZZT! Later in the morning I trolled a silver/chartreuse wart at the mouth of Rock Creek. I caught three walleye off the reef there at 18 feet in 20 to 22 feet of water. 17, 19, and 21.5 inches. This picture isn't very good, but will give some idea of the walleye.

A length limit is appealing but requires daily enforcement. If the corps prohibits slips longer than 26? 28? feet, we won't have a real problem. Boats the size we are talking are a pain to trailer. If they can't stow them permanently on the lake, they will go elsewhere. Write the corps.

I agree. I love mine. Wish I could replace all the other baitcasters.

Don't spend money. Take a trip to the library and check put old issues of a magazine called In Fisherman. The information in these applies to all species.

At the very end of my open week between regular school and summer school, I finally got my boat back in the water. New neutral switch, electrical gremlin repaired, two sonars replaced. Fished Saturday evening above Beaver. Of course as soon as I got up there, the cold water from a large Beaver discharge came down. I fished pockets out of the current and caught five with one squeaker keeper. I never saw the best fish I had on. Water temp 64. Early this morning I fished flat points between Holiday Island and Eagle Rock. Before 7:30 I put 16 in the boat on a bone colored Super Spook Junior. Most were spots but I had one SM and several LM. The three best were 15, 16, and 17 inches. I caught 2 more on a watermelon candy shakey head rig. Water temp 74. I spent time both days looking for walleye. No joy there. When I decided to come off the water today I was down by Rock Creek. Between there and Eagle Rock the boat traffic was absurd. Came up on a pair of PWC and noticed one was throwing a huge wake. ??? When I got closer I found out why. The lady had on a bright pink visor, but no one was going to miss her. From the rear you couldn't see the PWC, just her backside and the wake. I'm guessing she went 400 - 450. Scary.

Several of the guide boats put in at Holiday Island and cast nets in TR to catch their bait for striper fishing in Beaver. They wouldn't go to the extra work unless something about TR made it easier to catch bait.