DavidB

We did not make it to Renard's. I cited your recommendation several times, but the ladies were insistent on touring lighthouses and exploring the small villages beyond Sturgeon Bay (hence the goats on the roof at Sister Bay). My buddy Phil and I lost a close two to two vote on Renard's :-), but the ladies had their way when we were off the water. You were certainly right about the prime rib at Nightingale--delicious! Phil and I enjoyed Old Fashioneds at every dinner stop, intending to compare but they were all outstanding, as good as we've had. It was our first experience with sweet or sour Old Fashioneds. I guess we need to get out more!

Thanks, Quill. It's great fishing for really stout smallmouth; but as we were reminded this trip, on our first two days, there are few guarantees. We were fortunate to be in a 21' Nitro bass and walleye boat--a big, heavy boat with a 300 hp Merc 4 stroke. Much of the time, it would have been dangerous in a bass boat.

My buddy Phil and I just returned from a week at Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. This was our third trip to the Sturgeon Bay area, and our wives accompanied us this year. We had a great time, ate far too much, and look forward to a fourth trip. We used Mark Jackson as our guide, as we had on both previous trips. He guides with Dale Stroschein, whom some of you may know as a veteran bass and walleye guide. Dale owns Sand Bay Beach Resort, near Sturgeon Bay, where we stayed for our last trip. He also runs the Wacky Walleye Guide Service. We fished three 6 hour excursions with Mark, and it was tough. They love "fishing the wind" for smallmouth, and there was plenty of it--3 to 5 foot swells, consistently the first two days, and for much of our third trip after the first couple of hours of a nice chop. We fished out of Ephraim harbor on Green Bay the first morning, fishing humps with scattered grass that seemed perfect, but yielded nothing. We then trailered to Rowley's Bay North of Bailey's Harbor, on Lake Michigan, to fish a windblown point where we had loaded up on prior trips. We switched up between swim baits, a square bill, and The Ned, and caught a beautiful 4 lb 12 oz smallie on The Ned, but that was it. The next morning we returned to Ephraim, but fished an exposed reef (did I say windblown?) North of Sister Bay. This is a "community hole" but we only caught three--coincidentally, another 4 lb 12 oz smallie on The Ned. We were very disappointed, to say the least, since the fishing our first two days didn't begin to compare with our two prior trips. We chalked it up to "fishing, instead of catching." The first two days it was unseasonably hot (80 degrees at 6:00 AM) for Sturgeon Bay. A little front came through overnight and we fished in a light rain the third morning, with temps in the 60's. We returned to the same exposed reef and caught a 3 lb smallie on the first cast. We caught a total of 35 the third morning, almost 30 in a small area at that reef, mostly 3 to over 4 lbs, all on The Ned. We returned to Ephraim Harbor, where we had launched, and ended our trip cruising its flat and catching a few nice ones on the square bill. Needless to say, our spirits were revived! We made use of Bill's recommendation of Mink River Bay Basin, at Ellison Bay, Sunday night after our first outing. They accommodated us as we watched our LSU Tigers win their 8th College World Series National Championship! The second in three years! The beer battered onion rings were as tasty as Bill mentioned, and the whitefish were delicious. They made us feel welcome throughout the game--the service was terrific! There are a number of fine restaurants in the area. The best we experienced were Chop at Fish Creek and the Nightingale Supper Club in Sturgeon Bay, open since 1916. Both offer wide ranging menus including steaks and seafood (including walleye, of course). We enjoyed excellent meals at both, and the service was great. Both are a little pricey, but worth it. Our ladies had a nice time exploring the villages of Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, and Sister Bay, while we were fishing. Door County is a popular resort area for Chicago, Milwaukee, Green Bay, and surrounding areas. It's a laid back, comfortable area that I know you and your families will enjoy. We stayed at Landmark Resort at Egg Harbor, this trip, and it was very nice. We hope to try one of the resorts at Fish Creek next trip. Attached are just a few pics from an enjoyable vacation. Tight lines🎣!

I can't imagine why bass should be stocked in Table Rock. We spend a week each year, the latter part of April, and always have plenty of action. There seem to be healthy populations of Largemouth, Smallmouth and Spots. We have guys that spend most of their time up Long Creek from the 86 bridge to the Arkansas line, others that primarily fish Clevenger and Jake's Creek, and others that focus more on the dam area to Point 5. Everyone always leaves happy. What data do they have that suggests a need to manipulate the bass fishery?

We always have a good turnout for our annual trip to the Rock. There were 13 of us that made the trip from Louisiana this year to stay at our home away from home, Happy Hollow. We fished from April 27th to May 2nd, this year, while the lake was 5 feet above pool. All of us had a great time, and all of us caught a lot of fish. Some targeted Smallmouth, some a combination of Largemouth and Spots, and some chased all 3. Attached are just a few pictures of fish my buddy and I caught. Our biggest all week was a 4 lb. largemouth. Some of the other guys caught larger fish, and there were a few walleye caught (pure accident). A lot of fish were caught on the Ned, including possibly the most on the little skirted Ned jig sold by BPS. We caught by far the most of our fish on a Carolina rigged Speed Craw, and pitching bushes with a medium-sized Brush Hog. It was a challenge to determine which of our normal spots were producing with the higher water, and which ones were not. Made it interesting! I see that the water has risen even higher. Reminds me of our trip a few years ago when the lake rose approximately 20 ft., and we had to leave because the lake was under our cabin and in the parking lot. I still remember it lapping the bottom of the old Hwy. 86 bridge. Good luck to all of you the rest of this year, and through the winter. Hope to see more of your reports. It's been especially nice recently to see that Bill is posting again--so informative! Be safe, and tight lines!

Bill, Sorry you had such challenging weather on your trip. A buddy and I will be making our third trip on June 20th, this time with our wives. We will also be staying at Egg Harbor, and have a guide booked for 3 morning trips, while we're there. Our first two trips were the first week in September. The first trip it was hot, and we fished Lake Michigan in shorts. The first day we had huge rollers, but caught big 4-5 lb. smallmouth on small swimbaits in shallow water. Thankfully, the second day was much calmer at the same location, and the fishing was just as good. Our next trip (same week of the year) it was very cool, and we fished in heavy rainsuits both days. We fished in Green Bay that trip, all the way out to Washington Island, where we caught a 6 lb 3 oz smallmouth in 25' of water on the Ned. The numbers weren't as good that trip, but the size remained pretty consistent. The area is so quaint and laid back, with the small villages, that we talked about bringing our wives on a return trip. We hope they will enjoy it. I would welcome any suggestions that you might have about where to go, things to do, places to eat, etc. I've followed this site for many years, and our group from Louisiana just completed our annual week on Table Rock, the last week of April. We've done that every year since 1982. The fishing was good, as always, but a challenge with the high, stained water, and with the high winds. The fish made it worth our effort! I hope all of you who fish our home away from home will continue to contribute to this site. It's always been one of the best, and I've touted it to the guides and others on Toledo Bend, hoping that someone will initiate a similar site on our home lake. All the best to all of you. Tight lines!

In looking at the tournament results, I was surprised by the number of 5 and 6 pounders that were brought to the scales, particularly in light of the miserable weather. Was this a surprise? How much do you attribute to the use of forward facing sonar?

Ulrich helped me with a trolling motor issue a couple of years ago. Got on it and had us back on the water that same afternoon. Nice people, good service!

Bill, Our group from Toledo Bend has enjoyed an April week on Table Rock since 1982. We have followed your posts and those of others religiously prior to our trips. I still have a fond memory of some of our group delivering a Cajun basket of goodies to your front door, unannounced, where we were met by your beautiful wife, and invited in for an hour or more of talk about fishing the Rock. You and your wife were so gracious. I have always looked forward to your posts, and hope you will reconsider your decision to stop. Your posts about deep water fishing, with screenshots, have been helpful to me and to others in our group, both on Table Rock and at home on Toledo Bend. I suppose there will always be others who delight in being critics, but that need not deter you. Your recent trip to Sturgeon Bay brings back very fond memories of my two trips there. We were told that June is the best month to be there, but both of our trips were in early September, and they were outstanding. Those smallmouth have shoulders! Like you, we caught numerous 3-5 lb fish, and on our last trip I caught a 6.3 in 25 ft. of water, on the Ned, and it sure gave us a start when cleared the water. Got our guide's attention in a hurry! Best wishes there at Shell Knob! We still find ourselves at Happy Hollow, our home away from home, every April.

Many years ago a friend and I were fishing the Negreet Creek area of Toledo Bend, and a really nice fish broke me off and swam away with my red Rebel Super R. A week later the same friend and I started in that same spot and I hooked a fish on another Super R. We didn't have a net, and when I got it to the boat it had two Super R's in its mouth, including the one from the week before. I asked my buddy to grab the fish, and he said "I'm not putting my hand in that thing's mouth," whereupon the fish shook off and swam away with the red Super R again.

We're coming up on Sunday for our annual (since '82) week on the lake. Can y'all give some lowlanders advice on the methods you use with the Keitech 2.8? Thanks in advance. This site has been helpful to us, every year.

Bill, I haven't made the jump to FFS, although many here on Toledo Bend have, and I know it would be helpful on our upcoming 42nd annual trip to The Rock. Can you talk a bit about the learning curve for a FFS sonar newbie? DavidB

You might try Happy Hollow, on Long Creek across from Big Cedar. Nice, clean cabins with their own launch. I'm sure there's no problem with leaving your boat on your trailer, although we prefer to leave ours in a boat slip at their marina. Very convenient.

I assume that my experience with the Ghost's spotlock is similar to that with Garmin or MinnKota. If I hit spotlock while moving, it will immediately return to where I engaged it. The faster I'm going when I engage spotlock, the more likely I am to be thrown off balance. Advancing age might have something to do with that😎.

If you have Lowrance electronics, the Ghost is a great motor. It will operate on 24v or 36v, is easy on the batteries, and is very quiet. Mine is mounted on a 19 1/2 ft. Skeeter, and offers far more power than I use on 24v. My primary reason for replacing my Motorguide was the Ghost's spotlock feature. I've been very impressed with how quietly, and how well it works when on spotlock. Used the feature a lot during our week on Table Rock, last month.

Thanks for the suggestion, Bill. We're on our 4th resort since 1982. The others were bulldozed or bought out by BPS. We've been staying at Happy Hollow now for several years, and it's a very nice place to stay--our home away from home. We finally learned how to target smallmouth after several years of Toledo Bend power fishing. We don't catch the size we did then, but chasing smallmouth has been a blast! I would hate to leave the dam area if it meant fewer smallmouth. Catching them makes our trip from Louisiana special.

Thanks as always, Bill. That's a regular tutorial. I'd bring you another Cajun basket if you hadn't run off to Shell Knob😊

This forum is such a great resource. Can you talk a bit about the versatility of the Keitech? Size of jig head? Hugging bottom or steady retrieve for suspended fish? It's not a method that we use very much on Toledo Bend or Sam Rayburn, but I would like to give it a try if it's likely to be productive the last week of April.

There are very few wake boats on Toledo Bend, thank goodness! There are a lot of pontoon boats that are used, primarily, for crappie (sac-a-lait) fishing. If any of you come to Toledo, you might want to book a crappie guide for a day. The lake is loaded with them, and there are numerous guides available. Having said that about Toledo Bend, our group from Louisiana began spending a week on Table Rock in 1982. We love the beauty of the lake, and always catch a lot of fish. The smallmouth and "football" spots are special. See you in April!

You could come to Toledo Bend instead. Over 30 fish over 10 lbs. weighed at certified scales since January 1st, including one over 15 lbs. and another over 14 lbs. We're in the middle of the spawning cycle. Grass has returned to large parts of the lake, and the fishing is the best in several years.

At the risk of exhausting a topic, allow me to add that many of the guides on Toledo Bend have shifted from bass fishing to crappie. There are numerous guides on the lake with pontoon boats, who have scattered hundreds of brush piles around Toledo's 186,000 acres. Locating and catching crappie from the brush piles, using GPS and FFS, is far easier for them than chasing largemouth and spots, and makes for a more reliable payday. This scenario has played out for several years now, and the crappie population seems to be holding up well. They're extremely prolific. We do have an issue with far too many bass fishermen keeping their catch, with too many keeping undersized (14" limit) fish. We have very little on the water enforcement, unfortunately. Toledo can be tough, but the 10 pounders show up in numbers every year, if you care to come and try your luck! See you on the water again this April. Can't wait!

It's a great, relaxing trip. A group of us from Louisiana who spend a week on Table Rock every April, have made two September trips to Sturgeon Bay. As Champ stated, the fish will rip the rods out of your hands. They have "shoulders", and 4 and 5 pounders are common, with an occasional 6. It can be very rough on the Green Bay side or on Lake Michigan, but the guides take the wind into account and trailer to areas that are at least moderate. Our first trip, we spent a very rough day on a point on Lake Michigan, but it was our best day of fishing, over heavy rock 5-10 feet deep, with swim baits. The small villages are just a few miles apart on the peninsula, and are worth the visit. Nice shops and restaurants in each one. We found the people to be warm and friendly, much like all of you when we visit the Rock, each year. Hope some of you get a chance to go. We used Dale Stroschein's guide service both times we went, by the way, and hope to go and use them again.