Bittle

Greg Bittle Table Rock Lake 04-3-12

Greg Bittle Table Rock Lake 03-31-12

Greg Bittle Table Rock Lake 03-31-12

Can we no longer enter? The contest says its open until the end of April. Just wondering cause I have some to enter.

Is the water clearing up yet?

Are you dropping down to 2 pound test when throwing a jig that small?

Last Saturday my dad and I decided to try our luck with some crappie spots. We had hit some good schools about this time last year and wanted to check some out. We put in at Cape Fair Boat Dock and headed down river and started throwing swimming minnows and dragging minnows. The first brush pile we stopped at we hit a school of nice keepers. We threw in 2.5 inch swimming minnows and would catch the active fish. When the bite would slow down we would throw minnows under bobbers and catch some of the slower feeding fish. We ended up keeping 16 or 17 out of that one brush pile. We stayed after that one brush pile for about two hours or a fuzz over. The fish would come in waves at times. We started fishing some other good locations picking up a few more fish before we lost light and decided we were getting hungry. Ended the day with 20 keepers and only threw back one short crappie all day. We caught several bass also, mostly spots in our daily adventure, nothing big but some fun fat ones. On a good note I am starting to see more keeper crappie with the black nose on them this year. Last year three of us in a boat caught about 30 out of one brush pile and they were all just a tad under 10 inches. I had three keeper black nose crappie this trip and they were 11 inches or better. We didn't get on the water until about 2 or so and fished up until dark. It was pretty windy and I think that helped the bite that day. Glad I got to spend time with my dad and keep some fish for my grandma. I can't stock her freezer faster than she can eat it. Good luck out there.

Anybody been lately? What's fishing like?

I'm going on a hunting trip this fall and I'm looking for a 30 gallon barrel to make a stove out of. I would like it to be in good shape. I live in St. Louis and would appreciate any help in finding one. Thanks, Bittle

I took some vacation starting last Saturday with the sole purpose of fishing. On Saturday my brother and I put in at bridgeport and worked our way upstream. We were throwing grey swimming minnows, live minnows and dabbing with slab buster jigs in the brush. We ended the day with 19 keeper crappie. We threw back several crappie that didn't measure. We left the lake at around noon because my brother had somewhere to be or we would have limited. Sunday evening I met my dad and we put back in at bridgeport. Using the same baits we stayed on the bluffs and ended up with 13 crappie and one nice white bass. We never left the sight of the bridge. We found fish in fairly shallow water and again found some smaller fish. Monday I changed my process and put in by myself at Cape Fair boat dock. I stayed with the bluff bite throwing minnows and swimming minnows. I found the fish in deeper water and caught most of my fish on minnows. At around 1pm I moved to a cut in a bluff and started locating fish in the back of the cut. The fish were in there thick and I had my limit of crappie by 2pm. I picked up and took the boat out and ran up river to Blunk hole to chase white bass. I fished mainly minnows in the hole and had my limit of white bass by 6pm. Tuesday I decided I had so much fun that I wanted to do it again. Put in at Cape Fair at about 8 and ran down river. Stayed with the bluff bite and had my limit of crappie by a few minutes after noon. Most of my crappie came on the swimming minnows today. Early on they were in deep water, I'm talking about 10-15 feet. Picked up and ran up river again. Finished my limit of whites by 5pm. Wednesday my dad had enough and decided to go fishing with me. We couldn't get started as early this morning as we put in at Cape Fair at about noon. We ran down river and stayed on the bluff bite. We found the fish shallower in the afternoon. They were as shallow as about 5-6 feet in some areas on the bluffs. They were mostly all caught on swimming minnows. We changed areas and ran into a cut in the bluff where we found the fish ganged up in the back of it. We casted swimming minnows and caught fish nearly every cast. However most of these fish didn't measure. We backed out to the middle of the cut and found keeper fish staged in the deeper water on some trees. Most of the fish were in the middle to back of the cove. We moved again to another cut in the bluff and finished our limits of crappie by about 430 pm. I found that in the early morning the fish were in deeper water on the bluffs. The fished wanted the swimming minnow on an 1/8th ounce jig head. I would cast the bait to the bank and let it fall down the bluff. The fish would hit it hard in that 10-15 foot range. The fish were not really in large groups when caught like this. I also found fish in the trees but it had to have some limbs on it in that magical depth range. I found zero fish around pole timber, it had to have some branch or a split in the tree. If the split was in the right depth, the tree would hold quality fish. I found quality fish in trees as deep as 50-60 feet. As the day got warmer the fish then moved up for us. In the backs of the cuts we found fish under 10 feet and some near 5 feet. We found these cuts loaded with fish moving up. They still wanted the baits moved slowly but they just weren't as deep. I found that most of the fish caught off the bluffs were quality keepers. We threw very few fish back. In the backs of the cuts we started finding smaller males but still overall the fish seemed larger than we found near bridgeport. We had several fish over 12 and one just a tad over 13. When cleaning the fish, the majority of the fish were males but we still found some females as well. I agree with Phil the spawn is anyday now. Good luck, go get em.

I am going on vacation this summer and I'm looking for some bonefish and permit lures to take with me. I am going on a guided trip but there will be plenty of chances to do some wading on my own. Let me know what you have and I could be interested. I'm looking for stuff like wiggle jigs, DOA shrimp and crabs etc. Thanks, Bittle

For sale is a Remington 700 ADL with a black synthetic stock. Its made in a .270 caliber. On the stock is a Dale Earnhardt Jr signature. This gun is new in the box and has never been fired or even had the bolt in the gun. Still has the packing grease on it. The box still bears the Dale Earnhardt Jr 8 on it for authenticity. I am currently asking $750.00 dollars for the gun. Please email me for pictures of the gun. Bittle

My only gripe is the diameter of the smaller lines. It seems much thicker than the Berkeley floro that I live by.

Saturday put in at Cape Fair boat dock and headed downstream to get out of the dirty water and debris. Started looking around for some crappie. Tried drifting minnows and tubes in anywhere from 15 to 25 feet. Tried timber, deeper brush all with no luck on specs. Did catch about 6 to 8 bass. Biggest being around 14 inches. Caught one catfish about 8 inches as well. On the way back to the dock I tried trolling deep cranks with only one short spot as a result. Sunday my father wanted to hit the water after work and try to find something biting. We put in at Cape Fair boat dock again and were going to try trolling some cranks or maybe dipping a minnow. As we pulled out of the buoys we met some surfacing white bass that changed our plans. We chased the white bass up until dark. We had our limits in about an hour. Threw twenty back to chase another day. Monday morning I put in at bridgeport with crappie in my mind. I headed upstream to some reliable brush piles. Stopped at my first spot on the James arm and immediately started catching crappie from one of my proven brush piles. Caught about 8 out of that brush pile. Caught the majority on a black and chart tube tipped with a minnow. The fish were in about 11 feet of water with the temp being about 71 degrees. Of the fish I caught only one kept at 11 inches. I tried some other places and only found one other hungry fish that went just shy of 10 inches. All fish were released to grow up. Monday night my dad and I took out of Cape Fair boat dock at about 4. With the cloud cover the whites didn't surface as well. We chased them around catching 22 before calling it a night. The white bass are chasing schools of shad. The shad in the stomach are only about two inches max. So try to match that to your bait and you should be able to catch em. Good luck

Any news from below the dam? Slider? Anyone?

I have a couple of days off coming up and was wondering if the are still running a decent amount of water from the dam? I looked at the Corp website but I don't know the normal flow level so it didn't help much. Also are people still catching fish?

After scuba diving last weekend I noticed that all the fish seemed to be anywhere from 24 to 14 feet deep. Anything deeper, nothing but crawdads. When people are saying that they are fishing jigs in the 40 foot range are they just swimming them or are they talking about their boat locations. I'm not real experienced in fishing deep so any advice would be useful. I was diving in the dam area and the theromcline was about 26 feet i believe. Thanks in advance.

My dad and I were looking to try night fishing. Does anybody have any tips for this time of year. Or does anyone have a report? We don't fish bull schoals much and will probably put in at k dock.

My college roommates and I make an annual trip down around this time of year. We fished from Wednesday 4-21 thru Saturday 4-25. Wednesday my father and I went in search of crappie. We fished all day. I began by myself until I met him at noon. I fished out of bridgeport with about 5 crappie with on one 13 inch keeper. I met him at noon and we made a move to cape fair boat dock. We put in and ran down stream. We located some crappie scattered on the outside edges of trees in about 25 to 30 feet of water. We were slow trolling minnows behind the boat. The fish we found were all females and loaded with eggs. We finished with 6 solid crappie. All good quality with nothing under 12 inches and the largest around 14.5 inches. I also threw some spinnerbaits with good success. The largest being an 18 inch largemouth. Wednesday night my roommates got into town and wanted to try some night crappie fishing under the lights. We launched out of cape fair again and had very little success. We caught zero crappie and one small male white bass. Thursday we started early and set out several trot lines. Started fishing again in the same area I fished with my father. We started drifting minnows and my roommate caught about a 4 pound channel. A short distance later I boated a 15 inch crappie. The only one we found all day. Caught several bass on spinnerbaits with the biggest around 3 pounds. We headed home to eat lunch and then back out to rebait the trot lines. We had caught one catfish, a 3 pound channel cat. Fished a little after dark but caught nothing. Friday we got up and checked the lines again. Two Catfish, a 13 pound channel and a 3 pound flathead. All the catfish we cleaned were full of eggs also. We fished throughout the day with a few bass here and there but zero crappie. Saturday we picked up the lines as they had to return home. We had a small 2 pound channel that we let live. Bass fishing seems to be where its at right now. The crappie seemed to be scattered throughout the lake suspended in the deep trees. I spoke to another fisherman that was chasing crappie in the same cove. He was trolling minnows as well. He fished about 8 hours and caught 5 keepers. I hope the decide to move up soon, they are making me nervous. The catfishing will get better as well. They will be hitting the banks anytime now. Hope this helps someone. I think we may run to Bull Shoals tomorrow. Here are a couple pics from the the trip.

Present and accounted for!

I'm pondering heading over to try to fish the tailwaters but I had a question about the water output. Are they running any water and when looking at the gage, what is normal output and what is a good output. I can read the heights but that tells me nothing without the normal pool. On a second note has anyone been fishing the tailwaters lately?

I just built my first rod this last winter and I would have to agree on the kits. Your going to make mistakes on the first one, so get a cheaper spinning or fly rod to start. I got all my information on this website www.rodbuildingforum.com. They are great guys and can answer any question that you have. Plus take a look at some of their rods and you mind will start spinning for you next rod setup.

The Indian Point Boat Dock used to sell minnows. Its been awhile since I worked there but they sold them before. Might be worth a stop.

yep graduated the year after you!

I'm thinking about hitting Warsaw tomorrow for some fishing. I will be alone and my want to camp overnight. With that in mind does anyone have any idea of where to camp near the dam area. I would like to stay close if possible. I don't need fancy, just a place to pitch my tent, no pun intended. Electric would not be necessary but would be welcome. Directions would be appreciated. Thanks, Bittle