Hogfan

The wife and I are driving over to Grove this weekend and will be spending a couple days out on the lake. Anyone have any info on water level and color? Would like to fish from Sailboat Bridge up the Elk but I don't know what the rain has done to the color. This is only my second time on the lake so any fishing info would be appreciated as well. I like throwing the C-rig and football jig out a little deeper, but I don't mind flippin and crankin either!

Don't know about the stripers but had a chance to get out Monday evening right before dark and managed about a half a dozen whites on top. They were chasing shad on top like crazy in the area we were fishing up around hickory creek. Probably would have caught several more if we could have made it over there a little quicker.

You're right Bassman, the two bridges on Beaver both have no wake zones.

Stump Jumper- With the water high like it is there isn't to many hazards other than a few floating logs and trash. It seems to be the worst around dusk and dawn just because there are fewer boats on the water to keep it pushed to the bank. As far as fising goes I posted a report yesterday which may help you out a little. I would fish some gravel points in the horseshoe bend area dragging a carolina rigged lizard or brushhog. Set the boat in 30'-35' of water and cast towards the bank. Depending on cloud cover the bass will move so just vary your depth until you find them. Most of my fish have been coming shallow early in the day, but by 10am they've moved out in the 20'-25' range. Hope this helps. Good Luck!

Great pictures! My wife and I flew out to Spokane two weeks ago and met up with some family and drove over to Glacier National Park for five days. It was beautiful out there. The weather had warmed up the previous week and the rivers were rolling to say the least! We did run into some snow showers a couple of times but nothing to bad.

J-Doc The fish in your original post is a kentucky/spotted bass and a pretty good one at that! The fish in your last post looks to be a largemouth.

Day time: Fishing during the day seems to be about normal for this time of year. Fish are being caught on top early with buzzbaits, spooks, and redfins but once the sun comes up a lot of these fish are moving out deeper. I've been fishing from Hwy 12 bridge to Hickory Creek lately and most of my fish are coming on C-rigs with a baby brushhog and a Bass X football jig tipped with a twin tail grub. I'm putting the boat in 30'+ water and most of the fish are coming out of 20'-25'. If these bigger baits don't produce I'll pick up the shaky head worm and work these same areas. I'm really watching my graph right now too and when the fish pull off the bottom and suspend I'll pull out the drop shot and catch them that way. You seem to catch a bunch of 10"-13" KYs doing this but I'll take what I can get. Night time: Fishing at night continues to be a struggle for most. The fish will bite but it doesn't seem to be as easy as years past. I'm not sure if the high water is effecting this bite or not. I'v been catching most of my fish on a black and blue Bass X hair jig tipped with a #11 Uncle Josh pork frog. These fish have been coming right off the brush/tree line in 8'-12' of water. I would imagine the night bite should only get better as time goes on. Hogfan

Spoke with Heartland yesterday and the Team Series and Pro-Am will take place as scheduled. We'll be fishing the Team event on Saturday and will be heading up Wednesday night to practice Thursday and Friday. I'm not real sure what to expect with the water as high as it is. Good luck to everyone!

Fished a tournament out of the dam on Sunday with pretty tough conditions. We ended up with 4 keepers that weighed right around 8lbs. We probably had 20 fish total but couldn't get those bigger fish to bite. The bite had been pretty good the previous days when there was wind, but Sunday the wind was no where to be found until later in the afternoon. With the calm water and bluebird skys we fished a little deeper with c-rigs and grubs and managed to catch a few but we were really depending on the wind and spinnerbait bite to catch a big sack and it didn't happen. The majority of the fish seem to be staging on secondary points in spawning areas just waiting to move up. There are a few that have already moved up, but a lot of them are males. The better fish I've been catching have come out of dirty water back towards Rocky Branch and Prairie Creek, but if you're looking for numbers I'd throw the c-rig and grub around the dam and Indian Creek area. Fish seem to be in that 10'-15' range either suspended or right on the bottom depending on the schools of shad in the area. If you catch one I'd stay there and fish it thoroughly because the fish are usualy there in bunchs.

Hey Gone Fishing.... Heard you had a big day on the water this past Saturday.....congrats on that. I'll be heading that way tomorrow afternoon and will spend Friday and Sunday on the water. I may swing by sometime tomorrow or Friday if you're going to be around.

Everyone should go read Babler's last post titled "Today's Incarcerations". I'm not saying that jerking fish off beds is helping the fish population, but it doesn't sound like it's hurting it much either. 2 guides, 1 day of fising, 89 bass with 66 of them being keepers. The fish are out there you just have to get out there and catch them. I don't fish for bedding fish either, but if I've got 14lbs by noon and I think a 6lb fish could win me $5k I'm probably going to go look for one.

There's been a couple night tourny's out of Cow Creek at the new ramp and from what I hear it's been fairly tough.

Fished last weekend a little and from Rambow Creek back to Hickory Creek was pretty dirty. Once you get up around Big and Little Clifty it starts to clear up a little. The Dam area and Indian Creek are really clear right now. Of course we got 3 or 4 inches of rain last night in some areas so that will dirty things up a little more than they already are.

I was up there Sunday and like sfiser said it was crystal clear. Both Clifty arms had good color to them though.

I agree it doesn't take long to look at the post, but it doesn't take long to skip one and go to the next if you don't want to read or reply to it. Bill spoke about precious time and we can all relate to that in one way or another. Don't get me wrong I don't think people should start new threads without looking around first either, but we shouldn't be harsh on those that do it without thinking first.

I agree with echoXLT on this one. Not all of us have the ability to be on the lake or on this forum every day of the week. I appreciate the info you folks provide and envy the fact you make you’re living on the water. You put in your 50+ hours a week just like the rest of us and I don’t doubt that one bit. However, admit it or not this forum is part of your business therefore you spend more time on here than the average guy. Past, present, and future clients check the forum daily for your reports which probably has and will generate business for you and the others. Fishermen (me being one of them) read your reports weekly and appreciate the fact that you’re not only detailed with them but you’re being honest as well. If I were to hire a guide for the day you would have been right up there at the top of the list. On the other hand, I could be one of these guys you’re calling a “Stupid, Extremely Uniformed, NUM-NUT”. You see Bill, not all of us have the time to hop on the board every day and keep up with what’s going on. I might be on here 3 times today and then again I might not be able to check in again for 3 days which would put me about 25 posts behind everyone else. The best part about this board is the quick response. A guy can post a simple question “Where can I launch?” and within 20 minutes someone will respond. Does it have to be you? NO, you don’t have to respond but it’s much appreciated when you do. You say folks don’t have the “interest to read 4 posts down”. That’s not true. I only wish I had the time to read every post because there’s so much info out there that you can’t find anyplace else. Keep in mind that hundreds of people will read your posts daily and that people ask questions for answers not attitude. These people could post somewhere else but they don’t, they come to you guys for answers. Personally, I would take pride in that alone and be as respectful as I could even if it meant biting my tongue sometimes. These NUM-NUTs you speak of are people who respect your word and I believe they deserve a little respect back.

Nice fish! What did she way?

I was watching the weather this evening and noticed that a cold front is moving in later in the week. Do you guys think this will push some of the shallow fish off the bank or are they locked in enough they'll stay up there in the brush?

Thanks guys.....I made it up there Sunday and hooked up w/ Gone Fishin and fished from Cow Creek to Indian Creek. We had a fairly good day on the water number wise but never could find that big bite. We had a few that would go 2 1/2 lbs or so but nothing much bigger than that. Our biggest 5 might have went 11 lbs or so. Talked to some guys at the ramp that had a club tournament and it took over 14lbs to win & big bass was over 8 1/2lbs.

That's something! I also read that there were 18 sacks over 30lbs!

I'm thinking about coming up this weekend to try my luck on the Rock and was wondering where the clearest water might be come Sunday. I was up that way last weekend and crossed the Hwy 13 bridge and it was pretty dirty. Do you think think the rain the last couple of days will muddy the dam area back up or will it be reasonably clear come Sunday?

When vertical fishing a grub I've always used the XPS heads from Bass Pro and once I find a school of shad on my graph I'll just drop the grub down through the school. Sometimes I'll shake it like a drop shot and other times I'll jig it like a spoon. It all depends on what kind of mood the fish are in that day. I'm not sure how Bill does it but this tends to work for me every once in a while.

Hey Gone Fishing, you being an expert with a rogue I wouldn't have thought you'd had a rough go out this past weekend. I've seen you catch em on that thing when most others struggled and with the water temps in the lower 40s up your way I would have bet you had that bite figured out. I remember last year at this time you was really dialed in with that little magic stick. We need to get together here in the next couple of weeks and give it a go.

I haven't fished them myself but a buddy of mine has fished the last two tournaments they've had on Swepco. He said it took over 12lbs a couple weeks ago and over 10lbs this past Saturday. I saw a flyer posted at Southtown over the weekend and it looked like there are 4 or 5 left. Entry fee was $30/boat with the winner taking home all the money. I'm boatless for another month but if my new one gets here in time I may try to fish a couple of these.

One more thing.....I saw somewhere that there's a tournament on swepco this Sunday from 7am til 1pm. I believe it said $30/boat.