Doug Weston

For the record, it was pretty windy that day, the shallow ones were in the wind. Nothing really of any size size, 2 would've been close to 3 lb class fish, the rest, just average keepers (that were keepers anyway). But when I got one to bite, I could catch 5-10 more in the exact same spot.

The only fish i could get to bite yesterday was shallow, and many were very shallow, like in 6 ft. Classic wiggle wart stuff, but they wouldn't bite the wart, only caught them on the A rig. I posted a report.

I finally got on board after hearing so much about it. Didn't vet started until almost 930 and began to wonder if I had missed the bite. Didnt get bit until a little after 2 but I quickly figured them out. Put in at Shell knob bridge and fished between there ad big creek. Couldnt find fish very deep, deepest todaywas 25 ft with most coming out of 13 or less. Windblown mixed rock(transition) banks found the concentrations of fish. I was ready to quit and finally got a bite, then caught 34 between 2 o'clock and 5. I actually counted. 13 keeps but none very big. Best 5 at 13 lbs. I had to reel extremely slow. I can't remember catching that many, that fast ever before. I tried other baits in the same areas and no takers. I had 3, four inch swimbaits and 2, #2 willow blades on my rig. I think the swimbaits were called Keitech (brand). I don't think I could give you much more without GPS coordinates. Even though they weren't big, this was an amazing day for me.

It's just not legal with more than 3 hooks. You can fish it with the entire lure as long as there kids only three baits with hooks, the rest must be teasers. There may even be some information on the central pro am website. My bass club secretary emailed out a letter from the conservation dept on their "ruling".

8.80 lbs

I fished in a club tournament the same day as the winter series tourney. Most people had a very tough day. I don't know the exact numbers but I think around 7 boats brought in fish. I happend to be a back seater in the winning boat and we brought in 4 fish that went around 11 lbs I think. I only contributed one however. I caught it slow rolling a 1/4 oz scrounger over deep trees inside a cove. My partner caught his first one on a tube, suspended fish vertical fishing in the same area. We made a move and he caught 2 with a jerkbait. The jerkbait fish seemed to be around trees/cedars in areas with large rocks. Again inside a cove. We could not get bit on the main lake. Deep fish were suspended over 40-70 feet and jerkbait fish were in 30ft or less. I think another boat brought in 2 fish but the rest only had one. Tough for everyone. We launched out of aunts creek.

Tackle underground will have the most info on the topic. I own an Iwata eclipse. I recommend a double action airbrush. They are a little harder to learn at first but much more versatile, get the best brush you can afford. What do you mean by "kit"? Which things do you need? Compressor? Paints? Airbrush? All of the above? Tackle underground has an over abundance of info on the topic.

I rode as an observer on the PAA tournament last Thurs,Fri, and Sat. I wanted to Congratulate one of our local pros on his win, Shane Long of Sarcoxie. Kelly Power was not far behind. Good job boys. I rode with the day one leader, Chris Brasher from Texas. He qualified for the FLW tour this year, but didn't have the finances to get it done, so he fished he PAA events to test his mettle against tht "big time" pros. He caught 19.52 lbs with a 7.3 largie toad anchoring the sack. He caught these fish in the Kimberling City area, on a long flat point, with a little wood scattered around on it. Most of the fish were took on a 1/2oz football jig, but the big one, 7.3lbs, was took on a Drop shot and Roboworm. Attached is the picture of his toad. PAA did not have any photographers when he took his fish in. That biggest fish was caught real deep and he did fizz it, but he was worried about it and wanted to release it alive so we went in early. I fished with John Crews the next day. He was on a Drop shot pattern, same type of points with wood on them. He dropped to the standing timber that he seen on his graph and picked up fish that day. He had 13 lbs the first day, but only 1 2.5lb keeper when I was with him. He caught fish all day that just wouldn't bump the line. I learned that I fish the same way as these guys do on table rock. It gave me confidence. I will go out, spend more time on the water, and know I am doing the same things these guys are. I don't know what I was thinking, but I guess I didnt expect them to be doing what I would do. One of our own won the event, so I feel like if you guys pay attention on the water, learn from this forum, and spend time on the water, you can figure out these fish too. I'm off to do that myself. Final day Results. Total weight over 3 days of fishing. There were 74 boats but only 24 fished on cut day. 1. Shane Long – 43.34 2. Aaron Martens -- 36.41 3. Tommy Biffle -- 36.27 4. Kelly Power -- 36.16 5. Brian Snowden -- 35.65 6. Gary Klein -- 33.97 7. Stacey King -- 33.31 8. Mark Rose -- 33.27 9. Dave Lefebre -- 32.83 10. Takahiro Omori -- 31.20 11. James Watson -- 29.94 12. JT Palmore -- 29.36 13. Ronnie Wagner -- 29.35 14. Chris Brasher -- 29.10 15. Rick Clunn -- 28.11 16. Matt Reed -- 27.08 17. Terry Butcher -- 26.10 18. Charles Bebber -- 25.28 19. Edwin Evers -- 24.51 20. Bradley Hallman -- 23.04 21. Tommy Martin -- 21.77 22. Shinichi Fukae -- 21.60 23. Brian Travis -- 20.51 24. Harold Allen -- 18.53

Danny, I am/ have done, the same thing around big M. My grandpa lived there before it was flooded. In fact they sold their land to the corps so they could flood it. He was a boy but I have found lots of interesting things there, including an old bridge or two. Oh, I have kept it to myself about the silt because I figured it was a good way to tell if current is being pulled, so don't tell anyone... Seriously, I have wondered why no one else seemed to wonder what it was, but I wasn't going to bring it up.

I have a 997. I have figured out that it is silt coming off the bottom when there is current being pulled. It don't always do it and if its what I think it looks like, I'm pretty sure its silt. I have been playing around with mine for over a year now. I have tried to correlate it to when they are generating or not. Although I can't tell for sure, It seems to be the most reasonable explanation. If you will notice the terrain and features where you see this, it will make sense. Hope this helps...

SKMO, for me its not so much the twisting as it is the memory. Flourocarbon or mono will develop memory and be coiled up when coming off the spool causing problems when casting. Braid has no memory. Like I said before, I have some spooled on for at least a year and the most I have to do is change the leader before a trip. When not using a swivel(usually for shaky head) I use a back To back uni knot to attach the leader. I can tie on a longer leader and I have no problems with the knot sliding through the guides when casting.

I do use a braid then swivel to floro at the business end. I like it. The braid doesn't get all curly q'd up and it saves me lots of money. The braid lasts a looooong time. I've had some tied on for a year now and no problems so far. It can be a pain tying the leader because you have to keep a spool handy, but after a little practice and keeping a small spool conveniently located somewhere, it don't take much longer than using straight flouro. I advise using as long a leader that you can get away with but I can't get away with much more than 5 feet. Otherwise your swivel gets in your rod guides. I find you have much more sensitivity but no stretch. This means if you are using a stiff rod you should probably go down to a medium light action to compensate for the loss of stretch.

I'm far from expert on many aspects of fishing, but I am pretty salty when it comes to electronics. I have a 997si and 757(non si) at the bow. They are networked. I wish I had another 997 or the equilivalent non si unit up front as the 2d sonar is much better and IMO more important up front. As far as the networking issue, I personally recommend it. I feel you aren't using the full capabilities of the side imaging unless you. Do. I'll explain. When you mark a waypoint with a traditional 2d unit, you are marking a coordinate that corresponds to the location of your gps antenna. Unless your antenna is directly over the spot you are marking, you are only getting close. You have a certain amount of error built in to the system, plus we usually mark a location based on something we seen on the sonar. Your transducer is usually some distance away from your antenna. The farther the distance the bigger the error. So you see a brushpile with your transducer and mark the spot with your gps antenna. With me so far? In my case my transducers/antennae are within 3 feet of each other to minimize that error. With the SI unit you can scan out to the side(duh) and the computer computes the location if you mark a waypoint that is out to the side of your boat. It uses the antenna as described above, but in my case my rear antenna is approximately 19 feet from the front antenna. If I see a rockpile on a point 200 feet to the side of my boat, I can mark it with my rear (si) unit, put the troller down and go right over it with my front unit. The alternative is saving it to a card and moving it to the front unit. If you minimize the position error by grouping your transducer/gps antenna close together, you can find what you marked the first time and not just be within 20 feet of it. As far as you bite the bullet question, I asked myself the same thing, but I have not regretted my decision in the least. I honestly think it has helped me to become a much better fisherman.

It maybe too expensive but the KVD net made by frabil i think, is really neat. I bought 1 last year. It is about 4 feet long but it expands out to 8 like you described. It comes with a case, and the net part folds in half. It fits nicely in the case and in most rod lockers when folded. It has a tangle free net but not the rubber kind. I've had one for about a year now and i think that it is as handy as a pocket on a shirt. The only drawback is that they cost about 70 dollars. Although i'm not positive but i think it may only be sold at bass pro shops.

Went out for 3 hours today. Took my cousin from KC, KA out. Babler you may remember him from last summer. He is a good kid, but a little disabled. I only say this because I have been reading the posts here from babs where he describes how to fish a fin. I rigged a spincast reel with 10# big game. Its one of those zebco reels that are like 50 bucks but the spool oscillates like a spinning reel so you don't have all the normal problems a spincast dishes out. Tied on a fin and gave him a little class on how to fish it. He caught 4 spots on it by himself! I'm really proud to have been able to get him on some fish. Thanks to all that have chimed in about the fin lately. I see why it is a choice guide bait. Kyle was able to watch and see what he was doing and I think that helped him learn how to fish it. I threw a spook and nabbed 3 keeper spots with it. I don't really want to say where till after tomorrow, but I hope this little pattern will hold up through tomorrow. I will say though that I was in the eagle rock area and the current was going backwards! The normal patterns seems to be working still but I couldn't find keeper size on the flat gravel places I fished. Our small club will fish out of the shell knob bridge tomorrow and I will try to give a better report then.

Here is the picture of the Crappie and the Bait. Sorry for not posting earlier.

Ditto that on the big lures. I was bass fishing in the eagle rock area today. I caught a crappie that bit a 5" hollow belly swimbait rigged on a 1/2 oz jighead. When it bit I thought I had a 5lb bass. The fish measured a shade over 15 lnches. I'm posting from my phone so I can't add a photo but I couldn't believe it. I proceeded to catch more in that size range swimming a 4" swimbait rigged on a scrounger. It really blew my mind. I mean the crappie had that 5" swimbait completely swallowed. I think the hook on the jighead was a 5/0 hook. She had the jig in her mouth plus the bait! Not just hooked on the edge of the mouth either but close to an inch past her lips! I would have never thunk it.... Oh I got 2 keeper spots(one almost 3lbs), a dink walleye, a white, and around 8 or so dink blacks also from about 4pm till dark. Pretty good evening.

Tom Murphy, the owner of basswishes, is usually the best at getting back with people and getting your order out quick. He must be out of town or prefishing... I'm curious about the website though, I'm gonna see if it works for me.

Thank you Bill! I was asked to present the trophy because I was in charge of the National Guard Booth at the Family fun zone. I considered it an honor to give the trophy away. I had a great time and I guess I've had my 15 minutes now. I don't know if I will make the TV show or not, but It will air on VS (I don't get that channel) April 18th at 1230 I think. I don't know why it takes so long to air the show but that is what they said. For those of you that don't know, he caught his fish on a inside channel bend with swimming a grub, jerkbait and swimbait through the trees. I believe he was up the white river pretty far. He would catch a limit, then move back toward the launch fishing bluff ends with a jerkbait. Great Job Brent Ehler! On another note, I was able to apply for a Co Angler seat with the National Guard. I was able to meet the Officer in Charge from the National Guard Bureau that runs this program. I think I stand a pretty good chance at getting a seat on the team. This would be a wonderful opportunity for me. I'm excited about this and hope it plays out for me. For now, its back to the grind, gotta get some people to join....

Amen Bill, I worked for the National Guard at the show last year, and I'm at least one person that they told that I couldn't park my Ranger there because I had a Mercury motor hanging on it, not to mention I was pulling it with a Ford....OH NO!!! I'll be working the show again this year, and I think I get to go out with a National guard Sponsored angler for helping with the show, but other than that as the high point, I totally agree with you Bill. My club has a small derby right in the middle of their practice, so I hope they don't get too pushy out there. Doug

I fished a small club tourney and finished 3rd, but the important thing is my partner won the tourney with 14 lbs out of the back of my boat. Bill helped me figure out a pattern that was good enough for my partner to win and me to keep my standings for the year. I ended up finishing 2nd overall for the year. It is my best finish ever for the angler of the year. Thank you Bill. He really did put up with a lot, espicially since it was so stinking cold...

Bill thanks for the reply. I have a Humminbird 997 SI unit. I have spent many hours with this graph. I hired Bill Babler this summer and had a blast. I learned what the fish look like on the 2d graph. I also know what the shad look like on the SI or 3d graph. There is no mistaking the pods of bait with the side imaging. I do understand what you mean though about things on the graph that aren't fish. I know for instance when there are leaves falling in the water you can see many lines on the graph that are just simply leaves floating in the water. These will look like a fish suspended. I think (thats a big word) I am looking in the right areas. They are the same areas you showed me when you took me out this summer. I tried all the way out to the channel. I even had a few fish come up and look at the spoon, but no takers. About a week ago I fished around the old bridge pilings (bridge is gone now) just up from Big M. I caught a couple of keepers in that area doing the same thing. Same depth, 45 ft or so. But even then it was just one or 2 fish, not the whole bottom coming up like you showed on your graph pics (the other post). Short story is, I'm pretty sure I know how to read the graph. In fact i'm certain of it, but from your pics on the other post it looks like you weren't fishing around pods of bait. Maybe that is what I'm doing wrong. I tried to fish in/around the bait pods, in those depths. Are these fish just waiting on the bottom for some fish to happen by? and do you think the actual spoon makes a huge difference, or is it just location location location? I will be going out again this week to figure this out. I'm determined to figure this out. Bill, you may have another trip in the works...got time? Friday maybe?

I guess part of the puzzle is, are these locations very specific? or do the fish move around on these flat points, rolloffs, and humps. I actuallly went to some of the places that I can catch drop shot fish in the summer, and looked deeper as per Bill, but no takers. Thing is, I think I am finding lots of bait, and even the "fuzzy line" on the bottom. This fuzzy line was off the bottom in some places. I found lots of activity on the graph 40-50 ft deep, even suspended over deeper water.

I fished Monday looking for some deep fish. I did not have much luck. I tried several spots and I could find lots of bait on the graph. I tried several different types of spoons as this is a learning experience for me. It seemed that I could not find any activity until I got out to 40 ft or so. I only caught fish on channel swings with the old standby shaky head. These were small KYs and not what I was looking for. It was a bright sunny day and I wanted to learn the spoon. Bill I could not get the fish to come up from the bottom like you said. I only spent about 45 mins on bluff channel swings, to see if I could catch something. If anyone can help, I will tell you what I found. It seemed to me that the bait was holding tight to where the flats roll off into the channel. Also if I found a little cut, or saddle, that was deep enough there were fish there. I looked and fished the top of humps, and the end of flats but not one single fish. I did have some fish look at my spoon from time to time, but I just couldnt get bit. I held it still, jigged it, jerked it, yanked it, you name it, no takers. I know it was a post fronnt day, but you would think I could catch one, even by mistake. Are these fish in the downstream side of these humps/points? hiding in an eddy or someting? The bait seemed to be there, but I could not get any love on any of my spoons. I threw heavy, light, big, small, jigging spoons, flutter spoons, casted and straight below. I watched some boats catch some in the mouth of Kings river as I was trying to figure it out in the same area. Are they still on the flat on these post front days? or do they move out to the channel? Ill put the time in to find them, but I'm starting to think I don't own the right spoon, or my technique is somehow flawed. I just think I was around fish and could get no love. I tried the drop shot too, just in case. Any other techniques on days like this? I dragged a jig for a bit in the same areas just to make sure that wouldn't work too. I have read your posts Bill, but what am I missing?

I built one within a paint booth. I use lacquer paint and I did not want to breathe the vapors so I built a booth. It improves the lighting also while painting. I know it don't show the whole thing, but its all I've got right now. I am not really able to take a new picture, but maybe it would give someone an idea if they are wanting to get into this. TU is the place where I learned.