focused fishing

Hey Steve, Not trying to ruffle any feathers...... I do know the FLW made their intentions of having a tour event in mid-March 09 back in 2007 when they signed the contract with the Branson Convention and Visitor Bureau for last fall's Stren event. Pretty sure they would have contacted the Water Patrol and gotten their Regatta Permit at that time. National tours generally work on schedules, permits, and etc 16 - 24 months out. Regional and local circuits tend to work 8 to 12 months out. I don't know who got their permit first but I would guess it was FLW. The Water Patrol handles the Regatta Permits for tournaments on the lake, they look at the number of vessels on the lake not the impact to the fishery. Table Rock can handle 300 tournament rigs easily and actually over the weekend it will only be around 112 if Heartland draws 100 (Final 12 fish the w/e in an FLW Tour event). It is the tournament organizations responsibility to catch schedule conflicts not the Water Patrol. I know everyone is feeling for the Heartland guys but look at it from the other side: There will be 200 guys that are trying to make their living fishing (in the days of sponsor cut backs) competing with local guys pre fishing for a w/e tournament. How many times will a guy close to making the cut or cashing a check have to change plans or spots through out the day because there is a local pre fishing on spot he was counting on? It's part of fishing a national tour but look at their side of things as well. IF, it's a big if, one of the two were to move I would think it would be easier to move Heartland than a FLW, Heartland had to re-schedule last year due to weather and I'm sure the anglers would understand. Again, I don't know who came first FLW or Heartland, I would assume it was FLW but don't know. If that is the case maybe Heartland didn't know about the FLW event when they set their schedule. Anyway, hope Heartland has a great turnout and everyone fishing it enjoys themselves. Good Luck, EP

FLW schedule was out in August, right after the Forrest Wood Cup, not sure about Heartland. Get fished why would FLW run their tournament Sat - Tues? Just like BASS they always run Thurs - Sun. In any event the fish will be beat up by the time Heartland shows up.

Got to agree on the lower end of the lake there is no better place than White River Lodge. If you are looking for something closer to Roaring River, check out Indian Hills Resort: http://www.indianhillstablerocklake.com/ If your looking for something a little more "homey" try: Amber Acres: www.amberacres.com Campbell Point Resort: www.campbellpoint.com Smaller cabins, with more of a home town feel. Hope this helps, EP

Sorry to hear you all struggled. We had a great day on Sat. 25 keepers and about 40 fish total. Best 5 - 20.78. Most came on a dropshot off of a couple of spots. We fished a jerkbait and crankbait for a while and caught a few smaller fish bt the bite just wasn't there. Tried a spoon and grub deep but they would only hit a drop shot with a Chompers Plum worm. The bite was tough, you had to pay close attention, the fish were swimming up with the bait and putting a small amount of slack in your line.

Actually, 21.37 won it, Greag & Nate Poindexter jerkbait and crankbait around the Kimberling area, Mike Webb & I got second 20.78 drop shotting around Kimberling also had big bass a 6.52 LM, Jeff Farley & dean Powers were third with 17.15 not sure what or where they were. EP

KC< Sorry I was ouot of pocket all w/e. Champ is right, look for rock that looks like stacked slabs. There will be several ledges or shelves along the bank that the fish will hold on. EP

No problem. Good Luck this w/e

I use the SP 90% of the time, usually use the DD when the water is very cold and the fish are suspended in deeper tree tops. Right now the fish are so shallow (8' - 15') and aggressive the DD hasn't been as effective for me.

The dam area has been pretty good, concentrate in the creek arms on windy chunk or ledge rock with a wart and jerkbait. The jerkbait bite has been better than the wart of late but fish are being caught on both. Also, talked with a couple of guys that caught 'em good on a grub yesterday in the dam area; same type of bank, scrubbin the bottom 8' - 15' deep, smoke and milky salt and pepper on a 1/4 oz. head. IF your struggling switch up to a football jig and work the same areas from 8' - 25' deep. Good Luck this w/e EP

Hey Coyote, I'm a big fan of Lucky Craft Pointer 100's, they are more expensive but run true out of the package and cast great into the wind. Top three TR colors for me are: Chartreuse Shad Table Rock Shad Aurora Black Catch more bass than walleye on them but these three are my most productive colors. EP

Oops.... Sorry Don didn't mean to give up one of your honey holes..... You looked lonely fishing in there by yourself anyway...... just kiddin EP

Kimberling City Area: Despite the colder weather water temperatures have remained relatively warm for the first week of January. Windy chunk rock and ledge rock banks continue to out produce other areas, wiggle warts, jerk baits and jigs are still the best options. On windy days work into the wind and parallel these banks using wiggle warts in brown craw, natural green craw and phantom green craw. Position the boat 8 – 10 feet deep and maintain bottom contact throughout the retrieve to be successful. The jerkbait bite has been very similar to the wiggle wart, American shad, chartreuse shad and aurora black have been top colors, unlike normal winter jerk bait fishing do not pause the bait long before jerks, work the bait back to the boat quickly to be effective. Jewel 1/ oz. and 5/8 football jigs in brown / purple flash and PB&J have been the most productive, work these same areas from 5’ – 25’ deep. James River: The same patterns working in the Kimberling area will work in the James. Off the three the jig and jerkbait bite has been stronger than the wiggle wart. Cooler water temperatures have slowed the wart bite over the past couple of weeks. The jig bite has been a little shallower further up river and in the back of the major creeks. Most of the fish have been caught between 10’ – 15’ feet around any wood or rock cover you can find on chunk rock banks and points. In addition to these patterns a strong deep bite has taken shape over the past week or two. Look for schools of shad to be 1/3 to ¾ of the way back in major creek arms suspended around 40’ -60’ deep. Spoons and grubs have been the top baits for these fish. White River: Much like the rest of the lake the White river has been producing good numbers and quality of fish on wiggle warts, jerkbaits and jigs. Look for the same windy chunk rock banks and points to out produce others. Colors and presentations are the same as the rest of the lake. The deep bite seems to be a little further along in the White river than the James. Schools of shad are suspending from 30’ – 60’ feet deep over the main creek channels of the major creek arms. Look for gulls to show you where the schools of bait are amassed. The gulls will hold over top of the schools awaiting them to move toward the surface. The best jerkbait bite has been up the Kings river, chunk rock and channel swing banks on the main lake and in the creeks have been producing fish. Move the bait quickly to draw strikes. Dam / Branson Area: The lower end of the lake has had the best deep bite so far this winter. Larger creek arms like; Beardsley, Big and Little Indian and Jakes branch have been producing fish on spoons and grubs from 30’ – 70’ deep suspended in and under schools of threadfin shad. Look for gulls to key the areas holding shad and then utilize your electronics to work bait in front of the fish. Like the rest of the lake several fish have been taken on wiggle warts, jerkbaits and jigs on windy chunk rock and ledge rock banks from 10’ – 30’ deep. A few fish have been taken around dock on the lower end as well, look for larger community or condo docks to be the most productive, Eakins jig and craw combos in brown / purple flash, PB&J and watermelon candy flash have all been effective colors. Most of the fish are holding below the center walkway from 10’ – 25’ deep. Don’t Miss Tournament Fishing Radio on ESPN 1400 AM Springfield Mondays 5:30pm and Saturdays 5:00 am or on-line at www.espn1400.com www.focusedfishing.com

I have always tried to set goals in my angling career. This year will be much different with taking on the T director job at CPAA. With that in mind this is what I've come up with: CPAA: Do everything with in my power to rebuild the reputation and stature of Central Pro Am, increase tournament participation by 40% in the Pro-Am and maintain a 70 boat average in the buddy events. General Angling: Get back on the bank....... well sort of, stop depending on deep fish and get back to fishing a jig 90% of the time. Tournament: Win a AiA event and have a top five in one of the Skeeter Tour events. (With being the T director it is going to be tough to fish any more than this) Guide: Increase guide business by 10% S&M, Bill is right if you want to learn to fish a stickbait your learning curve would be cut down a bunch by hiring a guide. Anyone Bill mentioned would be a good choice, I would add Pete Wenners, every year it seems likes Pete catches a double digit fish on Table Rock with a stick bait. A few years back he almost won a derby on the Rock with two fish that went almost 15 lbs. I can catch 'em on a stickbait but nearly as well as the others listed. Good topic and one that doesn't get enough attention. EP

For a 1/2 oz football jig I am a big fan of the Falcon Low Rider Eakins Jig Rod, fast soft tip, good length (6'10") and a good price around $120. For heavier jigs the Falcon McCleland football jig rod is hard to beat, a littel longer and not as stiff of a tip to handle the heavier baits.

I basically use 6 jig trailers throughout the year: Winter: Eakins craw, single tail grub or small pork, the fish are much less active, you have to fish slower and the fish seem to want a bait with less movement, plus the pork will hold more sent for a longer time. Spring: Eakins craw, Paca Chunk and twin tail, fish are more active and are in a search mode, Paca chunk and twin tail give off more vibration and tend to draw fish in. Summer: Paca chunk, twin tail and baby brush hog. This time of year the fish seem to want a bigger profile bait with a bunch of action, even though you are gennerally fishing slow, brush piles, rock piles and docks, the fish still want some movement in the bait when the water is warm. Fall: Paca chunk, twin tail and baby brush hog. Fish are actively seeking forage and the bigger baits shne for big fish. These are my general rules but if the bite is off I wil switch back and forth until I find what they want. The biggest factor when flippin or pitchin is fall rate, if the fish want a slower fall I will up size the trailer or line to control how fast the bait falls. Hope this helps, EP

Hey Guys, Bill's Marine is having their annual Boat and Outdoor show in Joplin on January 9 & 10, 9:00 am - 9:00pm at the Jack Lawton Webb Convention Center (Approx. 3 miles south of I-44 on Rangeline rd). Tommy Biffle, John Sapington, Randy Blaukat, Jim & Troy Eakins will be featured seminar speakers. Ranger boats, Landau pontoons and more. Great buys on non - current Ranger boats, vendor booths, free hot dogs on Saturday afternoon. Free Admission, should be a good time. See Ya There, EP

Thanks Guys, Pretty excited about the task, we've got a lot of work ahead of us. Yes, I will still be fishing the AiA tournaments, there are no conflicts and Kory and I really enjoy fishing them. S&M, was kidding about the handle, a few years back Mike and Sherry Webb were buying a rental house and decided to start a new LLC, originally Mike wanted to call it S&M Investments until Sherry, the attorney and I mentioned it. LOL Techo, We'd love to have you and Adam at the events, you ain't no Rookie. The Skeeter Tour is gonna be big; $10k guaranteed first place 120% payback on a $200 entry fee. Should be even bigger now that the OMTT has revised their payback and lowered the first place prize money. As of right now I won't be the T Director for the Skeeter tour so I plan on fishing all of them. Thanks for the support guys; everyone in the organization is committed to returning CPAA its previous stature. EP

I have hesitated to post on this thread because I now have a greater interest in Central Pro Am. Anyway, for a co-angler I would suggest you look at fishing a pro-am first and foremost as a learning experience. Take a look at the anglers that fish a circuit, the lakes they are fishing and the time of year they will be on each lake. Then ask yourself which circuit offers the best learning experience. Are there particular lakes that I need to focus on to improve or are there particular times of year I need to improve? Take an honest look at whom, what, when and where of the circuit before you decide. As to my interest in Central Pro Am; as of last week I accepted the Tournament Director position with CPAA. I will be managing tournament operations for the Pro Am and Buddy events. To Bill's point Central Pro Am will not put up with any of the shenanigans of which he spoke. The new ownership and management is committed to the anglers fishing our circuit and we will do everything we can to restore CPAA to position it once held in the area. To Troy's point; CPAA has changed it's payback since the kick off; Payback will be a true 80% cash payback going forward paying one spot for every five entries. Whichever circuit you choose to fish do your best to focus on learning something every time you are on the water, even if you draw someone that may not be as accomplished as they need to be. You can still learn from how and where they fish. Hope to see ya next season. EP

We now pause for a brief commercial announcement: I have been involved with Jewel for over ten years and have had some input on head and jig design. Let me see if I can shed some light on differences with the Jewel Products vs. others: Head Design: First and foremost is the way the head is molded, Jewel uses an injection molding process with tolerances to .005 of an inch. That gives their product unmatched consistency in the marketplace, every head is virtually the same as every other head. The hook in every head is straight, and head is perfectly balanced. Everything on the head serves a purpose; the flat bottom allows the jig to sit up right at rest, the notch below the line tie acts as a pivot point when pulling over rocks and brush, the skirt and trailer lock hold both in position. Custom powder coat in neutral colors that outlasts most other painted surfaces. Hook: The hook is a custom bend Mustad ultra point black nickel cross eye hook specifically designed to pull at a 45 degree angle for better hook up. The hook is exclusive to Jewel. Skirt: Double collar design skirt locks all strands in place and makes the skirt flare more, similar to the way a hand tied skirt flares. Original color designs Top three colors for me: PB&J, Brown / Purple Flash & Green Pumpkin Candy Flash Sizes: Available in 3/8oz. - 1 oz. a football jig for every depth. As far as line and rods are concerned; on everything up to 5/8oz. I use a Falcon Eakins model rod, soft tip, good backbone. On heavier jigs I like the Falcon Mike McClelland football jig rod, it's a little stiffer to handle the extra weight. I use 15# Seaguar Invizx 90% of the time, if the water is extremely clear (10' visibility or greater) I will go down to 12#. Hook Set depends on the situation: Draggin: a sweeping hookset Working through a brush pile: jerk Hopping or stroking: Jerk Swimming: Sweep set Hope this helps. EP We now return you to your regular programming Techo: PM Me and I'll see what we can get done.

Wack'em Let's see if I can answer these: Regular Wart - Pre-Rapala, phantom green, nat. green craw, brown craw, phantom brown. Retrieve: Not real fast, just a steady grind on the bottom, when you hit something that stops the bait (big rock or piece of wood) allow the bait to float up. A lot of bites on the rise. Bunched up: Yes and no, the 200yd stretch of bank had almost too much wind on it and it had been on it since the day before (wind blew from the south fri, sw friday night and then west most of sat.). We fished other banks and picked up one or two fish prior to fishing this bank so they were bunched where the wind was the most intense for the longest period of time. When you catch one watch for others to be following, if there are fish following it is worth your time to go over the bank again. 45 degree or less: The bank we had the most success on had a little bit of everything, semi-flat, 45 degree and even some steep ledge. It didn't seem to matter as long as the wind was crushing it. The key for us was wind and lots of it. We fish directly into the wind all day, it makes throwing a light weight wart tough but if we tried going with the wind we did not get bit, just moving down the bank too fast to control the bait and the speed of the bait. I think I got all of them. Hope this helps. EP

Techo, Throw your favorite jerkbait in the same places you would a wart, windy chunk rock banks and points. THROW IT TO THE BANK!! Most of our bites came when the bait bounced up of the bottom in 4' or less water. We were throwing Lucky Craft Pointer 100's in Chartruese Shad & Aruora Black, put the bait on the bank and work it fast. We paralleled the bank with a wart and jerkbait all day, boat in about 8' and casting to the bank. Guy in front throwing a wart guy in back with the jerk bait. They are eating the wart better, usually a face full of hooks, than the jerkbait, usually just the back hook, but it's a great way for two guys to work an area over right now. Most of our fish on Saturday came off one 200 yd stretch of bank down by the dam, we just kept going over it and over it into the wind and picked up fish on every pass. Good Luck & Have Fun! EP

Great story Bill, reminds me of being in Canada and having a 20+ pike grab ahold of a smallmouth on on the way to the boat. The shear number of aggressive fish on the bank right now is amazing. Has this been a great year or what? Big fish on Blades in the spring, Smallmouth all year and shallow, now an incredible bite on the bank through the first week of December. I can't remember it ever being this good all year long. This is awsome, hope to get out later in the week just for fun.

Great Derby this w/e. Can't remeber the last time I've seen weights stacked up so close together. We had 17.15 and got the last check but had the fish on to win it a couple of times. They were flat eating a wart and a jerkbait. Most fun I've had on the water in a long time. My partner, Jim Bruffy, had a 3 + KY on a wart at the boat and a 4+ was trying to knock the bait out it's mouth. Had to decide whether to net the fish or try to catch the other, netted the fish and regretted it the rest of the day. Bird in the hand.... If you can get on the water this week, the bite is outstanding! See ya out there, EP

Steve, I wasn't at the meeting so I don't know if it was brought up. My thoughts are you can't legislate morality and if someone is going to "poach" a spot from a pro they are going to do it anyway whether there is a rule or not. Some am's have been doing this for years, I personally have fish a pro-am one week and gone back to a spot in another tournament the following week and found my previous week's am partner sitting on it. Might of had words with an angler about it but there really isn't anything I could do about the situation. One of the reasons for having the Pro-Am on Saturday is the fish are less pressured on Saturday, Sunday is usually much tougher after you've had a buddy tournament. The one on one competition of a pro-am is tougher than two on two so they felt the it would increase the weights and participation by having it first. The major draw back is a lack of practice time for guys fishing the pro-am, if you work all week and then fish on Saturday you will not a get a day of practice the day before. EP

Talked to Pat earlier and the tournament is a go. 7:00 - 3:00 out of old 86.