focused fishing

Yea, one of these days we need to officially meet. If I remember correctly you offered a punch in the gut for something you posted and I reminded you that's how Houdini died and you made a coment about my age...... We'd love to have you at a CPAA event, you should try to check out the one in August at Table Rock.

Had a trip with Jeff Neels from Ft. Wayne on Friday just got the pics and figured I post some info. Jeff is part owner of Mad Anthony Brewering Company in Ft. Wayne, if you head to Ft. Wayne I suggest you try try the resturant, you won't be disapointed, at a minimum if you can find Mad Anthony Beer buy it, it is outstanding. I prefer the Gabby Blond and Amburn Lager both are excellent. Jeff's a very accomplished angler, we've fished together for several years and always have a great time. We started in Kimberling city with a spook and redfin, keying on flat banks we had more than two dozen blow ups but only managed to hook a couple, both decent keepers. Decided before the sun got to high we should head up the White and see if the fish were more aggressive. On the first flat point we fished we had several fish including these two fat Ky's that ate a spook. Caught several in flat pockets on a spook, redfin and weightless fluke then moved on to a large flat near Big Creek. We shut down just in time as the water began to boil around us Jeff caught several on a spook and I decided to get greedy. I pulled out a double fluke rig AKA "The Greed Rig" and started to catch fish two at a time. The first cast yeilded a three and three and a half pound KY, the next cast had a three pound KY and a four pound largemouth. Handed Jeff the rig and he said he want to get some pics before he threw it so here are a 2.5 and 2.75 caught on the next cast. notice the boil behind the first fish We continued to fish "The Greed Rig" until the school died down catching around 20 keepers in about as many minutes. The reason I call it "The Greed Rig" is how I fish it; I will cast it out and work it until I get a bite, once I have a fish hooked up I will allow it to swim until the rod loads with a second fish. In other words, being greedy. We continued to fish a single fluke and a grub throughout the day keying on flat points and spawning pockets and catching a mixed bag of smallmouth, KY's and largemouth from 3' - 12' deep. Every fish we caught was suspended. On a fluke in 4' of water On a milky salt and pepper grub in a tree suspended over 12' We had around 35 keepers and not sure how many short fish, just a great day to be on the lake. This bite should last for at least another week or two so get out and enjoy it while you can. EP

Hey Tim, Thanks for the vote of confidence about CPAA, we're doing our best and trying to improve at every event. Sorry I wasn't real cordial at the AiA on Saturday, had motor trouble and limped in early. Just found out this morning that #2 cylinder is down, looks like it needs a new power head. Gotta go get the loaner boat set up. EP

Brian, A cold front won't completely kill the topwater bite but it will slow it down significantly, if the front is followed by a blue bird windy day the bite will be hurt the most. As long as the winds are not so strong to impeded the action of a topwater you still should be good for a topwater during a rainy, stormy day. If the winds are that strong switch to a grub or jerkbait and work the jerkbait fast. Other than having a ton of company on the water (Federation Nation, BASS w/e, etc....) you should have a really good week to fish. EP

T-Rock Jaws, It's the same at all levels, someone starts doing well and the green-eyed monster shows up and others start making accusations. Personally I delt with it in a club a few years ago and left the club, probably shouldn't have. I know several fine anglers on the regional level that have had their reputations tainted by jealous gossip. It seems that when somone gets on a roll people can't belive they aren't cheating. One regional angler finally got fed up and confronted the people spreading the rumours and it went away, another ignored it and it went away. Offering to fish with one of the accusors or an impartial person at your next tournament so they can see you aren't cheating may be an option. You only have to answer to yourself and God, He knows your not cheating and so do you. Don't let the jealousy of others effect you, enjoy the tournaments and enjoy fishing. EP

Tim I think it's more how close it is to Springfield and how well Ron Shuffield did in the FLW, plus compared to Kimberling the moss is minimal so more guys are fishing in that area. We're just messin' with ya.

Brian, A couple of things; A redfin is much larger than the standard rapala and mimicks an injured gizzard shad better because of it's "waking" action. When we talk about the retreive it is a continuous retreive, no twitching or jerking, your throw it out and bring it back to the boat quickly with it waking on the surface. Most rapalas will dive below the surface on a quick retreive and that is not the action you want. If you can make a rapala wake on the surface with a quick retreive you won't need a redfin. Clear as mud????? EP

Polock, Fozzy has the right idea, get into some bigger creeks and look for flat secondary points near spawning coves and throw a topwater early then use a fluke if its calm and a jerkbait or grub if its windy. Keep your boat a long cast off the bank and you should have some fun. EP

Errrrr. yea...... I meant Aunts Creek ....... yea that's the ticket ...... Aunts Creek

Guys until the moss breaks up you really only have two options; fish above it or out beyond it. For the past couple of weeks the better fish have been suspended above it so baits like a fluke, grub, topwater or jerkbait have been producing. You absolutely need to stay above the moss to get bit, once there is moss on the bait the fish will ignore it. With that in mind I have been using a wieghtless fluke and down sizing the head on my grub to a 3/16 oz. on windy days and a 1/8 oz. on calm day to keep my clients out of the moss. There are fish on the outer edge but most of what we've been catching out there have been shorts on a shaky head or split shot. Fozzy, try heading up stream a little from Clevenger, once you get above the 86 bridge the moss isn't nearly as thick and you can use a shaky head. Hope this helps, EP

We caught a few without wind as well but not nearly as many. The wind changed directions overnight, Saturday it was out of the south, southeast and when the front, errr tornado... pushed through it turned around and was blowing out of the northwest. Points that had wind on Saturday but no wind Sunday still produced fish but with a slower bait, spook, grub and a fluke. The best bite was in the wind without a doubt, and points with wind blowing directly on them were better than those with wind blowing across them. Hope this helps, EP

I hear ya Bill. Have the same situation with AT&T, especially when I'm on the water. I hate to answer the phone when I'm guiding but since most folks won't leave a message anymore almost have to. Guy's I'm with Bill if you need my help I'm happy to, either text me or wait till after 5pm to call. Thanks, EP

Been a while since I've posted anything, sorry been pretty covered up and just haven't had time to sit down in front of the PC. Fished the dam, Kim City and Baxter over the last three days, Don has already shared the action at the dam so I won't waste time rehashing his report. Kimberling City and Baxter is just as hot right now; helped KAST with their kid's derby on Saturday and after we got the dads and kids on the water went out for about three hours in the rain, hail and etc.... Had about 30 fish with 10 or 11 keepers on three baits; Spook, grub and a fluke. Just about every fish came on the flattest points we could find, if there was no wind on the point we would throw a spook (flitter shad) or super fluke (white pearl) to the bank and work it back to about 15'. Most strikes came between 4- - 8' deep. If the point had wind on it we would change up and throw a watermelon/ red 4" grub on a 3/16 oz. head and swim it above the moss back to the boat. Tim and Brandt Sainato won the KAST tournament, they caught all their fish swimming smoke grubs on 1/8 oz. heads and on a redfin, Brandt had the big fish of the day a browning that was just short of 5 pounds on a redfin. On Sunday fished the Blue Eye Project graduation tournament with a couple of kid's from Blue Eye; same deal we fished the flattest points we could find with as much wind blowing on them as possible. Top two baits were the 4" grub and a rapala X-rap. Had our initial five keepers by 8:10 and culled three of those by 8:45, most came on the jerkbait, you have to work it as hard and fast as you can, I work the lure so hard I have blisters on my hand a very sore wrist today. This is a reaction strike, the x-rap is designed to be worked shallow and fast and is perfect for this application. Most strikes are vicious and will almost rip the rod out of your hand. We caught somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 fish and twenty keepers yesterday, to be honest I lost track once we got over 50 and needed a fish over 17" to help our limit, I just know we caught them all day. Finished third with just under 14 lbs, Brad Butler won the derby with around 14.5 lbs. We were less than a mile from the Baxter dock all day long. Had a great day and raised some much needed cash for Blue Eye project gaduation. O.K., I will add one thing to the Dam area report, there are a bunch of fish suspending around bigger docks right now, you will need to weed through several shorts to catch a keeper but there are several big KY's hanging in the shade of condo and community docks. I've been thrown (skipping) a white weightless fluke around docks and getting bit on almost every cast on calm sunny days. Cast or skip the fluke into the shade and allow it to sink for about 3 seconds (if it gets down that far) and work it back to the boat like a jerkbait it is a blast and really easy to do. Have Fun, EP

Hey Jason, The stickbait bite is still there, you just need to move the bait a lot faster. Most of the guides don't use them on trips becuase the idea of three or four jerkbaits being thrown at once is a little scary. As far as other anglers are concerned most prefer to throw a wiggle wart or a spinnerbait instead, they cover water more efficiently. The shad kill really won't have much of a lasting effect now that it is over. A small shad kill is great, a massive one like we had will actually hurt an area as the fish will stuff themselves and become inacactive. Going forward the bite should stabilize around the lake. If we can get rid of the moss it should be an awsome spring. EP

Just too far to run to Aunts Creek on a four hour trip .....

Went out of Big Cedar yesterday with Brian and his two boys; Cooper and Logan from Lexington, KY. Had 14 fish with four keepers in four hours. Mostly KY's but did have one brown fish. Everything on 4" smoke grubs on 1/4 oz. heads, all on windy, gravel and mixed gravel / rock points, 6' - 20' deep. Moss seems to be breaking up in some areas, others...... not so much. Eight other guides out of Big Cedar, all reported similar success on similar locations. Things are starting to pick up on the lower end. EP

I'm just saying, isn't that about the right distance????

Everything on here is accurate, the water is clearer and slower to warm in the KC area and that does slow the bite. This year is a little different, there was a massive shad kill from around Campbell point to the dam, great for the fishery tough on the fisherman. I noticed a few still dieing off yesterday in Mill Creek even though the water was in the low 50's, some sort of suicide pact I guess.... Anyway, KC is starting to get better slowly but surely, we had a few there yesterday mostly shorts on a grub, had to keep it up out of the moss to get bit. Look for it to improve a bunch in short order as the water temps get closer to 60. On the bright side it looks like the moss is breaking up a little in the KC area. As far as running to the James, Aunts Creek is only 5 or 6 miles from the KC bridge...... Right Tim????

Hey Champ, Was down your way on Beaver Saturday, boy that river water is pretty, tan and warm just the way I like it. Know what you mean about working for a limit, had to go through about 10 shrts for every keeper. By the way, what are you doing to make those fish so mad? Can't remember the last time I had 3 lb fish pull as hard as they did on Saturday. Looks like it shaping up to be a good weekend for somebody that knows how to throw a spinnerbait....... know anyone????? Good luck this w/e, EP

The water is 48 - 50 depending on which side of the lake you are on (north side is warmer with the south wind) The bite is still pretty tough, it would be worth the run to head to the lower James and some colored water, much better bite on stickbaits, grubs, wiggle warts and jigs. Water temps should be in the lower to mid 50's by the weekend. Good Luck, EP

No Kiddin' Champ, a lot of fish came out of there this weekend, plus I could of hung out with Tim

Finally got to where I can post a little info from over the weekend: Friday had a full day trip out of Shell Knob with Jeff Neil from Ft. Wayne, great guy and really good angler. We were fogged in until around 10:00 so we fished close to the ramp on a main lake channel swing, caught 18 fish and five keepers on an Eakins jig (PB&J with a gp craw) and jerkbait (lucky craft chartreuse shad pointer and bevy shad in aurora blue.When the fog lifted headed up the Kings and caught about 22 more through out the day on Eakins Jig, jerkbaits, and 4" grub, all on swings and steeper banks, couldn't get the wart to go real well, had four all short on it. Ended the day with around 40 fish and 7 keepers. Jeff with one about 4 Saturday had a full day out of Baxter with Steven Schnider from STL, another good angler. Stayed close to Baxter until it warmed up, the bite was really off in the morning, had six fish in the first three hours nothing close to keeping. Once it got a little warmer we headed up lake to Campbell point, caugh several fish on a grub and jerkbait but still nothing of size maybe three keepers. Ran down lake to Kimberling, same story a bunch of fish no real size. Ended the day with about 24 fish and four keepers, most on a 4" smoke grub. Sunday fished the AiA with Kory, ran to the Kings to start the day, his second pitch he caught a six pounder and we thought we made the right decision. Fished the Kings for 6 more hours and caught around 25 shorts, Kory lost four (Unheard of he never looses fish) I lost two, at least three of these were keepers. Really a weird bite, not big on excuses and we didn't execute, but I lost track of how many times the jig trailer was missing pinchers after a bite. Fished the swing Jeff and I fished on Friday and caught nothing but shorts. Anyway, the big fish kiss of death strikes again, we weighed the one six pounder, burned about $60 in gas and went home. Around 35 fish, 5 - 8 lost fish, don't know how many missed bites, one keeper, most on a brwon or black / blue Eakins jig with matching trailer, a few shorts on jerkbait, a couple on the wart. Kory's 6 pounder On a brighter note this weekend is shaping up to be awesome, warm weather and stained / dirty water should make the rivers light up. The shad kill has been over from the mid lake to the dam for over a couple of weeks, fish are moving up with the urge to spawn all over the lake. Should be a fantastic weekend to fish. Got a couple trips toward the end of the week and post another report then. Good Luck -EP

Fished the Kings yesterday, water temps from 51 at the mouth and 55 above Sweetwater. A lot of color, the bite was off a bit, got pleanty of bites, mostly small males, lost several fish, seemed they were picking the jig up by the trailer.

Ya know, now that I think about it...... I think I'll fish in Aunts Creek both days, heard allot of good stuff from there lately......

The main lake can kiss my arse! (Never thought I'd say that) I've got trips Friday and Saturday, gonna burn a bunch of gas and head for the river(s). Sure I'll have company with the OMTT this w/e, but ya gotta do what you gotta do to get clients bit. Will post this w/e if I can Monday at the latest. EP