Champ188

Me too and they either don't understand the concept of a courtesy dock vs. a fishing dock, or they just don't want to understand it.

Holy crap, that's disgusting.

Babler defines "shallow" as anything less than 30 feet. Happy to see from your pic backgrounds that you and I are much closer together on the real definition. Nice spinnerbait choice, too. Hard to beat a War Eagle.

I was greatly enjoying this post until I got to the unfortunate part about you being LSU fans. Feel free to jump in anytime, Bill. 😁

If you don't know Randy, you can't imagine the real value of this post. You couldn't beat that kind of info out of FFS with a sledgehammer. I don't know how many years he was here, but Randy worked harder than anyone --- even the guides --- at learning to catch Table Rock walleye. Day after day, through the hot summer months, he'd pull deep trolling lures for them. I do recall that mph was extremely important to him. Randy also caught a bunch of bass at times. He was especially handy with a topwater bait by Norman called a Top Dollar. He sent me a couple that are custom painted long ago and I cherish them. In fact, Randy, I tied one on in a Wounded Warriors benefit derby on Beaver a few weeks ago. Thank you for unselfishly posting this information. Big of you to do so.

Saying a lot indeed. So good to see this walleye fishery just keep improving. I wish Beaver would keep pace but seems there just aren't as many there or the stripers have the same appreciation for their culinary value as humans. Not starting a hate attack on stripers --- I've actually changed my beliefs on how/whether they impact LM, SM and KY bass populations in highland reservoirs. But I do know that stripers, walleye and crappie all tend to hang out in open water (as pelagics do) a good portion of the year. Aside from spots, which also have pelagic tendencies when the shad move offshore, LM and SM tend to hang shallower and around cover more than stripers. All saltwater fish are voracious and opportune feeders. Put food in front of them and they will usually wolf it down. Doesn't take a neurosurgeon to figure out who wins when a school of stripers and a school of walleye or crappie collide. Saw on FB where Oliverson is catching a bunch of Walters, too, and some big ones.

At least you spent two days in the boat with a good dude and undoubtedly learned a lot. Hope you catch em better next time. Good to see you back on The Rock.

Sorry guys, not trying to stonewall anyone. Just got out of the habit of getting on here and need to get back to it. I'll try to be more "in the moment" as the corporate heads like to say (this week ... they'll have new jargon next week. LOL) The deal back in late April indeed was a Fin. Some of these fish were as shallow as 3 feet but the best bet was to go to your best cedar tree creeks/pockets and try to make ultra-precise casts past the target tree and then guide your line through the limbs so the Fin swims so close to the tree that it literally bumps the trunk. You can also do this with a swimbait provided you have a very good weedless hook setup that will allow you to swim thru the limbs. As Bill said, follow em out after the spawn by fishing the same places we followed em in at a month or so ago. I was fishing up the White the day I found em so good, but I would bet it's still going strong on the lower end. Now, about all of this ego-building nonsense ... those are some extremely kind words coming from some downright Table Rock hammers. I'm honored at such high praise. Again, I'll try to get back in the habit of hanging out on OA. I've missed it.

I've had heck getting bit, too. Hoping all of the rain this morning will help.

Just a quick word of caution --- be very, very careful running Roaring River. In fact, don't even try to run most of it. There's a lot of BIG underwater trees in that area just waiting to claim another lower unit.

Sounds like the same propaganda from any of the previous 20 years. Fishing is great, so come one, come all ... and that goes double for national-level bass tournaments. The bigger, the better! How about MDC gets out and does some REAL sampling ... like creel surveys over a yearlong period at various ramps around the lake? Or, as has been tossed around on here a few times ... close down one of the three main arms of the lake during the spawn.

I've lived here 25 years and for my money, this is your guy: https://striperguides.net/

I have 15 rods/reels chomping to go after I dismantled, cleaned and lubed every darn one of em on a couple of subfreezing days this week. Dewayne, it surprises not one bit that you were out Saturday. You never did have a lick more sense than me regarding such things, and that ain't much! 😆 I hope you're doing well, brother. Miss seeing ya at the old CPA derbies and the BFLs. P.S. to all interested parties ... I discovered why the old BPS Pro Qualifier reels have been so popular ... they are made by Lew's. I dismantled a Lew's and a Pro Qualifier side-by-side and the only difference is the frame color. I believe every part would be interchangeable.

Hard work but very rewarding --- on the water and in the skillet.

Nice work, sir. Just curious, still using 2D sonar or are you live scoping these days? Regardless, you're one of the best deep fishermen I've come across.