Champ188

The tournament is Thursday-Saturday. No mention of rain any of those days by the NWS or The Weather Channel. Front blows thru Wednesday night, then mostly sunny skies and light winds the next 3 days. May be about as tough as it gets. Finesse jig and spoon on docks could be strong. Gonna be 200 boats (one pro, one co-angler in each boat) the first two days. The field is cut to 10 boats for Saturday's final round. I'll say 40 pounds.

Nice report and gorgeous pics of the wood duck. That bass is nice and healthy for an early-fall fish. (May be mid-fall but conditions are still like early fall).

That's a fine sack of fish anywhere, anytime, Mike.

I feel where you're coming from, J-Doc. I don't mind sharing tactics, tackle specifics or other detailed info out on the public forum, but I'm not giving away spots or even general areas. Some of these lurkers need to become real fishermen and "enjoy the hunt" instead of wanting to just drive up on someone else's hard-earned fish and start jerking and winding.

Awesome work, Ben. As I've said before, I don't know of a project like this anywhere in the country.

I swap out the rings on my golf towels a couple of times a year.

Couldn't agree more on the water temp deal. Some regular frosts would do the trick.

Better days ahead. And more peaceful ones. With less boat traffic. This Costapalooza should be the last big derby of the season. And one of these days the water will cool down enough that the tubers and such will put their toys away.

Can't sum it up much better than that.

You hillbillies think you're real smart, don't ya> LOL

Now that's funny I don't care who you are.

Hey now, I am a well-oiled precision machine. My only transgression would be letting my spinnerbait or buzz bait blades tick down the side of your toon cylinders.

I kind of found them by accident, too, Sprint. Donna and I were up in a river arm one day in Jan/Feb and I was throwing a jerk bait and she'd been dragging a jig. There was a leaning log coming off a bank and, being from Texas, she had to throw on it. So she hurled her jig over there on a very long cast and next thing I know, she's wresting with a nice LM. I figured it was a fluke but she badgered me into getting her closer, and dang if she didn't catch 2 or 3 more NICE ones flipping that jig into that shallow wood. Don't know if I was more surprised or tickled by their location.

That makes as much or more sense than anything I've come up with, Sprint. We did have some very shallow fish last winter and I can't think of a time that they disappeared since then.

I wish they would do like Alex and redact my house out of the background.

Really nice job on what had to be a challenging day with the high skies and no wind.

Not sure what has drawn them but there's been a shallow bite throughout the White River chain all year ... even thru what few "dog days" we had. Sprint and Royal both nailed it by pointing out that weather conditions need to be favorable (wind, passing frontal system, etc.) for them to bite beyond just slapping at the lure, but some good sacks have been caught on the right days. I'm a firm believer that there are always some fish shallow, but this year there has seemed to be more.

Hate to hear about the shoulder, Cody. Tore the rotator cuff in my right one and did the surgery. That was close to 20 years ago and it's still good as new. Just have to make sure and do your physical therapy after the surgery. And maybe you won't even need an operation.

Congrats on the team win. Looks like you guys had a big time. Goes to show that there are always some fish shallow. Just takes a bit of tinkering to figure out how to catch em.

Glad you guys had a fun week. Weather was definitely pleasant. That's certainly a healthy one Lily captured.

I think a lot of us are just sadly aware that big money will prevail. And that common sense and integrity hardly matter anymore. That was proven in the presidential election of 2008 and again in 2012. And likely will be proven yet again in a couple of weeks. Strength in numbers may have mattered at one time, but the only numbers that matter anymore are the ones with dollar signs in front of them. JMO.

I have to say --- in the most non-confrontational way that I can --- that Thumbs has a very good point. The devil is in the delivery. Titling your posts things like "Absurd" and "It's Simple" tends to irritate folks. As a general rule, consistently catching bass is neither absurd nor simple ... not on Table Rock and not on any other public waterway in this part of the country. Saying that it is can come across as arrogant and is often suspected of being untrue. As for those who claim to catch them by the dozens every time they go, I can't concretely dispute your numbers. I wasn't there. But I will say that I don't care how good of a deep-water angler you may be, there are some bonafide offshore gurus around --- Bill Babler and Bill Beck, to name a couple --- who do not catch them every trip and who have absolutely no problem admitting to the world when they don't. I don't think I'm stepping very far out on a limb by saying that no one on this forum is any better than those two at putting deep-water fish in the boat on Table Rock. So if you want to regale us all with stories of how you hammer them every time you get your lower unit wet, go right ahead. Just don't be surprised when some of us raise a suspicious brow. I'm as appreciative as anyone here of all of the great info that's shared on this site. As we all tend to do, I take what suits me and leave the rest for others to sift through. I'm often told that my own contributions are appreciated, and I like knowing that I've helped others. That's what this place is all about.

Just a waste of money to go out there and fish for little ones. Not long before I started fishing tournaments in the 80s, the limit in most derbies was 10. Then it dropped to 7, where it stayed for quite a few years, and now the norm is down to 5 fish. I personally saw the entire landscape of tournament fishing change with the drop from 7 to 5 fish. You had to really start fishing for better fish. So again, it's a waste of good money to go out and just fish for all the bites you can get. You only need five, so as Bo says, fish like you mean it.

Nice report, Bill, and beautiful pics. Donna and I will be up Saturday to kill the deep bite for you guys.

That's the nature of the fall dock bite ... it's not a fast and furious deal by any means. But when you keep your junk (jig, spoon, whatever you're flipping) way back in the dark corners all day long, you will usually get 6-10 quality bites in the course of a tournament day. If you get them in the boat, you'll be in the check line.