Champ188

I didn't mean to come across as poor-mouthing. I had TM issues (losing power above 70% on my 101 Fortrex) on a day when the wind blew steady at 20-30 and gusted to 40 mph. The water temp was not where you'd expect it for early April and the fish were more scattered than you'd expect. It was a blue collar, working man's day for sure. By all means, it was a great day because I was on the water fishing with my best friend/wife. Always is. Always will be. I never want to sound ungrateful for having been able to go fishing.

No problem with specifics on the bait ... War Eagle 3/8-ounce gold frame with double willows (kicker blade nickel, main blade gold) and a hot blue herring skirt. I don't know about the chatterbait deal ... I'm bullheaded as the day is long on that blade. Once I pick it up, I don't experiment much with other stuff. It's a commitment bait if there ever was one.

Should be a big wave of spawners come up in about a week. Full moon is the 22nd and looks like the nighttime temps are finally gonna start warming up, if you can believe the extended forecast.

Great job, CHAMP. Glad you had yourself a good trip. See you soon.

Thanks, guys. It was just a matter of finding the warmest water we could and pounding a few into submission. I've always believed there are two ways to go when fishing gets tough. You can go the finesse route and try to feed them a smaller bite, or you can keep flinging the bling at them (usually a spinnerbait for me) and provoke as many reaction strikes as you can. I like the latter, provided there are enough fish shallow that you can run your bait by a bunch until one of them bites. Pinpoint casting also is key at times like this.

Donna and I fished bankers' hours Sunday ... 9 to 5. As Bill reported earlier, it was not an easy day. We ended up with 20 total fish, including 4 keepers, the largest of which was a fat 3.5-pound LM. Also had a pretty 16-inch spot. The others were just 15-inch LM males. Donna caught one on a Wart. Everything else was on spinnerbaits. Did see some 63-degree water late in the afternoon way back off the main lake.

Just a great job of figuring out a pretty tough bite, 96 CHAMP. Those pics are a darn good representation of a really good trip. Enjoy reading your reports and visiting with you on the water. We still have to get dinner in sometime.

Luck-E-Strike RC STX is a dead ringer copy of the Megabass Vision 110 at one-third of the price. I own quite a few of both.

96CHAMP, they will knock the urine out of a Megabass on LOZ.

I remember the old Fish Formula very well, including the sparkle scales variety. Pretty much mineral oil with sweet anise oil for scent. By the way mixermarkb, the consensus is that you certainly smell better since switching to your wife's soap.

Good to know, Basfis. Thanks for posting and welcome to OA!

Lots of people plug lots of stuff here that's not even their own, so no harm in sharing the word about your wife's soap creation. Thanks for the info! P.S. If we like it, we could even put it on our jerseys!

The print media at pretty much all levels has felt the need to cut corners over the last decade or so, and it tends to show up most in editorial quality ... i.e., spelling, grammar, fact checking, and sometimes just poor writing.

I happen to know a pretty good one. But if it's that Game and Fish Publications group out of Atlanta, they place no value on quality. They pay very little for articles and pretty much just slap them on the page as-is, usually with some file photos, and send it to the pressroom.

There was also a plastic worm in the late 80s called a Kangaroo that had a little pouch molded into it where you could put a small piece of cotton soaked in Fish Formula or some other scent. I believe Mann's made it at the time and it appears another company has revived it.

Great report, Gary. Thanks a bunch and glad you guys got to enjoy some quality time on The Rock.

A few years back, Donna and I pulled up on a gravel point in Schooner Creek. She dunked her jig in PowerBait Bass formula while I threw mine out there with no scent. After she caught 4-5 straight keeper smallmouths while I went without a bite, I wised up and dunked my jig. Immediately, I began catching fish, too, and we ended up catching about a dozen total off that one point. That is the only time since I started using scents like Fish Formula in the early 80s that I have seen it proven to work. But that was enough to convince me that I need to use it whenever I'm not too lazy. Since the Power Bait is a spray, I really don't want the stuff all over our boat so I came up with this idea: Get yourself a normal-sized kitchen sponge and put it in a heavyweight Ziploc quart freezer bag. Pour enough of the scent (3-4 tablespoons) into the bag to saturate the sponge, then close up the bag and keep it in your pants pocket during the fishing day. Might not want to do this in tight jeans, but here's hoping most of us don't dress like that anyway. To apply/reapply scent to your lure, just drop it into the bag, wrap the sponge around it and squeeze. Refresh the sponge as needed.

After golfing Sunday and shaking off the BBT disappointment of Saturday, Donna and I were back at it Monday. We fished about 8 hours between SK bridge and Big Creek. It wasn't a great day by any means, but we did catch a few nice keeper spots and a dozen or so fish total. Pretty much everything was on the Ned fished 8-18 feet deep on flatter gravel places. Could've caught a lot more if the stupid guide hadn't been fishing too steep for half the day or better. Water temps were still 52-57. Ned/shaky head/swing head bite is setting up pretty good. Hope it produces like it did a couple of years ago. We had several weeks where 100-fish days were very possible for two anglers.

Woo Pig Sooie!

Good stuff, Darren. Thanks for posting. Would like to hear from you more often. And congrats on the nice finish!

That's good stuff, Jerry

Everything counted ... keepers and nonkeepers ... I'd venture to say the average bass caught on Table Rock is 14 inches. That's for the average angler, myself included. However, some among us seem to forego the small ones and catch practically all keepers. And lots of them.

Algae bloom indeed. Has a tannic acid coloration to it. Not sure what effect it has on the fish, as it seems to be only on the surface. But I don't care for fishing in it. Ready for it to go away.

I do the exact same thing down here in Bella Vista, Jerry. I play in a regular Friday group where we toss in $5 and play various formats. Satisfies my need for competition. Besides, I'm competing more against my inner dummy than anyone else when playing golf.

Nice job, Sprint. Those grind-it-out days build character.