Champ188

Just sayin, increased boat traffic in the spring is a fact of life.

You have to keep an open mind and adjust to the conditions. Boat traffic is an unpleasant reality of spring fishing. How you deal with it determines whether your trip is successful or not.

Yes, there's a jig bite. Donna's been catching them on a 3/8 Pig Sticker in green pumpkin.

I would bet that you're right about location over lure. I just throw what I'm confident will get me a bite when I get around one. Chances are, those fish would've hit a Megabass, McStick, Rogue, Shadow Rap, X-Rap, Strike KIng or any number of other stickbaits. Regardless, the RC STX replicates a Megabass Vision 110 pretty well for a fraction of the price.

Beautiful fish. Love those big spots. Bad job on the camera angle. I'm onto your stuff now. LOL

I saw a few guys catching some crappie Sunday in the creeks and bigger pockets off the Kings River. Most were fishing jigs around visible wood in 15-25 feet of water. Not sure how deep they were going with their jigs but most of the fish I saw them catch were throwbacks.

Wish our Walmart would stock them but I usually get them at Hook Line & Sinker or end up ordering them. I keep myself stocked up on the colors that treat me best.

Have fun over there, Gabe. Looks like the jackpot weights have been picking up. Might want to take you some Rock Crawlers along, too. Bet that phantom brown or red craw would flat catch them.

Herringbone Chartreuse, Pro Blue, Black Stardust Shad, Purple Flash.

Probably work for that, too, as long as it doesn't cause the bait to roll or run off keel.

As you well know, Ham, a lot of it has to do with what you believe in. The McStick is probably a better quality bait. But at $9 each, I don't mind replacing an STX every few trips.

PRADCO bought Norman. Luck-E-Strike, formerly of Cassville, MO, sold out to True North Enterprises of Geneva, IL, in 2014. http://swtimes.com/business/norman-lures-acquired-pradco-outdoor-brands http://www.cassville-democrat.com/story/2115314.html

I can see it making a fine buzz bait trailer hook.

Extra weight and drag of the blade would probably kill the action of the Redfin, or at least affect it enough to negate any advantage it might add.

There are other McSticks hanging on the wall in the garage. But I have a lot more RC STX's.

Dang brown fish crashing a crappie party? Have they no manners?

For crappie, I have a 10-foot medium action spinning outfit spooled with 6-pound mono. I'll clip a weighted styrofoam cork on the line however many feet I choose up from my Arkie Lures Shineee Hineee jig and fling away. With this long rod, I can cast my jig with the cork 15 feet up the line. Same basic deal as the float n fly.

I have an entire box (16) McSticks and I do catch fish on them. But the RC STX is a much closer knockoff of the Megabass and if forced to choose between the two, I'd take the RC STX hands down.

Water temp was 47-49, therefore only 3-5 seconds between pauses. Jerk bait is a Luck-E-Strike RC STX. It's a pretty darn good Megabass Vision 110 knockoff. Another bonus is the $9 price tag. I'm gonna pay whatever it takes to catch fish and I do own some Megabass baits, but in this case, I can honestly say this bait works every bit as well as the Vision 110 for me.

Rolled into Eagle Rock at 10:15 Tuesday morning. Had a little delay in getting started, though. I had run the oil tank low on the 225 Pro XS on Sunday, but didn't think much of it at the time. Just poured in a gallon when I got home and figured all was good. When I got to the ramp Tuesday, it kept throwing an oil pump failure code to the Smartcraft gauge. Pulled it back out of the water and went up to Bruton Marine at Golden, where the very accommodating older fellow explained that the reserve tank on the side of the engine had to be completely full, which is was not. After buying another gallon of oil, going back to the lake, filling the little reserve tank and bleeding out the air, I made my first cast at 11:58 a.m. First spot I stopped produced a short K on the Rock Crawler and another lost fish about the same size. Next area seemed to be a dud until I finally hit the sweet spot. Caught another Rock Crawler fish, then picked up the stick bait and it was on. This spot produced a total of 11 fish over the next hour-and-a-half, including a 4-pound LM and some thumper K's. All came on the jerk stick. Fished half a dozen more areas before quitting at 5:15 with 21 total fish and five keepers that would go 13-14 pounds. I can tell you this ... it got colder as the afternoon went on with that wind blowing steady 15-20 mph gusting to 30 mph and temps right around 40. Bite seemed to tail off around 4:00.

Pretty good day, all things considered. Bite has gotten tougher in the White for me. Having to really move and shake to find/catch em.

Well said, Sprint.

We'll always have Grand. (Or Paris).

Fishing deep, fishing shallow, fishing in between ... the key to any of it is what Bill just said --- you gotta get good enough at it to be comfortable doing it. There cannot be an inkling of a doubt in your mind that what you are doing is exactly what YOU need to be doing to catch bass. Anyone who has fished 50 years or more --- myself, Bill and Bo, to name a few --- develops strengths. Among those strengths is one "zone" where we thrive. Provided fish can be caught on a particular day by that method, we are probably going to hammer them. For me, that's shallow on a spinnerbait or in the cedars on a Redfin. If either of those bites are on, you might beat me but you'll need to pack a lunch. Same goes for Bill out on the rolloff points with a football jig or wobblehead. Bo's gonna hurt you on a spoon or a heavy jig waaaaay down deep. Donna and I stayed shallow all day Sunday, ending up with five largemouth keepers for a conservative 14 pounds. Our two biggest fish were closer to the backs of creeks than the front and neither was in more than 3 feet of water. None of those five keepers were deeper than 8 feet. A good friend from Arkansas likes to say, "There are always fish shallow." Since he has three world titles (two Bassmaster Classics and a Forrest Wood Cup), I think it's safe to say he knows the territory. Likewise, there are always fish deep. Furthermore, there are always fish in between. Lake Ouachita near Hot Springs, AR, is as much a highland reservoir as you'll ever find. Its water was once rated by the EPA as the cleanest in the nation. She's bigger than Table Rock and often more clear. Nevertheless, of the several Forrest Wood Cup championships that have been held there, at least two have been won in the shallows on topwaters in AUGUST --- the dog days of summer. Same thing happened just downstream at Lake Hamilton one year. Bottom line here is Bill isn't wrong, Bo isn't wrong and I'm not wrong. We just have different strengths and specialties and all of them work at times. Biologists who specialize in largemouth bass have agreed in the past that some fish seem genetically predisposed to live deep, while others are prone to spend their lives shallow. Seems the same is true for fishermen. So my advice is to get in your comfort zone and become as good as you can possibly be at what you do best. That's NOT to say don't stretch yourself. I'm very capable of fishing out to 35 or 40 feet when I have to, while Bill and Bo no doubt can fish shallow. But no one is wrong to fish anywhere within reason.

Good job guys. Nothing tougher than cold, muddy water.