Champ188

I've sure caught a bunch on them after the head has started wobbling a bit. It doesn't seem to hurt anything in my experience.

I'm really struggling to leave this alone. I mean REALLY struggling. But I'm succeeding so far.

All pretty good info. I'm a War Eagle guy all the way. There are other good baits out there but I like to keep it simple and familiar. I'm with gruber on the purple shad and mouse. Very good colors. If you get in some stained water up the river arms, chrome clown or sun perch are hard to beat. Main thing with a spinnerbait is to commit to it. If you are gonna pick it up and put it down, pick it up and put it down ... there are better things to throw. A spinnerbait catches fish not because it's pretty, but because you can cover a ton of water with it and put it places that other moving baits just can't go.

You're welcome, bobby. As I said, if you're not learning, you're sliding backwards.

I fished 4 hours yesterday afternoon in Bella Vista. Wasn't bad at all. Caught several nice ones on a jerk bait. You might want to consider Geritol or maybe dtrs5kprs could concoct you something to get your blood back to a reasonable manly level.

You gotta listen close or you'll miss some of his best humor.

Bill knows tons about Table Rock's bass and their habits. So does Tim Hughes. But the day any of us are unable to learn something new is the day we begin losing whatever ground we may have gained over the years.

Gotta say as much as I find Zona irritating, I would just have to disembowel Mercer and tell God he died.

I'm with ya, T. Lot of trouble to hook up the boat and drive 1.5 hours not to stay all day. Besides, I'm just not done most days til it's dark.

Just an awesome article, Bill. Packed with information, as outdoor writing should be. Thanks for your efforts.

I'm with Chief ... spots are special creatures. My favorite among the three main bass types in Table Rock.

^^^ This is the reply I was referring to as sarcastic. Ben will tell you that I've invited him to go fishing with me and we are working on a date. So I'm 110% onboard with what he's doing. Done with this thread.

My point is, that's exactly what Ben has been doing to get his website/forthcoming app up and running. He's in start-up mode right now and is personally visiting and taking water temp readings at 14 locations around Table Rock and Beaver lakes, then posting them for free on his website. Ben has stated many times that his long-range plans are for this data to be "live" via remote reporting technology and that the fishermen are calling the shots from the get-go as to what info they want to have available. All that considered, seems to me a little tacky --- joking or not --- to be making sarcastic comments as to how often this info is updated.

IMO, there is way too much good cover in the water for there not to be bass shallow. Also, water temps are still high enough for them to be there in good numbers. The problem with shallow fish is that they are more susceptible to weather changes, falling water levels and just about any other factor that can affect their desire to feed. Since shallow fish in thick cover can't be looked at on sonar, the tendency is to say they aren't there when they don't bite. Right now, there sooooo much cover for them disperse in that unless you can get enough of them to bite to reveal some sort of pattern to their location, it's just hard as heck to get anything going in the skinny water. Can't rip and tear thru it either in 50-degree water like you can in the spring when you're looking for them.

You guys could get out and drive to several locations around the lake with a temperature probe --- and then post the info absolutely free of charge for the rest of us. I don't really need live data ... a couple of times a day would be sufficient.

Regarding prespawn movements, I can't add much of anything to what dtrs5kprs had to say. Very well said. And on the subject of wandering, perhaps Mr. McCartney said it best: "The kettle's on the boil and we're so easily called away." I can hear the youngsters Googling away now.

Eric, I've never found much of a solution for cold, muddy water. My advice would be to stay east of the Kimberling City bridge. Cow Creek, State Park and Indian Point ramps should all be open.

^^^ That's funny I don't care who you are.

Ask all the questions you want, nhornback. Someone will answer them. Any naysayers probably cut their fishing teeth in the pre-computer age (like myself) and are just envious that they didn't have such a broad source of information. You'll get good tips here that will save you a lot of time, but as you obviously already know, you'll have to work out the details on your own. Keep asking questions and keep us posted on your progress.

Yup, they had corraled a bunch of shad back in that runoff and were chowing down on them.

I personally couldn't care less what anyone thinks of me ... I'm going to support every officer who wears a badge until he gives me a reason why I shouldn't. That doesn't mean I don't get frustrated when the water patrol is present at practically every tournament takeoff but nowhere in sight when the lake is crawling with drunks. That's on the agency, not the individual officers.

I watched a group of stripers on Lake Ouachita once run themselves so far up into the mud at the back end of a creek they had to flop themselves into the air to get back deep enough to swim. This went on for 10 minutes. It was in February right after we'd had a warm runoff rain.

There are good and bad people in every profession. Bottom line is cops at all levels go out into an increasingly evil world every day and put their lives on the line to protect the rest of us. Nice or not, they all have to be vigilant to a degree that some civilians may see as extreme in order to give themselves the best chance to go home alive at the end of their shift. And that's far more important than whether we think they are nice or not.

If you catch a fish on a reaction bait, that's not the time to slow down and fish differently. Stay with what's working at the moment. The pros may advocate doing that, but they are usually not fishing Table Rock. Fish here are famous for either looking up (reaction baits) or looking down (dragging baits) on a given day. If you catch one on a spinnerbait or topwater, ride that horse until it craps out. If you catch one on a jig or shaky head, stay with it until the action stops or it's time to go home. The key is finding the fish and figuring out what they want on a given day. Once you do, don't mess with success until they force you to change.

Yes, when the water temp reaches around 50, as I understand it.