Champ188

I'm holding out for a heated jersey.

Not to mention I'd have 30 peanut butter jars bouncing around in the boat.

So does the peanut butter jar deal ... https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=spinners+rubberband+man

Is this Ned rig something new?

Good day and some darn pretty fish. Thanks for the report!

Glad you were able to get on some and put a few in the boat. That Ned rig is a fish-catching machine.

Plug, I've spent a fair amount of time on LOZ and I know what you mean. With all of the boat docks, it's a pitcher's paradise. I would say, though, that you might try a good quality fluorocarbon line. The difference in feel between it and mono is remarkable.

Ben, this is some of the most valuable info ever posted on OAF. From now thru April, water temp is probably the single most important factor to all bass anglers.

Very kind of you to say, BassBlind. Welcome to the forum. You're fishing in one of my very favorite areas of the lake. About the Ned rig ... be sure and get the right components for this little dude. Forum member dtrs5kprs makes and sells the best jighead available for it. His include a wire weedguard that is a must if you're fishing around any kind of cover. You'd do well to order some 1/8 and 1/16 sizes from him. You can send him a private message on here or email him at dtrs5kprs@yahoo.com. I believe Z-Man is now offering a mushroom-style head with a weedguard as well, but I'll continue to get my heads from Dave since he has put copious amounts of time into getting the hook size/brand just right, along with other small but critical details. Also, it pays to use Elaztech bodies, which are available as the Z-Man Zinker or the Strike King Zero. Regular plastics will also work, but the lure was created using Elaztech and it performs (stands up on the bottom, etc.) better with the right body. And don't forget to use Loctite super glue in the Gel formula (blue/silver bottle with squeeze triggers on the side). This glue performs soooo much better than others with the Elaztech. One thing I noticed about the "little rig" last winter. When water temps dip into the 30s in this part of the country, it's hard to get a bass to bite anything. A suspending jerk bait has traditionally been about the safest bet in those conditions. But last winter, I picked up the little guy and darn if I didn't get some sub-40 degree bites on it and landed some decent fish. So if and when those conditions show up this winter, have a Ned rig handy. Fish it painfully slow around bluff ends, main-lake or secondary points or bluff banks and you'll likely be pleasantly surprised.

There's a lot more to fishing shallow --- and consistently catching fish --- than some think, Mike. That's especially true with fishing shallow on lakes like Table Rock. I greatly enjoy telling and showing people what I've been fortunate to learn over the past 50 years. Most of it was picked up from others kind enough to share it with me.

Fishing Table Rock and other highland reservoirs is often far more about casting distance than accuracy. That's why it's so critical to use a good quality fluorocarbon line with any dragging-type bait, such as football jigs, swing heads ... the low stretch allows you to feel what's going on at the end of your line on a long cast and to drive the hook home.

Take this to heart, guys. Bill spends hundreds of days per year on the water showing novices how to cast. I set mine the way I do because I've been fishing for 50 of my 55 years. My thumb is also wide enough to cover any low profile spool all the way from side to side. That lets me get by with setting my reels looser.

I might use that ramp with a male fishing buddy but I'm more careful about where I take my wife.

Pauses of 3-4 seconds should be plenty on that jerk bait with the water temp still in the 50s. Spro McStick in blue bandit is hard to beat on Table Rock. I'd throw it on 10-pound green-tinted mono like P-Line CXX or BPS Excel.

There are a lot of variables involved depending on what part of the lake you'll be in, but I'll try to give you some general pointers. First, if you aren't familiar with fishing deep, then don't. You don't have to right now. There are plenty of fish from 15 feet and up. Saturday is forecasted to be sunny with winds 5-10 mph. My suggestion would be to start at Shell Knob bridge (Hwy 39) and go either direction, paying particular attention to boat docks. I would put a little Ned rig (green pumpkin) on a spinning rod and would not put it down. Pitch the little dude into every boat slip with 5-20 feet of water in it and leave your bail open as it falls so it will fall straight down. Be alert for it stopping before it should ... that's a bite. My second lure choice would be a finesse jig (some flavor of brown or green) with a green pumpkin Zoom Lil Critter Craw on the back. A green pumpkin shaky head worm would probably work, too. Sunday is supposed to be cloudy and windy. This would be a good day to put on your favorite spinnerbait or crank bait (phantom brown Rock Crawler would be a very good choice) and start hitting windblown points and bluff ends until you either get something going or the fish flat tell you no. In that case, go back to the Ned rig or jig and see if you can get something going in these same areas. If not, move into the creeks/bigger pockets and try both the winding baits and the Ned or jig, concentrating on 5-15 feet of water.

You're trying to make sense of the Corps? Just how much eggnog HAVE you drank?

Mike, sent you a PM.

I actually caught a bunch this afternoon in Bella Vista on the little rig.

Dang, you went all Champ188 on him!! ?

We have half a dozen of the Duckett Micro Magics from 6-6 to 7-10 and I love 'em. I can see where some might not care for the white finish but it doesn't bother me.

Good to hear they were still biting after the cold front. Welcome to the forum, bassinjackson.

The last couple of times Donna and I launched at Sweetwater (I presume this is the same as Arrow Rock) there were some suspicious characters loitering around (not fishing) and possibly smoking pot/meth/crack. Gave me an uncomfortable feeling and Donna has stated an unwillingness to go back.

I hope that I didn't suggest or insinuate that anyone wasn't very smart. That was certainly not my intention. My "system" such as it is on setting my Lew's reels is to have two of the four centrifugal brakes pulled out (engaged) and two pushed in. I set the mag adjustment to about 3. From there, I use the spool tension knob on the right side of the reel to get my spool adjusted to where I can throw as far as I need but not so loose that it wants to backlash every cast.

I'm sure you've done this, but have you checked the centrifugal brakes under the palm plate? I wasn't aware my Lew's reels had them when I first bought them because they also had magnetic brakes. Once I popped the palm plate off and saw the all four centrifugal brakes were in the "out" position and disengaged two of them, my reels picked up significant casting distance.

Check with Allstate Insurance agent Jeff Cook in Lowell. He's usually the one collecting entries.