Champ188

Looks like a pure-bred smallmouth to me. But give me that line stretcher in the top photo any day. Love those spots. I try to leave the brown ones for Donna.

What's a pre-Rap Wart?

Looks like fun. Appreciate the report.

Good to know about that dock bite, sholder. Those silly fish just do what they want regardless of what we might want them to do or think they should do. Just frustrating that others seem to figure them out with regularity on derby day. Oh well. Our day comes around every now and then. Hang in there.

Got that right, Ham. He is a fish-sticking machine.

Beautiful fish indeed and ditto on the thanks for the info. As for the Boga, it's a shame that companies produce such expensive products but stop short of fully engineering them successfully. The angler is left to eat the cost when the thing injures or damages fish by doing what Bill did and taking it out of the boat. I thought the entire design goal was better fish care thru less handling, but it kind of defeats the purpose if it rips their dang bottom lip out.

Well, I have to give ya that one. As you were, folks.

I've got him busted on all three pics. And I'm normally not that good. Certainly no surprise where he caught the smallmouth in the third pic.

Buy a new stainless steel ball.

Those were discriminating shad ... as evidenced by their choice in spinnerbaits.

Pretty sure he put that fog stuff in the cylinders back in 2010. He's got a 36-volt trolling motor so he gets a running start at the trailer with it, yanks it up at the last minute and runs to the back deck. Boat just slides right up on the trailer.

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Been at this tournament game for over three decades now and I should --- and do --- know better than to leave fish biting to go find others. Sometimes we just overthink things and that usually ends up in thinking ourselves right out of the winner's circle. Oh well, got a couple more derbies coming up to redeem myself. Trophy, thanks for the tip on the modified treble trailer hook. Will certainly give that a try.

Donna and I fished a small derby Saturday out of Big M. Lost a 4-pound LM in the first 5 minutes on a blade that I knew was gonna cost us. Dang fish just pulled off at the boat. Very unusual for a spinnerbait. I wasn't using a trailer hook because I was fishing some pretty gnarly brush/wood in dirty water and had I thrown deeply enough into it to get the bite, I'd have undoubtedly hung up and never got a chance to hook the fish. Trailer hooks are great in some situations, but they can also hurt more than help in others. Caught a dozen shorts in 45 minutes out of that area and I had another good fish roll on my bait but miss it. Finally left there after an hour with one 3 pounder. That was our biggest mistake of the day, and it was on me. Forum member denjac and I had located some fish in the Big Creek area the day before that I was sure would bite --- and they probably did but there was a boat on every dang main lake and secondary point all the way from Emerald Beach darn near to Baxter. It was as crowded as I've ever seen it in nearly 15 years of fishing Table Rock. When I did find a place to fish, I had to protect it like a dog guards a fresh hambone. Several times we'd be halfway down in a pocket and have a boat start in like he was gonna idle around us to the back. Being too old and courteous myself to do that to others, I'd just kick the 36-volt Fortrex up on high and slide out in the middle of the pocket to block them off. Miraculously, they got the message every time. Didn't like it, but they got it. We got on a darn good Varmint bite on gravel while fishing our way back upriver toward Big M but couldn't catch a keeper to save our lives. Finally pulled the trolling motor at 2 p.m. and went back to the place we started and immediately caught two more good 17-inch keepers on the blade --- both fat females --- then lost yet another right before weigh-in time. Ended tournament hours with three keepers for about 8 pounds (maybe 9 -- not sure since we just let them go) and the two other lost keepers (4 and 3 pounds, respectively). Long story short, should've caught 14-15 pounds which is what it took to win the derby. Might have had an even bigger sack if I hadn't decided to leave that area for greener pastures. Just didn't feel it had the potential to produce a winning sack. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Decided to fish a while after weigh-in and started throwing the Ned on gravel. Man, was it on. Ended the day at 7 p.m. with 70 fish and --- wait for it --- only those three keepers we turned loose at 3 p.m. But it was a blast. Surface temps got as high as 63 by late afternoon. Ned bites came as deep as 20 feet, but most were 6-15.

One of the best full-time guides on the lake comes on here and gives specific fish locations/depths/lures, etc. --- and even good info from fellow guides --- and someone has to take a potshot because he describes the tackle he's using. What the heck? High quality, well-maintained tackle can make all the difference in the world in catching a big bunch of fish or going home frustrated. Just hope the information well doesn't dry up someday because the guys providing it get tired of being sniped at.

I took your advice Jeff and brought my own brushpile Saturday. Had it in the back of my truck. Stopped for gas/snacks and when I came out of the store, two guys at the next gas pump over had crawled up in their boat and were throwing jigs at my truck.

Very good day. Thanks for the details.

The good thing about any stripers in Table Rock is that they stay way up the White where they belong, chewing on rainbow shad. They aren't going anywhere else as long as they have filet mignon right under their noses.

Do you guys have flags or something to make yourselves very visible? There's a BFL derby that day with 150 or more boats coming out of Kimberling City, and there will certainly be others launching from elsewhere. Donna will assure you that I'm an extremely careful and safe boat driver who runs full throttle sparingly. But there are others out there who are practically opposite. Just concerns me that someone might get hurt.

You're fishing with Fat Jim tomorrow.

That's good to know, Alex. Not much speaks louder than a firsthand account of 8 hours in a boat with a guy.

I'm thinking/hoping Ike big-eyed some of those. Gotta be pretty crazy though if Byron Velvick has 19 pounds. Maybe his marshal pushed a wrong button on his tracker.

Very nice job, indeed.

^^^ What he said.

Jacob, I would bet you that is a lot more about duck hunting than fishing.

You bet, Jacob. Merrisac, Coal Pile, Moores Bayou ... That's one wild and wooly area. Pretty much the polar opposite in every way to fishing Table Rock. But it's a ton of fun.