Champ188

Alex, everything runs through the same transducer, which is externally mounted (as I'm sure you know). However, as I understand it, that transducer has both side and down-imaging functions and it sounds like your down-imaging function is not working properly. I would suggest getting on bassboatcentral.com, going to the Humminbird sonar channel and asking Doug Vahrenberg for his input. He's a factory guru for Humminbird and will give you sound advice, including whether to send the unit/transducer back to the factory.

That's why I only fish banks with a 45-degree or steeper slope. That way we can fish 1 to 100 feet of water at the same time.

Good job, balsabee. Classic fall bite is setting up fast. Same thing going on up the Kings.

Glad to provide what little help I can. Hope it contributes to your catch rate/fun quota.

LOL, Denny. I must admit it was fun getting to throw the crank plug right up on the bank and upsize my spinnerbait to a 3/8 ounce for a change. Dirty water lets you do things like that. Oh, another thing about the upper Kings -- I've never seen that many shad congregated anywhere on Table Rock. From the big horseshoe curve at Hickory Hollow on up, you can darn near walk across the shad schools. Millions of em.

Let's get a couple of things straight up front: (1) Donna and I were NOT the couple throwing 1-oz spinnerbaits and feuding with Bill in his recent report ; (2) this report clearly illustrates one of the greatest things about Table Rock Lake -- that there are so many ways to catch fish at a given time. We started out of Viola marina about 7:30 a.m. Sunday and finished about 3 p.m. Fished from just above the marina all the way to Hwy 86 bridge. Surface temp was 77 when we started and reached 80 by mid-afternoon. Water was pleasantly stained -- about 2 feet of visibility. We threw your regular variety of river baits -- a Bandit 200 series cranker, a 3/8-ounce War Eagle spinnerbait and 5/16-ounce finesse jigs. The Bandit was a custom paint but nothing fancy -- brown back, chartreuse sides and orange belly. Plenty of off-the-shelf colors should work. The spinnerbait was hot blue herring (basically shad color with chartreuse mixed in) and the jigs were your standard brown/green craw colors with a Zoom Lil Critter Craw trailer in green pumpkin (what else?). Ended up with about 40 fish for the day but only four keepers. Most of the action was on 45-degree channel swing banks with big chunk rock. Laydowns were a bonus. Bites were closer to the bank than the boat. Fall river fishing 101. The fall dock bite does seem to be picking up ... we only fished a couple of docks and landed one solid keeper LM and got bit a couple more times. I believe that could be a good way to put together a nice derby sack if a guy worked at it all day. Just a word of caution --- the upper KIngs can be treacherous when the lake level is at 911. Need to know where you're going and/or use your common sense. Be careful out there and enjoy this nice weather. Fall colors coming soon.

Heckuva day. Thanks for sharing the info.

Good luck, rps. If you catch a striper, take it home. Just make sure it's dead so it doesn't get loose in TR. LOL

I cut my fishing teeth at Ouachita. If you are fishing out of Mountain Harbor, you might start at Point 10 just east of there and work your way over to Pollard Creek and on toward Crystal Springs. Should be some grass in those areas, as I hear it's coming back since the Corp wiped it out a few years ago. There's also some good fishing in the mouth of North Fork (around the 25 sign) and west of Mountain Harbor toward Shangri-La and Denby Point.

Pretty fish, man. Good job. Glad you guys had fun.

Cool, thanks for the info.

Hey huntest, what kind of hook modifications are you making, if any?

Not dirty water! Nooooooo!!!!! Pleeeeeeeezzzz don't throw me in that briar patch!

HLS does not carry them. Checked both the Bella Vista and Rogers stores. I have some old Sidewinder flutter spoons. Bet they'll work.

You better leave Donna a couple. I'm not responsible for what happens if you don't.

Bill, with all due respect, keeping your catch for dinner is another subject entirely. Tournament rules state that all fish presented for weigh -in become the property of the tournament organization. The expectation is that they will be returned to the waters they came from. That's the issue I raised here in my original post.

What's comical about taking 50 or so bass out of one of the country's best bass fisheries, dragging them 40 miles to a store parking lot and parading them around for show, and then not being forthcoming about what will become of them? I posted a comment to the Facebook page of Central Pro-Am last week asking politely what would become of the fish. My post was not answered. Instead it was deleted within a few hours. Tournament organizations owe it to the rest of the license-buying public to be transparent about the handling of the fish. Those fish belong to all of us, as we all pay for them with license fees. My original post questioned the reasoning behind road-tripping these fish to Springfield when Bass Pro Shops has closer facilities (Branson and Long Creek) that would easily provide adequate space for a 15-angler weigh-in while allowing for much easier/faster return of the fish to Table Rock Lake. Why does it not matter that it's "only" 50 or 60 fish? Would it matter more if it was 500? 5,000? It's a matter of principle. And maybe legality, as Babler mentions. It sure as heck doesn't do much to help salvage the credibility of Central Pro-Am, which presumably is a priority for its owner.

I'll believe it when I see a vid or pics of the fish being returned to TR.

Responsibility is on Central Pro-Am, not you, Sox. Thanks for the info, though.

Beautiful fish. Glad you enjoyed yourselves. Helps to fish from a Ranger with a Mercury.

Because 30 days from now, no one will remember where they came from or that they belong in Table Rock. That's my guess anyway.

Not an A-rig fan. No ethical objections to them and I own a bunch of em, just rather throw something else.

Well done, Mr. Bill. I stopped in 100 feet of water, too, on Saturday when my hat blew off.

Good deal. The bottom line is you guys had fun. This sport is way too expensive and time-consuming to not have some fun every time out. If your fun depends on catching a boatload of big uns, you'd do well to sell off your boat and tackle ASAP and find another hobby.

Thanks for the straight-up report. As Donna posted earlier, we had lots of fish but only one keeper Saturday in the Kings. It's just that time of year. It'll get better soon.