Champ188

Gotta love it when the fall feed gets going.

I'm guessing the spots were farthest out from the bank? We caught far more spots than LM on Saturday throwing a jerk bait and targeting suspended fish.

Thanks, Bo. Hope that shoulder is coming along for ya. Had that same operation a few years back. It'll heal up good as new.

Good job, Sprint. Guess I should've spent more time throwing the Wart but I got sidetracked with the stick bait bite. You caught a lot more fish than we did.

Put in a full day Saturday, launching at Baxter around 7:30 and fishing from a couple of miles below there up to Big Creek. Finished up at 4:00. High temp was 36 and the wind absolutely howled out of the north the entire day ... 10-15 mph sustained with gusts to 30 mph. There were a few rays of sun in the late afternoon, but for the most part it was cloudy all day. Ended up with 12 total and seven keepers. Only three LMs in the bunch. In fact, our two best fish were SM. Best five around 13 lbs. They literally came from a main-lake bluff to the absolute back of a pocket and a few places in between. The only common thread was that all were suspended. Jerk bait did lion's share of the work, followed by a Wart and a spinnerbait. No bottom bite (jig) whatsoever, much to the chagrine of my sidekick.

Quillback is spot on with his reply, and there's also the Jackal Squirrel to be considered.

Good to hear, Thumbs. Knew the jerk bait bite had to start soon. Donna and I are planning to go to the Rock tomorrow if we can stand the cold and wind. Gonna be brutal.

Danger (and any others who might be seeking guide service on Broken Bow) ... I strongly suggest that you contact Bryce Archey of Broken Bow Lake Guide Service. He is the only full-time guide on the lake and is very, very good. He's on the level of Babler, Beck, Stone or House on Table Rock, and I don't hand out those kind of ratings often. You can look him up online at: www.brokenbowlakeguide.com Tell him James sent you. He'll charge you double.

Sounds like the lake must be turning over.

Hey abk, do we ever have a remedy for your split thumb. Our hands do the satsme thing in the winter, plus us fishermen have little hook and fin nicks, gill-plate cuts, raw thumb (hopefully) and assorted other minor hand abrasions to deal with. The places that just split from the dry and cold are the worst. Donna ran across this recipe for a hand lotion a few years back and it has all but eliminated such problems. We apply it at night after a day of fishing and any splits, cuts or other soreness are practically healed the next morning. Ingredients are: 7.5 ozs. Vaseline or other petroleum jelly (half of large jar) 4 ozs. Vitamin E cream 1 oz. tube of Neosporin 15 oz. bottle Baby Magic or other baby lotion Mix all ingredients together well with a kitchen mixer. This makes a great big batch and is some absolutely amazing stuff. It's sure saved us a lot of misery. We've given it out to friends as gifts and have yet to have anyone give it less than rave reviews. Hope this helps abk and anyone else who tries it.

Crappie tend to be a tough proposition on the lower end of Table Rock. Typical of any large highland reservoir, they tend to congregate in the feeder creeks/river arms. Your best bet would be to trailer north to the Cape Fair area of the James River or south to Long Creek/Cricket Creek. Even then, Table Rock is not a noted crappie lake. There are a few guys who catch them pretty decent but not many.

Sounds like you guys did a good job of making the best of a difficult situation. Congrats on hanging tough. It's gonna get better.

Donna and I hitched up the Ranger last Friday morning and hit the road for Broken Bow Lake in southeast Oklahoma. We have a very good friend and full-time guide down there and were overdue for a visit. Got down there around 10:30 a.m. and fished for less than 2 hours when we decided conditions were more suitable for golf than fishing. Spent the afternoon golfing one of the longest, tightest, meanest darn courses I've ever played. On most of the par-4's, you can hit the straightest and longest tee shot of your life and still have a long iron or hybrid into the green. The par 5's? Forget reaching any of them in two. As I said, that course is one big meanie. But it's very scenic and lots of wildlife, namely deer, running everywhere. Bryce had a guide trip Saturday morning, which allowed me and Donna some time to explore the lake on our own. We started out near the dam throwing spinnerbaits and swimbaits around a windblown island that Bryce had suggested and Donna scored with a 3.5-pound smallmouth on a 1/4-ounce War-Eagle spinnerbait with a cotton candy pink skirt. We continued running that shallow gravel pattern the rest of the morning and ended up with around 10 fish. We did lay eyes on two smallmouths of 4-5 pounds each ... one that followed Donna's bait to the boat and another that ram-wrecked my spinnerbait as I was burning it just under the surface. Like a hack, I let my hand slip off the reel handle on the hookset and stuck him only for a brief couple of seconds before he swam away snickering at me. The morning concluded with me exploding a tube of super glue in my hand and literally glueing the tube itself to the end of my thumb. I finally literally ripped it loose, taking a chunk of skin and meat with it. No fun. I'd like to say it affected my golf game Saturday afternoon but too many people know better. Sunday was to-heck-with-golf-let's-fish-all-day. We started out on the lower end again and only scored a couple of small ones, so we ventured up into the mid-portion of the lake. Caught a few on jigs and shaky heads off bluff ends before my partner hammered a nice spot on a spinnerbait along a windy bluff. After a second one a short time later, we decided to ditch the draggin stuff and get to winding. Burned a blade the rest of the day and ended up beating out about 20 (combination of SM, LM and spots) including a couple of nice LM. All in all, a great trip with one of life's valuable little lessons learned ... don't squeeze the super glue tube too hard.

QB, the Cabela's in Rogers had a bunch of really good spinning rods in lengths of 8-10 feet last year. They were reasonably cheap, too.

Don't put it past him. He's like a shepherd of bass ... they know his voice and follow him.

If there's any good news to your concerns, we all know the big fish are still there. And they'll start showing up again sooner than later. But you're right, it's a head scratcher when they do this. I think it has more to do with the bait than anything, which we all know is very plentiful. There's bait shallow and there's bait deep, so wherever the fish want to be, there is food.

Last I heard he was trying to slay a deer. Hopefully he didn't revive last year's quest of bowhunting for bear. Too much potential for that to end badly.

Will do, gabe. We have a great friend down there who guides full time so we are hoping for a really good trip. We really love that lake. It's like a little Table Rock or Beaver tucked into some beautiful country.

I think Babler is starting to get the darn things trained to stay deep year-round from one end of the lake to the other.

Keep hammering on em, Sprint. Like you said, any second can bring the right decision that produces a winning/top 3 sack.

Very good report, abk. Glad you were able to salvage the trip despite the motor issues. Donna and I are headed for Broken Bow (OK) for 4 days starting early Friday morning. We're pumped.

Thanks for catching that spot for me, QB. I thought I felt a bite mid-morning while I was sitting at my computer.

That's a good idea QB ... just try one new spot every time out. All of us fight the urge to revisit our old tried-and-true spots. Jason Christie calls it "fishing the history book." I'm going to try your suggestion.

You nailed it, fishingaddiction. Moreso than other times of the year, you really have to fish "in the moment" in the fall. It's such a time of transition that they will sure throw you a curveball in mid-day and if you aren't ready for it, you may think they have quit biting. It's challenging but rewarding when you're able to stay with them.

Make sure you don't get lost, QB. Not sure you know your way around that neck of the woods quite yet.