Champ188

Pardon my laughing about the Chronarchs. Been there, done that. Just grateful that Donna came pretty much pre-trained on baitcasters when we met. I think you may have been about a week or two early for the start of the good fall bite. I may be wrong, but I think it's about to break loose. For me, it usually takes the weather getting cool enough that you have frost more mornings than not to get em going.

Good luck and let us know. Don't underestimate the chance of a shallow bite even after this front. Just might be a decent spinnerbait and Wart bite on the windy banks with bigger rock.

Hey Edwin, If your brother plays golf, you should take him up to Murder Rock. Of course, you may have played it before but it was a new experience for me and Donna a couple of weeks ago. Fantastic scenery, great golf course, nothing bad to say at all about the place.

Amen to both Jeremy and Bill. Guiding and derby fishing are polar opposites. One is all about quantity and the other all about quality. It's a rare fellow indeed who can pull off both. Yes, a lot of pro anglers started out as guides (Larry Nixon, Tommy Martin and Mark Davis to name a few). As I recall, Nixon and Martin even continued guiding after starting their derby careers. But that was in the 1970s and 80s when tournament fishing simply would not pay the bills regardless of how well a guy did. As BASS purses grew and daily tournament limits shrunk — first from 15 to 10, then 10 to 7, then 7 to the current 5 — Nixon, Martin and later Davis quickly learned that they had to stop thinking like guides and start targeting five quality bites a day.

To each his own but you don't want to throw 10-pound line in the places I throw my topwaters.

Everyone struggles sometimes, even KVD. Table Rock will do it to anyone. Rick Clunn once said, "These White River lakes kick my tail every time the sky turns blue and the wind dies." I'm sure KVD being the class act that he is would admit the same thing.

Cblaine, the only topwater lure that I really see gear ratio being a factor with is a buzz bait, and for that I use a 7:1 reel for the simple fact that my wrists and hands are getting old and just don't have the energy to try to keep one of those things on top with a slower ratio reel. That said, one of the best buzz bait fishermen I know showed me one time that it can be very important to run one slow as possible (and still keep it on top) at times, especially as the water cools into the 60s and 50s in the fall. You can still use a 7:1, just be sure to reel slower. You can also bend a little more cup in the blade to add lift while reeling slower. For a Spook, wake bait or popper, a good 6:3:1 or something in that neighborhood should work just fine.

You don't have to be an experienced fisherman to contribute to the conversation, Flippin. Glad to have you here.

Pretty good day by recent measures. Good report.

Fortunately I don't think I did so on here, but I said this time last year that I didn't think the A-rig would ever be a factor on clear-water lakes like TR or Beaver. Too darn big and intrusive. I think we all know how THAT turned out. A 6-inch crank bait sounds awfully big to me and I can't imagine how much work that thing must be to crank, but given the way TR bass like to munch on those big hickory (gizzard) shad, dang right I think it's worth a try. Personally, I'd head for Baxter or the Kings with it. Wasn't many years ago that the boy from Texas rang up a heckuva three-day sack to win that Stren Series championship throwing deep crank baits way up the White.

I enjoy these kind of discussions myself and learn a LOT from them. You know, back in the day when bass clubs were big and nearly all the derbies were draw format, the best and most experienced anglers fished together. You were forced to if you wanted to fish tournaments. But this is the team and pro-am age, where the accomplished fishermen all either fish with their regular buddy or fish against each other from their own boats with a co-angler in the back. I fished Central Pro-Am for six years and may be back soon with the new ownership and format change. I can't think of a single fellow "pro" that I didn't at least get along with well enough to hold a friendly conversation, and the majority of them became good friends over the years. But the one thing I always wished for was the chance to fish with some of them. What I would give to this day to get into the heads of Dave Barker, Charlie Campbell and others who've forgotten more about finding and catching bass than I'll ever know. We visited when we ran into each other on the lake, even shared info at varying levels. But never did any of us fish together because on practice days we were on the run looking for our own fish, and in competition we had co-anglers rather than being paired with each other. I think what Bill was saying was that here on this forum, and especially in the coming months when inclement weather may keep us off the lake and on our computers more, we could use this time to learn some tips and tactics from each other. I'm not big on sharing specific spots where I've found fish and I don't expect or even want that kind of info from other anglers. If someone wants to point me in a general direction, great. But I enjoy the hunt enough to prefer finding the specific places on my own. But when it comes to tactics, I'm an open book. I only know a lot about a very few things, but I know a little about most of it. Seems the forum has been down a bit lately, and I'll take my little portion of the blame for being selfish at times. Let's see if we can get the activity back up by helping each other more with subjects like this topwater rod thread. Soapbox dismounted. Everyone have a great weekend.

My personal choice for topwater — Redfin, Spook or popper — is 17-pound P-Line mono, the original CXX in the green box. Also great for buzz baits or spinner baits.

Gunner, are you really throwing a topwater on fluorocarbon? By all means, switch to mono. Fluorocarbon sinks and makes it very difficult to work a topwater. Conversely, mono floats. Try some 15-pound mono such as Trilene Big Game. You will love the difference.

Have you considered hiring guides? Heck, you aren't going to spend much more than you will on boat rental and fuel and you'll be assured of catching a bunch of fish. And no, I'm not a guide. But I know some good ones, including the guy two posts above this one.

Can't beat a day on the water with Bill. I count myself fortunate to say that from experience.

TrophyFishR is right on, Sprint. The lake level can vary day to day depending on flow, but If the water is up in the grass, the bass will be, too. Spinnerbait, square bill or swimming a jig thru the grass will get you bit. Also, do not pass up any isolated piece of wood ... stump, laydown log, etc. These isolated pieces will hold good fish. Have fun and do well.

Nice report, Sprint ... thanks much.

Donna and I spent a classic fall day in the James River arm on Saturday, taking in the start of what promises to be some fine fall color, breathing some crisp autumn air and catching a fair number of bass, although only three keepers. Boat traffic wasn't too bad considering the Sloan derby was going on downlake. We launched at Cape Fair about 7:30 a.m. and ran a couple of miles upriver to start, catching just one or two shorts on a War Eagle spinnerbait off shallow docks. Came back down to Buzzard Branch and caught no one in there but did find a school of K's on a nearby main-lake bluff bank and caught close to a dozen of them from a 25-yard stretch on blade and mid-depth crawfish crank bait. None were keepers but a couple were close. Went downlake a few miles to another creek and managed two keeper LM there and missed a couple of other good keepers, all on topwater and all in 10 feet of water or less. One was a 3-pound fish, our best of the day, and came from less than 2 feet of water. Fishing the Champion derby next Saturday out of Cape Fair so not going to go into intimate detail, but the bottom line is you gotta work for the keeper fish right now. Headed back up Wednesday for four straight days of fishing. Should be fun.

Very good report, indeed. Congrats on a great day and thanks for sharing.

Here's a link to a page here on this site. It's not the old factory tournament but it sounds like fun.

Hey Edwin, we still need to get up that golf outing for the forum. Donna and I are gonna play Thousand Hills a week from Friday. Never been there so looking forward to it.

Fish are very unpredictable when it comes to fall cold fronts. Last I saw, Saturday is supposed to be cloudy, windy and cold. The longer the clouds and wind stay around, the more apt the fish are to be active. Undoubtedly, there should be some shallow. Seek out windblown banks — particularly those transition areas where bluff rock moderates to chunk rock, or where chunk rock turns to gravel — and throw small crank baits (Bandit 200 in craw-orange or rootbeer thrown on 8-pound or 10-pound line is a killer) or your favorite spinnerbait. A topwater like a Zara Spook Jr. can work too, provided the waves are no bigger than a light chop. If the fish won't chase moving baits, slow down and throw a finesse jig (can't beat PBJ with a green pumpkin Zoom Lil Critter Craw) or a green pumpkin shaky head worm. Don't pass up a good point or bluff end either, provided there's not a tournament boat sitting on every one of them. Have fun out there and let us know how you do. I'll be in the James myself Saturday and will post my results, although maybe not in complete detail since Donna and I are fishing that Champion owners derby up there the following Saturday.

Not familiar with the 488VS but a very close fishing buddy back in Hot Springs, AR used to have a 481VS with a Mercury 150 EFI. That was one fine fishing machine. Ran like a scalded dog, took rough water very well and fished really nice. Always enjoyed going with Gary.

Welcome indeed, Buddy. You will find things refreshingly open and honest here.

Got me back on the water quickly during a CPA weekend once. Fred has been a friend to fishermen for many years.