Champ188

Glad you had an extended stay at the lake. Really enjoyed and appreciate your reports. Sorry it had to end.

Good on you for not telling all about those bedding fish. I think some of us can figure it out.

Great bag indeed, Jason. Nice job.

Alex, your time and money was anything but wasted. Very few guys ever do well in their first big tournament. You learned a LOT more than you might think and when the time comes to do it again, it won't be 100 percent new to you ... the registration, pairings system, morning launch routine, etc. Just being familiar with that kind of stuff makes things a lot easier. Be thankful for your supportive parents, keep your confidence up and give it another run first chance you get. I bet you will do much better in terms of fish caught. Above all, don't give up.

LOL Edwin. OK, you started it with the golf commercials. This one is darn near impossible to find anymore. But it's a classic. http://adland.tv/commercials/nike-golf-tiger-woods-frank-nice-irons-2004-030-usa

OK, I'm good with The Idaho Kid winning the Elite Series last week at Bull Shoals. Seems like a good young man and I'm all for him making a career of fishing. But to my fellow "journalists" -- and I use that term very loosely in this case -- can we please turn off the sunshine pump and bubble machine? That goes especially for the one known as DB, author of the much circulated "An Open Letter to Brandon Palaniuk" on the web, and particularly on Facebook. And yes, I am fully aware that DB is battling cancer. I'm a cancer survivor myself. Again, Palaniuk seems like a great kid. And yes, he sleeps in the bed (with camper shell) of his pickup most of his time on the road. He also bunks with buddies in rented houses at times, as described in a recent Bassmaster magazine article titled Road Warriors. No one seems to have pointed out that he tows a new $60,000 boat around the country with that equally new $40,000 Toyotal 4WD pickup and that in order to do this for a living, he had to shell out $50,000 or more in entry fees before the season began. So we're at $150,000 and haven't pumped the truck full of gas yet to even get out of the driveway, let alone the boat. Nor have we purchased a single piece of fishing gear, and do NOT make the mistake of believing that all tackle is provided by sponsors. The owner of our local tackle shop in Rogers counts this very week -- when the FLW Tour is in town -- as his make-or-break week out of the entire year. I have spent more than 30 years following and writing about this sport. If there is one thing I have learned, it is this ... you don't make it without money. You don't even get started. And more now than ever, sponsors are not providing big-ticket items like boats and trucks for free. So to DB and the rest of the sunshine pumpers, how about telling the whole story next time? Might keep some poor schmuck from up and quitting his job and hitting the tournament trail. Not likely, but it might.

Hang in there, Bill. Just a few more days and the derby swarm will be gone. You are right about dtrs5kprs reports. They are always worth a good read and right on the money. Much appreciated.

The BASS Central Open on Table Rock is this coming week, April 26-28. The BASS Elite Series on Bull Shoals was this week, concluding today.

Numbers are awful. Got to the point Donna and I couldn't afford to fish. Costs us at least $1,200 for a Thurs-Sun trip counting entry fee, truck gas, boat gas and oil, eats (no peanut gallery comments) and a decent place to stay, plus tackle and other incidentals. No more boats than they are drawing these days, we'd have to win to break even. That's not a good gamble in anyone's book.

It's just that time of year, Bill. Gotta lay 4-5 rods out, put your foot on the TM and just go junk fishin. Throw what the moment calls for. Blade, little jig, Fin, shaky head ... you know the deal. Everyone is up shallow gettin freaky. Not a good guiding scenario, I know. They'll be done soon and start schooling up back out there where you like em.

Those bedding fish have to be seriously flaky for Robbie Dodson not to be high on the leaderboard. Seen him catch some ungawdly sacks this time of year on TR. Nobody always catches em anywhere but I would have bet a fair chunk of money that he'd have made both cuts to fish the last day.

I don't like fish being taken from their nests either. Hate it. But the bottom line is that these guys are fishing for their mortgage payments, electric bill and grocery funds so you can't very well blame them for catching a fish any legal way they can. As long as state agencies and tournaments allow sight fishing, our fish are gonna get plucked off their nests.

I "third" the motion of buying local. I can go to my local tackle shop, pour a free cup of coffee, pull up a chair and sit a spell. Haven't seen free coffee or a chair at BPS yet.

Pretty darn strong for a day when the fish didn't bite worth a darn anywhere else on the lake!

Dang, what a gut! Obviously a combination of a large stomach and eggs to boot. Hey ab, FLW will cut to 25 for Saturday and 10 or 12 for Sunday so maybe that'll help the crowding a bit.

Donna and I met Denjac for breakfast at 6:30 Saturday morning at Ma's Place. Glad we fueled up because we proceeded to fish til 5 p.m. Launched at Mill Creek at 7:30, well past daylight, and counted only seven other trucks/trailers there. Was really surprised there wasn't more. Saw some schooling fish in an established spawning pocket near the KC bridge and caught one out of them. Had two fish, including one that appeared to be a big smallmouth, come up and roll on a Fin but wouldn't eat. Fished most of the good gravel in Schooner Creek with only one keeper spot to show for it. Went to the Cows and caught a few more spots off of steeper, rocky banks with timber. Broke and ran for lower end of the White and fished several of my better areas between the mouth and Baxter and pretty much came up dry except for a couple more spots off steeper stuff with wood. Bottom line ... only way I could get bit was shaky head or finesse jig on 45-deg chunky stuff with wood. Obviously, that kind of stuff is gonna hold spots. Went to the very back of some excellent spawning pockets and saw no beds and no fish. Threw a Fluke weightless for at least 45 minutes and had NO FOLLOWERS, not a single one. When fish are shallow and about to spawn, you will have little bucks by the multitudes follow that Fluke. Warmest water temp we saw was 60, very late in the day. Otherwise, was 56-57 most everywhere we went. Yes, some of the James River fish are spawning. Some are already done. Not so on the main lake. Not even close. Rick Clunn once said that one of the reasons he moved to Missouri was to become better at fishing highland reservoirs. A few years later, he said, "I've been trying for years and these White River lakes still kick my butt on bluebird days." I'm with him. I figure a good part of the problem on the middle to lower lake yesterday was that those fish in that clear water have had cloud cover every day for a week until Saturday. First bright day after several dark ones is never a good thing.

Seemed to lack detail compared to Babler's reports. At least we know the fish are active around Cape Fair.

Only two people who know for sure how he caught them are him and his co-angler.

Not to be a pest but thinking about coming up to fish tomorrow and had a couple of questions. How many places are paid (1-in-5 entries, 1-in-6?) and what percentage goes to first? Thanks.

Thanks Hunter91, sounds promising.

Any word on water temps up in the James around Bridgeport?

Pretty telling report, I'd say.

Shhhhhhhhh.

Good Wart and jerkbait info too, T. Didn't mean to leave you out.

As usual, a goldmine of info and now artistic photography to go with it? Probably shouldn't even utter the words but this ought to be a pay site! All kidding aside, there isn't another site on the whole darn Internet or another guide in his right mind who shares as much info and detail as Bill. It's a wonder he doesn't have an entourage chasing him around the lake the way they do KVD wherever he goes.