Champ188

LOL, ya know exiledguide, there is a cold front forecasted to come thru Monday. Sunny Tuesday with highs only in the 50s. I kid you not. Check the Weather Channel forecast.

Fine report indeed. A good frost or two would help a lot.

Really good thinkin on that pipe rig, Sam. Bet you're right that someone will perfect and market that someday.

Amen and amen on the buy local/support local and going with Pro Guide. I have the 225s in my boat and haven't had a single issue. Can hardly run those big boys down and Bill can tell you, I stand on the trolling motor pedal when I'm throwing a blade.

Curious about the Matt Jones traffic stop deal and whether that was the work of one of Kimberling City's kiddie cops. I mean come on, you really need to harass a poor guy who's on his way to the lake to fish in the top 10 of a major tournament over some friggin paperwork? Get a life, dude.

Good info there, Bill. Not quite what we'd LIKE to hear but tons of good info. I'm betting this slowness is nothing a few good frosts won't fix. The fish could use a break from the pressure too but not gonna get that til after the BASS Central Open boys are gone at the end of the month.

Glad you caught some and got some confidence in that blade. It's very productive this time of year, provided conditions are right.

Lucky guess, abkeenan.

I say the two-day lead will be 27 pounds.

That's a great fall pattern and one I look forward to every year.

Glad I could help a little, along with some of the other guys who are every bit as good as me with the blade. The best bite is yet to come this fall. Keep slinging.

Bill, when the outdoors section was my baby, I always tried to get the Sloan pre-tourney info in the paper (managed that most years) but hardly EVER was able to get results after the tourney. Lots of organizations want pre-derby publicity and then will hardly bother to give out results after the fact.

No plastic trailer for me in clear water. I fish War Eagle spinnerbaits exclusively and half of the skirt on them is cut long, providing a built-in trailer of sorts. Many times I'll even trim that part completely off for a more compact profile. It's easy to overwhelm fish in clear water. Trailer hook depends on the cover I'm fishing around. This is mostly a spring thing, but if I'm tossing my blade back into the bushes or other wood cover, I don't use a trailer hook — even in a derby. Neither do I use one when working a blade over and around cedars, like we often do year-round on TR. Nothing is more infuriating to me than to make a good cast and have it ruined by the trailer hook snagging on a limb. As few fish as I've missed or lost over the years for lack of a trailer hook, I'm not willing to take the chance of spoiling a promising tree or stretch of bank by having to barge in and get my hung-up spinnerbait loose. That said, if I'm fishing rocks, dock corners or other solid cover — even sparse wood — I'll generally use a trailer hook in a derby. Never when fun fishing, though. As Fat Boy said, they'll sometimes get that stinger hook deep or in their gills and no sense in taking a chance of injuring or killing a fish for no reason. The retrieve speed question is just a matter of experimenting. When water temps are above 60, I usually start with a medium-fast steady retrieve, keeping my bait about 3 feet deep. I may flutter it occasionally around cover, but for the most part I keep it steady. I know that KVD strongly advocates an erratic retrieve and that obviously has helped him win millions of dollars, but over 30 years of developing my style of spinnerbaiting, I've come to favor a steady retrieve. Hey Edwin, hope you get some wind or cloud cover this weekend. If not, could be tough going. Might try pitching a little jig down into the hearts of the cedars or in boat slips with 10-20 feet of water under them. I'm sure there's some kind of drop-shot bite around the deeper docks, too.

Guys, for what it's worth, I wouldn't suggest anything different than the Mouse and Silver Shiner that Bill is throwing. There are oddball days when slight color changes seem to make a big difference but for the most part, I find the following colors are pretty much interchangeable: Mouse, Blue Shad, Lavender Shad, Green Shad, Firecracker and probably a few others that my feeble mind isn't recalling right now. For the most part, with clear-water spinnerbaiting, a guy needs to tie on the one he has the most confidence in (long as it's close to natural shad color), pray for some wind and possibly even some cloud cover, and sling the thing til Da Boss sez get your butt home. Or better yet, do like me and take Da Boss with ya.

Ham's right about that, and she'll really throw you a major curveball in the fall. A baker's dozen by 1 p.m. isn't all bad, keepers or not. But of course you have to go again. Can't stay stuck on 13. It's bad luck.

I will use a Zoom split-tail trailer or an old Mister Twister 6-inch ribbon-tail trailer (I pinch off about an inch) when the water is stained or muddy. Obviously, that isn't very often on Table Rock.

You bring up an interesting point, Mike. While you aren't much of a blade guy, I'm not much of a shallow crankbait guy. I think the two are very often interchangeable and that sometimes it becomes (a) a matter of preference and ( a matter of there's only so much time in a day. So many places to cast, so little time. LOL Not saying there aren't times that the fish prefer a blade over a shallow crankbait and vice versa, but Donna's a pretty good hand with a squarebill and there've been lots of days when I've thrown a blade and she's followed with the squarebill and we've both caught em.

That's what I heard ... close to 18. Good bag for a slow day.

Mike, I fish both visible and submerged cedars. Don't let the fact that a tree is sticking up deter you from fishing it as long as it's in the type of area the fish happen to be using at the time. On a weekend,there's a chance someone has already messed it up or actually caught the fish. Later in the day it gets, the more likely that is. But it only takes a couple of minutes to try it. I catch a lot of fish out of visible trees.

Good stuff, T. You said a mouthful in No. 4. I'm convinced that a lot of the reason some folks don't fare well with a spinnerbait is they don't commit to it. To me, it's a matter of putting your head down, putting everything else in the rod box and saying I'm gonna catch em this way or not at all. I'm not even sure it's ever the most attractive bait in the world to a bass, but there's nothing more attractive that you can cover as much water with, and therein lies the beauty of the blade.

Fine report indeed, Bill. And thanks for the kind words, although the only part I'll say is 100% right is that I mess up my share of trees, too. If there is one key element to share about what I've learned, it's something that Bill told me several years ago: Most days you get one shot with that Fin or Spook. Miss your cast even a few inches one way or another and like Bill said, that tree is done for at least a couple of hours and probably for the day. Gotta be accurate and none of us are capable of that 100% of the time.

Is that a 12-inch board? Just kiddin, pal. That's a pretty one.

Actually, there are two big derbies coming up. FLW Stren Series is here Oct. 6-8, then BASS Central Open is Oct. 20-22. No telling what all will be going on with local tourneys in between and on top of the two biggies.

My guess is things are getting a little quiet here because of the upcoming BASS Central Open. Starting to see the usual increase in new members that tends to accompany such derbies.

Good "food for thought" Bill. We could all use that refresher course from time to time.