Champ188

LarryC, Didn't do so hot in the Polar Bear. Partner and I caught four that would weigh about 11 pounds and opted not to stand in the weigh-in line. In fact, we "stocked" them into a little honey hole down the lake that I'm hoping will produce some good fish for me in the Central Pro-Am tournament the first weekend of March. Those fish probably won't stay there that long but better than letting them go in Prairie Creek, where half the fish in the lake end up anyway because of tournament releases.

Glad to hear you guys struggled, too. Just kidding, of course. Donna and I put in at SK bridge at 8:30 a.m. and fished til dark. Covered some awfully good spots — went down as far as the little deep cuts just below Big Creek and up as far as Sweetwater in the Kings. Stayed on the windy side all day, hitting bluff ends, chunk rock and ledge rock banks and even some pea gravel points. Ended up with two nice keeper largemouths — one about 2.5 on a jerk bait and the other 3.5 on a crank bait — and one short on the jerk bait. Drug a fb jig a lot and to my knowledge, I never got bit on it. Donna missed a couple. Never caught a KY or brown fish all day. All in all, a humbling experience.

skeeterp and BlueWave, Now that the Polar Bear is over, here's some better advice on the stripers. They are definitely in Prairie Creek but even thicker in the back of Coose Hollow. And when I say the back, I mean all the way back to the last docks on the left. The shad are so thick in there that I was snagging one literally every cast yesterday with a jerk bait. The water temp is also 2-3 degrees warmer there than anywhere else on the lake. The shad are this year's hatch ... about 1.5 inches long, and they are swarming just under the surface. Stripers are boiling in them throughout the day. I can't catch any LM or spots back there and I figure the stripers are the reason. I haven't been in Big Ventris but would bet the same is true back there — usually is concerning stripers. We've had a lot of days lately with strong south winds, which blow directly into Coose and Ventris. Saturday is supposed to be the same and overcast to boot. Should be a heckuva good day for the big silver fish. skeeterp — we haven't been over to lomond since the drawdown but if a guy could get in there with a flatbottom or little Bass Buster two-man boat, there's no telling what he could catch. i'd definitely throw a clown-coloring suspending Rogue, but not the great big one. I caught a bunch of fish over there last year on the smaller model. For some reason, a Pointer didn't work very well over there last year. That ol' cheap Rogue was the ticket. Seems like a caught quite a few on a No. 10 X-Rap, too. That's a pretty darn good suspending jerk bait, especially for the price. Let me know if you go over there and whack em.

Was prefishing for a bass tournament Tuesday (12-30-08) and ran across schools of stripers in Prairie Creek and Coose. A few were coming to the top in the afternoon and swirling on shad. Go get 'em, boys.

Fishrman, Hopefully this won't be the case with yours, but I bought a new 510c last spring and within a couple of trips it started giving me the same trouble. Both times were after I'd fished in a rainstorm. When I got home and pulled the unit off, water started dripping out of it around the screen seal. The good news is they sent me a brand new one pretty quickly.

Jeremy, Capt. Don surely has his own answer, but having worked as a guide myself in years past, I can offer a couple of reasons why the two don't mix. First, guiding and tournament fishing are two polar-opposite styles of fishing. More than 90% of my guide clients were interested in catching numbers of fish. Size mattered little. So they weren't willing to wait hour(s) between bites. It's all about action with clients. So whether I was actually guiding or out fishing alone locating fish, my objective was to find and catch the most fish possible regardless of size. Now I did fish tournaments with reasonable success, but it was in my favor that tournament limits back then were seven fish (yeah, I'm old). Now that limits are five fish, there is a bigger premium on quality. Secondly, a guide's mechanical skills can suffer when he spends days on end keeping clients away from prime bass cover. Why? Imagine taking the most casting skills-challenged person you know out fishing for a day and keeping them in the middle of boat docks (think cables), overhanging limbs and flooded cedar groves all day. Yeah, you get the picture. With a nod to Mr. Babler here, the term "numbnuts" comes to mind. So guides can get a little rusty themselves at pitching jigs to boat docks or any other tactic that requires a high level of mechanical skill, simply because they don't get to do it very often. Repetition is required to stay sharp. Anyway, that's my 29 cents' worth on why guiding and tournament fishing can be like oil and water.

Crew, We're home ... been back since Friday. Donna's getting around very well and improving every day. Sorry to have not posted an update before now but been slammed with all of my regular stuff plus being a domestic goddess of sorts. I'm considering asking the directors if I can audition for the cast of Desperate Housewives. I'll tell Donna to post soon. Thanks again for all of your kindness, thoughts and prayers.

Well, like t1365, i'm no expert on anything (well, i like to THINK i'm something of an authority on spinnerbaits) but i'll be happy to give the real pros some fodder. Heads: I normally throw a skirted jig although I've been lucky enough to buy my heads and skirts separately. I'm a big fan of the Jewell heads with the heavier flippin' hook. I get them through Hook, Line & Sinker tackle store in Rogers. These guys also tie their own jigs in huge numbers and sell them under the Bass-X brand name. They're friendly competitors with Jewell and get their heads from them. Color: Been throwing green pumpkin candy and watermelon candy all year at Table Rock, using the first in the river arms where the water is a bit more stained and the latter in clearer water. Trailer: I'm a big, big fan of the fairly new Zoom Creepy Crawler double-tail trailer. Unlike some of the Yamamoto/Kinami products, the legs stand out far enough apart not to stick together and it takes very little movement to set them in motion. For $3 and change a bag, I don't think you can beat them. And like all Zoom products, they come in a good variety of colors. Hookset: I strongly advocate a sweeping set, particularly where the bottom is smooth enough (pea gravel) to drag the jig like a C-rig. Drag it sideways and set sideways. Also, I like to let the fish actually pull a teeny little bend in my rod tip before setting. That way you know he's got it. Enough from me. May the real experts weigh in soon.

Guys, Not a lot new to report. Being day 2 after surgery, she had a bit more pain today than yesterday. It's been manageable though, and she's made two laps around the hospital floor today. Got a couple more to go after dinner and before bedtime. Doc wants her to make four walks a day and we aren't gonna disappoint him. Still hoping to go home tomorrow but it may be Friday. I'm staying in the room with her and I'm here to testify that we aren't gonna get any rest til we get outta here. They came in every 30 minutes on the dot last night and woke her (us) up to take vitals, etc. Oh well, at least we know we're getting the best of care. More later. You guys keep catchin' those bigguns.

Bill and all, we hope to head home Thursday but if not then, certainly Friday. As well as she's progressing already, we're pretty confident it'll be Thursday. Not sure how long she'll be landlocked but we have the small lakes in Bella Vista where we live that won't involve bouncy boat rides, so we'll probably start getting her back in the saddle out there within a couple of weeks. If I know her, gonna be darn hard to keep her off the water any longer than that. Again guys, thanks so much for all the prayers, thoughts and replies. Yes Techo, it does seem like family here. Proof positive that fishermen as a whole are a special breed.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Donna sailed through the kidney removal without a hitch (or backlash). Procedure took 3.5 hours, which nearly put ME six feet under, but I pulled thru too. LOL .At present, she's snoozing beside me in one heck of a fancy hospital room. If I didn't know better, I'd think we were at Babler's bed and breakfast joint. No wait, that's not Table Rock that I see out the window. It's the Arkansas River in Tulsa. Anyway, surgeon had nothing but good news to report. First, there was no sign of cancer in the area surrounding the kidney. So whatever the nature of the tumor inside the kidney, it was contained there and now is 100% gone. Second bit of good news is there was very little internal bleeding during the procedure, which is always a matter of concern with that particular operation. Doc said she might have lost a tablespoon of blood total. Anyway, we're praising God for the results and looking forward to coming home, hopefully Thursday but certainly Friday. Thanks so much, guys, for all your prayers and well wishes. You're great folks one and all. See you on the water soon. James

Count me in, too, Capt. D as long as I'm not busy with another event that weekend. Getting kids involved is the future of our sport.

Thanks much, Champ187xr6. This is our last tournament before Donna G goes in for kidney cancer surgery three days later so sure would be nice to win it. No matter the results, it'll be nice to be on the water together.

Edwin, Not surprised at all by those topwater bites. With the water temp still in the mid to upper 50s (at least it was Friday although it is now snowing to beat the band outside my window on Sunday morning), I was tempted to put on a buzz bait Friday but never did. Glad you got in a daylight-to-dark trip. Amazing how short a day can actually be when you're on the water.

Made a little run up the road Friday. Donna G and I got to SK bridge around 9 a.m. and fished til dark. Not as much action as I expected on the ol' spinnerbait but did get this one green one on it (pictured). Donna caught some funny-lookin' brownish-colored yankee fish (also pictured) that is rumored to be legal at weigh-ins. If that's the case our best five weighed around 19 lbs, best six around 22. FB jig outproduced spinnerbait and Wart by far. Despite pretty solid cloud cover all day, just not quite enough wind for the latter two. Oh well, git-r-done however you have to. Caught 25-30 total with 15 keepers. Sure be nice to catch em like this when it counts for once, like next Saturday in the CPA team tournament out of Ahoy's.

Whack'em, Sorry we missed you Sunday. Launched at H Hwy ramp (Baxter) and fished from there up to Sweetwater in the Kings. Made it a point to fish all new water and glad we did. Considering the bluebird conditions, had a pretty good day. Caught around 25 fish including 15 keepers doing the same as you — chunk-rock banks directly in the wind, both main lake and creeks — but threw a spinnerbait all day. Wart probably would've worked, too, just didn't try it much. Best five around 15 lbs, helped by a 4-pound SM that Donna caught early off a dock inside Baxter. Also had a KY close to 4 pounds that also came off a dock later in the day on a spinnerbait. The eagle that lives near the mouth of Big Creek was sailing around when we came back through on the way in. Pretty sight and a nice end to a not-too-bad day. Heck, it was a great day. They all are when you're on the water.

My blasted Mac crashin' in and out probably contributed, too.

Donna G and I will be out there today and Sunday as well. Going to launch at SK bridge today and fish down as far as Campbell Point and up into the Kings some, too. Staying at Schooner Creek tonight. Not sure where we'll fish Sunday. White/silver Champion with red/black trim and a Merc.

This is all great info from some very good fishermen and I hope I'm not repeating anyone here, but I would add two things ... (1) As Eric pointed out, it's important to keep your bait in the strike long for the longest amount of time possible. The longer your cast, the longer the bait will remain at its maximum depth. So get yourself a quality rod and reel and hurl that dude out of sight. (2) Line size also plays a huge role in crank baits reaching their maximum depth. Personally, I find that just about any crank bait will perform very well on 10-pound-test monofilament. My personal choice is either Trilene Big Game or P-Line mono. The P-Line is a little pricier but seems to be a bit tougher.

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement, WhackEm and Capt. D. All in all, we had a good weekend. JEV is a good guy, Capt. D. He and I were fishing the same general area most of the weekend. Good to see him back fishing Central Pro-Am.

dtrs, Launched at H highway ramp Sunday and yes, the courtesy dock is there.

I suspect the drum population in Table Rock is relatively low. I think it's the only lake in a four-state area where my wife hasn't captured one of those majestic creatures — usually during a team tournament, resulting in considerable hystronics and net-wielding until the piece of crap reveals himself at boatside.

Guys, Here's a link to the Central Pro-Am web site: www.centralpro-am.com

Techo, Yes, the CPA team tournaments are put on by Central Pro-Am. Entry fee is $100. Pretty good deal as we see it. There are two left in the winter series ... Nov. 8 and Dec. 6. All are one-day events out of Ahoy's. No season points are kept on the winter series so you haven't missed anything should you decide to fish the last two. Be happy to have you and anyone else who posts here.

Did ya try the cedar pattern Bill or did you have clients?