Champ188

Bo, would you believe we spent half an hour in the immediate vicinity of "a certain unimproved ramp" and could not even get bit? It was the only place I stopped in 4 hours that didn't produce a single fish. I can usually poke around there and find at least a couple of those big thumper spots on that place.

Donna and I haven't been to Table Rock since May for a variety of reasons, but we ventured back up Saturday. Got off to a slow start so didn't arrive until 12:30 but got in a good 4 hours of fishing. Stayed within 3-4 miles of Big M and found the fish biting pretty well despite the post-front conditions. Having a brisk north wind made it cold but certainly didn't hurt the bite any. Found the fish to be very main-lake oriented but not necessarily deep. Caught them from 5 to 35 feet, mostly on transition areas and points. Crank baits, jerk bait, Ned and finesse jig all produced. Ended the 4-hour outing with 16 total and five decent keepers. Good mix of LM and spots, along with one meanmouth. Never scored a brown fish, so we missed the TR slam. All in all, a cold but good afternoon on the water.

I drag my mono behind the boat about once or twice per spool, but the stuff is so cheap I can change it just as quickly and with very little expense. And it is equally supple and tough. I don't think I've left any doubt as to my feelings about Johnny, but I'll continue to buy that line as long as it works as well as it does for me.

Or you could just put 6-pound mono on your spinning reel and not have to worry about tying custom knots. I fished Neds for thousands of hours with BPS Excel mono and a Palomar knot and had very few breakoffs. You can even get fancy and go to fluorocarbon, although you may have some hookset breakoffs if you drop below 8-pound test.

War Eagle Grubber heads are super swimbait heads also. Wire weedguard and a great keeper that will hold the bait firmly in place fish after fish.

Two things hold true about bass … 1. There are always fish shallow. 2. There are always fish deep. Those who are most accomplished at catching them shallow will find some and figure out a way to catch them. Those who are most skilled at catching them deep will do the same. Funny how it always seems to shake out in the end, whether tournament fishing or just for fun. Therefore, always fish your strengths except on the rare occasions that doing so is just ridiculous. You'll catch more fish.

Jerk bait bite has to be close if not already here. You guys can have that A-rig. Too much work for me. Might as well troll.

They are building ours now. Not sure when it will open but it's down by the AMP outdoor music theater in Rogers right along I-49.

Our courses were all closed for weather, dang it. Or I'd have been out there. Heck, you just need more clothes. I read that somewhere.

Quill hit on a good point … hardly ever gets muddy in the White River arm and I believe it freaks them out when it does. Fish in the James and the Kings rivers seem to acclimate better to dirty water, perhaps because their part of the world gets muddy a lot more often. Just my opinion.

Winds are 20-30 mph from the north … air temp is 24. No thank you, and I'm known as a cold, nasty weather guy.

When you're throwing a bottom-dragging lure and they are hitting it on the fall, it usually means they are on a shad feed --- or feeding up in the water column. That's when you may want to try a spinnerbait, a Keitech-style swimbait or a suspending jerk bait --- something you can keep midway in the water column where they are feeding. Just a suggestion.

LM bite is tough on that end of the lake when it's bluebird skies.

Still a very good bunch of guys here, Edwin. Happy to hear you've been able to get back to fishing.

I believe that one is actually green shad.

More of a slow roll. Keeping it at a depth of 2-3 feet. I greatly prefer a 1/4-ounce bait in these clear-water White River lakes, so you can reel it fairly slow and have no trouble keeping it 2-3 feet deep.

Good info, Bo. I've been to Beaver three times in the past 3 weeks and have found some good LM in very backs of the runoff pockets. Each of these trips were intentionally timed on the very next day after a big rain. No matter the time of year, unless you get ice cold rain in the dead of winter, runoffs pull bass shallow.

Just guessing, but sounds like some squirrel without even a boat who signed up to ref for MLF. Been around the sport plenty long to know that with some of these guys, there's no limits to their obsession with emulating a pro fisherman. I feel for the real pros who have to carry these nutjobs around in the boat with them.

Elite series just isn’t very elite anymore.

Spinnerbait and Spook? Fall fishing is on the way

Trophy-class largemouths are very hard to come by on this lake anymore. We saw a couple during this past year's Big Bass Tour event, but these days, anything over 6 pounds is a trophy for Table Rock.

Known Bill for going on 20 years and, as most of you already know, he's a man of character and integrity from the soles of his shoes to the little button on top of his cap. As an outdoors writer, tournament angler and guide, I can emphatically say that my time spent in a guide's boat is about learning and not catching. I have the rest of my life to catch fish and I'll probably catch more if I learn something when in the boat with another guide. As for live bait, I have no interest, but I'm sure many tourists and casual fishermen are good with it as long as it gets them some bites. Thanks for all you freely share, Bill. It's a great service you do.

Were you fishing a tournament? Just asking coz of the jersey.

Long story short ... surgery NOT suggested. Gonna try an epidural steroid injection... it’s set Monday afternoon. Truly appreciate all of the prayers and concern. You guys are awesome.

Very nice brown fish. Congrats!