Champ188

Looks like the salt in those tubes is doing a number on that bronze-finish hook. That can't be a good thing. Little things mean a lot most of the time.

Neil, I caught them in there real good one of the flood years but they were way up in the green bushes and grass. When they started pulling the lake down, it sucked a lot of the mud out of there and pulled the fish out to the edges of the bushes and I worked on them pretty good a couple of days with a topwater and big Keitech swim bait.

I know our friendship is over () but you might ought to rethink that. We can go shaky head or Ned fishing down on your end of the lake ... me using 4-pound line and you using 8 ... and I will get a LOT more bites and catch a LOT more fish than you. Guaranteed.

Wrench said a mouthful right there. Now I'm not about to say a guy shouldn't attempt to learn as much about his prey as he can, but there comes a time when you gotta go with what your gut is telling you. I remember a Central Pro-Am fall event on Table Rock quite a few years back where I had a decent first day and landed somewhere in the top 10. The second day, the wind died and I figured my best bet was to lay down my blade and go to a jig. I dragged that thing for hours without so much as a bite, and finally just the smallest puff of a breeze started blowing. My gut was screaming get your blade back out, so I did and within 50 minutes (what I had left to fish before having to head back to the weigh-in), I had a small limit and cashed a check. You're just gonna fish better when you believe in what you're doing. If you're going against your gut, it's an uphill climb.

I had a stretch of holes like that last Sunday afternoon. Just not enough of them.

Very nice round, Vernon. Anything in the 70's is a victory for me. Like abk said, really impressive to do it admist that three-hole brain break. LOL. Again, nice round. Look forward to joining you soon.

Thanks for a rare live report, Hammer. Glad you got out and rousted up a few.

If you're losing contact (pressure) on the fish, sounds like your rod action is too heavy. I use nothing bigger than 6-pound test on my spinning rods, none of which are heavier than M/Fast, and I'm lake fishing most of the time, so I catch fish up to 5-6 pounds on them. If the tip of the rod doesn't stay bent during the tussle, you're gonna lose a bunch of fish.

I've had very little trouble with Pro-Guide but Wrench knows what he's talking about regarding the cool-down cycle. You'll also preserve the life of your batteries by running as much trolling motor as you can afford, i.e. a 36-volt will not stress your batteries as much as a 24-volt because you just aren't gonna be running it as hard.

Plug, I've used that same analogy about playing with a cat where reaction bites are concerned. And I've seen it proven in big trailer-type tanks at outdoor shows. I like to say you can't force one to eat when he's not hungry, but you still stand a chance to tee him off or tease him into biting by continually putting something into his private space.

Lots of good info there, BearFisher. Thanks for sharing!

I'm with you but I'll add one thing ... bass in dirty water hardly starve to death and they eat the same forage as the ones on the big end of the lake. To my knowledge, there are no chartreuse/hunter orange shad or fuscia crawdads. So up to the point that the water is just chocolate brown, I usually throw something on the natural side myself.

My daytime fish have been the same. I have one little area up the White where they have been for 2 months and on a good day, they'll eat all day as long as you pull off of them every 30-45 minutes and give 'em a break. I have a couple more spots not more than 50 yards long that aren't quite as good but they are there. But if you get one cast outside of those 50-yard stretches, you might as well keep the boat on the trailer and just fish in the parking lot.

Very nice bags. Meador is an official Beaver Lake hammer.

Fairways and greens, brother.

There's those keepers that the rest of us can't catch. Still eating at night and sulking in the daytime, apparently.

In my experience, smallmouth are the "women" of the bass species --- moody, flighty and downright unpredictable. Just when you think you have them eating out of your hand, they steal away in the dark of night for the next county. And some of 'em are just bat-dung crazy.

Hey, he essentially called me a jerk.

You are turning to golf in an effort to alleviate frustration?

Hey, don't look now but I think Florida just scored another pick-six off your boy Drew Lock.

I will get you down there in goggle-eye land someday. Need to take you down there on a good jerk bait trip in the winter but you just don't catch many gogglers that time of year. I haven't caught a ton of them myself coz of my river roots but the ones I have caught seem to be from KC downlake and very available in the spring months.

Send a PM to Pepe.

Big C is definitely fun to fish with. Look forward to making another trip with him soon.

I have that nuclear cartoon on a coffee cup, QB. Love it. My all-time fave Larson is where a boy and his dad are looking over the fence at the house next door, where a wolf, a lion and assorted other mean animals are prowling around and going in and out of the house. Dad says to the boy, "Bobby, I know you miss the Wainrights, but they were weak and stupid people and that's why we have wolves and other large predators."

It's OK, you old Slickster. We'll keep those bass on the run till you are up to getting back in the fray.