LWW

What's the bite been like this week? Are the waters warming up? Are the fish moving out to their post spawn haunts? Are we starting to find them on deeper main lake points. Any topwater action back? Gravel bite was good last weekend. Any advice on where to fish this weekend would be greatly appreciated. Good fishin to all! LWW

I haven't been on the water since Sunday, but what I saw last weekend on the Kings and on the White River from Cambell's Point to Big M, I would use considerable caution when running these waters. Early in the morning when the wind hadn't picked up yet I saw quite a few trees (root systems and all) floating out in the middle of the lake. These were not small logs, these were 15 footers with 3'+ diamaters. Since they were so big they were easy to spot, but when the wind picks up they all seem to dissapear in the chop, but some of that debris is still there. I was really amazed at the amount of "dangerous" debris I saw floating last weekend. Keep your eyes open. LWW

I recently got a new Triton TR19, so my old college boat is no longer needed. Since we're all fisherman and outdoorsman here, I thought I would post this boat listing for anyone interested. You can find more information about the boat at this website: http://www.boats.com/listing/boat_details....se&showMD=false The boat is in great condition and is ready to fish or duck hunt. Call for more info. Thanks - LWW

The gravel pattern worked! I didn't catch a boat load, but I did finally catch a smallmouth by the end of Saturday. I landed about 15 fish, most just short of 15 inches but a few measured out. The pattern was consistent from Baxter's up past the Shell Knob bridge. Any gravel bank I saw on the shore, I would sit off in about 20-30ft of water and fish a 1/4oz jig head with a watermelon candy finesse worm and focus on any depth changes I could find. Thanks to the low water levels the past few months, I had a good idea of how the gravel banks contoured. I fished any ledge or any significant change in depth and really found the fish near that depth change usually in 15-20ft of water. The gravel bite was the best bite I could find last weekend. The water temps were low..63-66 degerees in most places. Does this extend the spawn and put alot of fish on the banks again? I didn't find many fish on the banks if they were there. Good Fishin All, LWW

For the last few months, quite a few, but not all of the fish I am catching have numerous wounds along the sides of there bodies. My friend visiting two weeks ago asked me why all of the fish he was catching had the these wounds. I told him it was probably from hooks on a spook or other baits that had hooked the fish and would heal. As I continue to find similar wounds on other LM and Spots, it makes me wonder. Has anyone else noticed these wounds on their fish? Here's a photo of what I'm talking about.

Thanks fot the info Bill. I will keep you posted on how things turn out Monday. Good fishin to all! LWW

Thanks Lilley. That's what I needed to know. LWW

Looks like a great weekend at the Rock, a little warmer would be nice, but atleast it should be dry! A couple questions before I head out. I have been hoping to find some smallmouth schools, but haven't beeb able to. 1.) Are the smallies still on the shallow sloping pea gravel banks? 2.) Are the smoke/watermaellon candy grubs the bait of choice? 3.) Should I fish closer to the banks, or in the 10-20ft range on bottom? 4.) Are they hanging out on the gravel points, or spread along the banks? 5.) Do they hit a swimmin grub in the middle of the water column very often? 6.) Launching at Shell Knob. Any suggested pea gravel banks? Will make a run. Any tips are much obliged. I'm gonna find some of these scrappy dogs sooner or later! LWW

Can anyone tell me the method of operation they use to control the waters for Table Rock, Taneycomo, and Bull Shoals. Who drains into who and what water bodies are the main contributors to the water levels? Thanks. LWW

I have recently upgraded my boat from a 14ft aluminum V bottom to a Triton TR19. In the past, my aluminum boat would quickly drift accross the surface whenever there was any substantial wind. It caused me to fish faster than I'd like, especially when trying to keep constant bottom contact with certain baits. I thought my Triton would change all that, but it still sails accross the water with a pretty good clip of its own. Question is: When approaching a windy bank/point, would it be preferable to ride the wind current down the bank, or to boat down the current and fish against the wind blown current to slow down and methodically fish more structure/cover? also, What's everyone think about running your trolling motor fulltime on a low speed? It's hard for me, I try to fish too slow sometimes and probably should run more banks looking for a quick bite. Thanks. LWW

This weekend I was quite surprised to find the topwater bite so very disapointing around Shell Knob. The weekend before I couldn't keep up with the TW bites.. and last weekend I can't even remember seeing an eruption on the surface. Does anyone have any theories on what effect a heavy or consistent rain on the surface of the water does to our friends under the water? Sat. and Sun. it seemed like it put them to sleep. Hopefully they'll be back to their normal mood next weekend! LWW

Nice Spot! Sounds like you nailed 'em on a good pattern. That's a little more than I could say for me and my fishing crew this weekend. Between (3) of us, we boated about 25-30 fish. Mostly one fisherman, he was on fire with a 1/4oz jig head and watermelon candy zoom finesse worm. We fished every where from Baxter's to Big "M" Marina. Looking back at both days and considering the weather, we boated some fish, but nothing of real size and a slow bite at each spot. I was really surprised the Topwater bite was non-existent(at least around Shell Knob) considering all the cloud cover we had most the weekend. Glad you had a nice trip Dee Willy. Thanks for the pic! LWW

Martin, I might be crazy, but that picture of yours looks like you are holding a giant black crappie. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what kind of fish is that? How many lbs and inches? LWW

Please clarify your "Spook / Redfin" train of thoughts. Is a spook considered a redfin imitation? More info please. Thanks

greenwoodmo, I'll put my thoughts in cause I was in your situation 6 months ago. What I found I couldn't be more happy with. I live in Tulsa, OK where Lowrance actually has their homeoffice. My friends buddy works for Lowrance here and gave me some good advice. If you aren't aware, Eagle products are owned and made by Lowrance also. If you compare many models of Eagle products with the Lowrance products you will start to find many of them are very close to identical except for the price. Specifically the one I got and would suggest to you. The Eagle FishElite 480 for $349.00. It has everything. GPS w/map software upgrades, an incredible graph that reads with outstanding detail, split screen and everything. It is the "excact" same graph Lowrance offers in their line as the LMS 480 for $499.00. I won't go into all the detail it has cause you can research that, but I will say it has been everything I need for my new Triton I got. I will have to comend the GPS trail capability to show you where you've been, what are "safe routes", or even better yet "successful routes" which all can be saved and used later. Dollar for dollar, I think the FishElite 480 is one of the best graphs you can buy. The only thing it lacks is color, which Eagle will give you for $449.00 on the FishElite 500C/502C. Which if you have a hundred extra dollars you can't beat the color monitor with internal GPS(502C model) meaning you don't have to find a place to mount your GPS antena. Check out Eagle though. They've got good stuff. LWW

Outstanding! These maps are right in my backyard. Great Info. I'll have to send back some of my hotspots I've found on the west side. Phil, what's the fax# if I need to use it? Thanks for the insight. LWW

The Super Spook I'm retiring because the fish destroyed it was a called a Ghost pattern that was mostly white with some fish scales traced in black and a tiny hint of blue runing down its back. I have not been able to find the same color pattern since I bought it 4-5 years ago. The closet I found online was the "Blue Shore Shad" or the "Finish Blue Shad" color (both have more blue in them but they're close). A chrome with a black back was what I replaced it with on Sunday and it was getting drilled to. As for the bite, I was catching them all types of ways. Mostly on sunday as soon as I landed near or in the tree tops and jerked them a couple times they would fly up and smack em. Of course I caught several as they were feeding on bait fish and I was close enough to get my spook in on the action. Just needed to let it hit the water and work it back a few times and they'd drill it. By the end of sunday though, it was every tree I hit on the outer edge of the timberline near a channel where I would get drilled.

My favorite Table Rock action was in full swing last weekend. I haven't been able to get to the Rock all spring, but I was happy to find the topwater bite was warming up. I brought my new boat with me and the first cast at my honey hole near Lost Island near Shell Knob produced a nice 2lb LM, a great way to start a new relationship with my new boat. 25 fish later I found myself having to retire my favorite super spook becuase the fish have finally beat it up so bad it barely even floats anymore! Sunday was the most consistent day, the topwater bite lasted for me till 3:00pm when I had to pack up. Best of all, my girlfriend finally caught a Largemouth and can stop accusing me of stealing all of her fish.. and of course it was the biggest one we boated all day. The pattern I found was happening all down the white river starting at Campbells point and extending all the way to Big M. Basically find any channel swing and fish the outer edge of timber that is along the bluffs. The fish were holding in the trees which were mostly in 30-50ft of water and killing the spook as it crossed over or around the deep trees. LWW

Thought I'd throw my 2cents in on your question. First, if I'm throwing crankbaits, which I love to do.. Bandit 300 series pearl black, I use a Shimano Curado baitcaster on a 7' MH Falcon rod. I highly reconmend the baitcaster, prefereably with a 6.2:1 gear ratio or higher to maintain a steady retrieve you can use all day. I like the longer rods so I can cast farther and I like a somewhat soft tip so I can feel the vibration of the bait better. The lighter the line you throw will allow your crankbait to get that much deeper, I use 8-10lb test on all my rods at Table Rock. For soft plastics, mostly finesse gear at Table Rock, I use a Quantum Catalyst spinning reel with 8lb PLine flourocarbon on a 7' medium action Falcon spinning rod. Again the long rod helps for casting and the medium action has a soft tip I can feel the bottom real well with. I have the same reel on a Medium Heavy action rod, but like the Medium action better. Flourocarbon line helps your bait and line sink to the bottom better. Top water: I might be different here, but I use a Shimano Curado or Quantum ACS on a 6' MH falcon rod with 10lb mono. I personally like the shorter rod length so I can work my bait faster (mostly a spook at Table Rock). The mono floats better and helps the action of the bait run on top better. Spinner Baits: I switch between spinning reels and baitcasters. They both work great to me. Overall I fish with my baitcasters more, simply because I have much better accuracy fishing with them, but the spinning reels are growing on me fast.. especially the Finesse fishing and Drop Shot techniques at the Rock.

SKMO, I agree, I've had enough bad habbits.. I'm gonna have to put my foot down somewhere! As for "Backing the Line", that in itself has cut my budget in half. It just makes since once I saw how much line I would strip that never even got used. I always like a full reel cause it seems to help me cast more accurately. I'm glad to see others share a similar philosphy on some of this. I'm pretty comfortable with respooling twice a year. Although, I might kick myself in the butt if I neglect a reel a little too long and get to see that big boy reeled in to the boat only to give me the bird in swim away for ever! That's fishing! LWW

I know this is a personal preference to most, but my buddies and I were having a good conversation about when to change your fishing line. In my friends case, he fish's tournaments every month, so of course he needs to change his line quite frequently. But for a recreational fisherman like myself, I'm not so obssesive about changing my line every 2 weeks. First off, I have about 10 poles I like to rotate through and that can add up to big bill every month trying to keep them all with crisp new line. My main question is, how much does "time" effect the line as opposed to the amount of use or "memory" a line might build up. In my opinion, if I haven't fished a rod "as much" as other rods, and have had it lined for several months.. I'm not so worried about it because the memory is still low. My freinds think I'm crazy, and should reline every month on all rods no matter what. I have learned one thing recently about this, no more buying individual spools of line, only the bulk, and I'll be staying with floro in Pline or Vanish 8#,10# and 12#. What do you all think?

No I have not seen that site, I'll have to check it out. I always enjoy any site that let's me play with maps. One more note. I noticed they said they can't find any paper maps of the James. Not sure if you guys have already ruled out the Fishing Hot Spots Map for Table Rock (East), it shows quite a bit of physical information for a good portion of the James. You can buy them online at: www.fishinghotspots.com or Cabelas, Bass Pro, and many other retailers should carry them. I even saw some at one of the marinas on Table Rock when I was fueling up, Think it was Big M Marina if I rember right. Thanks for the site tip. LWW

Hey guys, just noticed you post and thought I might have a little info that can help you with your map project. I used to work in GIS, a spatial analytical tool used to create what we called "Layered" maps. I no longer work in GIS so I'm a little rusty in the latest GIS technologies, but this tip is a trade standard. We used to use Aerial Photography photos to confirm if physical features were either present or not. Of course today you can go out and buy the latest Aerial Photos for a pretty penny, but better yet there is a wonderful website that has free access to relatively current photos that cover all of the U.S and Alaska. All you have to do is put in the name of the City, State that you want to pull up and presto.. you're looking up and down the James River and all of it's physical features. In your case I entered Galena, MO and it brought up the 1997 aerial photo whcih I could then zoom in or out of to find whatever I was looking for. I use this website for all kinds of scouting, planning, and really you name it. Anyone should go there and play around, you might find some great help for planning that next hunting or fishing trip. The site is called TerraServer USA: http://terraserver.microsoft.com Hope that helps. LWW

I've been studying my Fishing Hot Spots map as much as I can lately trying to pick out my best destinations to fish for this late winter season. As the couch fisherman on the weekdays, what should I be looking for? I've started by trying to pinpoint all my strong channell bends on the main lake. As I begin to identify all these I'm finding quite a few. What should I see that makes one channel bend better than another. Shell Knob and the Hwy 39 bridge is where my boatslip is. If anyone's got any suggestions on which way to head I'd greatly appreciate it. LWW

Hello all, I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm actually from Tulsa, OK and my family and I just finished our cabin in Shell Knob last year. I fished Table Rock as much as I could last year and absolutely loved it! I'm hoping this 2nd year I'll feel a little more at home. I can already tell this forum will help me do just that. I look forward to plenty of good discussions. LWW