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I was at the big sports/fishing show in Grand Rapids, MI last night. I did pick up some more of the Flick Shake worms there that I will bring down to Table Rock with me. I know everyone throws Senkos all over the country and they do catch fish. I would rather catch them other ways too, but in a buddy tournament, I've had my partner catch fish on the Senkos when I was throwing everything else and couldn't catch them. After a trip to Lake Amistad in Texas, I even bought some of the big 7 inch Senkos and caught some bigger fish in tournaments up here in Michigan. If my wife fishes with me, I usually put a four inch senko on for her and she always catches fish while she's working on her tan, doing nothing but letting it sit on bottom or drag behind the boat. In Texas and Louisiana, they throw a wacky rigged six inch worm like the Zoom Trick worm with a lot of success. The Flick Shake worm is just a little different, and a few times last year, it put fish in the livewell, when the Senko throwing guys couldn't catch them. Gary Yamamoto came out with a short shanked jig to use with Senkos and the Kut Tail worms, doing pretty much the same things. What's cool about fishing is that I've taken techniques I've learned on Table Rock(fishing jigs, Rogues, salt craws, and big spinner baits), drop shotting from Japan/California, shakey head from Alabama, wacky staight tail worms and Texas rigged worms from Texas/Louisiana, Senkos from Arizona, and now the Flick Shake from Japan. It's fun trying new techniques and I guess it stimulates the economy because I keep buying more stuff every year. My friends say I need therapy because I'm sick because I can't keep myself from buying more stuff. I don't smoke, use drugs, and rarely drink more than a beer or two, so I guess it's my addiction. When I was a kid my dad and I would fish with live night crawlers during the day and fish a Hula popper or Jitterbug at night. The first artificials I used were Mepps Spinners and Rapalas. We caught a lot of fish using those techniques too and I'm sure you can still do it now. But last night I brought home another bag of stuff from the sport show? Has anyone tried the Kopper Live Target crawfish crankbaits or their minow baits here on Table Rock? If not, maybe the fish will get a look at something different when I get down there in a couple of weeks? Bill Babler is responsible for getting me to order some of the Spro stickbaits he was using to catch those nice smallmouths he posted a few weeks ago. I'm a very sick man.............................

I haven't heard anything on this forum this spring about whether any of you use the Flick Shake rig here on Table Rock. The technique using a small, short shanked jig head with a skinny finesse worm waky rigged. Myself and a few of my buddies started using this up in Michigan with some pretty good success at different times. We also used the Flick Shake worms on our drop shot rigs. They seemed towork when throwing a regular Senko or fishing a shakey head wasn't catching fish. Even a couple of my walleye fishing friends use them dropshotted for walleyes, but also catch smallmouths and largemouths on them. The jigs and worms are pretty costly. I imagine you would lose a lot of them fishing the structure you have here. We plan on trying here this year. Do they carry the product at any of the local tackle stores in Kimberling City or at BPS in Springfield? Anybody that does use them, any color preferences? The greenpumpkin candy and watermelon candy worked great on Michigan waters as well as the camo and bluegill colors.

Twenty five years ago I fished one of the bigger circuits in Michigan for a few summers. I was gone ten weekends each summer from my wife and kids and spent Many of my "free days"prefishing. Even though we qualified for the classic each year and placed in the money half the time, it took some of the fun out of fishing. A few of my friends and I got out of the tournament grind and instead scheduled a trip to Table Rock during spring break, and did a late spring and fall four day weekend trip to northern Michigan on some great smallmouth/walleye lakes. I still fished some smaller local stuff with my son and an occasional weekend tournament, but fished more for the fun. On our four day weekend trips, we usually caught a lot more fish, and ended spending less money than if we placed in the bigger tournaments we used to fish after we payed our entrys, did our pre-fishing, and then traveled and paid for our lodging if it was too far to drive from home. The past couple of years I started fishing a few more tournaments, but I don't do as much prefishing. I have to admit, it's still an ego and respect thing when you win against your peers(other guys with regular jobs that do one day tournaments). As mentioned above, I also used to entertain the idea of guiding or opening up my own fishing tackle store, but I saw some guys that did do that(owned their own businesses), ended up not fishing much any more. I don't know Phil or Bill personally, but they seem to still be able to do both, so my hat's off to them. They must have some good people taking care of stuff back on the home/business front.

Don, Were you using the regular pointer or the deeper diving one like the FLW winner said he was throwing? I'll tell Dan Shine up here in MI that I sent a "HI" from him to you. I used to teach with his wife Judy and he told me last year he knew you. Good luck on the fishing and thanks for the reports. Ed

Thanks Joe. We'll be staying in Little Aunts Creek, so we will probably try the James first and then work our way down. I'll definitely give the Senko type lures a try along with the other techniques mentioned. I appreciate all the help you and the others try to give on this forum. It's still up to us to catch the fish. LOL Ed

I know if I prefished for four days and then fished four straight days in a tournament, I would be worn out. Then maybe then driving several hundred miles to do it all over again. I can feel my back complaining already.

I just read an article in the March issue of In-Fishermen on using Senko type baits. Do any of you use the Pro-Senko on a shakey head? When you fish your shakey heads, do you thread the worm like a grub, or use more of the weedless Texas style rigging? In previous magazine/internet articles, I have read that for largemouths and spots, the grub/jig worm style was preferred, but for smallmouths, the Texas rigged or Spot Remover(Standup look) was preferred for smallmouths. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated for how you use them on Table Rock. In Michigan, we fish a lot of weed beds, so I usually use the Texas/weedless riging for my shakey head fishing.

I've been reading reports for the past two weeks and I know how things change so quickly on Table Rock. I'm heading down there from Michigan on April 2. Should I try this area first or will other areas be as good or better? You mentioned fishing Senkos. I know some of our guys two years ago were using greenpumpkin candy or Blue Pearl colors in Senkos. Does the color really matter or does it matter only if it's sunny or cloudy? This is the second time I've read using Senkos on a shakey head. I usually use some type of finesse worm like a zoom or Net bait, but haven't tried a Senko that way. I usually fish them wacky or texas rigged. What size Senko and color works best? I would think the four inch version in a green pumpkin, but I have been wrong many times before. Thanks for all the great info and good luck on the water.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Clown colors or the Table Rock Shad patterns. I have about every brand and color imaginable, but I ordered some of the Spro McSticks after Bill posted the picture of the nice smallmouths he caught on them. I like to use them up in Michigan too, but those darn Northern Pike can eat one in one swipe.

36 pounds and 12 ounces for two days.I think the front is going to keep it down a little.

Here in Michigan, it was 50 degrees at midnight and this morning the had horizontal snow with 50 mph winds. I'm sure somebody will figure them out.

Does anyone throw the Magnum sized Warts here? Kevin Van Dam and his brother Randy have thrown them up here in Michigan for at least 20 years. We catch both Largemouths and big smallmouths on them. Last summer a guy I know that does well on a couple of the Michigan open bass tournaments asked me if I could lend him some of the Magnum warts because he knew I have used them for years. I was able to give him a choice of 25 different colors. I have bought most of them from D&R Sports in Kalamazoo, but I always have my eye open for them anywhere. The store Kevin's brother owns. In Michigan, the best colors for smallmouths are the bone, crayfish, fire tiger, perch, rainbow trout, and brown trout colors. It's amzing to see a big smallie, choke on one of those big warts. I've caught big spots on Table Rock on the fire tiger color throwing it on some windy points/banks. Other than the pre-mentioned colors most guys use here at Table Rock, in Michigan we do very well on a gold plated one they don't make any more. We have had Dale Sellers custom paint some in the bluegill pattern for us to use in Michigan and one of our guys was catching smallmouths on it down here last year.

Anybody that is interested in any waters in Michigan can give me a shout. We are blessed with about any size water and fish species you would want to catch. The winters kind of suck though, unless you like ice fishing.

I live in Michigan and have fished most of the lakes on the west and NW parts of the lower penninsula. I've been to Table Rock lake about 25 times since 1980. Things have changed a lot since we have been coming down. BPS was just a little mail order store the first year we were here. We usually stay in the Aunts/Little Aunts Creek area. You used to be able to catch all the bass you wanted by just throwing a wart or a spinner bait along the shoreline, but now there are so many docks in the way, we usually run to more remote spots. Seems like we used to catch bigger spots, but now we catch more smallmouths. My biggest bass was an 8 pound two ouncer caught after dark on a jig and pig(real uncle josh) on the bank accross from the Aunts Creek Park boat launch. That week it was so cold we only could fish about an hour after dark because our guides would freeze up, but I caught the 8lb 2 oz, my brother in law caught a 7 lb 15 0z, and my other buddy caught a 7 lb 8 oz. We rarely catch any over five pounds any more, but we know the big ones are coming back. We don't fish at night as much either. We always have a great time.

Thanks. I've been as far up as Bear Den Hollow and we have fished Piney and Wooly Creeks a few times. Staying on Little Aunt's Creek, We can never decide which way to go. We use to go north most of the time, but the past few years we seem to go toward's Baxter or indian Point. Last year the water was so high and dirty, we went towards the dam more. We are getting a lot of rain up here in Michigan, how are things going down on the Rock? Sounds like the fishing could be pretty good for the tournaments this weekend.

I know things will change when I come down there next month, but I still would like to try to learn the names of the different parts of the lake. Where abouts is the Bridgeport area and the Canes?

Thanks Tim. I know we have fished that area before, but maybe we need to try it a little more. We have even caught smallies off all the points where Big and Little Aunt's Creeks run into the James. The smallies seemed a little more concentrated up near Indian Point, but it sure is a hike. Last year we even trailered there because the weather was so shakey.

Bill, I listened to your pod cast and you give out a lot of great info. I've been coming down to Table Rock from Michigan since 1980. We are usually forced to come the first week of April because some of us are school teachers and that is our spring break. I would like to narrow some areas and techniques down so as not to bring everything I own, but it seems every year they seem to bite differently. Last year with the floods, it seemed like it should of been spinnerbait heaven, but I think that bite happened after we left. We ended up catching more of our fish at the depths they were normally at before the water rose up. We love catching smallmouths in Michigan and really enjoyed some good smallmouth action in the Indian Point area. The only problem is that we stay on Little Aunt's creek and it's a pretty long ride. Any ideas or techniques we should be trying a little closer up that way? Depending on the year, we have went almost everywhere, but the gas bill can run up pretty fast. A couple of techniques we use in Michigan for smallmouths that don't get mentioned here are tubes and silver buddy type baits. It's probably too warm for the silver buddies, but I would think the tubes should still be good for smallmouths. Another thing I use for smallmouths in Michigan are drop shot rigs all year long(except winter. We still have ice on the lakes up here as I type.) Seems like they would work at about the same time you throw the fish doctors on mojo rigs. Have any of you guys fished Poor Boy's Erie Darters on jig heads or drop shots on Table Rock? They work great for both Smallies and Largemouths up in Michigan. They kind of look like the old Mann's sting ray grub, but a little more bulk to them. Sorry for the long post. If any of you giuys come up to Michigan and need some info, get a hold of me and I'll do what I can for you. Thanks a lot guys.

A 6.2 Kentucky? Wow! Has anyone found any clear water anywhere? Last week people were saying they saw nice colored water. Now I'm hearing coffee colored with cream. I hope today's rain is far enough north so the lake can clear up some.

Thanks Capt. Do. We will be fishing Table Rock Saturday and Sunday, but maybe we will try Taney if the bass aren't doing anything by then.A couple of our guys are going to be there Thursday and Friday to try and sort some areas out at least.

We have six guys coming down and between the three boats, we will probably find fish somewhere. We have been fishing Table Rock since 1980 and by the end of our week, we usually find some fish willing to bite. We have never fished Taney. We have 185 Rangers with 150 hp. Can we safely navigate these waters? What type of techniques would we have to use? Where would we put in at? I watched Bill and Phil's videos fishing for trout and the white bass. I would be up for some of that action. Shouldn't we be able to find whitebass on Table Rock as well?

The lack of fishing reports is making me a little bit more than anxious. I'm driving down from Michigan next weekend and I'm trying to determine if the lake will be fishable when I arrive on April 5. Is Aunt's Creek park under water? Is the boat launch open? I have heard the water still looks like coffee with cream. Any clear water yet anywhere? Did you get any rain today? Any tournament action today?

Capt. Don, I'll tell Dan Shine you said HI. Did you see on his Blog that he is going fishing on Ray Scott's private Lake next month? I'm staying at Oak Hill Resort on Little Aunt's Creek. Should the water up that way be starting to clear, unless you get more rain? Does anyone have the latest Lake levels? So it sounds like I should be looking for clear water and throwing warts, if there is wind, and swimming grubs if it's calmer? Anybody down here try throwing swimbaits at all? what about drop shots this time of year? Thanks, Ed

Won't the stickbait bite still be possible if the water is as cold as it is? On Lake of the Ozarks this past weekend a big bag was weighed in on stick baits. Has anyone found any water on Table Rock that is starting to clear up yet? Should the wiggle wart bite be the next thing, or will everything be coming into the bushes? I'm driving down from Michigan for spring break(April 5-12), and I'm a little anxious as to what I will find when I get there. Capt. Don, I hear you are a friend of Dan Shine from up here in Michigan? He has a cottage in the Baldwin area, but lives near Grand Rapids. His wife and I each in the same school system. He said you are a good guy, but I already had that opinion from reading your posts.