abkeenan

Awesome report Champ. Golf and fishing? Doesn't get much better than that in my opinion. A woman slaying them on a pink War Eagle...how fitting. I know that may not look like a life threatening injury to the thumb but I for one know that cuts, blisters or anything of the sort on your fingers can really put the kibosh on a golf swing/outing. It's like I would rather have my arm bruised into mince meat than have a paper cut on a critical place or point on the hand or finger. Just something about a constantly stinging cut that is worse than a gash on the forearm or something. My thumb on my right hand ALWAYS splits in the same spot every year from dry skin when the colder hit and when spring rolls around nothing is more annoying than having a split open thumb on your thumbing finger on the reel spool. You are reminded about it every cast and when it gets moist its even worse. In other words....I feel your pain on the super glue grenade.

Blaze, Here is a video of Mike Bucca who to me seems like the most knowledgeable guy out there when it comes to the Float n Fly. Check it out: and here is one of him modifying one of his corks/bobbers:

Ya. I believe that is what most guys are using and if you would have asked my 2 or 3 years ago I probably would have said to use the 4lb. The whole A-Rig deal has almost destroyed anything that I ever thought about fish not biting because they see the line. In my eyes that is sort of out the window and I would bump it up to 6lb or 8lb. Find the biggest lb test you can get away with without sacrificing casting distance, line management or killing the action on the jig. That is just my 2 cents.

I know some will argue but just what I have seen (youtube) on how the F'n'F works, you don't need an expensive or sensitive rod. You are fishing with a bobber and it is 99% a visual bite...cork goes down or lays on its side.....you have a bite...set the hook. Sensitivity in that case is not at a premium. I would be more concerned with finding a nice little spinning reel that has a good drag system on it to help with that light line that you need for this system.

Ya. I always think about investing in a setup for the F'n'F but I never get around to it and just keep flinging my suspending jerk baits instead in the cold water months.

That is funny. Bill Obi-Wan Kenobi....jedi fish mind tricks. I guess he has taken it to a whole nother level.

Ya. It was frustrating but at least I know what do to get it ready for spring time. On the bright side I didn't spend a dime burning any fuel. lol.

Thanks Phil. Will also add I saw a lot of bass fry (3-5inches) roaming around the shallow and near our dock in pods of about 10-20 of them. Only things I really saw consistently up shallow. if you are going shallow maybe throw a baby bass color?

Pretty much the same depth I was seeing fish at in the dam area. 26-30 feet right on the bottom if there wasn't any wood around. But they did bite the jig good.

Last trip of the year didn't start off too well as the big motor was having issues and was unable to start it all weekend. Launched at 86 Park anyways and had to use the trolling motor only and fished all the way to our dock in Beardsley. So we were VERY limited in where we could fish. That being said we did alright. I guess you would call it trash fishing as they seem to be every where and no where and caught them on cranks in 8 FOW on pea gravel and chunk, suspending jerkbaits at 5 feet down above tree tops in 20-40 FOW and also locked on the bottom at about 27 FOW on the jig. About every other fish was a keeper. Most consistent was the jerkbait and probably more so the jig. Brother was out-fishing me with PBJ with full size brush hog trailer and I was almost holding my own on a green pumpkin purple with table rock red paca chunk sr. trailer. Struck out on the A-Rig AGAIN and fished it at all depths in the water column to no avail. Most fish came on the jig and the biggest fish of the weekend 3.25ish LM came on the McStick. Nothing huge but a decent weekend considering the limitations of trolling motor only. Weather was beautiful and did get to see a pair of A-10 Warthogs fly over and also a bald eagle fly over. If I was going again I would probably target bluff walls and steeper banks with wood in that 15-40 foot zone and throw the jerker. Seems like that was the best concentration of fish and more than once had 1 or 2 fish trying to steal the McStick out of the others mouth. Good luck out there. Will also add that one morning from about 9-11am fished with a neighbor who had a good bite going using live perch on the bottom at 27 ft on a pea gravel ledge near an island. Caught some nice KY's and SM's and I lost one "monster" that I never saw but was pulling like a mule for about 15 seconds digging for bottom and felt a head shake before he let go of a rather large "pumpkinseed" sunfish I had rigged on a drop shot setup. Never saw it but was thinking it was either a 5lb+ smallie or largemouth or perhaps a catfish. Still thinking about it. ;(

Will be on the water Friday mid-day through the afternoon and evening. Then the rest of the weekend. Hope you are right Champ. If I catch any on a blade I'll think of you.

Hmmmm. Now I am not sure which one we use. I think it is the cajun but we have used all the Andy's. I forget which one we use exclusively now that we decided was best. Either the Red or the Cajun. Either way can't go wrong with any of Andy's seasoning mix. Great now my mouth is watering.

Yep. Andy's is the only way to go. Especially the Cajun or "red" as you put it. Delish!

No doubt about that. We always pick up a couple every year on the trotlines we set usually around Memorial Day Weekend and every now and then we get a "good'in'" that is 25lbs+. Pulling them up from the deep on the line they certainly look like nasty bottom dwelling beasts. But they sure do taste good!

Wow. You are a trooper Bo. Seems like that would be a tid-bit-nippley outside at that time.

Nasty Flatheads? IMO those are the best tasting fish in Table Rock not named crappie or walley. Flathead meat is about as clean as you can get. Someone here gave a tip once to soak white bass filets in tonic/club soda or 7up for a hour or so before you cook them. It seems to work pretty well to get any of that fishy taste out but if you get all the bloodlines out you should be fine. Getting those out is the key. We use Andy's seasoning mix in the cajun style and it is lights out good in the deep fryer. Add crinkle cut fries and you have a little slice of heaven.

Nice report Bo. What time at night are you fishing?

Love these reports. Thanks Cindy.

10lb InvisX Fluoro. Has a little more give/stretch than Trilene 100% Fluoro and is smaller in diameter so it will get baits a hair deeper.

Yep. Been plenty of times I didn't catch squat but still had a good time on the lake.

Nice report Alex.

Good call champ. My grandpa got me throwing baitcasters when I was probably around 11 or so. Gave me a Shimano Speed Master rod paired with an old Ryobi baitcaster and sent me down to the bank to just cast into the water for a few hours. If you could throw that untuned, uncleaned, gummed up piece of crap then you could throw anything. That was my one and only combo for a while. I'd like to think of myself as a pretty accurate caster considering the amount of time I get on the water. My brother fishes about as much as I do but he never had the lessons from my grandpa and I am 10x a better caster than him. Don't know if that is because of the lessons just I just have more skill than him but I will never forget the things my Paw Paw taught me.

Yes that works but that guy is pulling too hard. Went you kink the line (v-shaped line as he calls it) you can make a weak point in the line by doing so, especially with fluorocarbon. I will do this method sometimes but I don't pull as hard as that guy in the video. You can see where the line is hung up without pulling as hard as this good ole boy did. This video below works better on bad back lashes using both techniques without harming your line but you still have to pay attention.

BLASPHEMY!

Top notch report. Thanks.