abkeenan

You are going to want the CJ9 model. Its the jointed version. Most guys change out the trebles and have the back treble a bigger feathered treble. http://www.basspro.com/Cotton-Cordell-Jointed-Red-Fin--CJ9/product/22294/36159?cm_ven=bazaarvoice&cm_cat=RLP&cm_pla=22294&cm_ite=productname_link

I will chime in. I have been tying the trilene knot since I really started fishing about 15+ years ago. It has been a tremendous knot and easy to tie. I thought about changing to a different knot just because of all the knot wars testing. Well recent tests show that the trilene knot is #1 on mono and it also beat the fish n' fool and palomar knot on both mono and fluoro lines. So I see no point in changing now. I just started using braid just for A-Rigs and have 65# powerpro. Well I hooked a fish and it took me into a tree and I couldn't get that line/knot to break for anything and had to end up cutting it so the trilene knot held great on braid also. All of these combined have led me to just stick with the trilene knot for all line types. Only time I tie a palomar is drop shotting for the hook to stand point up in the correct position. My 2 cents.

No that wasn't me. I caught mine cranking an olive craw mag wart in the cove between the diving bluff and persimmon hollow, back by those docks. Not sure the name of it but we have pulled some nice fish off one of the docks in there the last few times I have been down there. Thought I had the winner on the end of my line for a minute.

Sounds awesome. SIGN ME UP!

Jeff gives good info about areas around docks. If you find the right dock you can load the boat with nice size gills. In the dam area sometimes in the mornings we will use crickets and a small split shot and use them on gravel type bottoms and catch everything from gills, to smaller cats and some nice bass mixed in. If you are in the dam area try around some the islands that are just north of the 86 bridge to the diving bluff as they start to get hot right about this time with the multitude of species I described earlier. If you see the gars rolling around on the surface the other fish are around also. If you really are wanting a fish fry you might want to throw out a trot line for a few days using some of those perch/blue gills as bait and you will have plenty of flathead meat for your fish fry which in my opinion is just about as good as it gets as far a taste goes. Good luck.

x 2. I didn't cash a check and couldn't catch anything that was over 2.25lbs so I just released them at the marina and didn't weigh them in. I was there on Saturday from 3-4 for the BBQ and Beer and it is just a class act and great event. I would sign up again right now in a heart beat for next year. With the chance of winning a boat/cash running through my head/heart for about 8 seconds, before I saw the black and brown camo pattern of a flathead rise up from the depths dashed my hopes, was worth the entry fee. That little 5 lb catfish got my heart beating there for a minute. Should have eaten him for dinner for playing such a mean trick on me! Add a nice little rod in there and what an event worth every penny. All the reps and guys working the tournament were great and KVD is not a pompous a$$ that he could be being that he is the "Michael Jordan/Babe Ruth/etc." of his sport. Very nice and humble guy it seemed to me. Again many thanks and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put this on again in '13. Already looking forward to it next year. -Brett

Pretty sure MY fish will weigh in at 7.62lbs.

Great report. Thanks for sharing

Spook = Heddon Zara Spook --------> http://www.basspro.com/Heddon-Zara-Spook/product/2909/85722 Fin = Cotton Cordell Redfin ----------> http://www.basspro.com/Cotton-Cordell-Jointed-Red-Fin-CJ9/product/22294/52481

You are super light on some of your rigs. That 5'2" w/ 4# test should just be a crappie/panfish pole. Using a torpedo/jerkbait on that will get it destroyed and you will lose a lot of fish on that setup. The 6' M for throwing football jigs is too short and too light in my opinion. I would throw the jerkbait and topwater on that rod myself but bump the line test up to 8 or 10 for jerkbaits and around 15+ for topwater. The 6'6" medium I would throw your spinnerbaits and cranks on 10# line. Can go heavier on the line for spinnerbaits, I throw 15# mono with mine. The 7" MH with 12# is fine and that is what I would throw my football jigs, texas rigs or spinnerbaits on if I were you. Just my opinion. Here is my breakdown of rods and line types: 5" UL with 4# co-poly = panfish 6' M with 17# mono = topwater 6'2" M with 10# fluoro = jerkbaits 6'6" MH with 15# mono = spinnerbaits and squarebills 6'10" H with 12# fluoro = jigs and texas/jika rigs 7" MH with 15# mono = big topwater wake baits 7'4" M with 10# fluoro = Crankbaits 7'6" H with 65# braid = A-Rigs 7'M spinning with 8# yozuri hybrid = shakey heads, splitshot, carolina, finesse baits Maybe that will give you more of an idea. This is just my own preference as I am sure others will be totally different. To each there own.

All I can say is WOW. Is there a catapult that mounts between two powerpoles in order to cast/shoot that thing out into the water?

Sorry to hear about the fin being lost Bill. I am sure you would probably pay over $100 to have it back even though it costs $7 in the store. I have 4 or 5 redfins and I don't think any of them work right to be honest. I am going to need to be with someone that has one that "works" to see just exactly it should be doing and then maybe I can fiddle with the "useless" ones to get them to be "useful". I have an older balsa j-7 jointed rapala that I let my buddy use and he cracked the bill in half on a cast. I took the bill off an old rebel jerkbait (slid out pretty easily) and I then shaved the angle on the rapala so it I could insert the new bill with superglue at more of a 90 degree (maybe more like 80 degree) angle than the original 45 degree. I threw it in a pond and man does it have incredible action. The balsa really keeps it from diving and talk about "wiggle diggle" galore. Just one problem.....I can only cast the thing like 40 feet because it is so light. I will have to tinker some more so it is castable but I would think it would be deadly. I also have a Jackall Mikey I have yet to throw that is in the box and it is just massive. Its 1 1/8 oz which puts even the super spooks at 7/8oz to shame. Shall see how it goes next weekend. I also use 17# trilene XL on all topwater. Usually topwater lures are heavy and aerodynamic so line size for casting distance isn't an issue as I can just about spool out a spook/super spook so I go up to 17# as might as well have that assurance of heavier line for the big girls on top of making the baits float better. My 2 cents.

Well said.

I also trap crawdads from time to time from under our dock in the Beardsley Branch on TR. Don't know the variance of species or colors in different areas of the lake. Have also caught them by hand turning over rocks in hip wading depth or shallower. They are always that olive green/brownish color with black accents, lighter green almost tealish legs on some and some red/orange flecks here and there. Never really any orange so to speak on them as like tbook says the orange color comes from the digested part of the craws. Like he said if you boil them they turn orange and if you have ever seen a shell/skeleton on the bank of a crawdad it is orange. I have caught 2 different species of crawdads, the long pincered ones that are the color I mentioned above and a smaller, fatter pincered one that is way more brown/reddish and orangy and not really green at all. For whatever reason though they seem to like orange accent for sure. How often have you seen any kind of fish or forage in TR or 99% of freshwater lakes have a fluorescent neon yellow color on it though ummmmmm....chartreuse....nowhere, yet it is such a popular and successful color. Just a thought. I will say that I know that my wiggle warts usually ALWAYS have orange somewhere on them.

I am going to have to agree with Bill and Riverfish. I would think that strippers wouldn't be good for bass fishing. How would taking away some of the food source or even becoming the food source make bass fishing better? Most all of the lakes you have stated are southern lakes as has been pointed out by Riverfish and they have all year to grow unlike TR and northern lakes along with being the bigger florida strain. As far as the other lakes mentioned that have strippers that you claim have helped the fishery....how much of that success in size and numbers is just due to the fact that it is overall fish management in those lakes and not just from the introduction of strippers as the sole determining factor as to why the bass have an increase in #'s and size? Not trying to bust balls but there are many factors into making a fishery successful. Would love to randomly hook into one for the fun but if you are wanting to target them make the trip to Beaver or Bull and chase them there. Just my 2 cents.

Buahahaha. So wrong but oh so right.

I will be going down Friday evening for a short weekend trip. Sounds like you have all the typical producing baits. Only thing I would add to that is a jig along with matching craw trailer. Shades of browns, greens with some accent colors like purple and orange always work. I prefer Netbait Paca Chunks for my trailers as I like the size, action and great selection of colors and they are like 2.29 a pack or something. They often come back with a missing claw or two on hooksets....lol... but I really like them. Good luck and if you are in the Dam area I will be in an older Navy/Red/Silver Nitro with a 150 Blackmax Merc on it with 3 clueless guys in it. -Brett

Awesome report and thanks. Will be down this weekend to hopefully fare better than I did about a month ago Hopefully there won't be another FLW tour going on.

Wondering how many of you guys flip on Table Rock. I know it is primarily a deep presentation type lake and occasionally guys beat the bank with cranks, squarebills, spinnerbaits, etc. but how often do you flip in close to the bank? Is there a time when its best? Or is it only on the rare times when we get a lot of rain and the bushes are flooded?

It was dumb last weekend. Had to park off to the side of the ramp at 86 park due to so many boats.....NEVER have had to do that before or even seen it. I am thinking of looking for a new impoundment to fish. The amount of tournaments and the # of boats in those tournaments has just gotten completely out of hand. The all mighty dollar will always prevail so I don't see tournaments and their money being cut back anytime soon. Just a travesty in my opinion. There is no room for the weekend fun fisherman anymore, all about the big boys and their wrapped boats and blinged out trailers. Anyone know of a deep clear impoundment that was damed up and flooded in the midwest over the last 20 years with nice timber in it that doesn't have boats on it like a swarm of gnats?

I think RPS or maybe it was someone else here on the forum said it best.......start fishing in March and start catching in April. Seems to ring true every single year that I attempt to fish the Rock. Hopefully will get back down in a couple of weeks and start "catchin'".

Here is the pic of the little football my Dad caught on a Table Rock Shad McStick:

I'll chime in but don't have much to offer. FISHING WAS BRUTAL THIS WEEKEND! Just terrible....as bad as I've ever done. Between myself, dad and brother we had 8 total bass, 3 in which measured and 2 of which were nearly unmeasurable, fishing the Dam Area. One really nice 3lb12oz chunk spot with the biggest gut I've ever seen on a bass. All fish taken shallow (4-10 ft) on either a wiggle wart or mcstick.....all fish seem to have been in the brush and came out to get it. Didn't get a single bite today (Sunday) from 8AM-2PM. Just pathetic and talked another guy putting his boat back on the lift around 11 that said he didn't have a single bite either starting at 7AM. Said he tried grubs, jigs, gitzits, cranks, warts and yes even the A-Rig to no avail. So I didn't feel as bad about myself. Threw the A-Rig for the first time on Saturday, kinda fun to throw but not productive as I didn't land fish with it. Had something big on it (thinking it was a big cat) that took me into a tree and played tug of war for 15 minutes with him on the 65# braid until I couldn't feel it/them pulling back anymore and had to break off. Whatever it was it was big. Well I am lying about the rig I did catch a 5 pound rock on one of the arms. Tried crappie for about an hour in the Brushy Creek with no luck on the swimming minnows in spots that are usual producers for us. Water from 86 Bridge into Bushy and on down Long Creek towards Ark is just chocolate milk. Visibility in that part of the lake was 6" inches deep....muddy as heck. Bottom line....tough this weekend. TOOOOO many boats and bluebird skies/ no wind = ROUGH GO. Kind of pissed about the amount of fishing pressure. Not a square inch of any point, bank, pocket or nook and cranny in the dam area didn't see a bait. Anything you fished had been fished by 5 other boats before you. Tournaments gallore, pre fishing galore and 2/3 boats flinging the A-rig. Hope its not like this every time I come down from now on. Really would like to see the tournaments more regulated and kept to a minimum....JEEZ I've never seen that many boats. Stupid.

If you have a "less experienced angler" I would have them throwing a 1/4oz darter/ball jighead with a 5" grub in shad colors and just swim that thing near the bottom, bounce on the bottom or through a depth zone if you have pinpointed a depth they seem to be suspended at. It works great all year and is EXTREMELY easy to fish. Plus you don't even really have to set the hook with the exposed hook and you just reel into them and you are hooked up which makes it even easier for kids, new anglers who don't know how to set the hook on a bite as you would on a jig or something like that. Will get hung up in trees from time to time but not an expensive lure to lose so not big deal. Just have 10-20 1/4oz jigheads on hand and a pack or two of 5" grubs.

Anything in shades of greens or browns works. I like hints of purple mixed in on the greens/browns myself but probably just a confindence/superstitious thing more than what the bass want.