abkeenan

There is A TON! of information regarding all your questions at http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/forum/13-hard-baits/ . I thought i might get into trying to paint my own lure blanks but 1. realized i sucked at it, 2. wasn't all that cost effective as i had originally thought and 3. that i should stick to letting the companies/pros with decades of experience making them for me and then purchasing them. As far as paint i gathered that Createx was the most popular and painters favored it more than any other paint. As far as top coat which was and is still a very hot topic with airbrush lure painting, i think Dick Nites might be the best choice with a close 2nd being Devcon 2Ton with the longer set time (not 5 minute kind). Don't know why that is but that is what i gathered. Some guys said the Devcon yellowed after a certain amount of time (not sure how long, years?). Don't know about remover. With scaling stencils lots of guys use minnow nets. I found that the $1 loofahs at walmart make a fine scale pattern and for a buck you cant beat it. Just kind of have to keep you eye out for stuff that looks like it might work for what you need. Hope this helps a little. -Brett

Funny you say that about the topwater bait just disappearing without any explosion. I only threw topwater for about 20 casts last weekend but the one 14" LM did just that, just sucked it under and i didnt know i had a fish til i tried to work my bait and the rod bowed up. I dont get to fish all that often at TR like you locals so that might happen all the time but for me it was a first. -Brett

This past 4th weekend i had to kill a copperhead around the house in the front yard. I hated to do it as it wasnt bothering anyone just slithering through the grass but my grandmother who is nearly 80 with heart conditions works out in the yard sometimes and lives alone and if she got bitten no telling what might happen to her. Also with it being summer kids in the family are down playing in the yard, walking to the dock and what have you and its just not worth the risk of having something happen to them. Hated to do it as i dont like killing anything without reason but just had too.

Couldnt agree more SKMO. Dont think color has all that much to do with getting bit or not bit. How many strikes do you get on top water where they come up and stare at it to make sure its the right color? And how often do they just rush up to blast it not giving a rip what it is or what color it is they just want to eat or kill it? I myself throw a heddon/excaliber spitt'n image which i doubt all that many people on TR throw and the fish just seem love it. Ill throw a spook or redfin from time to time but i like the spit'n image the best. Its a confidence think like you say. -Brett

Fished Dam Area Sat, Sun and Mon (mornings only). Had pretty good success throwing a texas rigged watermelon green zoom fat albert grubs and also 3/8oz and 1/2oz bass x missouri craw, watermelon candy and green pumpkin jigs with paca chunk trailers with matching colors. Most came at depths between 10ft-25ft moving deeper as the morning progressed and sun got up on gravel points. 90% smallies with a few LM and Spots mixed in. Most of the bites coming on either the drop of the bait or while in the process of dragging it across the bottom. Guess they want the bait moving. Lots of fish just swimming off with the bait so really watch your line. Lots of 10-14 inch smallies and a few 2-3lbers mixed in. Sunday with the overcast/sprinkles they bit real well until we had to quit around 9-10ish with the boaters coming out and family wanting to also join in the fray. With the overcast probably could have caught fish all day as the bite was pretty darn good. Monday morning with the high bluebird skies bite really dropped off and only managed a few short fish with few bites but did manage to catch a real nice 4.3 lb LM on a 3/8oz terminator firetiger spinnerbait yesterday morning in about 8ft of water of a gravel point across from the Branson Belle. Saw a few guys early in the morning beating banks with white spinnerbaits and after catching that nice LM on one maybe that isnt such a bad idea. We got out there at around 5:45-6AM each morning. Probably need to get out there more around 4:30. Hope this helps. Good lucky out there. -Brett

How are you working the spinnerbaits, at what depth, what time of the day and what kind of conditions? (Sorry a lot of questions i know but i am a spinnerbait novice at best) I love using spinnerbaits but i always give up on them early if i dont get bit and then go right back to the old stand-byes in soft plastics and jigs. -Brett

Are wave breaks considered part of the commercial docks and therefore can not be fished? -Brett

I'll ad my Memorial Weekend report here also. Fished the Dam area Sat-Mon. Best bite for sure was early from 5-7AM and then again later in the day around 7-9PM. Fish Doc got a lot of bites and resulted in a lot of shorts mostly SJ's in the 10-14 inch range coming on pea gravel locations in 10-25 ft of water. Uncle threw a green zoom fat albert grub texas rigged and did well on that with better size/quality of fish than the c rigged doctor. Couldnt get anything to hit a fluke and topwater really died after around 9ish or even earlier. I switched to a texas rigged smallie beaver and a 4.5 inch BPS craw in both green pumpkin and purple and picked up better size SJ's in the same locations. They are really on that gravel. Had a real nice smally come unbuttoned at the boat with a 2-3 feet aerial acrobatic maneuver that was nice show. Couple of goggle eyes mixed in and we also caught around 40 whites in the 3 days there. The whites surfaced every morning around 5-6ish for a short time but it was a blast catching them on a spit'n image. Love to gettem on the topwater as it usually takes they about 3 or 4 wacks at it to get stuck. Persistent boogers. Most were smaller and tasted great cleaned nicely with all red meat cut out and then soaked in tonic water for a few hours before breading and deep frying. Thanks for that tip whoever posted that about the tonic water soaking. White bass were on the 86 camp ground point and also the little point and pocket across the cove going towards point 2 from the 86 camp ground. Get out there around 5-7 and you should be able to get close to a limit with some blacks mixed in but will have to throw bottom type baits for the blacks, didnt surface like the whites. Other uncle and his son were down there as well and did well throwing a yum crawdad. Caught a 6 lb'er at dusk one night on the crawdad. I would definitely say that they are keying in on the pappys now so i would give that a shot for those of you fishing the Dam area. Good luck out there. -Brett

You are the man Eric- Thanks so much for the info. You guides are so generous with your info and time and it is much appreciated. I am pretty sure i will be headed down for the weekend and i will see if i cant put some of this great info to good use. -Brett

From a recent post reply by Don House he has said that he has been doing pretty well hitting docks with a fluke. This got me to thinking that i never do all that great around docks but i also dont fish them properly. I usually make casts to the corners, try to run my bait length wise down the dock from shallow to deep and might hit a slip or two. So i would like to maybe get some info and feed back how you guys hit docks. With the fluke are you letting it sink to the bottom then twitching it back? Working it fast just under the surface or somewhere in between the two styles? I am new to flukes and like i said i dont fish docks as thoroughly as i should mostly because i really dont know what im doing. Do you make long casts or stay in tight to the dock when fishing the slips? How many casts would you say that you might throw to the same corner or slip? Any info is great and just doesnt have to pertain to throwing only flukes. I would love to hear about jigs, spoons, tubes or whatever else you guys like throwing around docks. -Brett

A trot line would be your best bet. Its just about time too to get some nice cats. I always have pretty good luck this time of year on a trotline strung from tree to tree on a bank ranging from 10-20 feet of water baited with perch i had caught during the day which is fun in itself. If you are going to do that just make sure to have it properly marked with jugs and your info and too take it down after you are done. Fisherman and others can get pretty PO'ed about unmarked and old knarley lines. I know i hate snagging a 3 year old mossy rust hooked trotline while bass fishing. -Brett

You fishing that weightless Don? -Brett

I'll ad my weekend report here as well. Weather was difficult for me as i really do not like to be out in the rain and especially not thurderstorms....which was the entire weekend basically especially Fri and Sat mornings. Fished the Dam area and caught fish on a variety of baits like a lot of guys/gals have been saying in recent posts. Caught them on a spook, red fin, chug bug, fish doc c-rigged, swimming a grub and working a double "greedy" fluke rig. Had some nice goggle eyes on the grub and fish doc. Couldnt really say there was a pattern at all catching them from 2 feet out of bushes to suspended in 80 ft near a bluff end point (which i found and had not known about and this it should be a good morning topwater spot throughout the summer ). Will say that the morning bite is MUCH better than late morning to afternoon or even the evening for at least me. For those of you fishing this week or weekend i would get out there around 5AM. Talked to a couple guys when i was calling it quits on Sat. evening and they said they had done okay throwing a fin. But i didnt have much luck at sundown. Most of our fish came in Jakes Branch and that had the highest concentration of fish that i found. Swimming that grub on flat gravel points still seems to be bringing in the biggest numbers of fish. Hope this helps. -Brett PS- Brother caught most on the grub and I caught most on topwater and i would have to agree with RPS and Bill B when it comes to topwater that just let them take the bait under and reel down to them until you get a bow in your rod and apply some pressure. Those hooks are plenty sharp that you dont need to do much work. Have you ever just dropped a bait in your boat, clothes, tacklebag? Those hooks get into everything with relative ease, just immagine a fish trying to kill and eat it. Enough said.

Anyone use a Buckeye Wake Up? The are a bit pricy at $18 bucks but it seems like Bill B and others here say have buy 10 redfins to get one good one out of that bunch. So it might make sense to just pay the $18 if you know that they work right out of the box. They seem to be just about the same thing as a redfin only they are balsa which is nice and they also come with better quality hooks. Any thoughts guys? -Brett

Hey, i used to do a lot of night fishing a few years ago but not so much the last 2-3 years. I always used jigs and texas rigged worms and did ok. I used to try a dark single colorado spinnerbait based upon what i read in magazines and whatnot but would not really give it all that much of a chance and didnt really know how to work it. So with you guys saying that you have success using spinners at night i'd like to give it another try, how are you using them? Slow rolling? Also what kind of locations? Docks? Pea Gravel? Better during full moon or no moon? How bout during the summer time? -Brett

Yes they work great and i highly recommend getting one. Not only will you get your money back immediately when saving a couple of cranks (1 if you are using LC's, Megabass, Spro, etc.) using it but it also makes me a better fisherman because i have no fear of losing my bait in a tree or other type of snags. Im 95% sure i can get it back. I have an older one that i dont think they make anymore, its a David Frits model. The thing works fantastic. Just a simple knocker type retriever with a wire bar on the front. I got a tip from bassboatscentral and i put it on a retractable dog leash that is 20 ft long. Stores easy in my tackle bag and there is no tangled mess when im done. Super easy. Ive even gotten jigs back using this thing. I put some epoxy on the latch of the dog leash so it is permanently fixed and wont come off the line. Havent used the one that has chains connected. Seems like a little over kill and might be more annoying to store but i dont know. Other guys swear by the Jewell Hound Dog retriever and that seems to be about the same type of retriever as what i use, only i like that mine has the bar on the front to grab the hooks and pull if i cant knock it off. Hope this helps. -Brett

Its gotten so bad. I only get to come down to Table Rock but maybe a half dozen times a year so maybe i am not the best authority on the subject but i have never seen the amount of guys/boats fishing TR this year. That could be why there is more run-ins with rudeness. Was down there in Mid march and had 2-3 instances like you guys said cutting you off going down a bank or coming to a point. Was down there just this past weekend and more of the same. My Dad has a short temper and told 2 guys in a blue and silver Stratos that were going to motor between our boat and the bank to just park their boat and get in with us. Might as well since they were so close. They didnt say anything and just kept on going like we weren't even there. Pathetic really. The paintball gun is sounding better and better every time i go out and have crap like this happen. Maybe we can use some orange paintballs on these rude fisherman and their boats they will have the OAF mark of shame. Maybe then they will learn to show a little respect and space. -Brett

Fished this past weekend on Fri,Sat and Sun. Started late on Fri around noon and fished brushy creek for a few hours and only could manage to catch 3 shorts. 1 on a wacky worm and 2 swimming a clear s & p grub. No takers on a wart, spinnerbait. Saturday was totally different. Fished Jakes Branch starting at about 11AM and just killed them on a chrome mcstick til we quit around 5. I caught about 20 and my brother and dad caught about another 15 between them. 90% football kentuckys with 3 keepers out of the bunch and 1 nice white mixed in. Best one weighed 3lbs and 17inches and the white was 3.1. Fish were on the point right by the Old 86 launch way going towards the back of the cove. All still swimming in Jakes Branch. Fish were caught anywhere from 6-20 ft of water with a stop and go retrieve with a second or two pause. One of my best days on the Rock for sure. Love that McStick! Sunday got out earlier around 8AM and tried the same location but only had 1 taker on the 3rd cast then nothing for the next hour and headed to the back of Beardsley and managed 1 14inch LM out of a cedar on the mcstick. Still a lot of slime in beardsley. Moved back to brushy and only managed one short K on the stick. Had to leave to come back to STL so that was my Sunday. Weather was great all weekend and had a blast on Sat. Worthwhile trip. Did have more idiots get right on top of us fishing and one jerk almost boated between us and the bank we were fishing and we were in 20 ft of water. Just ridiculous. Some moron in a blue and silver stratos. Didnt see any orange stickers out. Sorry for the late report, went to the Cards opener yesterday and didnt have time to post. -Brett

Looks like the bass are still unwilling to cooperate down there somewhat and i was wondering if anyone had been out or had some success fishing for the good tasting crappie? Since it looks like the morning bite is the best option for the bass maybe someone is trying the crappie in the afternoon to fill the freezer/fryer. Will be down there Fri afternoon through Sunday afternoon. Hope to see you guys out there. Thanks in advance fellas. -Brett

Thanks Don, i didnt even know that they made them in 4". Looks like i will have to stop by Lilly's place and pick some up on my next trip to TR. Hopefully crappie will be on by then and maybe he will also have the OAF bumper stickers and "OAF secret recognition motor dots" available in 2-3 weeks. Thx again. -Brett

Thanks for the replies guys. So is the 3" the overall consensus?

What size and colors are you guys mostly using? Im new to them and was thinking of getting some for crappie. 2 inch or 3 inch work better? Colors? Will be using them on Table Rock and Bull Shoals. Thanks. -Brett

Friday put in at Gage's and hit a bluffend right after the mo/ark line and picked up a nice white on a wiggle wart on the first cast and then nothing after that. Then motored down to cricket only to find that everyone and their brother was out and about. A boat was seriously on every single bank/point. When we passed cricket creek marina around 9am there were 8 trucks on the ramp...when we came back and hour later there was at least triple that. Went to the very back of cricket and shad were all over but we just couldnt get the whites to bite or anything else for that matter. Saw 3 guys fishing from the bank for white and never saw them land a fish. Left there and went towards yokkum sp? and there were even MORE boats down there. Hit one bank we could actually get on with a wart with no takers and we decided it was just too crowded and every point and bank had been beat to death so we motored back to brushy creek. Around noon i caught my best fish ever on TR. Was just mentioning to my dad and brother that maybe we should go grab some lunch and get ready for the MIZZOU game and not more than 10 seconds after i said that while i was letting my Norman Flake sit there in 20 ft of water over some cedars WHAM almost jerked the pole out of my hand. Not kidding. Not huge compared to most of the guys standards here on OAF but for me who gets down to TR for about 3 weekends a year it is my best to date. Went 4.6 on my digital scale. Released unharmed. Fished for another 20 min or so and went to watch Mizzou beat up on Clemson so a pretty good day for me. And as was mentioned by some other people in other posts....fishing behavior by boaters has just gotten to the point to where i am seriously thinking about bringing a paintball gun with me in the boat. I cant tell you how many times guys would either blow by when there was plenty of water to get further away or just flat cut you off going down a bank by like 50-100 yards. The jack@ss in a red/silver/white ranger who was fishing brushy creek at 5:45pm on Friday afternoon you need to get a clue pal. Blatant disregard for fishing etiquette. My grandfather taught me a when i was first starting out as a fisherman about how to give other boats space and he would NEVER just pull up and start fishing in front of a guy coming down a bank in that direction. NEVER. He would roll over in his grave if he saw the way that some anglers act. Anywho. Sorry for the rant. Other than some of the rudeness great day. GO TIGERS!

Leaving STL in 30 min. Any DAM reports...pun intended. ha. Bueller? Bueller?

Well Mizzou will be doing all the laughing come football season. All KU's seniors are gone and that fat round of tub of a head coach Mangino as well. Anyways, no reports from the dam area? Its just that hot to the point that no one wants to let the cat out of the bag on how insanely good the fishing is there right now? I hope thats the case.