abkeenan

On the D-Bombs I'm an Oxblood. GP Watermelon and straight up Green Pumpkin guy. I don't get too crazy.

^This. I have been a huge fan of the D-Bomb for a couple of years. They have the colors anyone would need and are a very supple and soft plastic. They aren't very durable but that comes with the territory on soft, soft plastic baits. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Missile_Baits_D_Bomb/descpage-MBDB.html

Thanks for the reminder. For easy viewing: From July 1 through Aug. 31, no angler in Missouri may release bass after putting them in a live well. JEFFERSON CITY-If you think summer is uncomfortable for you, put yourself in a fish’s place. Your home heats up, oxygen gets scarce, and there is no air (or water) conditioning or fans to turn on. That is why Missouri fishing regulations prohibit anglers from “culling” during July and August. Culling is the practice of releasing one fish that was caught previously so you can keep a larger one. When anglers put the last fish of their daily limit in a live well, they no longer can keep any fish of that species that day. However, under certain conditions, anglers fishing in tournaments can continue to fish if they stop one fish short of a limit and release a living fish from their live well before replacing it with a fish they just caught. This allows them to “trade up,” replacing one fish with a larger one. Tournament bass anglers may cull live bass from September through June. July and August are the months the no culling rule applies. The rule is meant to reduce the number of tournament-caught bass that are subject to higher mortality during the hot summer months. The rule also heightens tournament anglers’ awareness of the factors that influence fish mortality. Missouri’s limit on black bass is six per day. This includes any bass that are not released immediately, whether they are in live wells for one minute or for eight hours. Once you placed a sixth bass in your live well you may not replace any of the bass with another. However, if you are fishing in a tournament in which the limit is five bass, and you have five bass in the live well, you can replace one fish, one time. If a bass dies in your live well it cannot be replaced with a live one, any time. If you have caught your sixth legal bass and have placed all six fish in your live well for any length of time, you can continue fishing but you must release any bass caught immediately, regardless of size. Fisheries Field Operations Supervisor Kevin Richards said some anglers – and even some tournament officials – are not as familiar with the culling rule as they should be. “Let’s think about why Missouri has a no-culling rule in the summer and see if there are ways we can use new tournament formats to increase survival of bass during the hot water months,” said Richards. Note; Anglers should make themselves aware of the federal, state and local rules where they fish. As outlined in Joe Bass Team Trails rule #10. All lake rules apply. Jim Low, Missouri Department of Conservation

Probably gasping for air.

I have facebook and checked out their web page. Here is a post from June 20th (Monday). " The US Army Corps of Engineers has received reports of dead fish in the James River Arm of Table Rock, and we have seen some too. It seems to be progressing slowly down the river arm. Missouri Department of Conservation Fisheries Biologists took some Dissolved Oxygen profiles up there a week ago and the thermocline is around 15', with DO below 1 ppm deeper than 20'. They suspect fish were trapped in layer of oxygenated water when the thermocline set up and died when it dissipated, just like last year. Their best guess is that this will continue down the lake this year just like last summer but we all hope it won't get that bad. The surface temp is already above 90 degrees in some spots up the river. "

I used to hand catch crawdads when I was a younger lad by wading the shallows flipping over rocks. I noticed that there were two common species of craws in TR. One was as you see in the pic that Bill has belched up on the deck of the Phoenix. It is a brown and orange craw that has shorter and fatter claws. I do not know the actual name or species. They never seemed to get bigger than about 3 or 4 inches. Rebel makes a crank that is a perfect representative. The 2nd species is the Long Pincered craw that is more green olive with blueish green and orange accents and has the very long claws (hence the name). These craws heavily outnumbered the smaller brown/orange ones and also were much larger on the average (in the 4-8" range or even larger). A lot of times people will see a very orange crawdad spewed up after catching a fish and think that is the natural color of the crawdad. It isn't,l for the most part. The digestion process has taken place in the fishes stomach to varying degrees and will make the color turn orange. If you ever walk the bank you will find dead and decayed craws and their exoskeleton will always be almost hunter orange and soft while just like a boiled crab. Prolly TMI but thought I would chime in. Looks similar to this: The long pincered craw:

I still have one. Found it on a dock cable....imagine that.

I've never seen anyone use a trailer hook on a jig. Not sure that would be a good idea as the point of the jig is to big relatively snag-free. Putting a trailer hook on the jig would make it hang up more. Also, fish aren't short striking jigs like they do a spinnerbait, buzzbait or something moving quickly through the water so I wouldn't see the need for a trailer hook on a jig. Just my 2 cents.

Trailer threaded directly on to the jig hook.

^---This. When I throw a DD22 I am ticking 16-17 feet max. The 10XD I am hitting 24-26 feet. These are on pretty long casts with my 7'10 BPS Cranking Stick that will load and launch a 1-2oz piece of plastic. This is also throwing on 12lb fluoro on a 5.4:1 Lews reel. Guys that claim they are getting the 10XD's to 30, 35 and even 40 feet I don't know what they are doing or smoking to claim that but I can't get it down there (on a cast, not sure about long lining/strolling as Champ mentioned). Also, as Champ said there are probably better options on Table Rock for getting at those deeper fish. I throw deep cranks to break up the monotony and don't do it all that often. This time of year when fish push out to their deep haunts and the K's really bunch up and suspend the drop shot and spoon are king. If you aren't a vertical or graph watcher guy (spoon, DS) and that's not your gig you can always throw the football jig or shakey head (as Champ again stated). That or perhaps swim a grub, swim jig or paddle tail in that 25-35 foot range along the bottom or above the deep tree tops that come up to that depth.

More than likely a drop shot or spoon.

This is good info. Largies are lazy and usually stick tight to cover (as Champ said - timber, brush, laydowns, docks). Smallmouth and Spots are rovers following their forage while largies lay in wait and are ambusher's.

I fish the dam area most of the time so my species percentage may be skewed since most of the time I am catching smallies or spots. But the largies that I do catch are usually more on shad profile baits and the smallies on craw profile baits. Largies also seem to like the big 10" worms more so than smallies. Spots don't discriminate and will eat a fluttering license plate.

So many boaters in the dam area we have to fib about what we are throwing to give the poor fish a fightin' chance.

I like Norman DD22's, Bomber/Excalibur Fat Free Shads, Rapala DT16 and 20's and Strike King 5,6 and 10XD's myself. Norman DD22's are a TR favorite of most of the deep crankers. They are durable, run great, come in 100 colors and are wallet friendly.

The Little George might be the first bait that I can recall that my dad caught fish on in TR when I was just a wee tike in the mid to late 80's. Never have forgotten that but have forgotten to get them wet over the years. Have a few in the "metal clunky things" box but they never get the call to duty. Even when the whites start busting I'm usually reaching for my Spit'n Image topwater. Maybe next time down I will get nostalgic and tie one on. Things were much simpler then and you didn't need a forklift and winch to get your gear in the boat as you do nowadays. When I first started going out in the boat with my grandtather, father and uncles they only used about 5 baits: Little Georges, Zara Spooks, Wiggle Warts, Culprit Red Shad worms and Salt and Pepper Gitzits.

Kentucky's like Bluegrass?

That's if I were to take my pants off. Heyyyoooooooo!

Some beauty spots you have there. The old tried and true PBJ football jig with matching chompers style twin trailer. Good to see that working well. If I can ever get down there might be jika rig time with a brush hawg.

That's usually my game plan this time of year. Get out there around 5-6am fish till around 10 or 11am....pack it in as it gets too hot and too many "lake lice". Then either take out the 'toon with the fam or take a nap. Get back out there around sunset and fish until I want into the night.

Me with my shirt off alone is enough for the ladies to find another creek arm. If I were a bait I would be Heddon Creek Chub in Albino White.

They kinda remind me of the Luhr Jensen Speed Trap with a slightly longer bill.

I wouldn't be surprised if you had them and just forgot due to them being covered by your bait hoard the basement/garage.

Hahahahahahahaha.