MOBass

Thank you for the great information as always. My sympathy on the boat seat. I'll be using your post as education for my daughter this evening as we will be fishing the KAST touranment out of Mill Creek tomorrow (weather willing). Net is already in the boat since I don't cotton to reaching in the mouth of an angery fish with a bunch of trebles swinging around. I'll be taking some heavy braid (for the line around the shank trick) and a boo boo kit in case something goes bad wrong.

Short version - Three shorts on a grub, one keep on the blade. Long version - Put in at State Park about 8:00. 4 or 5 rigs in the lot. Ran south to try and find the fish I whacked last week. Without the wind it was a lot tougher. Other than a few perch bites I was stinking it up until about 10:30 when I finally got a small K to eat a grub on a point with a little wind on it. Continued to work the area for nothing. Ran to a bank with some wind on it and got my one keep K throwing a blade. Had a follow from a nice SM. Went to a main lake point with a grub for nothing. Not much wind and when it did start it was out of the North and I could have really used it coming out of the South. Went back to a pocket and caught a micro K on the grub and finished the day on a secondary point for another short K. Made the mistake of going to Indian Point. Slime city. Gave up after 10 min. I just couldn't get it together today. Back at it tomorrow and then a tournament on Sunday. Hopefully I can figure something out so I don't look too bad on Sunday.

It's hard to do sometimes but when I get cut off on a bank I just take a deep breath, grab a drink of water/gatorade, maybe put some more sunscreen on and go back to fishing. I'll get a comfortable distance and leave or continue to fish past them into their used water. Nothing sweeter than pulling a fish out from behind a guy that is beating the water to a froth.

Half were eating it good and half were just dead weight. All were very sluggish once hooked. Dead slow retrieve but it had to be moving. Going again Fri, Sat, Sun. Everything will change a lot by next Friday. Hopefully I can find something that will work again.

Had a rare chance to fish with my dad today. Put in at State Park about 8AM and had in mind a few likely spots based on the reports others have been king enough to share. After some minor motor issues we were on a secondary point with wind as prescribed in other reports about 8:30 throwing grubs on 1/4 oz heads on 8# mono. First short bite was on a green pumpkin for my dad about 8:35. First fish, short K, on a milky white I was throwing about 8:45. Boat was in about 20' throwing up shallower on the point. Lots of bird activity. Gave it about 10min. more for a couple of short bites. Moved over and worked a bank toward another point. Dad scores the first keep on green pumpkin and another that was too close to call without a board in short order. Boat was in about 18' and I was probably in a bit tight as the bites were not far off boat. Not bad so far. Decided to change up and try to find something different since we had the skunk off. Checked out some banks leading into spawning pockets for no love on the grub or a split shot fry. With as few boats as were on the water today I actually got cut off on a bank. It was pretty clear we were fishing the bank and had someone drop in about 40 yards in front of us. I hope this isn't a preview of what it will be like when people start turning out in numbers. Time to make a move. Ran a bit towards long creek and had a hair to try something more main lake. Found another point with wind and put the boat in 20' throwing across the point. Jackpot. Enough keeps to fill a limit and cull a few. Nothing big. Best five would have been an honest ten pounds. Numerous shorts. One lone smallie, the rest were Ks. Majority were on green pumpkin with a few on watermelon. No love on milky white. Lunch break. Tried some spots in long creek. Nothing going. Looked at the water and saw lots of chunky stuff floating and brown streaks. Any thoughts on if it's turn over? Beat feet back to where we started the day for one more chunky K on green pumpkin. Mudled around a bit more and called it. On the trailer about 4P. Water at State Park was gin clear. Little moss. Recap. Read the reports by the guides that are kind enough to share the information and take it out and apply it. You don't need GPS cordinates from them to be succesful. Windy points were holding fish be it secondary or main lake. 1/4 oz heads, green pumpkin and watermelon grubs produced. Milky white grubs were not cutting it today. If you catch one keep at as there are usually more in the same area. Good luck out there.

I've done it when there has been really bad moss and caught fish doing it. Not my prefered method but when everything else that touched bottom was instantly coated in green slime it's an option. Fished just like I would with a split shot rig. Little harder to get to hook set. Just had to wind on the fish and not swing. I would much rather fish an area where I can scrub a grub or crank a wiggle wart and make some bottom contact without the slime. Anyone have success with a grub fished over the moss? I prefer scrubbing them if I can, but haven't tried swimming them in areas other than trees or bluffs. Maybe we can get some divers to go out and clean the bottom for us.

The info is much appreciated. Headed down Friday and pretty much planned on fishing a grub. Taking my dad so hopefully I can put him on some fish.

I am looking forward to several days on Table Rock over next couple of weeks. If the warm weather continues I am sure the play boats will be out shredding up the water. Had a wake board boat make a hard turn 20 yards in front of me last year and bounced me so hard I had a rod come off the deck and break a tip off. If they would just hold their line and look before turning we would all be better off.

I was hoping to see some info on the dam area. Headed down tomorrow for a couple of days. Now I need to figure out how to apply the info you have been kind enough to share.

Thanks for the report. I am headed down to Big Cedar tomorrow morning for a couple of days with the family. Hopefully the whites will want to play since I'll be taking the kids out.

I'm debating about heading up the James on Sunday and joining the party or going lone wolf and heading to the dam. Given I don't like crowds I may go explore and see if I can find some whites of my own or whatever cares to bite. I'll post a report regardless.

I was hoping to see some reports since the opener as I plan to head down tomorrow. I guess I'll post something if I can get myself moving in the AM.

I am glad someone started this topic. I am considering switching over to braid with a short fluoro leader this year. I have fished braid to fluoro a number of times in saltwater and it was amazing how much I could feel. I also like the idea of only having to replace a short leader instead of re spooling a 1/4 of a reel or so with mono or fluoro. Probably going to try a couple of reels to see how it works before commiting all my gear. Hope to have some on the water results in a couple weeks. Too bad work gets in the way of fishing.

I'm debating about going to Table Rock. If I do I'll have a Eakin's style jig, a drop shot, football jig, and a spoon tied on. Jig around the docks, drop shot for bridge pillings and any fish I mark deep, spoon if I find a slug of shad on the graph or what I found last time which was scales and shad bits floating. If it looks like glitter on the water follow the trail and drop a spoon on it.

I feel your pain on the lost lure. I had to re tie a few times because the 4# line getting roughed up. When I re spool I may go with 6# fluoro for trolling. Glad you mentioned the bridges. I had a really nice brown come up and take a sniff. I was casting at that point and when the fish saw the boat it made a turn and flipped me the fin.

Nope, not I. Must have been an imposter. I'll check out the Little Jakes. If they are running enough water I'll probably do something similar to back trolling and just hold or creep ahead in the current. It's fun to mix things up now and again. If I can remember to back the drags off I'll probably land a lot more fish. I pulled hooks on a bunch. Just too much pressure on the little trebel. I'll post a report if I get out. Weather looks solid. Probably work a couple of hours on Saturday morning and then hit the water about 9.

I don't do much trout fishing so I was dragging a small rooster tail in firetiger. Trolling motor set on three with the the rooster tail 20-30 feet behind the boat. I had a lot of fish follow the bait on the retrieve and turn off when they saw the boat. They were following the bait a long way in the clear water and just needed more time to commit. I plan to be back there on Saturday and troll a bigger bait and see if I can get a brown to commit. Probably going to use a thunderstick based on a recommendation from one of the guys in the office. If that don't pay off I'll mix it up and try some small CD rapalas. I hope to have my daughter with me so we can mix it up on the baits. If not I may get crazy and strap a rod down to the deck and set the drag light and hold the other. That should gurantee I'll hook two fish at once.

Last weekend of firearms season probably had most guys in the deer woods. Next week is Thanksgiving so there should be some reports as people get out for the holiday.

I put in at Cooper Creek close to 8AM and was the only rig there. Ran up to just above Lilliey's and messed around throwing a Rouge to see if I could stir up a big fish. No love there and only a few follows by stockers on a rooster tail. Ran up to Fall Creek and tossed the rooster tail for nothing. Two other boats in the area dunking bait and not doing anything. Should have packed the fly rod with me. Lots of midges. Needed to catch a fish so it was off to the area from Turkey Creek to the Landing. Easy fishing for stocker rainbows on a rooster tail in front of the fish co. restraunt. Hit the front of the Landing for nothing. Trolled through the no wake area in front of Turkey Creek for a grade better than stockers. I hadn't tried trolling before, but will be back Saturday to do it again. Nice to relax and not cast. Just hold the rod and wait. Need to ease up the drag as I pulled hooks on a lot of fish. Nice day to be on the water. Plenty of fish to be had. Going back with some rapala's to troll and see if that will kick the grade up further.

Short-Good numbers, 1 keep. Long-Got moving late and hit the water about 7:30. Started at Big Cedar Hollow on the North bank throwing a chartreuse/white spinner bait parrallel to the bank with about 18' of water under the boat. Small blacks liked it. No size but at least they ate it. Sun got up a little more and that seemed to put the cabash on them. Fished a tube on boat docks in the same area for a perch that I gave whiplash on the hookset. Drop shotted the 86 bridge for numbers of small K's and big perch. Made contact with a monster K on the first pilling on the east side. The fish smoked some drag and rubbed the line off on the pilling. At least I got the right bite. Missed the white bass party. There were a couple of boats on it and I didn't want to barge in. Metered around and couldn't find any concentrations outside of them so I slid off and picked some more fish around the bridge. After one of the boats took off I gave it a look see. It must have been carange at some point. There were shad scales, tails, and fins all over the surface. I dropped a spoon and caught the last hungry one. Had a few thumps but not enough to keep my interest. Ran up to Indian to hit a few boat docks with the jig. Picked up a nice smallmouth at the mouth of a stall in 12'. Missed a couple more bites in the same depth range. Changed up to a tube for nothing. Fished a spinner bait down a bank for nothing. Went back to the 86 bridge for a few more small K's to finish the day. Was about to hit Big Cedar Hollow one more time and saw the front closing in. Stowed the rods and headed for State Park. Made the right choice. Tied up the boat and ran to get the trailer in before it got bad. First wind hit as I untied from the dock. Put it on the trailer right as the big blow started. It was white capping by the time I pulled to the top of the ramp. Three rigs still in the lot. Hope the didn't get beat up too bad. I'll take a bunch of shorts over yard work any day.

Looks like I may have state park and the dam area to myself. Hope the south winds continue. I lit it up last year on windblown banks fishing a blade. Killing having to wait until Sunday.

May need the luck. Heard from someone it was tough yesterday. 4 fish for a little over half day. Sounded like there may be some whites available early. I may start at TR and then trailer over to Taney if things don't come together.

I have been down to the lake several times over opening weekend and suspect it will be about the same this weekend. Ghost town. Anyone else trading the rifle for a fishing rod?

Present.

Tim A couple questions for you. How do you fish a midge? I just can't figure that one out. On the crackleback what size is prefered? May head down on Sunday the 15th. Is your shop open Sunday and if so what time? Thanks!