Bird Watcher

I think I saw him if he's the one running around in the River Pro.

Caught the shad again yesterday in the cove just south of the fairfield ramp. I just picked up a 14' diameter net and I was able to get it over the top of a school. I caught 90 in one throw and went fishing. The best thing working for me is to get with the sun at my back and drift with the wind in an area that I've seen a few flips. If I do that 2 or 3 times, it seems like I can drift up in range of a school before they dive and get my net over the entire school.

@nathanhooper

are you bouncing your bait off the bottom here?

LOL, that's my tank. I just picked up a 50gal Grayline. Hog wally I'll give you the OA discount

Hey Wahoo, They were the perfect 4-7" shad. The deal is, I wouldn't see them flip. I would have to cruise around with my glasses on and the sun at my back and then I would see the dark spot about 2' deep and then hopefully I would see a flash to let me know how big they were. There were also some super jumbo 8-10" shad and some micro 1-2" shad, so I waited until I saw the flash until I threw. Typically it took me about 30 minutes of crusing around to find the right size, but I'd have all I needed in one throw. Saturday it was much tougher because the rec boaters had the shallows all churned up and visibility was reduced to about 2". There were also a ton of shad in 12-20' out on the flats south of KK, but I couldn't get my 6' radius net down to them. That's weird because I've caught them 20' deep with it before, but for some reason I could not catch them that deep the other day.

Hey Wahoo, I appreciate your reports. I was up there before the 4th and was catching them fairly easily in the little pocket on the West side of KK island. I went back up there on Saturday and caught them in the cove immediately South of the Fairfield Ramp. I know what you mean though. I always feel like I get lucky when I catch them.

glow worms. Well, either that or H'aints.

I'm pretty sure they aleady have what you are talking about. It's used by the Navy. You and I just can't afford to put it on our boats unless we can somehow get some defense funding thrown our way.

That's a good explanation Scott.

Trust me, it was not baitfish. I did have the sensitivity turned up a litte so that I could see my bait and tackle a little easier, and while you are correct that the thermocline is a layer, you have to remember that with the sensitivity turned up, you will get an echo off the top of it since the water from the thermocline down is denser and the water above is less dense.

The one other important thing I would add would be to echo what Bill Babler said over on the Thermocline thread. I think if you leave your sensitivity on auto, you are kind of shooting yourself in the foot. I contstantly adjust my sensitivity, surface clarity, and noise rejection as conditions change. Mostly my sensitivity though.

Here is one I just so happened to have on my phone. I don't usually take pictures of the graph, but I did the other day to send to my buddy. Actually, this is a pretty poor representation of what the screen looked like most of the day, but it's the one I have. This is while I was sitting mostly stationary, gently bumping around with the TM. This was a school of hybrids that were suspended over a ditch adjacent to a shallower hump. You can see the thermocline forming at about 32'. most of the fish were relating at about 25-27, but these were hybrids so YMMV. When I would move over to the hump, they would be on the bottom and those were the fish that were actively feeding. Also, If you look closely you can see where my weight was making a line at about 18'. Next time I go, I'll try to get a better picture if I can find them.

If you know bait tanks, you know that the Sunshine is one of the best around for keeping "raw" shad straight from the lake due to it's filtration. Excellent condition. Works great, I am just going to a 50 gallon tank. This is the only pic I have, but as you can see, it works. 250$

Wow, what a pile. good going.

Sorry Dave, I don't have any information for you except that you will really need to watch the water levels to catch white bass up Spring River right now. According to the Park Ranger at Twin Bridges on Saturday afternoon, people are still catching them but more often than not it's been blown out and muddy lately. It looks like it will get that way again in the next few days. FWIW, I was catching shad on the Neosho side right above the bridge at Twin Bridges and caught two really nice females in my shad net on Saturday so I know there are still some in the area.

Looks good. Nice job.

The birds behind my house lit it up pretty good this morning. Probably the best they've gobbled in a week or two that I've heard. They stopped quickly though. Probably only heard one gobble after flydown. I think the 3rd week of MO season will be the ticket this year. Well, it's my favortie week of the season every year, but I think especially so this year.

haha, I was just trying to stir the pot with another controversial topic to this board, but I agree with you 100%

So what does everyone think about concealed carry? How about the State Hwy Patrol releasing that list the other day? Crazy, right?

How come every bird you shoot has mulitiple beards?? Nice job Marty.

Weird. Real hit or mis but i'll take it!

I'll never forget the episode where Jose had a client that hooked a big grouper on the edge of a coral reef. The grouper swam back in through the reef and they could see the fish in a blow hole about 50 yds. away. Jose stripped off to his underwear and jumped in the water with a knife in his teeth. Swam through the reef, put that grouper in a head lock and swam back through the arch in the coral to the boat with it. Incredible. Also loved to seem him standing on the bow of his boat throwing a 20' net while the 10' waves crashed into the shore in front of him. Yelling throttle directions back to his client he had driving the boat. He was the real deal. He could definitely 'walk the walk', so to speak.

Pure fishing right there. I love it.

I keep mine in the backyard from Nov.-March. I keep it in storage at the lake March thru Oct. I don't really even live that far from the lake, but it sure is nice having it down there 3-5 miles from 3 of my favorite ramps. It makes it so easy to go for a few hours. I rent a big storage unit with electric for 90$ a month. Locked gates and monitored by camera and owners on premise. I think it's worth every penny.