arsenal1477

Absolutely beautiful fish, fellas. Well done. Healthy.

Beauties! That smallie had to have been one heck of a fight. Healthy fish for sure.

Thank you for the compliments, guys. With the amount of experience on this forum those are taken to heart. I must admit, though, however, patience is a virtue when first starting out and tying them is not ideal for the OCD. With regards to the material, the day time jig is olive hackle wrapped around the base for mass, orange maribu and brown buck-tail. The night jig is blue hackle wrapped around the base for mass, black and blue buck-tail with black glitter finish. Both jigs had a base layer with a drop of locktite, finished off with whip finishes and coated in Daves Flexament. Merc- Credit to you and some of your posts on hair jigs. You started a creative urge. Didn't you mention something about brown/blue being a solid go to in April? Thanks again.

Alright, so after reading a few discussions on tying jigs with hair I decided to try my hand at it. The pictures below are of the first two I have ever done. Any tips or color suggestions for Table Rock(month of April) would be greatly appreciated. I will primarily being jigging at night, but I can't rule out during the day as well. Thanks.

Beautiful fish! The Rock is alive and well! Best of luck to your son on getting that 7lber in the boat this time! Thank you for sharing!

Yep, that's the one! I have another yellow one that is from the corps from when the lake was made. Ill try and dig that one out to take a picture of it. Normally I use http://webapp.navionics.com/#@3&key=_kwwG_wfhA if I am messing with my phone or Ipad, but I always revert back to the oldies.

Funny you say that dtrs5kprs. I have a set of those original maps from the Corps.

Actually, now that you say that, the post below this, "Kimberling City Area 5/15", has a picture of a bass with that same description. Look at the second picture and look at the fins. Is that what you are talking about?

Beautiful fish and very healthy looking. Good job.

Wrench- funny you say that. Still using Brute Tru-Turns to this day..on occasion.

Same here Bill. My dad and I are down till We'd. Caught a total of two keepers yesterday on a 4" Gene Larew's Paddle Tail in Shad. We must had been cut off 3 or 4 times by these guys. Should be an interesting day today with the huge drop in temp.

Brilliant. Those were some aggressive Ky's.

Great. Thank you for the info. Hopefully we can lay into a few.

Those are going to be some nice fillets. I'm heading down this weekend and typically fish for bass, but it would be nice to get into some slabs. What did you catch these on or what do you prefer to use?

Great post. On a personal level, I learned the passion and too share that level that you all have with fishing...both as a sport and recreational. I am truly envious that a vast majority of you get to call the rock home. My father and I have been coming down for over 30 years now and have yet to be disappointed. Yeah, there are the trips to where you couldn't catch em if there were 1000 in a harvest net 10 feet in front of you, but it's those trips that humble and only make me a better angler. I honestly feel that if you can catch bass on a routine basis at Table Rock that you have all of the elements to catch fish any where. From a fishery standpoint and I believe some of you have hashed this out, that the fishery is very much back, alive and well. That is with out a doubt attributed to those of you who navigate that lake on a regular basis preaching the almost humanistic qualities of bass. Furthermore, the education you pass on to your fellow anglers is by far and away the most selfless act in the industry. From someone who regrettably gets to come down there only once a year, I appreciate the work you have all put into maintaining this amazing fishery so that I too will be able to pass on and share the experiences I have had with my father, onto my own kids.

It seems as though the general consensus is jerkbaits, crankbaits and a little jigging action thrown in. Do you guys think the bass will be all over the water column or do you think the bass might be migrating to the secondarys and holding steady in preperation of the "deed"? I only ask becuase you guys know the temps, water level and overall activity of the ladies down there. Gauging by everyones comments and I think someone stated it earlier, that the lake is going to fish big and that there most likely will not be just one true way to hammer it out. I am a firm believer of the wart and that it will make its appearence in a big way that week-end. Any thoughts as to where they will find 'em?

your comment about an ignorant few made me laugh. If a public forum makes you cringe when someone contradicts you, then you need to re-think. Public forums are to express your views. If we all had the same views, then the t.v. show The View would have no viewers. Jerry- It's not so much about contradiction versus tact. As you just stated I too am expression my beliefs towards his story just as you have so eloquently done. I agree that public forums are a place to express opinion and views, but there is a certain way it should be done, especially when all the guy is doing is showing off some pictures of bass. Who cares if it didn't come from your glory hole, a bass is a bass. Myself saying an ignorant few is not a bad thing just that there is an absence of understanding. I'm not trying to bark up your tree friend, just stating my opinion on your absence of tactfulness when being 'ignorant' towards your fellow angler. Those are awesome fish, he should be proud.

Mark- Good stuff, great story. Just like with anything else you are going to have girls that are going to thumb their noses no matter what you do. My dad and I have been coming down to fish Tablerock on an annual basis for over 30 years and there is nothing more that we look forward to each year. As with you I can relate to sharing that bond and I am even more envious that you guys got to take a trip outside the "sphere of influenc". Even though this forum contains some of the most knowlegable anglers I have ever had the pleasure of reading discussions on, I too have had my moments where I was close to being disuaded from coming down there because of an ignorant few. Don't you be disuaded either, its just a game of who's is bigger. I dont care what lake you fish, an 11lber is ridiculous. You guys have every right to be proud. Table Rock Lake is not the standard, nor is the lake you fished, but that big bass sure as hell is! Cheers.

Not bad. A few hours into the day and that app has Tharp with 5 bass almost 20lbs, culling a 2lber already. Is it also correct in that KVD has yet to latch on to one?

Wow. Nicely done sir. Hopefully a sign of things to come.

Agreed. 77.7 lbs wins it.

Good news to see a high rate of C&R.

Yeah, I see your point, but Guntersville is much shallower in comparison to lets say TR. A vast majority of that lake is flats with about 98% of the lake in 50 foot or less. It will only take a few days of hard sunlight to start the water temperature in the other direction and get the bog boys up and moving about. Even if in the high 30's now I bet they are pushing mid 40's+ by next Saturday from the forecast I'm looking at. Warmer temps and warmer rains will help drastically for a shallower lake. Don't be surprised to see 20-25lb bags common place, with one or two pushing 30. That lake can produce them big. This is going to be a heavy tournament.

The weather is slated to be MUCH warmer next week through a majority of the week-end. The coves down there should just about be melted down with air temps getting into the 60's(pushing 70) and fronts pushing through the whole week-end. Sunday could be rough though with a major dip in temp, but I think its going to be a hell of a tournament. Big bags. Might cater to the power fishermen.

Biggest bass I have ever caught so I will take it. Last year was my first year trying the rig and was very impressed. Thank you for your posts.