edwin

I caught em pretty good yesterday on the dropshot right at off a gravel point. Boat in apprx 45-63' of water, most of the shad balls were either at 20' or right off the bottom. There were more fish down near the bottom bait balls, but none of them would take the bait. I had 13 (no keeps but 5 that were 14 and change) all from the 20' shad balls. Also had 4 more on a topwater whenever they'd break loose on the surface. If you enlarge the pic, you see how I worked the area between two GPS waypoints back and forth. One thing I noticed - being in 60' of water put me about a cast and half off the bank. Lots and lots of power pole'd rigs came awful close to me at 50+ mph, some really packing the mail. Even had 2 that went between me and the bank . The funny part was the look on the dudes faces that had come past as many as 3 times in the 3 hours I was camped out there. The look of "that guy is still there?" was cracking me up. I was really pleased with yesterday's catch. My success in finding fish was attributed to taking my dog out with me. He can't stand the wind when you're going fast, so I had to slow while running. It's amazing how many surface blow ups I saw running at 30-32mph than the normal 45-50mph. I saw some activity around a pocket near the point..stopped to take a look and ended up catching some fish as a result. Great weather, a couple cold beers, and the company of a guard dog! Only 3 shorts early this am before I had to pack it up and head back to STL.

I was able to catch 11 this morning, 9 of them on topwater before the fog lifted around 9:30. 8 of the 9 were on a Sammy, the other was on a Redfin. 3 of them were keepers but probably wouldn't have weighed 5.5lbs total. Gravel banks pretty close to docks were where I had success. Two shakey fish after the fog was gone...tough most of the day once it was sunny. I was around Pt 10, seemed to be about 9:45 or so before I heard the BASS guys come my way. I embarrassed to attach a pic of barely keeper, but Bill asked for it

Glad it's not just me and my folks that I hosted this past weekend. I was able scrap together 7-10 fish most days, but only 1 keeper per day. I can't say that the folks that drove up from San Antonio fared as well. Long way to drive for just a few fish for the weekend.

Looks like it consolidated the link. If this doesn't work, it's on the front page of Bassfan.com http://bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=4084

Just what I need Bill...go in for a couple batteries, come home with a new boat! I'll certainly ring him before heading over to see if he can have the Kitty Kat on hand. Thanks again for the referral.

Thanks for the info on the Battery Outfitter folks. My TM batts are on their last leg as well, will get in touch with them and pick up some new ones in a couple weeks.

Thanks for the suggestion Champ.

As always, great feedback folks. Looking fwd to a long overdue return to TR this weekend. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't had the Bass Cat in the clear water since May. Will be coming down to host 4 long time friends for the weekend. The info provided here sure gives us a great idea where to start...thank you.

Brian and Fred at Ulrich in Branson West are fantastic...highly recommend them.

I can't believe I missed this post...fantastic 10lb monster RPS!!! Great job sir.

Smallie - you owe it to yourself to go see, crawl around, and test drive a Bass Cat...it's above and beyond IMHO. Even more than the boat itself, the support from the factory is without equal. Well worth the time to check them out. PM me if you have questions...don't want to derail this thread.

I watched the Phoenix vid, looks like a nice rig. I'm sure it will be a dandy of a boat. That said, I'll keep myself in the BCB family for now Bill - you mentioned Alaska - any chance you're gonna make the trek north to Kiana for some shefish this year?

Keep up the positive attitude Don. You're a good man for being there for her...

I think it's important to keep in mind that using the lake in May / June was challenging at best, so you're seeing more boaters crammed into a smaller window of time. The week long vacationers start going away by the second week of August.

I love my Core reel! I prefer the lighter weight to the Castiac's or Chronarchs I have. It's a perfect reel IMHO...

Denny Dennis is clearing out last year's Shimano reels. Most of the ones I saw remaining were Curado's, as well as some left handed Chronarchs. I don't recall the price but they were 20-30% off the normal price. I did my part to ensure that no Calais reels were left

Hate to say it Bill, but I've been there too. I had a trip like that apprx 10 yrs ago when I caved to years of pressure and took my brother's bro-in-law to LOZ. I'd just bought a new 21' Skeeter...didn't have 10 hrs on it yet. The guy hung up a crankbait on a rock in about 3' of water. I was easing in with the TM, he gave the hookset of his life and launched a baseball sized rock / crankbait combo into the side of the cowling. That Yamahopper cowl cracked wayyy more than I would have expected. We also had a few more episodes with his equipment failures. I let him borrow my then prized Chronarch / Cameron rod (recall those from TR Tackle on Hwy 13?) combo - same deal with backlashes and general abuse of the equipment. I sure wish I could have dropped his *ss off at the dock instead of having to listen to him the entire way back to STL. My suggestion to you sir - keep a couple less expensive combos in the bottom of the rod locker for folks like this. I have 3 BPS Johnny Morris Signature reels with older rods for that exact purpose. I don't know what it is, but you can sure sense it from the get-go that it's going to be one of those days. Sorry to hear of the issue. i guess the only good thing is that the guy didn't put the jig in the back of your head tight lines, edwin

The carp had to be a battle!!! I caught a 19lb drum on similar tackle at KY lake a couple yrs ago...thought I had my first 10lb bass until I got a look at the thing

I caught fish the past weekend with bloody tails...so there's still some that are in the process. Our own Bill Babler has mentioned more than a few times that it's not uncommon for the spawn to continue into Memorial Day weekend.

It was plenty fishable yesterday...water is coming up but still just stained around Hide-Away.

Makes sense...gonna bag my trip down this weekend as well, will try it again late next week.

You get out yesterday via Aunts, techo?

Aunts Creek should be good to go. You may have to launch from the parking lot but I could see the Skeeter floating w/o issue. That said, I'd happily make a short walk back down the hill from parking the tow rig / trailer on higher ground. Tight lines!!!

Based on history, I would expect the water to be higher this weekend than it is at the current moment. Besides, the rain still falling and rain to come, there's tons and tons of water yet to flow into Beaver and TR.