Longball22

Bill, I'm curious to understand your comment above about huge kills not being good. I assumed after several years of more abundant shad and the lack of a shad kill that this might "reset the scales". I totally understand the short term effect it will have on the fishing, but personally thought it might be a good thing in the grand scheme of things.

I haven't seen the Yum Crawbug mentioned in here either, but for the price I think it is a good looking bait in that 2.5" size range: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Yum_Crawbug/descpage-YCWBG.html?from=gshop&gclid=CjwKCAiApNSABhAlEiwANuR9YB-jxuKPmG401pmjRI-GfGbwIKZ2zQEIOGaJNGPfDGDDD4UFr9j3WRoCNKYQAvD_BwE

Don't get hung up on FishReveal. It is another tool, but not a failsafe. I have mine turned on with my HDS's, but it's not 100% accurate. I've heard similar comments made about CHIRP. Some of the old school guys say it does create better target separation, but they don't like what it is eliminating.

I fished Kimberling Friday and mustered 2 fish, including one of those chunk spots. Both fish on a keitech. From Point 5 to point 9 the water clarity is just ridiculous, and definitely saw lots of follows on the keitech back to the boat. Those spots would come up out of the trees 20 yards from the boat, and seemed to catch a glimpse of the boat and go right back down. Jerkbait and A-rig showed me no love. I guess I'm still a zero, and not a hero with that thing. The fog not clearing until 10:30 really screwed with my game plan. It was quite incredible to see the highway of boats that started running down lake once that fog cleared. I'm assuming those boys had caught fish and were waiting to head to the scales. Saturday there were much fewer boats in that part of the lake, so I'm guessing others had similar results there. I made a run up to the PT 10-12 area, and water clarity was probably 6-10 feet. Much better conditions, but I still struggled to find a bite. I had to pull off the water at noon without even a strike at my baits. 2 fish in 13 hours on the water, and I was almost glad to do so. Last year I didn't throw the jerkbait or A-rig at all, so I was determined to learn from my mistakes. I guess I'll have to work on location for next year. On a side note, I bought a new Shimano Curado DC in March, and this was my first weekend really getting acclimated to it. I will tell you that reel is a thing of beauty. It is not as "foolproof" as they might say, but it certainly makes throwing a jerkbait or crankbait a pleasure. In calm conditions it is perfect, but needs its settings dialed up in both a tailwind or headwind. My buddy who is terrible with a baitcaster threw it a little bit around my dock, and he said in calm conditions it seemed "idiotproof". I got the one with an 8.5:1 gear ratio, and 36" of line pickup is awesome for jerkbaits, but hard to keep a crankbait slowed down enough. For $250 a pop, I won't be loading the front deck with them, but it's certainly worth a look for lighter baits in particular.

Wait until after next weekend. Big Bass Tour will have plenty of keeper fish back in the Long Creek Area.

Yeah, it's all about reserve time and cranking amps. Your motor doesn't know what is pushing that electricity to it, just how much and how hard it is pushing. I ran a Diehard Platinum in my last boat and it ran 3 graphs (HDS-5 and two Elite 7's) all day long without a hiccup. They came with a 4 year warranty, but looks like it is the "Advanced" Gold now, with a 3 year warranty. https://www.sears.com/diehard-advanced-gold-agm-battery-group-size-34/p-02850734000P?plpSellerId=Sears&prdNo=9&blockNo=9&blockType=G9

I would be concerned about some of the modern jerkbaits we talk about on here (Megabass and Spro McStick) sitting tail down, because the weight transfer for casting on those needs the ball to move forward in the bait to level it out. If those baits sat too far tail down, there would be a chance the ball rolls back during the retrieve and causes the bait to go vertical, tail down. Also, as water temperature drops, buoyant force increases. If your bait is sitting nose or tail up due to an imbalance of buoyant force, warmer water should make it less drastic, and colder water would make it more drastic.

When I lived in California and surfed, we used a product called Solarez to repair surfboard dings. It is tough stuff, and while I haven't tried it on baits, I would be willing to bet it would work. I would work it into a ding, overpour, and cover it with packaging tape to make it smooth, then sit it in the sun. https://www.amazon.com/Solarez-Cure-Surfboard-Repair-Travel/dp/B00S3MYW8S/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=solarez&qid=1549780578&s=gateway&sr=8-7 They even make fly cements, which the "thick" formula might be good for this application: https://www.amazon.com/Solarez-Fly-Tie-UV-Resin/dp/B00FL067UG/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=solarez&qid=1549780578&s=gateway&sr=8-8

How was the water temp? Assuming it has lost a few degrees after the last few days.

Bill, are swapping out trebles on the ice jig, or leaving everything stock?

Gar can actually use their swim bladder to supplement their breathing, kind of like lungs. Those areas could be ones with low dissolved oxygen.

Agree with Bo, and they aren't usually chasing shad. They actually come up and gulp air to fill their swim bladder.

Vernon, I did take about 3 or 4 hours of video, but need to do some trimming of the fat before I start putting anything up. Lots of video of dirty green water. I will share when I get it uploaded.

I had the opportunity to scuba dive Table Rock for the first time this last weekend. I've only dove in the ocean prior to this. We were going out of State Park, and stayed in the Dam area. I haven't fished for a while, but it was interesting to actually put myself in the thermocline for the first time. Bill, based on what my dive computer told me, you are spot on. Definitely a thermocline that you could feel develop between the 25 and 30 mark, and it just got flat frigid below the 40 mark. We actually bounced back and forth between depths to keep ourselves warm. The most interesting thing I learned is how the water clarity changes between the depths. Water clarity is obviously what you guys are seeing from the surface down to about 20 feet, and with lots of overhead ambient light you can see very well. From 25 to about 35 or 40, it was pitiful, and I actually lost my buddy on one of the dives (maybe 5 feet of visibility tops). Once you got below the 40 mark, it is incredibly clear, maybe 20 to 30 foot of visibility, but not much light penetrating all of the suspended particles in the layer above. The deeper part of this lake is like a different planet; dark, cold, and absolutely no growth. Definitely saw the majority of the bass playing in the dirtier water, and some good ones.

Agree with Champ on this one. I have personally witnessed marina staff try and explain to fishermen that the houseboat docks owned by the marina fall under the Corps regulations regarding recreational use. By the law, even the leaseholders don't have the right to drop a line in the water off of a dock that they are paying to use. Is it loosely enforced? Absolutely? In all honesty, most turn a blind eye. When a few night fishermen came in between the docks on plane last summer, and plowed at max wake around the docks using their electronics to find fish, the policing of this policy was certainly ratcheted up for a few weeks following the incident.