Longball22

The Academy near my place in Tulsa had McStick 110's on sale for $6.48. Had all of the usual suspect colors (Norman Flake, Spooky Shad, Blue Bandit, etc.). I believe that's about the best price I've seen on a terrific jerkbait, and thought I'd share. Not sure if other stores are replicating this, but might be worth a look.

Payouts aside, if you register in the first 200 people, it is hard to beat paying $160 and getting a $100 Shimano rod out of the deal.....just saying.

Bo, you have a great point there. You get the occasional knowledgeable employee at BPS, and the Springfield store does better than a lot of the satellite stores. I've been to at least 6 or 8 Cabela's around the country, and even more BPS's, and the level of knowledge and service isn't comparable in my opinion. I also think that Cabela's does a better job with their everyday pricing and running enticing sales on relevant products. Where they fall short is the marketing dollars/prowess that BPS spends/has.

https://www.fix.com/blog/view-from-below-lures-underwater/ http://www.scout.com/outdoors/wired2fish/story/1468242-how-to-choose-the-right-topwater-bass-lure I found both of these articles interesting reads. I've fished topwaters with a few guides on Table Rock, and they both somewhat agreed with Yelas' point: Chrome on sunny days, bone on cloudy days.

I decided to go check out Sportsman's Factory Outlet's new location, and they had a bunch of them in stock. The guy I was talking to said they had sold over 70 today alone.

Do you think the winner will come from a certain area of the lake, or is the bite pretty equal across the lake? I fished from Spring Branch to the upper James last weekend, and had a tough time finding keepers as well, regardless of the technique I was using.

Spinnerbait

Yeah, doesn't look the same. Hopefully it is a bad picture.

Not sure if anyone had seen this yet, but the Missouri Craw color is back.... http://www.rapala.com/storm/hard-baits/wart-series/original-wiggle-wartandreg/V167.html?trk_msg=6U72VHVCLL741CPQ3TBF856G4C&trk_contact=FRNOKNM5CRC5G74QDIG02ODR10&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.rapala.com%2fstorm%2fhard-baits%2fwart-series%2foriginal-wiggle-wartandreg%2fV167.html&utm_campaign=Use+Flashy+Color+Patterns+for+Stained+Water.+Available+Now!&utm_content=2015-08-27_Promo_VIP-Stained-Water

I love PowerPro, but I've been trying to force myself into using 12 and 15lb Maxima recently, and it continues to grow on me.

Bo, I noticed on your site the SpinJig only comes in 3/8oz. and 1/2oz. I haven't had one in my hand before, but it looks like you can slide the collar up and put the spinner on another jig. Is that correct? Just have to order the Black and Blue Widow SpinJig and some of the 1 oz. Bomber jigs and swap them out? If you can't tell, you'll be getting an order soon.

Fished the Kimberling City area both Saturday and Sunday morning from 6:30 to 10. Really struggled on Saturday and ended up with 5 fish, all being shorts except one 3lb smallmouth. Fished a drop shot with crawlers. Fount a lot of fish suspended at 20ft over deeper water, but absolutely could not get them to bite. All the fish came in 17-20 ft on the bottom. Spent more time on the bottom in that range on Sunday. Ended up with about 20 fish total: a few terrific bluegills, white bass, smallmouths, kentuckys, and a goggle eye. Best was a nice 17" spot, and most of the others were in that 13-15 range. Reading all of the reports about low oxygen levels, I was surprised with the energy of the fish. All of them fought hard and wasted no time heading back to the bottom.

I just got my boat back from Ulrich. I was having charging issues with my cranking battery, and they had it diagnosed and fixed in a day. I thought price was fair base on going labor rates.

Love the Corbinas as well. If you like the blue mirror, I'd suggest trying the green. I am amazed at the difference between blue, silver, and green mirror, especially since they are all copper based lenses. Green seems to do best on the water at TR.

I'm down to two brands I keep in my boat: Costa, Kaenon. I love my Costa 580g lens with green mirror when it is sunny. I think I get the best polarization, and I can see deeper in the water column. In the mornings and evenings, I wear Kaenon C50 lens. Kaenon sells their copper lens in a 12%VLT, 28%VLT, and 50% VLT. The 12% Copper is a great all purpose lens, and allllmost as good as the Costa. It is ligher than the glass, and has better optical clarity than plastic lens like Oakley or all the others. The 50% is my favorite in the low light conditions, and doesn't compromise too much when it is brighter out. The closest Costa, or anyone, gets to that lens is their Sunrise lens, which is only 30%, and only comes in plastic.

I tried the 10lb braid concept, and it isn't bad, but the fact that braid is so buoyant seems to hurt the fall rate of the bait, makes it slower to get back down to fish, and seems harder to keep vertical if there is wind and/or current. I think this would be much better for horizontal drop shot presentations than vertical. I prefer mono or fluoro, because it seems I can get away with a lighter weight. I struggled with learning to drop shot all of last summer, and what I learned by fall is that I wasn't moving around enough. If you are marking fish, and they aren't responding to your bait, either switch colors or presentation, or get out of there and find different fish. I could go back to spots like that a few hours later and they would be charged up and ready to eat. Sometimes I will hit spots that I know hold fish 3 or 4 times a day to figure out when they are active. Were you marking fish? On points or over deep water/trees?

I'm working a night shift right now, and have too much time on my hands.... http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/113341 This is not a good read by the way, haha. "The water in a river flowing into a reservoir, lake or coastal region is rarely of ~xactly the same density as the ambient water in the waterbody. The density difference may be due to a difference in temperature or in concentration of dissolved or suspended substances. Small density differences can have dramatic effects on the flow patterns that develop in the waterbody. In particular, when the river water is denser than the ambient, I the incoming flow dips beneath the ambient water and flows along the reservoir bottom or beach as a density current. Such flows are termed plunging flows. Figure 1-1 shows a plunging flow situation over a sloping bottom with various aspects of the flow illustrated. The position on the water surface where the flow actually plunges is known as the plunge point or plunge line. It will frequently be delineated by a collection of floating debris held by the reverse current generated in the ambient water by the plunged flow. After plunging, the flow becomes a density current underflow. The dynamics of such currents are reasonably well understood [Ellison and Turner, 1959]." So, my interpretation is cooler water entering at the river arms is cooler than the water in the main lake, and it is creating the "plunging current" described above. They 84 degree water temps that have been described are definitely warmer, and this could create the reverse current described. If anyone saw open water with an isolated section of debris, this would support this. This theory would also explain why some of you have seen that the thermocline hasn't broken up. The cooler water is simply moving underneath the warmer water, because it is more dense than the warmer main lake water. If this is all true, that would mean there could be some highly oxygenated water running deeper in the lake right now. Everyone might be looking too shallow. I should have paid more attention in my fluid mechanics classes in college.....

Champ, I was thinking the same thing. The only think I can think is that will all of the tributaries flowing and the dam cut off, it would push some water back up the river arms.

If you wanted a cheap standalone unit to do everything you want for dropshotting, The Lowrance Elite 7 is a pretty good unit. Refurb units on Cabela's are $399 right now, which is as cheap as you'll find a 7" screen. I like the DownScan when dropshotting, because it makes it easier to discern structure from fish. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Bargain-Cave/Electronics/Boating-Electronics%7C/pc/105591780/c/105681780/sc/105684480/Lowrancereg-Elite-7-HDI-Base-Combo-Refurbished/2039489.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fboating-electronics%2F_%2FN-1102704%2B4294388141%2FNe-4294388141%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_105684480%3FWTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNU You'll pay a few hundred more to get the updated CHIRP model of the same unit.

Population is one thing. Quality of fish is another. There have certainly been good numbers to be caught, but finding larger bass is much harder than it has been in years past.

I recently read the book below, and I think some folks that believe this lake is perfectly sustainable would do themselves a favor to read it: http://www.amazon.com/Largemouth-Bass-In-Fisherman-handbook-Strategies/dp/0929384113 In particular, there are a few chapters in the book discussing the lifecycle of a reservoir. Basically, the gist is that when these reservoirs were all created in the last century, bass populations initially flourished due to abundant cover and flooded vegetation. As time progresses, the flooded trees become pole timber, bushes and vegetation cease to exist, and the quality/population of fish in the lake decreases. One interesting part of this, is that they discussed how a lake silting in could promote weedbeds and aquatic vegetation, which would allow some reservoirs to see a sort of "revival". Unfortunately, the Ozark mountain lakes lack the type of surrounding soils necessary for this to take place, so we've likely seen this lake peak and fall into decline. Will it still produce quality fish? Yes, but not like the numbers that a lot of the veterans on here remember from days past. In Fisherman does preach selective harvest, indeed. However, I think if you take the time to understand their train of thought, part of their selective harvest is to not take bass from a reservoir in decline like Table Rock. It simply doesn't have the characteristics to support that behavior like it once did.

In regards to the Rock Crawlers leaking water in, I did hear that earlier this year they were asking people to send them in. There was a problem with the mold in the first run causing the issue. What I heard was if you were sending one defective bait in, they were sending you two back. They were using those baits to tune the mold in order to improve its durability.

I had Specialized Marine in Kimberling City do some work on my boat last year, and they did amazing. If it were not for a mark on the rub rail, I would have no idea where the biggest gouge was. I think I was charged less than $200 for 3 or 4 good sized scratches and gouges, which I thought was very fair. I do know that they usually reserve fiberglass work for when they are slow during the fall and winter, so it might be tough getting them to bite during the summer, unless you catch them on a slow day/week.

I fished this tournament for the first time this year, and enjoyed doing so. I saw some less than desirable behaviors out of people on Saturday in particular, but nothing I wouldn't expect outside of a tournament environment. What really did surprise me was the lack of information I was required to provide before the tournament, and even when I went to weigh a fish at the scales(What's your name?). I haven't fished tournaments, bear in mind, but here are a few questions that might address boater etiquette: 1. Do tournaments normally require someone to produce a fishing license, boater safety cards, and things like this at the weigh in? I know laws vary from state to state(Arkansas does not require this), so I'd be curious to know how many out of staters that came in for this tournament weren't complying with this one. (Anyone born 1985 or later is required to take this course before operating a boat) I've definitely seen some folks older than 30 that would benefit from this one as well, but that's another topic entirely.... 2. Are there tournaments committed to educating anglers on these types of etiquette? With Mr. Morris being committed to promoting angling, I was personally surprised that a corporate sponsored, amateur tournament didn't make any mention of proper etiquette, or for that matter, fish care. (I understand that only three fish were killed this weekend at the scales, but imagine if this was a drop-shot-a-thon in July)

Another option to consider is putting an HDS-5 Gen 2 in your console. Replaced a lowrance x96 that was in console of my '06 nitro, and was able to buy an adapter for the transducer and use the stock one. The HDS-5 was slightly bigger, but fits nicely in the console and I didn't have to mount a new 'ducer. I picked mine up at the BPS Catalog outlet for $325, which was as cheap as I had seen it at the time.