Donna G

Thanks, Quillback. Hard to focus when you're fighting the clothes. lol

58. We were surprised it was that high.

Ok, brrr. Here's the boat in the garage after driving home from the Rock late this afternoon. We fished in sleet about 45 minutes, but most of this accumulated on the way home. Champ188 will post the fish pics since he caught most of them and I was the photographer. lol Ended up with 15 fishing down the lake (refer to my previous post - I'm geographically challenged - also look to Champ for location details). We had a mix of LM, SM and spots. Five keepers about 12lb total with one nice brownie, a good LM and three fat spots. No luck with the jig. Never fished a spoon, although Champ turned the boat upside down last night looking for his bag of War Eagle spoons. They were in the boat today - just didn't get the call. Couldn't get a Wart bite either. A few on the blade, but most on a jerkbait. Lots of wind today and it helped. You know us, regardless of how deep we were sitting, we were throwing to the bank in most cases or across bluff ends and points. We didn't get on the water until around 8:30 a.m., I think and we left between 3-4 p.m.

I like that his reports are simple and straightforward. If the fishing is hard, he says so. Not a bunch of flash and bling. Just the facts, ma'am/man. lol Well, I guess you could count Gizmo as a little bling.

Yep. I also like a one-eyed or blind Bandit. They work best after you've knocked the eyes off on the rocks. Fish can sneak up on 'em.

Uh, not sure I've ever seen Champ with a rake. Let me know if there are any sightings. You know, like Bigfoot or something. lol Not much of a dropshot fan either unless you stumble on some resident fish around bridge pilings or deep docks. No interest in following them around with electronics.

Constant retrieve at medium to medium fast for me. I ran the spinnerbait just under the surface 2-3'. (Champ pointed out to me that "just under the surface" means like you are waking it. I wasn't counting it down to any particular depth, but with the speed I used, the bait was running 2-3' below the surface.) The crankbait caught a few. I used the same speed on it.

Launched around 7:15 a.m.. I'm geographically challenged on the water, as most of you have heard, so I'll let Champ188 feel in the "where" details. I know we went down to start. Wind was really blowing and I was licking my chops thinking it might be a catch-em day. It took us all day, but we finally managed a limit - mix of K's and LM. Best 5 only weighed 10lbs. Overall, we caught 20 bass. James caught a big ol' slab crappie on a jerk bait. He has the picture on his phone for posting later. Of the five keeps, three came on War Eagle 1/4 oz spinnerbaits (most on Hot Blue Heron color), one on a shad-colored crankbait and one on a War Eagle Pond Scum Perch finesse jig. It slowed down dramatically later in the day and we decided to go up to dirtier water. That didn't work out and we started our way back down chasing the wind. There wasn't much happening in the pockets for us. We fished main lake bluffs and bluff ends and channel bends. If we got too flat or the rock turned to gravel, we quit getting bit. We were sitting in 5' to 30', but the bite was still on the bank, or just out from it, regardless of the boat depth. A little more happening on wood than we've noticed in the last several weeks, but it wasn't a guarantee. Didn't see much bait today and almost zero activity on the surface. We didn't spend much time on docks. It would have been a little difficult with the wind and two of us anyway. The bite was light and flaky, and not in a good way like biscuits. I caught very few fish where I had a distinctive bite. They were either just on or you felt a little tension in the line. Met denjac at the ramp this morning and he had some success, too.

Smart kid. Those are good swimbaits. He's also a good looking young man. You'll be rewarded for the duckin', dodgin' and answering questions one day.

Crap. I knew it. We do usually tag team on the ramp wipe down, though. He did make me unhook his 2-1/2lb white bass from a crankbait. That's just mean.

We were in that area. It was probably us. Champ said he recalls seeing a boat go by. We didn't see over three or four bass boats all day. Stop anytime.

OK, two things. Yes, we need to have another get together / cookout and I would like to see an annual OA derby. Wouldn't that be fun? Here's the second thing, does Champ make y'all unhook his white bass and have you wipe down the boat? I'm just trying to figure out if I'm getting the short end of the stick.

Nice one. We got on the trailer at dark and are headed home. We fished the Kings, too. It took some work and time but we had a decent day, in the neighborhood of 30 overall with 8 keeps - 4 LM and 4 spots. Nothing huge. Biggest was 3lb. All on blades and cranks.

I know that's not a jig in my hand. SURELY I wouldn't be fishing a jig? . Think that was the first catch of the day. Decent one to break the skunk. Champ needs to break out his editing skills and post more flattering pictures of his partner.

Thanks. Poor Champ is so busy guiding me that I get the drop on him once in awhile. He likes to see me catch 'em.

Nice. Doubles sure are fun. Caught a pair a few weeks ago out of schooling fish on a Strike King red eye shad. Throwing a finesse jig is my favorite thing to fish, but there are trips when I'm trying like heck to get a bite, but nothing's happening except for the followers right at the boat. I think the next time that happens consistently, I'll tie on a swim jig. Good thought.

I do like his fishing reports. Straightforward. No embellishment and if he's not catching them good, he says so.

Awww. My two favorite guides in the world - Champ188 and Mr. Bill. I do love me some jig fishing. That "thump" or "tick" gets me jazzed right before the hookset.

We didn't make it on the water until after daylight. Some clouds and wind helped a bit, but the clouds blew out just past noon. Thirty mostly LM. Some spots. Seven keeps. Best five was probably 10lbs, Champ said. Shallow bite for the most part. Tried to force a jig on them but ended up winding most of the day. Did find one or two jig fish on docks late in the afternoon. Out of the water at 3:30 p.m. Fair amount of bass boats running around but not too crowded. Other than that only saw a couple of pontoons and one big boat all day. Champ can fill in the details. I might give away his secret bait.

Nice fish, Bill. Good to see you. Now that I'm looking at your client in this photo, I've decided he's more Duck Dynasty than Woodstock. lol You had a full boat. We got on a little something after we ran into you and had some nice flurries. Shallow, of course, but dirtier water. It was a fun way to finish up. Think we were on the trailer around 3:45 p.m. I begged Champ to fish the pilings before we loaded, but the boat traffic was so bad at that time, we decided against it. He'll post a report later.

Started an hour after daylight launching at Viola marina. We fished from Sweetwater down to the mouth of the Kings and put it on the trailer at 3:30 p.m. It was tough. We managed around 25, but all small fish and no real consistent pattern. We had one keeper the entire day. The morning started off promising with good cloud cover and wind. It was pretty nippy running. I began the day in my rain suit and sweatshirt and finished in shorts and golf shirt. lol We saw active shad at every stop, but it was hard to get bit. When the sun popped out and the wind slacked off, the little feeding bite was gone. Caught them on seven baits - top water, buzz bait, spinnerbait, square bill, drop shot, finesse jig and shaky head. Really figured it out, didn't we? I can always count on Champ188 to get me on enough bites to keep it interesting, though. Most were spots, with a couple of LM and SM mixed in. We fished backs of windy pockets, channel swings, main lake bluffs and bluff ends. Wood, rock and boat docks. We had about the same success on each, which wasn't much. The shad are very active and it feels like it won't be long before the fishing gets good. We stayed predominantly with green pumpkin or watermelon variations on the jig, trailer, drop shot and shaky head. Square bill was a Bandit 100 splatter back with chartreuse belly. Champ188 fished a couple different colors of War Eagle 1/4 oz spinnerbait. I threw a white War Eagle buzz bait. Very little boat traffic until the sun came out this afternoon. The few boats we saw this morning may have been from the Central Pro-Am championship. We didn't see anyone jerking on fish. Recreational boat traffic later in the day was still fairly light and no one was in the water. I imagine getting wet and scooting across the water on a wake board would have been somewhat crisp.

Phil has the best advice. Kill 'em with kindness. You never know what battles a battle ax is facing, but certainly don't let their attitude spoil your day. 96 Champ, you hit the nail on the head with one word R-E-S-P-E-C-T and that goes for everything in today's narcissistic world. It's all about me, me, me with no respect for others, creation or even their own families. When someone is rude or behaves outrageously, it is a lack of respect for you. The only option is to be the bigger person and know that at the end of the day you treated everyone you met with respect. Usually those people don't respect themselves either. Sad. Put the bow of your boat into the wind and blow the junk out as you head for your favorite spot.

Long day on the water in the rain the better part of the day. Not as good as we had hoped, but caught a fair amount. Only two keeps, though, if you don't count Champ's big gar on a top water and my toad bream on a drop shot. One was a 4lb LM burning a white War Eagle buzz bait. Skinny. Would have been very nice with a little meat on him. Champ188 will provide more detail later with some pics. Could not get a bite down until we finished the day with a drop shot on bridge pilings. Champ caught a keeper spot on a top water or blade (I forget which) and it spit up a big, intact crawdad green with subtle orange spots on the tail and very light blue markings elsewhere. We'll post a photo of it, too. Oh, and the gar. I was on the pliers. Glad he only had one hook in him. Forgot, caught my first ever trout. Rainbow on a drop shot at the bridge. He looked rough. Champ said water temp was too high for trout to thrive.

Me and Champ188 headed out in a few minutes. Hope to connect with Bill B and Denjac this morning. Haven't seen them in a while. Report to follow tonight. . On the fishing...not the "meeting."

Thank you.