Quillback

Those are some great fish. OK now, you gotta give an estimate on the big one that got away. 😃

Do you know where that shallow water buoy is about 1/2 mile south of point 5 on the same bank as the point 5 bluff? If I wanted a shot at a walleye, there's a gravel bar/flat that runs out from the bank to that buoy and it has always looked like a place that would be good for Mr. Wallie. I think I remember catching one there several years ago. Good place for bass and stipers too.

Thunderstorms in the area early today so I did not launch the boat until 11 AM and fished until 4 PM. Smallmouth still bit pretty good, boated 17 with 5 keepers. They are getting feisty, lots of jumping and that jumping cost me a half dozen or so and a couple of them were good fish. Still doing the Keitech thing, most bites are still shallow, rocks and logs are good places to cast. With the sun up and the water being somewhat clear I could see the swimbait most of the time and see the bass roll on it. Sometimes I'd just see it disappear. Pretty neat. No stripers caught today, but did see one follow the swimmer in but it didn't take a swipe at it. The usual suspects:

A 19" Kentuck is a good one for this lake. Do you superglue the keitechs to the jighead? I do and usually I'll get several fish on one before they get torn up.

Caught this dude on Beaver yesterday. Transformed into fillets. I'm going to make some fish chowder and needed a fish with firm flesh, not flakey like walleye or crappie. Still need either another cat, striper or a white or two. Another excuse to go fishing. 😀

That would be one heck of a big keyboard to hide you, even your current weight reduced self. 😃

Tons of bluegills in the lake too. I'll take gill fillets over anything when it comes to fried fish.

Launched early, nice cool morning with a full moon. Caught this guy on top with the 2nd cast of the day. Camera made it look darker than it was. Caught a channel cat on a Keitech. Durn thing slammed it and fought pretty hard, thought it was a striper. There was a top water bite early, then after that was over, I was using 3.3 and 2.8 Keitechs. Lots of shad shallow. Lots of bites today and there are lots of sub 10" smallies out there. Should bode well for the future. Had 4 keepers, 2 smallies and 2 largemouth. Caught 5 stripers, all were 20" or less. Still not seeing any bigger ones. The usual suspects:

Thanks for the report Mark, you're making me want to get down and fish the mid-lake area.

Here's an email I received from District 1 supervisor John Stein (AGFC) last spring regarding walleye stocking in TR. And to what Bill says, I bet I have caught 15 or so short walleye on TR this spring, but only one keeper. It has been several years since we stocked Walleye in the Kings or White rivers and the few times that we have, it was surplus Walleye. These populations are doing very well naturally. The biologist from Missouri has sampled the James River arm of Table Rock and came up to help us on the Kings and White rivers. The numbers of Walleye that run into these rivers is incredible. We collected 251 Walleye per hour a couple of nights ago on the Upper White River out of the Highway 45 Bridge (Beaver Lake Twin Bridges Access). On the Kings River, we have collected over 350 per hour and see some trophy fish. Our sampling method (electrofishing) does not collect every fish. We only get a small sample of the Walleye that are there (if we collect 75 in 10 minutes, we are probably missing another 75). We cannot net fast enough to collect all the fish. We have seen similar numbers in the White below Beaver Lake. Also, we have observed fish that were 14 lbs. These high catch rates are corresponding with the increased popularity of the Walleye fishery in the spring. Stocking at this point is not needed in these river arms and Walleye are doing very well on their own. Thanks for the question and if you have any others, please let me know.

One for JF.

Thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten about this.

I have found lures hung up in trees, but never a jet ski.

Well today is the last of three straight days of getting up at 3 AM and going fishing. I'm ready for a break. 😀 My early top water spot was not as productive this morning, caught one fat 18" striper there and a couple of bass, but they just weren't there like the last 2 days. Jumped around after that from spot to spot, caught some smallies, mostly 10-13" fish but did get one 18" fish. Caught a keeper walleye too. Just about all the fish I caught were in 10 feet or less on a 3.3 Keitech on a 1/4 oz head. Lots of shad up shallow and the fish are a following them. Missed quite a few today including a couple of bigger stripers - saw one of the stripers, he looked to be in the 6-7 lb. range and had another one come off in the same spot that I never saw, but it was propably in that 6-7 lb. range. The one I saw, got it right to the boat before it got off, just could not keep them stuck. Lost several what were probably decent smallies too. No break-offs, they'd just come unpinned. But all in all, it was a good morning with lots of bites. Off the water at 1030, WT has risen to 72. The usual suspects:

Nothing like a good day at "work". I'm up early, going out to hook up the boat in a bit.

Devan mentioned top water - there was an early bite this morning, it ended once the sun got over the hill, but early they were going at it. It's not everywhere, it helped that today was my 2nd day in a row out there, so I knew where to go. No giants, caught 3 stripers that were 18-19" long, they aren't big ones as far as stripers go, but you know when you hook one, very strong fish. Caught a couple of smallies on top, a white bass, and even had a decent keeper sized walleye on top that I got to the boat, but screwed around with while I was getting the net and it got off. Made up for it by catching a keeper sized walleye on a Keitech a bit later. Speaking of walleye, had a 10 inch or so spotted bass that I had just off the side of the boat and a big ol' wallie made a pass at it, he didn't get it, think he saw me and curled away, but it was a good sized fish. After the sun came up, I caught some more smallies on the Keitech and ned, but mostly small fish, had one that went 17" and that was my big bass for the day. WT was just below 70, I bet it hits 70 today.

Happy Birthday, and going fishing is a great way to celebrate!

Launched about 6 AM and fished until 1130. Mixed species kind of day, no real pattern, I fished the dam end, hits banks here and there and some points. The smallmouth I caught were anywhere from 5 FOW off the bank to out as far as 25 FOW. My best bait was a 3.3 Keitech on a 1/4 oz head. Got a couple on top early too, and caught a couple on a white tube on a 3/8 oz head. I didn't make it into Indian Creek itself. There was some striper topwater activity, not a lot, but one here and there. I couldn't get a striper bite on top. Caught a dozen smallmouth (4 were keepers), a small striper, a few whites and a keeper walleye. WT 68, clarity is good, a bit of a green stain, and there is some wood floating around, not a lot, but keep an eye out for it when you are motoring.

70 lb. flathead bait.

Virginia Angler Catches World-Record Fallfish in Two Casts | Outdoor Life (ampproject.org)

That's funny, I haven't fished TR since the rise, but I was catching a few gills and a few crappie on the 1/16 head and cut Zinker. No gogs however, I have never caught a gog in TR.

Some great brown fish!

I am catching very few largemouth that are in the 10-14" range this year. Smallmouth numbers aren't quite as good either. Tons of spotted bass and the few largemouth I catch tend to be keepers. Just not any smaller largemouth around. Now of course I fish I relatively small section of the lake, could be different elsewhere.

AGFC stocked them for a while in some of the lower state community ponds. The opposite of rainbow trout that die in the warm water. The tilapia would die when it got cold.