Quillback

You'd think the commercial fishermen would be hammering those blue cats. I don't know how they taste out of the bay, but the ones I have eaten from Grand Lake are the best eating fish I catch. I'd take them over walleye, crappie, white bass and stripers. Maybe it is tough to find a market for them.

Finally, a day with no rain. It was a bit chilly early, but not too bad. The fish were biting early, things tailed off a bit after 9 AM but we were still picking up one here and there right before we left at around 1 PM. We caught a bunch of smallmouth, close to 50. Once again Dutch got the biggest one, right at 3 lbs. We caught several that were in the 2-3 lb. range. There was an early top water bite off a gravel point, then we fished the rocky banks with jigs and c-rigged craws. The fish are out a little deeper, we caught most of them in 10-20 FOW. We saw no striper activity at all, no striper guides in the area and just a couple of boats that appeared to be striper fishing. No idea where they went, but they are gone for now. Probably due to a lack of shad, we saw very few shad. WT 70-71.

Man that looks good!

Well it looks like it has stopped for now. It's chilly out there however, hard to believe June is just a week away.

It is now raining here, steady rain but it's not the flash flood stuff. No more is needed for sure.

I have not had much luck with a bladed jig - how do you fish it?

It has not rained here since yesterday morning and it wasn't much. Radar is showing some rain moving in, but it doesn't look to be heavy rain.

Nice ones!

Nice vice! 😃

The lake has been fishing tough this year.

Newport Gauge is showing around 19 feet right now. Graphs for current conditions - White River at Newport, AR - USGS Water Data for the Nation According to this document, the Corps should regulate to 12 feet from May 8 to November 30 unless the 4 lake system exceeds 70% of flood capacity, then they can regulate to 14 feet. Since the gauge is at 19 feet now, that's probably why they are not releasing water. This is my interpretation of the tea leaves which may be wrong. White River Master Manual

Didn't rain much here today, when I looked at the radar this morning this area was in a dry doughnut hole, surrounded by rain.

Colors are wild on that fish!

You chose wisely. Yeah who knows, I hope to get out next week.

What a difference between yesterday and today. My buddy Ken from Neosho joined me this morning and it was a bust compared to yesterday. The stripers appeared to have left town. We caught one 18" striper, had a couple of striper sized blowups and besides catching a few black bass that was all. I'm blaming it on the east wind. Lots of boats out there today and no one appeared to be doing well. Might check in on them next week after the weekend.

Back in Indian might not be a bad idea after the rain hits. When we get a good rain here in Bella Vista and the water is coming in high and muddy out of the creeks, there is always a couple of guys fishing for cats at the creek mouths. They usually catch them too.

Flood watch issued: ⛈️☂️ Multiple periods of heavy rainfall will accumulate across portions of eastern Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas Friday through next Monday. Total rainfall accumulations of 4 to 6 inches with isolated amounts of 8 to 10 inches are forecast. Expect both flash flooding and mainstem river flooding to develop with these rainfall amounts. - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

Caught 3 stripers on a Surge Shad slowly rolled on top. They were in the area and feeding. Pretty easy to spot them when the water is calm and they are blowing up. Kept them today and they are now filleted and in the fridge/freezer. I think I'll have fish tacos tomorrow. Caught a few smallmouth on jigs before I left about 0830. I'm whipped, time for a nap.

Hey Devan - When I came back to the Indian Creek ramp this morning, I talked to a guy that ran a trotline last night I believe close to the ramp. He said he had caught 9 cats, 2 were flathead. Said it was the first time he'd run a trotline in 35 years. There is lots of shad and stripers right outside the ramp, might be a good place to try your catfishing, my guess is those cats come in at night to feed on the shad. I would not go very deep either, I'd fish in 20 feet or less.

Ugh...

I caught my annual Table Rock trout today. Seems I average about one a year while bass fishing. There is a story to it. I fished for trout and salmon a lot when I lived in the Pacific Northwest. Trolled for them quite a bit in the lakes and in Puget Sound. Very common to troll for those species using what are called flashers or dodgers which are flat pieces of metal, that usually have some sort of bend or curve in them, coming though the water they will wobble and turn side to side. You tied a leader to the flasher or dodger, then on the other end of the leader you can tie something like a spoon or fly. The dodger/flasher imparts a herky-jerky motion to the lure and trout and salmon will hit the lure. The flasher or dodger also sends out a mettalic flash that looks like a fish feeding. It is thought the flasher/dodger attracts fish thinking there's some feeding going on and then they see the lure and bite it. Anyway I mention this because today I was fishing a Carolina rig and I snagged a what looked to be a flattened beer can or soda can on the sliding sinker. I'm bringing it in, the can is sort of wobbling through the water, reflecting the sun, and I get it about 15 feet from the boat and a trout grabs the craw I was using on the C-rig. Nice trout around 15 inches. Can't believe how flukey it was to get a trout in Table Rock with a beer-can flasher. You spend enough time fishing and flukey stuff happens. The bass fishing was a little slow for this time of year. I caught a little over 20, with 2 keepers. I caught some on the edge of the bushes with a 3/8 oz jig. A few on gravel with the c-rigged craw. 10 or so out deep, over 40-50 FOW on a 3.3 Keitech. Did not see much top water activity in spite of shad being up top. Water is brownish with 2 feet or so of viz. WT 71,

Pretty much what we got here, lots of lightning and rain, local news is reporting some twisters south of here and in OK did some damage.

You guys did well, I have not been over there in a while, good to hear they are biting! Thanks for the info on the Eagle Eye.

Tornadoes, large hail, high winds, and if anything is left standing, flooding will wash it away. The forecast for today is pretty grim.