Quillback

Spent three mornings fishing around Indian Creek and the dam basin this week. 2 of those days I had someone with me, and one day I was solo. I have been targeting smallmouth, the fishing has been good for them, usually we're putting between 25-35 smallies in the boat every morning. Mostly 12-16 inch fish with a couple of 17 and 18 inch fish thrown in. Swimming Keitechs and dragging a Ned have been working, seems the Keitechs work better when there is some wind, Ned when it is calm. Still getting fish shallow, but some are moving out into 10-15 FOW. Not seeing much striper activity, I did get lucky and was able to get a top water on one that came up near the boat chasing shad. I'm guessing it weighed about 12 pounds. It popped that bait 4 times before finally getting it. It pays to have a top water tied on and ready to cast for when those striper opportunities appear. I was working the keitech today, got a hook up, heavy fish. I worked it towards the boat and felt it let go, saw that I had about a 5 inch spotted bass on the hook, which surprised me, no way that fish was pulling that hard, all of a sudden a big walleye appeared and grabbed that little bass, then let go of it. What I think happened is that I hooked that little bass, and right away that walleye grabbed it and held on as I got it to the boat, then it let go and came back after it. It left some gouges in that poor little bass. Water temp was 74 today, water is stained green, but clear. In some places I could see bottom in 15 FOW. This post has been promoted to an article

Well I got 94th and 104th place for 2 of my guys.

My druthers would be to pass on prison AND the old folks home.

I can believe it, after all he is not in my fantasy lineup.

Nice one Duane!

Couple of days ago I went out on the back deck, was leaning against the rail looking out into the woods, when a hummer flew up to about 2 feet in front of my face and hung there staring at me for about 3 seconds, then he turned around and left. I think he wanted to fight.

I bought some Hot Spot maps when I first moved here 10 years ago. They'll tell you bank structure like rocks, gravel etc., and the contour lines will help when you are looking for drop offs or underwater bluff ends. They'll show you old foundations, bridges, road beds and so on. I've found some pretty good fishing spots by looking at those maps. There's quite a bit of structure that those maps will show you that are not on my maps on the fish finder. That being said, I haven't looked at my paper maps in a few years.

That E bucket is a tough one, bunch of guys I never heard of.

Texas Fest this week, time to get those lineups in. Is this a 4 day or 3 day tourney?

Very nice, accidental walleye fishing has been good this year, I would think you guys that target them will be doing good.

Maybe there is room in there for a few more burials? Good to see you got some action on the Ned, It hasn't worked too well for me lately.

Pollen is bad here in Bella Vista too. Walked the dog yesterday and the stuff got in my eyes, I hate it. Won't stop me from fishing this week however. So, see any shad spawning yet? Shouldn't be too much longer.

Congrats on your retirement!

Nice looking truck Dutch. I have a 2010 F-150, I am hoping I can get another 5 years out of it, new truck prices scare me.

Thanks for the update, very nice largemouth. Dang goggleye, if you guys didn't post pictures of them I would not believe they existed in TR, I have never caught a one.

This has been the best winter/spring I have ever had on this lake. We're seeing the fruits of the high water springs we have had that result in good fry survival. Now that the lake is high again, I hope they keep it that way for a bit and we should have another good year for spawning success. The fish are pretty close to the bank, won't be for long I don't think.

Smallmouth are biting, better than I have ever seen on this lake. I caught more smallies yesterday in one day on Beaver than I ever have in one day on this lake. 3.3 Keitechs on 1/4 oz heads on rocky banks. I encourage everyone to practice catch and release when it comes to smallmouth, the numbers are strong, let's keep it that way.

I think they are about done spawning, a lot of them had beat up tails. It would be interesting to know how many Keitechs HLS sells, I was in the store a few weeks ago and the 4-side Keitech rack was practically right in front of the door, had to walk around it to get to the back.

I went over to Beaver today, didn't launch until 10 AM, so if there was an early AM top water striper bite, I was a bit late for it. Rain in the area kept me at the house. Smallmouth bite was the best I have ever experienced on Beaver. 3.3 Keitechs on 1/4 oz heads - Beaver is always a bit different than TR, but I have to think that down on the lower end of TR you could get some brown fish right now. This post has been promoted to an article

Well thanks for the compliment Mr. Babler, but I know that you can out fish me on the White any and every day. I just try and keep up (and fail miserably). I like my boat, no plans to sell it, I am hoping it is my last one. When I get too old to push the fiberglass around I may go to an aluminum, but hopefully that day is still a long ways out.

Well shoot dude, it's tough netting a big trout when you have you have to use a minnow dip net. 😁 Good video Seth, thanks for posting!

Gary, you have my condolences also. And if Lake Lover is not available, I'd be happy to show you some fishing spots on the upper end.

I have seen Bill's boat, front deck is like the deck on an aircraft carrier, it is big.

We caught a couple of 5 lbers on top Monday AM, and had I had another one that was a real striper that took me into the trees and broke me off. There weren't a lot of them up, we were just lucky to be in the right spot. May, in my opinion, is the best month for top water action in the lower end of the lake. Helps to have a calm day where you can see where they are at, then if you can sneak up on them and get a top water in front of them, there's a good chance they'll eat it.