Quillback

I have banged a lure off stuff in docks a time or two, but must admit that I have never broken a light bulb. You unfortunate folks that have boats in slips may have to put on a motorcycle helmet when you step onto the dock to avoid hanging and flying lures.

I was buying minnows at the Hickory creek marina on Beaver to go crappie fishing several years ago. The guy selling the minnows netted some of the dead ones out of the tank and tossed them into the water right off the dock. 6 lb. bass came right up and slurped them down. Guy said that fish was there every morning waiting. Hickory is a commercial dock, no fishing within 50 feet.

Well I have the leader (Martens) - but not feeling comfortable, lots of guys near the top. I have Fletcher Shryock at #47 and he's only 7 lbs. out.

Well not a whole lot to report. Found a bit of a bite on a rocky point early on a 3.8 Keitech, and found a few others near docks and on some other points. Never got into them, just couldn't find them. Should've just stayed on the first point I fished as they were there but slow on the bite. Missed quite a few bites as they just weren't chomping it. Maybe the cool weather messed them up. Caught 15, all spots except for one largemouth and a meanmouth. Most were suspended over 40-50 FOW. Surface temps had cooled down to 81-83. No fish pics, but here's a scissor tail that was hanging around the launch keeping the flying bug population under control.

Dang, that's a big ol' wallie!

All the tournaments I've read the rules for state that you have to obey all laws and regulations. Would you be cheating if you fished within the 50 foot mark on the commercial docks? Most likely the answer is yes you are.

I watched about 30 minutes, as you say, they were spooning docks. The other guy (I can't remember his name) got a largemouth that went 4 lbs. 5 oz. Some pretty chunky spots got caught also.

Congrats on catching some!

It's on now, just found out myself. Basszone.com

You don't have one of those electronic fish noise maker things that brings the bait to you?

That Oahe tournament will be interesting. Missouri river impoundment I believe. Wind can be brutal there at times.

Made it over to Big M this morning, launched at dawn. Plan was to hit a few summertime largemouth spots and go from there. Plan didn't turn out well, could hardly get a bite early, the exception being a carp that probably went about 15 lbs. that decided to eat my c-rigged craw. First carp I can remember catching on a c-rig, and he had it in it's mouth so I can only assume he meant to eat it. I was hoping it would turn out to be the biggest bass swimming in Table Rock, but I could tell after about 10 seconds that it was no bass. Thought it might be a gar or drum, a little surprised to see old bugle come to the net. Later in the morning I headed out to a place I have named "Keitech Point" and swam the Keitech. Caught some there, made a location change to another rocky point with trees and caught some more there. All spots, except for one 12" largemouth. Caught a little over 20 and when I left about 1130 AM they were still biting. Had a wake boat towing an inflatable couch with 3 kids siting on it pass by about 50 feet away and that made me decide it was time to go. As I cam into the Big M launch there was a white garbage bag floating in the water in the middle of the cove, I decided to get it out of the lake and dump it in the trash can. Went to lift the bag and it fell apart spewing bottles, cups, and other trash all over the place. Had to drop the TM and net as much as I could. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished, LOL. This post has been promoted to an article

I was out there too today, and it was busy.

I always wonder about the pound test rating on line weights. No standards bureau to test it out, so we have to trust what it says on the spool, unless you do the weight test like you did. I like Maxima, it is what I used for salmon and steelhead fishing on my spinning outfits. Still use it for cranks and top water.

Maxima is at .229 mm, BP is .230, so BP is slightly larger in diameter, so small a difference that it shouldn't matter. We're talking .001 mm.

Must be an error on the Maxima site. BP gives the mm here. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-excel-monofilament-line-jumbo-spool

Maybe the .009 was in inches? That converts to .229 in MM. You can type into Google - "convert .009 inches to mm" and it will do the conversion for you.

I see .229 on the TW site for 6 lb. Maxima (Ultragreen).

I can't help, but you might want to post that question in the Bull Shoals forum. Welcome BTW.

Congrats also, picking up those suspended deep fish is not an easy thing to do.

English comp won' help someone that is mentally deranged.

Well Harvey finished 50th. Only needed 5 more pounds to get to 12th and fish today. He only got one bass on day one and that did him in as he had a decent day 2. Looks like tough fishing, leader has 21 lbs. after 2 days.

Sure does look like a Plopper doesn't it? Look like nice lures that will catch fish, but nothing stands out as being innovative.