Quillback

They are getting underneath the docks for sure. Haven't seen anyone working them at all.

Fished the last 2 days out of Big M. Got an early bite off a gravel point on Day 1. Boated that 3 lb. LM and several other fish. Used a Gambler Burner Craw on the C-rig. That Burner Craw is a bigger version of a Zoom UV Speed Craw, seems to work. Gravel point only produced one fish on Day 2. Both days I found spotted bass on the Keitech slow rolled deep. As in 20-40 feet deep over deep trees in 60 FOW. All spots, no largies or brown fish. Very nice spots for the most part, 14-17" fish. There's some top water fish to be caught still, not a lot, but you'll see a blow up every now and then, if you can get something on them quickly, they may bite it. Have gotten a couple of smallies on a blue/black jig, and some fish on the c-rig with a Zoom Trick worm. Bite gets tough around 11 AM, and that is when I head in. I think I remember seeing the water temp at about 86 this morning.

Love those tank spots!

Yeah I am a bit disappointed in the lack of depth, maybe they'll come out with a deeper runner. Like the colors.

Yeah Mike we had a good time, but there was a time late in the morning where it was hot, humid and no wind whatsoever that makes a person miss the cooler days of spring. A little bit of a front came through about 11 AM, that brought a bit of a drop in the humidity and a little bit of a breeze and made things a little more tolerable.

Never have fished LOZ, but it will be fun to watch the show.

Got out on the water with board member Hammertime today. We did the usual early launch, got on some top water fish early, which again lasted for about a half an hour. Tried the Keitech for a while, but the fish had pretty much vacated the Keitech spots that had been working for me. We got a couple on the swimmers, but it just wasn't going to happen. Threw jigs for a bit on chunk rock and bluffs, we got a few doing that, but it was slow. We then tried some gravel with c-rigged Trick Worms and started getting consistent bites, but mostly 10-14" spotted bass with a couple of keepers. We did not get real deep off the gravel, getting most of them in 10-15 FOW. We ended up with about 45 bass total, mostly shorts, maybe 6-8 keepers, but not a one over about 16". Water temp was 82-84. Water still a murky green color with a few feet of viz.

Yeah you pulled the trigger alright, I went over to HLS and they said some guy had just left 10 minutes before I got there and had bought all the pre-orders. It's bad enough when you clean out the shelves of what is in stock, but when you buy up all the pre-orders, doggone it, that just ain't right.

Nice, good to see ya'll are getting them!

I don't know what to think of that one. It will probably work.

Congrats to your son, very nice bass.

Went fishing today with OA member Muddy Water, launched at the crack of dawn and fished until about 1130. We started with top waters, had a 30 minute TW bite off a gravel point, we might have got 7 or 8 on the TW, and Muddy got a largie that was around 2.5 on the TW. After the TW bite died we tossed Keitechs, well I tossed Keitechs and Muddy threw some different swimmers at them. We fished some docks ends that were over deep water and then a rocky point with deep trees. Keitech fish were deep, usually suspending 20-30 feet down over 50-70 FOW. We did have a huge school of black bass get on top for about 5 minutes, just enough time for us to get 3 or 4 on the TW stuff. I also got a couple to eat a Finesse worm on a drop shot. We caught largies and spots, never did get a brown fish. Not quite the bite that it was Friday, I think we got 35-40 between the two of us. I did get a 4.5 lb. LM on the Keitech. Fishing got tough around 11 AM. I forgot to note the water temp, probably 82-83.

Fowl, same as what Ham says, they just load up, or a tick, and when it's a tick, sometimes it will go slack. I pretty much go by the theory of since I'm fishing deep, anything that feels squirrely is a bite. But that will lead to me setting the hook on a deep tree every once in a while.

Welcome to NW Arkansas! I'm a transplant myself, been here about 8 years now. Spent part of my life living in the Boston area. I don't know how it works for renters, but I think you can get an ID card to fish the lakes and access the amenities. Fishing gets tough about the time you'll get here, becomes either a late evening night thing or very early in the AM for a few hours. The BV lakes, though private, receive quite a bit of pressure, in spite of that, they can be fairly good and contain some sizeable bass. Feel free to PM me if you have some questions.

Speaking of kids and night fishing - My nephew was visiting us here in Bella Vista about 5 or 6 years ago, he was around 12 at the time. It was in August and he wanted to bass fish, so we went over to one of the lakes in the evening. If got dark, but the fish were biting so we kept fishing, he, in what I thought was kind of in a joking manner, said something about whether or not "Jason" might be out at night and would he come after us? I laughed it off, and made some comment about we should keep an eye out for him and get the heck out of there if he showed up. We fished down the bank a bit and came to a house that had no lights on, 2 story, a bit run down, kind of creepy looking at least in the eyes of a 12 year old. Right then some kind of pump came on in or outside of that house and made some kind of periodic thumping noise. My nephew asked "What is that?". Not thinking too much about it, I said it might be Jason! Well that freaked him out, he wanted to leave NOW. So we left. He was glad when we got back to the truck and were on our way. He's getting close to 18 now, and I still like to tease him about the night Jason came after us.

Come on November...

My neighbor was up on that end yesterday, he says there is still a bit of a top water bite, but it appears to be tailing off. They caught 2 stripers yesterday. It's an early bite and doesn't last long. As far as boat traffic, it will get crazy later in the morning, usually starting about 10-11 AM. LB South is a more sheltered ramp, LB North is exposed to the main lake wakes and wind.

Norwood is a beautiful little lake, but tough to get a bass that weighs over a pound out of it.

Saw my neighbor drive by about 10 AM this morning, he came over and told me to come see the striper he caught. 35 lbs., massive fish. He and his son also had a 5 lber. Caught it in the point one area on a 4" Storm Wildeye shad. He thinks the striper top water activity is winding down, water temps are getting warm. He and his son had a great spring as far as stripers.

Rough estimate is about a foot per second.

I've got a milk run, just checking different spots, also looking for surface activity or shad be-bopping around. I don't like to chug across a spot I may fish with the big motor running and the graph pinging away. Are you going to fish the Ned at night? If so, it will be interesting to hear how you do.

I didn't watch the game, might have to tune in the next one.

Before I forget, I have to give a shout out to Huntest (the other Dave) for clueing me into the Keitech - thanks buddy!

Sorry, you caught me in the middle of editing. All done now.

Launched early once again, first fish of the day was a nice smallie a toad over 3 lbs. that I caught on a Yozuri pencil popper. Light spinning rod and 6 lb. test, took a while to get it in the boat. Got a few more on the Yozuri, then that top water bite stopped after about a half hour. Threw a square bill for a bit, nothing doing, nothing on the c-rig worm either. Saw some fish popping shad around a dock that extends out to the depths, sat in 60 FOW and slow rolled a Keitech deep, picked up several fish, one nice spot that I measured at just over 17 inches. I was letting the Keitech drop about 20 feet then slow rolling it in, with periodic stops to let it drop. keeping it deep. I started point hopping after that. Picked up a few here and there on the Yozuri. Pulled up on a rocky point that had deep trees on it. Set the boat in 50-70 FOW and slow rolled the Keitech deep, first cast was a 3 lb. Large mouth. And then it was on. Caught a bunch on the Keitech rolling it over deep trees, just a bunch of 14-16" fat spots, with a large mouth mixed in every once in a while. I think I had about 20 keepers today, and a bunch of other fish. Bite shut off at 1130. 3.8 Keitech (white) on a 1/4 head. Water temp 80-82.