Quillback

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.

That wind really blows on that section of lake. Looks to be little to no wind in the forecast for Saturday. It's getting to be that time of year to always have a spook ready to toss at the stripers. It's also getting to be that time of year that you want to get to Indian right before light to get parking in the lot, at least on a Saturday. There are some places you can park in the grass too.

I tried it once and did not think it was good, but maybe it was not made correctly.

Thanks for the update Mark. I might go over to Indian later this week once the wind machine gets turned down.

Just wait until school gets out.

I need a 3 stall garage. The ideal one would be to have one that has a door on both ends of one of the stalls where you could drive your truck/boat trailer in the back and leave it parked in there hooked up and ready to go. Of course you need a really long stall to do that and room to circle around to the back of the garage, but sure would be a nice thing to have.

Minor flooding going on down river, don't see how they are going to be able to release significant water from Bull until the lower river goes down. IMPACTS...At 26.0 feet, Many thousands of acres of cropland are inundated. Water is near State Highway 14. Many private levees are overtopped allowing the river to flood cropland. Water in portions of Jacksonport State Park that are on river side of levee. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - At 8:00 PM CDT Sunday the stage was 26.6 feet. - Forecast...The river is cresting and will fall below flood stage before dawn on Monday, May 9. It will continue falling to around 15.4 feet by Wednesday, May 18.

I bet you'll get a lot of fish.

If that spinner bait over the bushes starts happening, that is a fun way to catch them. Top water bite ought to get going soon too.

Curious as to the water clarity myself. Has to be a lot of debris floating around too.

They haven't posted the full results, but from the live page, the boater winner had 16-6 and the backseat winner had 12-14.

Lots of water for sure. BTW, the link to the Bull Shoal graph in the Lower Bull Shoals forum is broke - showing data for a week in September. Maybe it needs to be refreshed?

A Tennessee State trooper pulled over a pickup on I-65. The trooper asked, "Got any ID?"The driver replied, "Bout whut?"

Don't get me started.

A Florida senior citizen drove his brand new Corvette convertible out of the dealership. Taking off down the road, he pushed it to 80 mph, enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left. 'Amazing,' he thought as he flew down I-95, pushing the pedal even more.Looking in his rear view mirror, he saw a Florida State Trooper, blue lights flashing and siren blaring. He floored it to 100 mph, then 110, then 120. Suddenly he thought, 'What am I doing? I'm too old for this!' and pulled over to await the trooper's arrival. Pulling in behind him, the trooper got out of his vehicle and walked up to the Corvette. He looked at his watch, then said, "Sir, my shift ends in 30 minutes. Today is Friday. If you can give me a new reason for speeding, a reason I've never heard before– I'll let you go.." The old gentleman paused then said, "Three years ago, my wife ran off with a Florida State Trooper. I thought you were bringing her back." "Have a good day, Sir," replied the trooper.

926. They are easing up a bit on the Beaver release, down to 30K CFS. Beaver is now below 1130 (top of flood pool).