Quillback

The fishing today was a bit slower than Christmas Eve. And the fish seemed to be deeper, I don't think I caught one that was in water less than 20 feet deep. Did the chartreuse head Ned rig thing again today, and I caught another keeper smallmouth and keeper walleye on it. Couple of fat spots too. Swimming the Ned rig over deep water was working a little better than dragging it on the bottom. Still fishing around structure, trees, rocky points and steep chunk rock banks. Threw a couple of different jerk baits for a bit too, and never got a bite on them. Nice day to be out, and I was not the only one out there today.

Yeah, we'll get through it. The alarmist stuff annoys me more than the potential consequences. Supposed to be warm tomorrow, I think I'll go fishing.

I usually will fish for them once or twice a year. Never caught as many of those big redears as we did this summer when you came over. Interesting reading some of Bfishin's coments about using freshwater mussels for bait for redears.

Good luck to you and your better half - I hope you whack them!

Merry Christmas everybody! Some great colors in the sky this morning at the launch. So why chartreuse? I have noticed that when I fish small swimbaits like a Keitech that it seems I'll catch more smallies and wallies if I use a chartreuse jig head. Lately when fishing my Ned rigs I have been doing ok on the spots, but can't catch a decent smallmouth. I have some Nutech chartreuse crappie heads in my tackle stash and decided I would give them a shot. Glued on some Dirt colored half Zinkers on a couple of them and took them with me today. Caught 2 nice keeper smallmouth and a couple of walleye. Maybe a coincidence, but I haven't caught a keeper sized smallmouth in a while. Chartreuse seemed to make a difference, but more 'research' is required. Caught some spots too. 17 bass total, 4 keepers. One of the smallmouth really pulled, thought for sure it was either a big walleye or big largemouth - but it wasn't. Still fishing steep banks, rocky points and timber. Who knows where this bank is? Couple of smallmouth: Sir Spot: And a wallie:

Way to go buddy, indeed it was a great day to be out!

Thanks for the heads up!

Ahhh, the old mystery fish that pulls off - I hate that when it happens. I caught a 17 lb. drum up by the dam a couple of years ago on a Ned rig, FWIW. There's crappie in the coves off Indian creek, I never have done much good on them but had a buddy that got into them pretty good a couple of years ago during the spawn. Did you see any striper surface activity?

Just reread your post, and you are right, it is one of the ramps in Viney.

Edit.

It does look similar to Emerald Beach, and the background is fuzzy which I apologize for, but it is not Emerald beach.

I never have been in a situation where I had to shoot somebody, and I have not led a sheltered life. I'm more concerned about some of the lawful citizens who carry. A few months ago there were some car break ins in a sub division in Pea Ridge. 3 handguns were reported stolen out of 3 different owners vehicles. What were the owner's intents? Maybe they are worried they'll get into a road rage situation where they need to shoot their way out of it? There is no need to arm yourself when you go out for a drive here in NW Arkansas. I am not anti-gun at all BTW, have several myself.

That does look good.

HAHA, no, but it is close to Big M. Not Emerald Beach, BTW.

A 10 keeper day on Beaver is not bad at all. Spotted bass on Table Rock were biting really lightly too yesterday - must be the water. 😄

There was a good spotted bass bite yesterday, Ned rig was working well on bluff banks, steep rocky banks, and around timber. Fish were anywhere from 10 to 30 feet deep, most being around 20 feet. I'm either slowly dragging the Ned rig on the bottom, or hopping it down bluff walls, but it's a slow hop. For the most part they are really biting lightly, sometimes they'll thump it, but many of the bites are barely detectable even using braid with a leader. I'm catching very few largemouth or smallmouth, yesterday I caught 2 largemouth, and one smallie, but caught close to 20 spots. I did catch a few on a 110 sized jerk bait. I think if I would have thrown the jerk bait all day I would have caught more on it, but the Ned rig is just getting more bites for me right now. Got some background in this pic - who knows where it is? Broke Back fish - but he was a keeper! This post has been promoted to an article

I moved this thread, it hasn't been about Table Rock for a few pages.

Well I would like to try some of the new Ned style baits that are coming out, see if I can find anything better than a cut in half Zinker. Probably won't find one, but what the heck. I want to fish crankbaits more than I do now, maybe this will be the year. I want to spend more time pan fishing for bluegills and red ear, especially on Table Rock. Hoping for relatively stable weather in May and June and if so, hoping for a good top water striper bite. If Ham beings Waldo over to the upper White, I hope I can snag a ride with him.

Lear?

There's some shoreline access in the Holiday Island area near the marina, but across the road. The COE parks downstream, Big M and Eagle Rock have some shore access, but with the lake at 916 it is somewhat limited. Once it gets to around 910 there is much more accessible bank. There's also some neighborhood ramps in Viney that have a bit of fishable shoreline. Best thig to do is get out and do some scouting, you'll find places to fish. Just about all my bank fishing on Table Rock involves dragging a Ned rig - a couple of years ago, the lake level was at 907 in late February and myself and a buddy were catching a lot of bass from the bank. Walleye run up the White early in the spring, then there is a white bass run. You might be able to intercept some off the bank at Holiday Island.

You guys had quite a time. 😃

You ever use the Gallery? It will let you load up to 100 pics in one folder. Hit the browse tab above, then click on gallery. You'll first have to create a folder for your pics, then you can up load them. So what is your estimate on that brown that got away?

Fish fry with all the trimmings.