Quillback

The little varmints start back to school next Monday in Arkansas. Is it the same start date in MO? looking forward to fewer boats on the water during the week.

Took a stroll over to the garden this morning, I'm standing there checking things out, when I hear a loud buzz near my feet, look down and there is a cicada wasp carrying a cicada (I call them locusts). Well I went back into the house to get my camera to take a pic, but darn thing was gone by the time I got back out. There was a small hole in the dirt near where I saw the wasp, so I bet it is where it went to bury the cicada and inject an egg into it. Sure was a coincidence seeing it, just read an article in the paper this weekend about them, I had never seen one of those wasps before, and a couple of days later, there it was. http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/10-facts-about-cicada-killer-wasps/

And cantaloupe.

That cool front that came through last week really knocked down surface temps.

I was looking through my notes, which helped me remember last September at the end of the month when the fish were very tough to get. They were scattered out deep with some chasing shad on top but could never find them schooled up and when you did find a few they'd move. The shad were all over the place, but were small and the fish would not touch big baits. I remember getting a few on a Kastmaster and some on finesse sized top waters. It was frustrating. My one cent (Champ's two cents are worth double my thoughts 😄), are that the shad are plentiful, but scattered and all over the place so the bass get scattered chasing them. Tough time to be a guide, Bill, you have my sympathy. Come on November!

This dude was out in the driveway this morning. Seems like about every month or two when it is warm out I will see one schlepping across the yard. Could be the same one I guess, they can live for a long time.

Fished for a few hours from daylight to about 1030. It was slow, caught 3 smallmouth that were right around that 15" mark and a handful of tiny spots. Fishing the 1/2 oz Nutech jig deep in 15-20 FOW caught the smallmouth. Spots ate a 2 inch swimbait. Some striper guys out fishing, don't know if they are catching ,many, but they are out there in the dam area. WT 83

You are en fuego with the Walters!

Ozzy Osbourne?

Hang in there buddy, LOL. I hear you on that Ultrex, I want one, but my Fortrex is still running fine so hard for me to justify putting in an Ultrex.

Thanks for the report Bill, haven't been on TR for a few weeks myself, probably going to hold off until school starts and Labor Day weekend is over. Good to see your clients getting some in the meantime!

Nice bunch of Walters!

Well I won't have to drive to Springfield anymore for the Spring Classic sale.

Got the boat launched just as it was getting light, made the decision to go back into Indian creek and fish the trees. Fishing was tough, but got some bites, mostly on the Nutech 1/2 oz jig. Caught a couple on top water also. 3 keeper sized bass, and 4 or 5 shorts. Dragged the jig in 10-20 FOW and every once in a while I'd get a bite, no pattern except they were around trees, and there's a lot of trees back in Indian. Left at 1030, bite went from slow to slower and the wake boats were making their appearance. Sons of guns were out early today, had the first one wake me out around 8 AM. Couple of fish stories: Hooked a small, 10 inch or so spotted bass on the little popper. Got it close to the boat and could see a couple of bass with him, trying to steal that popper, both of the fish chasing were keeper sized. Stopped reeling and let the little guy swim around hoping one of the bigger fish would get hooked. The little dude jumped, threw the popper, and as soon as that popper hit the water, a keeper sized largemouth grabbed that bait and I got him in the boat. Later in the morning, dragging the jig, I hooked a fish. Got it halfway to the boat and it got hung up on a tree. Messed around with it, I could pull it in some, but then it would just hang up dead stuck. Could still feel the fish on so I kept trying. Gave it a few feet of slack a couple of times, it would swim off a ways, but would not come unstuck. Finally got over the tree, gave it a lot of slack, fish swam off again, once again I took up the slack and started dragging it in, but it got hung up right at the top of the tree, I could see it, but could not quite reach the fish. Let it swim off one more time and it finally got off that tree. Got it in the boat, turned out to be an 18" smallmouth. Surface temp 82. This post has been promoted to an article

"She's like the highway between Dallas and Fort Worth - no curves."

Just took a look at Tat's type R on Ebay. a whole bunch listing for $59. What is very suspicious is I see 3 different sellers and they all have feed back of zero. Something ain't right.

Cool, hope it goes well.

Noticed that the seller has zero feedback. Heckuva deal for sure, but it sounds too good to be true. I noticed that they have the type R for $59 also. Wish I knew for sure it was legit.

I stink at estimating fish from photos, but sure looks like at least a 5 lber to me. Congrats!

That is some great fishing!

I think he should go ahead and take his family, the fishing is out of this world!

Maybe I'll watch that later. Maybe....

Launched at daylight, fished until 1130 today. It was a cloudy morning so I hung in there a little longer than usual, but the best action was early, after 9 AM it got slow. Found some top water fish off a steep, deep bank first thing in the morning. Mix of small spots and largemouth. Caught them on a small popper, ultra light spinning rod and 6 lb. test. Makes catching a 13" spotted bass a lot of fun. Top water bite lasted about 30 minutes, then shut down for the most part, but several times throughout the morning I would see a few come up and chase shad. They are eating really small shad, the shad look to be about 3/4 of an inch long. Last time out I saw bass suspended over deep water on the sonar. They would hit a drop shot, but it was hard to get it in front of them. I wanted to try something else, so decided to bring some spy baits with me. Never have had much luck with spy baits, but clear water, small shad and suspended fish made me think it might work. First cast with one I caught a 17" largemouth, which would be the biggest fish of the day. Caught a few more smaller fish on the spy bait, but never could get another good one on it. Had at least a half dozen bass grab it and get off, those small trebles, though sharp, just don't do a good job of keeping fish pinned. Caught a couple of smallies on the Ned rig in 15 FOW, got a couple more on a c-rig with the UV Speed Craw. This post has been promoted to an article