Quillback

I was last out on Tuesday, and it was crowded on the upper end also. Thought maybe there was a big tournament going on. Must be the warm weather, because the fishing sure was tough.

Cool, glad to hear you are sticking those fish in spite of the weather. It rained a bunch here in Bella Vista last night.

Thanks Neil. Must have been interesting to see what it was like when the water was down.

Well If you have time or the inclination, I'd be curious to hear some details on that pork frog - I haven't fished them much at all, but I know it can be a great bait. I have heard that people take a knife and scrape the fat off of them before fishing them.

I fish once a year with my uncle over at Sardis lake in Mississippi, well except this year. We troll for crappie using Bandit 300's. We use his tackle and he has his reels spooled up with that yellow line. We always catch a good number of nice crappie.

Yep, that's my view on it. But, that being said, no way I'm fishing red line. Or that bight yellow stuff.

Yeah Neil, I think I know where you are talking about. I have caught bass there, just not any big ones. Doesn't mean they aren't there, I just can't catch any there.

Then I guess dyslexia should be a good thing to have if you are a fisherman. Maybe it's more of an ability to think outside the box, be unconventional, that works.

For sure. And of course we don't know what a fish "sees", but water does filter light colors. A red lure will not reflect red light if it running 20 feet down, it has become a gray lure. What do the fish think? Who the heck knows? I use green for mono, so I can tell it apart from floro when I look at what I have spooled on a reel. I don't think it makes any difference myself. I don't know that bass get spooked by line, heck, they'll hit stuff on an A-rig.

I have fished it, haven't got the bigguns out of it however. In the summer, before I launch the boat early in the morning, I'll throw a top water from the bank, I've picked up a few doing that. I'm sure there's a bunch that live under the commercial dock in the no fishing zone and some of them are going to wander out from time to time.

Here's a video that explains things. Short version is reds and oranges are filtered out by water at about 15 feet. That's for reasonably clear fresh water, dirtier water it could be less than 15.

Or maybe slow reaction time as part of the rod action. Not a good trait in a rod.

Something that might be worth a shot in those smallmouth rich waters you are fishing is a tube or Gitzit. Texas rig it, or fish it on a jig head and drag it on the bottom. I am going to try one myself next time out, spots and LM's will eat them too. They may not like them, but always worth a try in the fall.

That end of the lake is just too far for me to travel, even to pursue the mighty and elusive (for me) goggle eye. I know there are some on the upper end, and I agree, you'd think the Ned would've picked one up for me by now, heck I have caught several trout on the Ned.

The fish are being contrary, you'd think with that wind that you could slay them on the windy banks. Oh well, it is great to get out and fish even if the catching is tough.

OK, revised list: OK, here is what I have as far as who is staying what nights: Thursday - Me, SIO3, and N9BOW, Phil and friend Fri- Griz, Terrierman, Lane, Tyler, and maybe another. Me, SIO3, N9BOW, and Little Red, Phil and Friend Saturday - All of the above, except Phil and Friend.

I am the only person that fishes TR that has never caught a goggle eye, not one ever. But, that is certainly a biggun.

Nice day of fishing on the WP. I heard from someone else that the fishing was tough on Saturday.

OK, here is what I have as far as who is staying what nights: Thursday - Me, SIO3, and N9BOW Fri- Griz, Terrierman, Lane, Tyler, and maybe another. Me, SIO3, N9BOW, and Little Red Saturday - All of the above.

Hey Blue - Hope you and your dad get into them. I know from some of your past reports on other boards that you are a good fisherman, so I bet you figure them out.

I tried a Megabass Magdraft swim bait a bit, nice action, but you have to fish it slow or it will roll on it's side. Had a couple of nips on it. I need to throw a lipless more this time of year. I had a day about 6 years ago on beaver where I threw them back in Piney cove in one of the side pockets. Caught a half dozen keeper large mouth in about 30 minutes, but could not get another bite on it that day after that.

My big fish of the day - Thought I had a good bass there for a minute. Couldn't find any deep fish, they were gone from the spots they had been in. Couldn't find the shad or the bass out off the banks. Finally figured out there were some off the chunk rock either on the main channel or in some of the coves. Caught about 15, but only a couple of large mouth. Mostly 12-14" fish, had two keeps. Jig bite with the 1/2 oz jig was the best and got a couple of crank bait fish. Caught 4 mean mouth today, those boys just hammered the jig. Saw very little top water activity, thought there would be some with the cloudy day, but just didn't see much going on. Maybe it picked up in the evening. Looks like it is going to warm up, and get windy the next few days. WT - 71, 72.

Saw something similar on Table Rock yesterday, a couple of deep spots where I had found bass and shad were empty of fish. Found some on chunk rock on the main channel and back in coves. They were biting jigs and cranks. Couldn't get many largemouth and the quality was not good, mainly 12-14 inch fish, spots, mean mouth, and smallies. Saw very little top water activity, which was strange, it being a cloudy day.

That is a huge warmouth.

I was out there also, but didn't get the quality bite. Caught 20 bass, mix of spots and LM's. Caught some deep on the drop shot off a gravel point, and found some around wood and part way back in a cove that I caught on medium diving cranks and jigs. I only had one keeper, bunch of 12-14" fish.