bferg

Awesome job Mike. Being that close has to burn at you but what an awesome experience!

Wise words. I am pretty sure I saw a sign at Cabela's that showed the payment based on 15 year financing. That's the dumbest thing I have ever heard of in my life.

Happy New Year. Since Quillback is on the IR I didn't want his spot to get too cold while he is out. Sadly- my report will not be as thorough as his usually are. Hit Big M this AM: on the water at 7:15, off at 11. Water temp never above 49 or below 47. The day started well with a keeper on a jerk bait. Followed up immediately by a K on the Rock Crawler. Jumped from spot to spot the rest of the AM. Caught 4 more on the Rock Crawler. Scoreboard for 2016: Rock Crawler lots of fish, Wiggle Wart zero. (Only fished at Table Rock 4 days this year). But for whatever reason head to head (one guy fishing the Crawler one guy fishing the Wart) the Crawler out performed the wart every day. Today, All the fish were caught on classic 45 degree chuck rock banks with with some wind on the bank. Happy New Year! Thanks for all the info you guys share that let's a guy like me pull up to the rock for the first time since September and catch fish. Love this site. My goal for 2017 is to spend more time on The Rock. It's worth the drive from Bentonville.

Thanks fellas... my plans ended up being over-ridden. Going to burn some brush piles today instead. Hopefully I can make it out next weekend. But appreciate the info you guys share on here anyway!

Hey guys: now that the water and air temp are getting right and the deer is in the freezer I am going to head out Sat Am looking for stripers. Looks like a lot of you have been seeing a lot of activity the last few weeks. If you were going out Saturday would you start up near RB or is there some mid-lake action yet?

With all respect to J-Doc- that is what this forum is for and much appreciation for the report. I still won't be able to catch them! Crappie and me don't get along for some reason.

Nice job Quill- you slay up and down the white river! Even I don't like to swim in 91 degree water!!

Champ, Agree completely that it is primarily a staffing issue...lots of water to cover and not a lot of people to do it.

In an ideal world this is true. However, that is rarely efficient in any area of life. Any one familiar with Six Sigma or Focused Improvement will be familiar with the idea that in order to improve a system you work through inefficiencies one at a time, starting with the largest opportunity. In this case I think we all agree that there is far more of a negative impact to the fishery from illegal harvesting (of all species) than from the tournament guys. As a non-tournament fisherman with no real dog in this fight other than wanting the best fishery possible for all of us, I would much rather have AGF focusing on stopping illegal harvest. I have fished Beaver for 8 years now on a fairly regular basis- not as often as I would like or as many of you- but quite a bit. I have never ONCE been checked by a game warden. That shouldn't be possible.

Stripers love the flicker shads- even big stripers eat them. There are always a few on the upper part of the lake and trolling a shad is a sure way to find them. That's some fun on the crappie rod I'm sure.

That's an awesome bronze ninja! Love the kaitechs. If I had to pick one lure to fish for the rest of my life (God forbid!) anywhere in the world that would be it. You can burn it, slow roll it, fish it on top, shallow, deep. Very versatile. I always have one tied on and on the deck. Nice report as always Quill.

This is strong advice. I love the WP but we all know the only magic baits are the banjo minnow and the mighty bite.

Awesome report! Thanks for the pictures of the baits. It's awesome having a visual of what colors and set ups are being used.

Put the boat in at 5.30 in a pretty dense fog and no wind. Fog stayed around until almost 9. Ran main lake points from Viney to point 26 throwing the WP 130. Caught multiple fish on almost every point- but didn't find any one spot where the action was fast and furious. Caught mostly fat spots (many appeared to have no spawned yet), a few LM and 2 bronze ninjas. As the fog burned off and the sun came out there was no wind and the bite just really died. We got off the water at 10:15. Final total: 22 fish, 17 on the WP, 3 on a fluke following up a missed blow up, and 1 on a spinner bait. The further out we got the better the fish were. Also- there was very little wind but any ripple we could find really helped the bite. Best fish were caught with the boat about 30 casting as long as we could back to 10-15 feet. We were getting on the ends of long tapering points and throwing back towards the bank. It actually seemed to matter how we were pulling the baits- caught most of our fish pulling parallel to the point- best spot being right at the apex. Didn't catch many pulling across the points... I'm not sure what is more fun than catching fish on topwater. Sorry for the sideways pics.

Awesome! Got a new WP in the mail today. Whopper Plopper- engage!

Awesome post man! Sounds like a great morning. I am headed over to Big M next Saturday so I hope I can get on that Top Water bite... On the Kai Techs- if you glue them to the head the last MUCH longer. Also, it is almost like the more beat up they get the better they work. I keep throwing them until the tail breaks off. They are soft and still don't last as long as some baits but the glue helps at least double the life on them.

Quill- solid report as always. Bill- thanks for the info. I am curious about the pocket deal you guys are describing. What are you looking for in a "pocket"? After reading this I am not sure I would know one if I saw it!

Got on the water at 5:30 this AM. Beautiful morning although I would have killed for some cloud cover and a little breeze. Water temp: 69-70. Started throwing some top water and kai techs right near the ramp. Moved over to the cove and was marking a lot of fish but couldn't get a bite. At about 6:30 near the last dock on the cove a huge school of shad came up and proceeded to crash the bank back and forth along about a 50 yard stretch. Threw every trick in the book in and around the shad and never got a bite. It was really frustrating. Saw something I had never seen before- a cat from the house came down to the bank and was going along trying to eat the shad that were crashing the bank. Trolled our way out of the cove with some Flicker Shads and got no bites- but did hook a few shad! It was loaded with shad in there. About 7:15 moved out to some deeper drop offs still targeting top water fish- had one striper blow up a pencil pop'r but that was about it. Sun was already up high and bright at that point. Off the water at 7:45. Beautiful morning out!! Wish I could have just stayed out there all day!

Thanks Stump- good info. I usually keep a spook or chug bug on but just have not had much luck with it this spring. Of course, my fishing time has been a little limited. I need to learn to fish that deep water better! I was out at RB last week one night and it was just dead as dead could be- zero surface activity at all which is really odd for this time of year. But, it has been a strange spring.

What type of water are you fishing for the topwater bite? As we move into warmer water what should I be looking for? I have had almost zero luck with Topwater this spring and it is really pissing me off.

I get it- it isn't cheap. But the quality of the Cabela's apparel is MUCH higher than BPS (in my opinion). They have more stuff that is fitted, and just higher quality in general. I have been very impressed with all the apparel I have bought from Cabela's for both hunting and fishing. (But I don't have any $50 t-shirts- from anywhere)

Consolidation is usually isn't great for the consumer. But I can see where it might make sense from BPS perspective- I moved here from Colorado and I can tell you that Cabela's is to the Rocky Mountains as Bass Pro is to the Ozarks.

No worries! I'm not adjusting anything! I'm just mechanical enough to be dangerous but this is obviously outta my league- mainly because I don't know how it all works.

Ok- I'm in over my head- but thanks so much for the 24 hour tech support Fishenwench! Didn't know this forum came with that feature!

so, should the throttle cam be pulling the timer base back into place? Because the throttle cam isn't returning to full stop. I don't see a spring on the throttle cam. When I push the throttle cam back all the way the timer base moves with it smothely.