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Hit the water at about noon with my two little fishing buddies, some minnows (and advice) from Fins and Feathers, and a box of Flicker Shads- two of which were the least likely fish catching lures ever as they were picked out by my girls this morning at Cabelas. (Their main criteria being the presence of their favorite colors- purple and pink for one, green and orange for the other). Started drifting minnows over brush piles- one bite but no fish. Talked to a couple other guys who had been there a while and had one fish. They said it was SLOW for the crappie. Started trolling the flicker shads and of course in the first 2 minutes my little one caught a 17.5 inch smallie- on her purple and pink flicker shad (Uncle Rico). Keep in mind I typically obly use any variation of silver. Not bad for a 6 yr old. About 5 minutes later my 7yr old hooked into a big striper on her green and orange "Tennessee Shad" flicker Shad. I felt the rod (as it was pulling her to the back of the boat) and the fish was certainly over 20lbs. It started peeling off drag but she had some over-run on her reel- and when it hit that over-run it snapped the line. I was sick! Fortunately she got some redemption a few minutes later with a schoolie (on a white flicker minnow). They were about done at this point- so I packed it in even though the back of the mid-lake cove we were in was loaded with fish...water temp was 54ish

Thanks... Good to know. We need the rain but wish mother nature could work around my schedule better...

Anyone who lives/works down south see how the rivers look this AM? Looks like the water is falling out pretty quickly? But is it fishable at all? War Eagle showing just under 2,000 cfs, white River showing just under 600...

Well- this jacks up my plans for fishing tomorrow. I assume the War Eagle will be completely blown out...any idea where the mud line might be on the lake tomorrow?

I don't disagree with anything anyone has said here but there is a more important issue- you will NEVER be able to control other people- buy you can control wearing a PFD. (Not just "having"- actually wearing). This is even more important when you are in a small craft and especially with the cold water temperatures. I didn't always wear a PFD as much as I should- but now when the water is cold, when my boat is moving, and anytime at low light I wear one. Last year after a drowning I heard a rescuer say they had never recovered a body that was wearing a PFD.

What about the War Eagle arm? Is it as muddy?

Thanks Fins...having you on here is like having a live reporter on scene at all times!

For sale or trade for a RH retrieve baitcaster: VERY gently used (maybe 10 times): 7 ft Med Heavy St Croix Premier rod- fast action. Rod is in great shape, eyelets and cork are like new. Currently has a Bass Pro Enticer ENT40FA reel mounted on it. Reel also used maybe 10 times. It is a 10 bearing reel and in excellent condition. Asking $100 for the pair or I would trade for a RH retrieve baitcaster.

Thanks Fins- what kind of water temps were you seeing in Monte Ne? Sounds like mud is gonna be a problem....

Getting out Sunday afternoon... Hoping for some whites and/or eyes...How far upriver would you go? Thinking of putting in at either sidewalk hole or blue springs... Or is it a little early for that? Maybe Monte Ne? Any thoughts?

I have 2 older Browning Citori spinning rods that are 6'6 medium fast action. They are blue and black and I bought them around 2007. These are my favorite spinning rods! But I don't think they make them anymore. Anyone know who made the Browning rods back then? I would love to find something similar even if it is a different brand.

Anyone follow The Classic at Hartwell? Casey Ashley won throwing a fluke with an underspin. He was letting it sink and SLOW rolling it along the bottom when he found schools of blue herring. It seems like Hartwell has some similar characteristics to Beaver. That is something I would never have considered but seems like it would work well here for a lot of species...Anyone of you guys use an underspin here much?

My smile was even bigger. For some reason I NEVER catch crappie- whites/stripes/walleye seem willing to bite my line but crappie have an aversion. When she is with me she ALWAYS catches crappie. So, if I want to eat I have to take her along...

So, I realize this report is too late to be of much use but wanted to share anyway. Mainly as a Thank You to F&F for all the intel he puts out. Got my 7 yr old out in the cold and wind for a while Saturday morning. Launched in the back of RB and never got more than 1/2 mile from the ramp (wind was blowing right in on us and I didn't want to take her out in the big water with the swells we had). Also- we didnt need to. She only lasted about an hour or so but we had 1 hybrid (sorry, no pic of him) and 1 crappie. True to the reports it was loaded with bait and fish back there. Graph looked like this all morning (sorry for the bad image- trying to hold a rod, watch a kid, and steer the tiller at the same time). Looked to me like there were Stripers down in the deeper end of the 20-30 foot range with crappie and other fish 15-20ish. We trolled flicker shads the entire time. Need some stable weather to try again- no doubt if we could have lasted a bit longer could have had a heck of a day. Saw a guy jig up a few smaller fish (looked like whites).

My 7 yr old and I will be dragging some flicker shads around RB in the morning. Hope to get her on her first striper!

If you want to reduce your chances of drowning to almost 0% wear a life jacket.

Sad story- "reach or throw, don't go" last year when there was a drowning on Beaver one of the rescue guys said 99% of drowning victims are not wearing a PFD. I finally decided to get an inflatable and I wear it all the times now- and I was raised around water/boats my whole life. But I decided my comfort level might be dangerous. Always wear and PFD and never jump in to rescue someone- it rarely ever works.

Highlights: Monte Ne 6:15 to 10:15 AM- cool and cloudy! Trolling flicker shads- various shad colors (you troll any color you want as long as it is white and black!) 10 crappie all caught in 28-30 fow- either suspended at about 20 or on humps that came up to 20 fow My brother, my 6 yr old daughter and I got on the water at 6:15. We didn't have much of a plan but did have the 4 rods rigged with Flicker Shads, a few Kai Techs and some top water. Tried some top water for a bit with no luck. Decided to troll and within 5 minutes my daughter was hooked up with something big- sadly right at the boat - POP- whatever was on was gone- reeled up the line to see it totally frayed. Assuming it was a very nice walleye. I was just sick about it but that would soon be -almost forgotten....(as if you ever forget the ones that get away) Set back up and on the next pass my little girl got bit again- this time it was this slab....which would be the biggest fish of the day but not the last... Then it got interesting....a massive school of whites started hitting. They were not all in one real small area and were not feeding crazy aggressively but they were crashing bait in a 50 yard by 50 yard area....we started throwing into the school. I was excited thinking my girl was gonna get her first white bass blitz....but we couldn't get them to bite. (Would have given anything to have a flyrod in the boat!!). After a few minutes of no bites the surface action kinda slowed down- didn't stop but it was spread out and very random. We decided to go back to trolling because obviously there was a lot of bait and a lot of fish in the area. We ended up with 9 more keeper crappie. We spent the rest of the morning trolling around that one big area (my #1 rule- never leave fish to find fish!). Most fish came in 28-30 feet of water- our shads were running 15-18. The fish that we caught appeared to either be suspended in 15-20 (assume chasing bait below the whites because we were out in the open with not much structure) or on the backside of structure (humps/bushes) where the structure came up to the 20 foot range before dropping back off. The first fish my daughter caught was a big slab- she actually now has the family record crappie! And I couldn't be happier!

Before turning the lake over to the drunken masses my buddy and I fished from 9:30 to 12:30 Thursday night. Not much to report- lost one fish on a chug bug- think it was a smallish striper. Other than that nothing- literally didn't get bet. We fished docks and flats with jigs and black spinner baits and some top water gear. Never really left Monte Ne area due to time....Talked to some guys at the ramp who said they didn't have any luck either and they have heard the night bite in that part of the lake has been really slow.

So, maybe this is a remedial question but would trolling Flicker Shads at night be productive? I mean, I don't know why it wouldn't but was just curious if anyone had any experience/reports?

That actually made complete sense...when I need a new flux capacitor I know who I am calling...

Hey man text me sometime- I caught a few on a black spinnerbait last week up the lake a bit. Like was said above- the points are great to throw it on but I have also had a lot of luck around well lit docks.

Thanks guys- appreciate the feedback. This is really my first sonar and it came with my boat....hope to upgrade next year and will move this one to front deck (now I just flip it around when I am on the front deck and can still see it fairly well). I am just trying to learn how to operate and read it and get the most out of it. Getting some input on what I am seeing and should see is really hepful. I read the entire manual and spent a lot of time in the garage in simulation mode and messing with it on the water earlier this spring. I might have it dialed in about as well as I can. I use it along with the Navionics app on my phone which is worth every penny of the $10 I paid for it since I don't have maps/gps in the sonar. Hoping to upgrade to something like a Lowrance Elite 5HDI next spring.

Hey- I owe you a big thanks F&F- most of what I have leaned about trolling so far has been from your reports! Thanks for how you share info! However since I now have a full box of flicker shads my wife might not appreciate you as much as I do