rangerman

Sounds like fun! Congrats on a good day!

My friend I don’t know what the curse was this year but I lost some pigs. The biggest one being one my wife netted and she ultimately couldn’t lift the extended net. The fish rolled out leaving the crank bait entangled in the net. I was kind of at a loss of words. Not mad, just at a loss. It was large enough I shut down kicker motor and had to chase it with the trolling motor for 15-20 minutes before I got it up. It was big I will leave it at that. I know a particular forum member 😬that had the same luck I had with landing large eyes this year.

All of the river arms are good at the right time. Key words “right time”. I have gotten into them well on the james and the kings in the spring. You are talking about a fairly small population of fish in comparison to bass. When the water temp and river flow gets right, they run up spawn in a night, drop back and go into a short term funk. As far as the river arms I have fallen back to fishing a 1/16 jig on 4 pound test just to float it in front of and causing a reaction bite if I can’t catch them on anything else. I can’t speak of the White as that’s Rps’s territory lol. It’s very hit or miss I will tell ya that. As far as the old river rats, they do get after some very large specimens tight lining chubs, I have seen a 4 fish stringer where there wasn’t one under 10 pounds largest was prolly pushing 14.

I reserve the chubs for cooler water January through March, usually I just long line with heavy split shot. Bottom bouncers with crawler harnesses and slow death are kind of standard equipment, yeah I pull them too. You can troll cranks on the upper end all winter with success. We caught some huge crappie 14-17 inchers pulling #11 flicker minnows last winter.

It does...I just like to alternate 😬.I truly love both lakes..bull shoals more so in the summer due to NO boat traffic. A walleye is a walleye is a walleye. I have caught them utilizing the same techniques I use in other states using some obnoxious colors. Rip jigging, three ways rigs, jiggin raps, trolling spoons, everything works at the right times.

In all seriousness, it took me 20 years to figure out the toothy critters on table rock, and they still sometimes have me scratching my head. Year to year they set up on the same areas, but the times could be a week off or like this year closer to a month. Walleye on the rock can be the moodiest fish on the lake. One minute they are chewing everything you put down and next minute you have to literally change colors within a couple hours to keep them interested. I love fishing them and am always willing to help guys serious about targeting them whether it be bull shoals or table rock. My kids have also grown to love fishing them. AAAAAAnd you never know when you could have the next state record on your line...they are there. I have no doubts.

Table rock fished very well for walleye this year...when you found ‘em.

Rule 1 of table rock walleye club is.......we don’t talk about table rock walleye club.😉

Full moon periods are a great time..I generally pull down deep husky jerks at 1.5-1.9 a lot of that is dependent on water temp. As far as areas, it all depends on the time of year. In May, I generally fish 5-15 foot of water with regular #12 husky jerks on flat points on inside bends. As water warms move a bit deeper. Try to start before dark and waypoint areas where you are marking fish and return to the areas and fish a we bit shallower after dark.

I need to get down there and fish with you one of these days! Good trip with as high as the water is!

Thanks for the kudos my friend! I should have a Table Rock report come next week! I really just want to ensure anyone that needs any type of tips get them! Love helping other walleye guys out!

Yes they are! They like some different colors. A couple of eaters I cleaned had pumpkinseed in them. I definitely love my snap weights but I was trying to follow the 25 foot contour and anytime I made a slight turn the inside line would drop into the brush. It was no beuno!

Over the years I have refined some techniques when working Bull Shoals during high water periods. I am a troller at heart. Being able to refine trolling techniques on this awesome walleye lake will put numbers in the boat as well as larger specimens. As of now, the old shoreline is in play with the thermocline being where it’s at. Choose erratic crankbaits such as jointed ones to draw attention to your baits. Trolling depths of 17 foot in 25 foot of water is where your want to be. Sure there are deeper fish to find however the above is where I found success. I have many trolling setups but when it comes to trolling brush, I always go with mono rigs. 10 pound Berkley big game gets the nod for me. Braid, lead core and snap weights can be hard on tackle supply when it’s comes to trolling the brush. Mono has a bit of buoyancy, which makes it pull through the brush a lot better. Over the course of 2.5 days I lost 1 crank and that’s was my failure to retie when I should have. Use dive charts to figure out dive curves for different cranks. I was running 152 foot back with the cranks I was using which put me skipping the top of the brush. Pay attention to your electronics. If walleye are wanting to feed you will see them suspended in the middle to top portions of the brush. You also want to stay in the correct depth zone to ensure your baits are not running any shallower water than they should be for obvious reasons. Speeds of 2.0-2.3 correlate with the current warmer water temps. When you hook up, keep your rod tip up, these fish will want to grab a bait and head straight back into the brush. There is definitely a stronger crank trolling bite in the mornings and evenings during the lower light periods as the fish rise to the tops of the brush. During the day, other techniques such as bottom bouncing slow death and crawler harnesses are better. Good luck!

Had maybe a half dozen between 16 and 17.5 both days. The rest were in between 19.5 and 27.5.

Had an awesome past couple days on the bull..pulled cranks for fish suspended over the tops of the brush 17 foot down over 25 foot of water. Put the hurting on them. Best day had 16 with a couple doubles. The two in the photo were one of the doubles. Love the lake, just ready for it to start its fall...speeds 2.2–utilizing cranks with erratic actions..first day I ended up with 5 fish over 25 inches.