rangerman

There are a few around..not many. Catch them mostly in the big river systems Used to catch a lot in fort peck in Montana, and lake sakakawea in North Dakota generally the big river systems. They are a cool fish with teeth no doubt. They lack the white spot on tail and are generally more slender and mottled than walleye.

Wasn’t it James Watson that tore them up in a tourney on loz on flutter spoons?

I’m good with that 🤗😁can buy more flicker shads then without the wife complaining! 👍🏻👍🏻

Any guidance for rod eye repair work around Kimberling City or Springfield for that matter?

No, three with just me, 4 when I got someone else in the boat. Of course as good as the week was I had 2 triples and a bunch of doubles. Flat wears a guy out.

What the heck is it with those things!! I seen 4 of them on the lake yesterday! lol.

Off shore tackle makes a snap weight kit for those whom don’t want to piece one together. Basically the or12 releases (red ones) are made for snap weights. This trip, I run out 50 foot of line and then snapped 2 ounce weights on and ran out another 75 foot. Offshore tackle is good about posting editorials about there usage. Lead core line is another option but I haven’t used it In awhile. Down riggers are hard to use here (unless they are open water suspended) because I like to bump the tops of these humps before pulling over them. The crankbait will drag over the gravel hump and drop right into the fishes face. I use planer boards everywhere for all species especially in clear water. A lot of time it can make your trip by getting baits out of the path of the boat. Watching a 30 pound sturgeon bay king salmon grab a crank on a board is a Adrenalin rush. I have 9.9 Mercury kicker I use in conjunction with my motorguide xi5 I use to make quick adjustments to speed and turns.

I like crawler harnesses as well, but our southern lakes you get a lot of incidental catches. I really like cranks the best due to having the ability to really cover water. I had a friendly competition with my dad whom was at bull shoals this week and while he was hovering over and trying to make fish bite with harnesses and slow death rigs, I was banging on the walleye with cranks. Myself and my son had a limit in an 1 hour 55 minutes. All about covering the water and finding the active schools 👍🏻👍🏻🎣

I was able to get out this morning and spend some exploratory time to myself and try different areas. Started with the same patterns, with 2 ounce snap weights and immediately started hooking up. Once the bite slowed down a bit, I changed patterns up and went with larger cranks. #11 flicker minnows to be exact. They were in 23-26 foot of water laying on and suspending just off the bottom on the gravel rolloffs. Was running 2.3 mph but would use the bow mount to surge the speed up to 2.7. It would trigger strikes. Ended the morning with 11 eyes in between 17 and 27 3/4. The big one was cpr’d after delicate surgery. Only kept a couple eater size as I have been blessed already, and just wanted to enjoy the morning. There really is no secret to this game but dedication and trial and error. It’s more to it than just tossing lines over the side and trolling along. Trust you graphs and what you are looking at fish wise. I the wanted to see if I still had some “bass sense” and started working kastmaster 3/8 ounce spoons on the long docks. Letting it drop, watching the line, and using a pump and fall. Got a a few sub legal kentuckies and a nice black bass. Found some whites as well and ripped on them too. What a wonderful morning! Excuse my pics, I was taking them myself. View full article

I had the boards running the same depth but they were 30 feet off the side of the boat. Gets the bait away from the boat and prevents the suspended fish from spooking as badly.

Yeah bill we had some sub legal kentuckies and a couple of smallies as well. Same program but most of those were caught in the open water, not on the gravel, which is kind of odd because we usually pick a few up with the gravel lizards on the gravel breaks. I really hammered on the walleye suspended at bull shoals, 23 foot suspended over 80 foot of water.

I have spent the last couple of days beating up on bull shoals walleyes but decided to switch gears to table rock. As was on bull shoals the early morning bite is the best by far. Trolled flickers shads with 2 ounce snap weights. Flicker shads in your standard shad patterns were the best. Speeds 2.3. Gravel roll offs 22-25 foot deep and there is also a suspended fish pattern but may have to contend with some white bass. Planer boards lines were picking fish up 4-1 over flatlines. I had 9 walleye this morning in 2.5 hours and some giant whites. Did keep a limit for supper. Go get em! And get off water by 10 cause it gets HOT! This post has been promoted to an article

I prepare mine the same way, but use a wee bit of lemon pepper in the flour and use a cucumber salad with honey,ginger, rice wine vinegar, English cucumber, diced red pepper and green onions. Definitely need to try the mango salsa!😉

The easiest way to start with is off shore tackle snap weights. Look up necessary dive curves for the different size weights at different speeds. In the 18-23 foot range I generally run 2 ounce weights 50 foot ahead of the bait and run out another 60 foot or so..a lot has to do with the speed variance you are trolling at. There can be a big difference in getting bit at 2.3mph where as you can't get a hit at 2.0mph. Trial and error is a lot of it. Go out on a gravel flat and do some testing. If the fish are hanging a couple of feet off the bottom after you attach and run your weight out let it hit bottom and immediately engage your reel. The you can reel in a bit or let a bit out for depth variances. Lead core is another option however, you lose a lot of the fight. I could have probably gotten away with 1.5 ounces however. With wave actions there is a bit more surge with the boat wakes. With snap weights I can run shorter leads which allows me to follow contours a bit easier. I also run 10 pound braid on my rigs with a 10-15 foot 12 pound floro leader to allow for some stretch on the strike and during the fight.

Well this evening into dark the walleye continued biting utilizing the same techniques, however the kiddos and the wife were able to catch a few just for fun. It was an absolute banner weekend for me as I have never caught walleye on table rock like I did this weekend. Feel completely blessed by what I was able to experience, not just for numbers caught but the ability to release some good ones as well! As I used to fish bass on table rock thoroughly my addiction to the toothy critters took over. Just can't believe the pattern I was able to put together on them and just modify it slightly from different times of the day to stay on the bite. WOW, is all I got. I did fish bass a bit and caught some good spots and smallies fishing #5 rippin rap in helinski shad color on gravel points in 20 foot of water, using the same rip jigging technique I use up north for walleye. Cheers to all!

Good night! I found some on the ends of gravel points, stacked, in 20 foot of water. Had a mix of species with a size 5 rippin rap. Worked it ripjigged like I do for walleye up north. Helinksi sjad colored. i agree, I have been down here since I was a kid and I just can't believe what this lake has become. I would like to throat punch whomever developed wake boats however, I guess it's only the operators fault. I remember days were I could sit on our dock all day long and see bottom in 12 foot of water no problem. Now it's just a muddy mess. Very sad.

Had seven more this morning in a short trip...released some good uns again in exchange for some eaters. caught them up the white river arm..this morning you had to run deep diving cranks and have the bills grinding and bouncing off the bottom, the would wack them on the ricochet. Blue pearls were very good with the target depth of 18-22 foot at 2.2mph.

Had a wonderful day today. Had a limit of walleye plus a few to release. Cut lose a 28 incher. All trolling cranks at 2 mph in 18 foot of water on a gravel flat. And the bass were a pain. I couldn't barely keep them off the hook. This post has been promoted to an article

Kinda on but off topic, but how bad is say the upper end of little niangua this time of year?

I agree..Vmc mooneye jigheads are top notch. Work great with crawlers as well as plastics.

I don't buy the buckets...just usuallynthe ten packs which I think are about 6 bucks, just about anywhere. For Stockton I would fish the 3 inchers on a 1/8 ounce head. The chartreuse pearl should kill it down there right now with the current water color. I think Wally World carries some colors.

Sometimes they "out fish live bait" other days not so much. Depends on the fishes mood..I have fished 4 inch gulp minnows half a day with a dozen or so fish with no problems. Again it depends on how well they are eating them.