MstStudent10

Thanks for the thought but it's a bit too late for me. I graduated this past December so I'm all done at Rolla. My best friend, Bobby Loyd, was the one that started the FLW college team up at CofO a few years back. Gave me the idea of doing the same thing a few yrs back, I just had too much on my plate already with school and was content fishing the local stuff as a co angler. Wish I could change my display name as MstAlum... or somethin like that. Thanks for the thought though I appreciate it.

I'm not gunna lie guys, at first I was skeptical. After talking with Jamesedwards it seems that Stockton truly can produce some crazy bass... that is IF, and a BIG IF you know what to look for, and why to look there. It seems James has been around since before the Lake was made, and knows A LOT of things that the average fisherman at Stockton does not know... Anyway, James you made a believer out of me, and good fishing to you sir. I've attached 2 of the pics I got from him, and by his request and out of respect, I blacked out his face to help protect his anonymity for when he's out on the lake. These are both just over 10.

Jamesedwards, Would like to see some pics of those 3 Hawgs. Unreal to have 3 that big in one spring. I also have an iPhone. If you wouldn't mind, could you shoot me some pics via text on iPhone. Or email if that'll work. I'll PM you my number and email.

I had a fish this March at Lake Fork with very close dimensions as yours. Mine was 26" long and girth was 19". My fish went 10.75 lbs with a reliable scale. Only unsure thing is that I measured the girth while my dad held the fish vertically. If held horizontally the girth prolly woulda been a bit more cuz the eggs woulda been sagging more. And granted, my fish was a Florida strain. But I'd say with your dimensions, it has got to be around there, cuz your dimensions and weight closely compare with what mine was. At the very least, I think it is very safe to say that you reached the 10+ club! Congratulations! Here's a pic of the 10.75 for comparison.

They're definitely still on at Stockton. Fished this afternoon and got my limit off of one single tree. About 8 ft water and from 3 to 5 ft down. WAter temp was from 66 to 68 around Aldrich. They are in water as shallow as 1 foot, as long as there's cover like brush or laydowns.... .... On another note, I noticed on two different occasions today, two totally different folks fishing from shore putting "Sub Legal" crappie on their stringer. I didn't feel like starting anything and I don't fish for crappie much so it's not a huge deal to me, but I'm sure a lot of the hardcore crappie fishermen wouldn't be too happy about this. This was between the Aldrich and highpoint area.

Well I went to Stockton after all so sorry no Fellows report. They're hot indeed at Stockton. 1-10 feet of water as long as u have cover.

I live about 5 min from fellows. Want to go after some crappie tomorrow. Anybody got any info on them at fellows so far this year? Or will it be a waste of time? Wondering if I should go the extra distance up to Stockton, I know they're on there. Thanks in advance everyone!

When dragging a jig, usually use a 3/8, 1/2, or 5/8 oz depending on how windy and/or deep it is i'm fishing. If fishing really deep and its windy, may step up to 3/4 oz... As far as jigs go, I really think its personal preference. Chompers and Eakins Jigs are both great, as well as Omega too. Really depends on what colors I have in which jig that determines the jig I throw. ...For trailers, I usually go with the Berkley Chigger Craws, thats just because I'm stuck on Powerbait. Love that stuff. If the water is really clear and its a sunny day, I'll downsize my trailer to a Zoom Lil Critter Craw. The brown/purple sparkle matches up really good with any brown or brown/purple jig. ...For jig type, still I think its personal preference. The big thing is football jigs. I think the plus with these is that your trailer stands more upright. It seems they have a tendency to "hop" as you pull them over a rock.. I prefer to just drag a normal 30 degree brush jig. I feel these "slide" over the rocks a little more, and with the "football jig craze", everyone is dragging football jigs, so I figure I'll drag something a little different... Once again, personal preferences. ...Can't beat fluorocarbon line. Less stretch = more sensitivity = feel more bites before they feel you. 12 lb is what I throw a lot on Table Rock around the clear water. Step it up to 14 or 15 lb test if I'm in one of the rivers/creeks and theres some off colored water, or if I'm working the jig in deeper water or around docks. 17-20 lb test if flipping bushes/laydowns in dirty water up creek.

Keep in contact with the bottom. If need be, use a heavier jig in order to keep it on the bottom. At least for me, I've found they're biting a jig better when I am dragging it, not hoping it. Use a baitcaster for this, preferably a longer pole (7 footish) and a higher geared reel. This allows you to move more line quickly and get a better hookset on those deeper fish.

Fished from big cedar to cricket creek both days. Saturday for about 5 hours and today for about an hour and a half. Had about a dozen fish both days. Dragging a jig and dragging a watermelon candy centipede. Not a lot of size to them and a LOT of short strikes. Everything came on gravel banks. Saturday was mostly largemouth, while today was nothing but small jaws and kentucks. Wished I coulda stayed out longer than the hour and half today but that wind was brutal. The smaller kentucks and brownies were going nuts for me on the gravel banks that were getting plowed by wind. Hopefully this front won't set em back too much. Even though the fish were smaller they sure were fun!!

Well I'll tell you what rubbed me the right way. Free food and Free beer!!! That BBQ was great! Figured I'd throw something positive in here... Anytime that I get to pay $160 in order to go out and have a shot at winning a $45,000 bass boat, plus a pretty decent chance of at least making my money back, I think its a good time. Not to mention the free fishing rod on top of everything else. I like these Big Bass tourneys, I'm happy Oakley started this one up here at TRL, and I'll be fishing it as long as I'm around. ...To everyone involved in sponsoring and hosting this tournament... Good job and Thanks!

Despite the RIDICULOUS weather, the fishing was ON FIRE on Saturday. There was basically a Lake Wide Wigglewart bite. Catches of 20+ bass from the James, Kimberling to the Dam, and in Long Creek. The winning 8.70, as well as a couple of the 7's were caught on the wigglewart. What also worked on Saturday, (which is what I did), was dragging a 1/2 oz jig on pea gravel banks that were very close to DEEP water. Best 5 on Saturday for me would of went about 17.5 lbs, with a 5.5 and a 4.5. Had a 6.5 pre fishing in the same areas, pea gravel bank next to 80 ft water. Once this weather stables back out, I'm sure they'll get right back on it. ...I couldn't believe the first weigh in on Saturday. I'll bet a ton of people threw back "money fish" during that first hour, I know I talked to a lot of guys who did just that. I had two 2.5 pounders in the first 30 minutes I threw back into the lake without thinking twice. With them only paying out 5 places every hour, I almost KNEW that it would take at least a 3.5 or something bigger...I guess that's what everyone else thought too!! At the LOZ BigBassBash you just never see weights that low at the weigh ins so that really surprised me. It changed as the day went on though.. Sunday fishing seemed a lot tougher. The pea gravel jig dragging fish JUST WOULDN'T BITE!!! I know there were still some nice ones brought in Sunday, but definitely not like Saturday. All in all, the wigglewart is hard to beat right now. And as the weather stabilizes, those bass will get back to being active on those pea gravel banks and you should be able to break out the rig and fish doctor and TEAR EM UP!! Long Creek temps ranged from 52 to 61 as you went from Gages Marina back to Yocum (During the week last week). Temps were down to 49.5-51 this past weekend closer to Gages, and I'm not sure what they were past Cricket cuz I never went that far back.

I'll add a few others that are a necessity at the right times:: --Regular Sized Spook (Chrome or Bone color) for topwater. --10 in Berkley Power Worm (Black, Blue Fleck, Dark Colors) Summertime fishing particularly during low light and NIGHT --3/8 oz War Eagle spinnerbaits (More Stand Out color for the more dirty water) for wind in spring and fall --3/4 to 7/8 oz White Jigging Spoons for Late Summer through fall --Salt and Pepper Grubs --Zoom finesse worms on a light shakey head in Green Pumpkin or Watermelon Candy for those post spawn bass --DD 22's (Sparkly Sexy Shad, Lavender Shad) for summer --JIG!! Whatever you like (Eakins, Chompers, Omega) Darker Colors better in dirtier creeks, plain brown, pumpkin, or PBJ in lighter water. 5/16 to 7/16 oz ball heads on ledges and bluffs. 3/8 oz good for flippin or hopping shallow or dirtier water. --ANYTHING in mid to late April. Good luck!

Take both of those ideas and combine them. Throw that split shot around and use nightcrawlers instead of soft plastics. If you have kids out fun fishing on the rock, night crawlers have always been the ticket for me in order to get them bit.

Yeah I was gonna say, I think the real meaning of this post is... "If I only needed to catch 1 huge bass the weekend of March 26th and 27th in order to win a $45,000 Nitro, where should I go and what should I throw???" Haha. That takes the night fishing out of the equation. Honestly there's basically no way to pattern 7+ pounders around here. Go out and pre fish and pattern some solid 3-4 pounders, chances are there is at least 1 BIG bass in the "vicinity" of other "solid" bass. But when it comes down to it, you can have your lure right in front of that big girls face, and if she doesn't wanna bite it, she isn't going to. ...That being said, this is the kind of thing where the "nice expensive graphs" can really pay off. Hidden offshore structure = Big bass payoff. If there's anything Lake Fork has taught me, it has taught me that. The problem is, without a REALLY good graph, you may never find one of those spots, unless you stumble upon it. I can't remember which tourney it was last year that KVD won, but I remember hearing him say that he just stumbled upon his "winning spot" on the first day by seeing on his SIDE IMAGING a deep underwater Ditch or Ledge or something. Threw deep divers around it and started cranking out 4 pounders. If you wanna win this thing, put in some time to prefish and just go around looking for some deeper "sweet spots", or if you don't have the time to do that, just slowly swim a grub around and hope to luck on to a 7-8 pounder. Good Luck everyone!

I'll be fishing for that 1 bite in the Oakley Big Bass Tourney. 17' White Aluminum Alweld.

As of last week it was still pre spawn for the whole lake, even though the bigger ones were noticeably coming from closer and closer to the shore by the end of the week. Some of the northern areas with the dirtier water the fish may be spawning now I'm not sure what this past week has been for them down there. It absolutely amazes me how fast that lake can heat up and cool down. I guess its the shallow water, plus the dirtier water and bottom composition. Surface temps can change like 9 degrees in a matter of 2 days without it even raining. Nuts.

For the past 5 days I've found 59-63 degree water. Bite has been really good flipping full size brush hogs to timber. 11 bass over 5 pounds with one going 10.75... . . . Then again, I have been at Lake Fork. . . . Sorry guys couldn't resist

As for location, you may wanna think about putting in at Cricket Creek down in the Long Creek arm. I fished that area a ton last spring for bass, and I can honestly say I don't recall a single trip that I didn't catch a flathead catfish. And I was even bass fishing using Jigs and ChiggerCraw trailers. They just seemed to be everywhere. And most of them ran in the 3-10 lb range. Plus the water down there will be dirtier and warmer than most of the other parts of the lake at this this time, I would think that would be a better recipe for success. Granted thou, I can't vouch for catfish this early in the season, just don't know enough about fishing for them. Either way, good luck!

What is the frame color and the lens color? And once again, are they polarized?

JUNE. Seemed pretty obvious to me. There are too many other tourney championships already in October, as well as the LOZ Big Bass Bash already in October, plus with deer season open, I'm not sure you would get the turn out you are looking for in October. June, the bass are pretty much done spawning, and we haven't gotten into the crazy summer heat yet.

I love that Lake Fork trip!!! Will be there with my dad the last week of Feb / first week of March. Went for the first time last yr and it was a blast! I'll try to remember to let ya know the pattern we get on to hopefully help ya when you go there in March.

I started fishing with that Stren Fluorocast this fall. It is 100% fluorocarbon and it is $9.99 at Basspro. I was kind of skeptical using a fluorocarbon for under $10 but I have not had one problem with it, and that included a LOT of jig fishing with hard hooksets. No breakage (knock on wood). So it has been nice getting a good fluorocarbon (IMO) and for less than $10. Ps, the only reason that I used the phrase "skeptical using a fluoro for under $10" is because I have had some bad experiences with Berkley Vanish. Maybe it was just a bad spool or something, but had some problems with breakoffs on the hookset while throwing a spinnerbait and chatterbait. 3 breakoffs in one day and I know my knot tying ability isn't THAT bad . So that was the last experience with Vanish, but so far the Stren Fluorocast has been good AND cheap.

SAME HERE. We fished today (Sunday) with the idea that the bite would get better as the day went on because of the warming sun (fish moving up in the water column, etc.) Thinking that, didn't get to the lake until 10am and fished until about 4pm. The only thing that I can report is what is NOT working. We put in by the dam and started fishing deep docks with a jigging spoon. Graphed a lot of shad around deep docks but the bass wouldn't cooperate. Caught 3 kentucks, all under 15", and all before noon. After that, didn't even get a bite for the next 4 hours. I went on to throw a jerkbait on steep, rocky, channel swing banks and bluff ends closer to the 86 bridge, thinking I outta be able to get at least one in the afternoon. Nothing. Tried McStick and even the Pointer 100DD to get a little deeper. Mostly 5 second pauses, but for the last hour went with 15-20 second pauses between jerks. Maybe it is one of them times the bass want 40+ second pauses with the jerkbait, but I just can't do it. On another note, found MASSIVE shad groups stacked up in the Big Cedar Cove. The seagulls tipped me off. Right out in the middle of the cove, shad are layered from the bottom to 20 ft off the bottom like I have never seen before. Dropped spoon down and after hopping it a couple times I would bring it back up with 2-3 shad stuck on my treble. Was hoping schools of whites or kentucks would be around them, but couldn't seem to locate any or bring any off the bottom. Maybe another day... I'm pretty sure the bass just took the weekend off to watch football! ps, water temp was 45.5 - 46 in the State Park area, and 44ish closer to the 86 bridge.