BleacherBum28

Read this and wondered if need to be worried regarding take over. https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/2019/08/19/teenager-catches-striped-bass-table-rock-lake-angler-fishing/2051886001/

I follow your postings alot and have read all of your articles. I cannot express my many thanks to you and all the others willing to share information on how to catch fish. You've gotten a hack like me to be able to catch some. Thank you... by the way, that pic of you with that 10 lb eye has me hooked... again. Thank you all.

Without giving up specific spots, how do you determine which water to fish? When I look at the maps provided on this site, there are tons of bends as the lake is essentially a river. I fish Viola when I get down there and pick up the occasional eye, but seem to spend tons of time fishing unproductive water. What makes you pick on bend over another? Most bends I fish are typically flats and if I find trees, all the better. Are the drop offs only a few feet or are they severe (10 ft or more) going into the main channel?

I concur. Being from Chicago, I look forward most nights to reading about all the fish you catch. Please keep sharing. I come down here once or twice a year, and follow these reports religiously - gelious you can fish such a great lake year round. Thank you all who share

Thank you for the quick response. We did not shoot through the hull. Transducer is mounted on the outside. We've only had the unit 2 years, but I don't remember how it's setup. I'll be down braving the crazies during the 4th and will post a pic or 2 of the screen mraking fish. The transducer should be mounted so it points 90* straight down, correct?

Hummingbird 590 Settings: long time lurker with limited experience on new sonar. I only fish a few times a year when visiting family on Table Rock near Viola and stuggle sEttinger up the unit on my dads boat. What are your generic settings for this area (sensitivity, chart speed etc.) I rarely see the arches you all seem to post. Any tips and tricks would be appreciated. I love the Gps functionality and way points for active fish, but struggle getting the graph to show actively feeding fish (arches).

I only fish but once or twice a year in the dog days of summer visiting family. I actively follow the forums and have heard reference to sweetwater. Is it this entire area or typically just that creak by the kings river access. I find myself going downstream from there as I typically haven't done well upstream, but have been trying to learn this area. I drag live bait and worms in 25-30 ft and do fairly well around the mouth of the kings. Any pointers would be appreciated.

FishingAddiction, I believe my father purchased the same model depth finder, but as I don't use it often enough, have had problems dialing it in. We've never charted the arches as you show. Can you tell me your settings? Chart speed, sensitivity etc. We fish up the kings near Viola mostly, but your settings should get me close. Thanks.

I should have added more info. The hits I get stumped by are solid thumps and feel nothing and when I check the worm is chewed or in half. As powerdive states, most fish I catch just seem to be there and have hooked themselves. When do you leave the tap tap alone vs. Play it a little (drop rod etc.) in hoping walleye mouthing it? I think I run slower than you and rps - probably no faster than 1 mph. (Gps graph speed jumps too much and don't have a real speedometer). I feel the speed is part of the problem as the fish does not have to be aggressive to get it, but also feel slower speeds that still spin the blades help with neutral fish. I follow your posts alot. Do you ever run Aberdeen hooks to help save your harnesses? I love this side and the info you all share is wonderful... Thank you.

How do you decipher short walleye hits vs. Bluegill grabbing the end of the worm. I am just beginning to learn how to catch walleye while drifting worm harnesses. Many times I'll see the typical hit, hit, hit - then nothing and chalk it up to bluegills. But the most frustrating will be what I'll call just a solid thump, bending the tip hard, and then feel nothing when I set the hook. Typically, I don't hold my rods, just watching them while operating my transom trolling motor.

My fishing technique is quite simply finding structure and dragging live bait over it. I tend to fish a lot like rps does for walleye. As a lot of his posts show, you can quickly chew through dozens of worms. Has anyone used the gulp worms? The ability to catch multiple fish on a worm and it's buoyancy (keeping it off the bottom got my attention)

I recently picked up a HBird 587 HD DI unit. After playing with the settings all week, I have it decently dialed in. However, I have yet to have the screen show nice arches. Most fish I show on the sonar look like the crappie in post #9, yet I know they were decent size Ks. I am running on the 200 hz setting with split fire on. When I run at the high hz setting, i get lots of clutter until i turn the sensitivity way down. Do arches only show when your boat is stationary?

How inconsiderate of me. I love this forum and the information you all share. You all answer my questions and make my fishing vacations wonderful. Thank you. Please disregard my ugly mug.

Thanks for the help. I picked up the hummingbird 587 DI HD. Installation was a snap and so far I have been very impressed. FYI, I passed on the Elite 5 as it is the only unit in the boat and lacked the sonar I wanted. The 587 is doing everything I wanted... still learning all the features. Put my personal best in the boat on the 5th. A 6lb, 25.5 inch walleye... funny thing was the new unit had nothing to do with it... pulled in, dropped my worm, played with the graph a sec and it was on... must have dropped it on its nose.

I apologize as I know this type of question is asked 100 times, but after a few nights of research, I am more confused than ever. What do you all feel are the most important features of a sonar/depth finder. I am looking to replace an old sonar, and am not going to break the bank to do so. I am willing to spend up to $400. I would classify myself as less than a weekend warrior. I come to Table Rock once or twice a year for a week at a time, so it is hard to justify spending large amounts of money on a sonar that isn't used. Features I am interested in 1) A decent size screen - 5''. I think anything smaller will be hard to read (especially for my father). The unit will be sitting on the console. 2) Must accurrately show fish depth 3) GPS/waypoints The 2 units I am interested in are: Hummingbird 596c http://www.cabelas.com/product/Humminbird174-596c-HD-Sonar/1159124.uts?WTz_l=YMAL%3BIK-021612 Lowrance Eilte 5 http://www.cabelas.com/product/Boating/Boating-Electronics/Sonar-and-SonarGPS-Combos%7C/pc/104794380/c/104707080/sc/104588280/Lowrance-Elite-5-DSI-Sonar-with-GPS/1158267.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fsonar-and-sonar-gps-combos%2F_%2FN-1100517%2B4294716470%2FNe-4294716470%2FNs-MIN_SALE_PRICE%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%253BMMcat104794380%253Bcat104707080%26WTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNU&WTz_l=SBC%3BMMcat104794380%3Bcat104707080%3Bcat104588280 Additional thoughts: 1) Since I don't get to fish as often as I would like, are there cheaper units available to do what I am looking for? It seems as though reviews are all over the place on many units. For example, the Lowrance unit, a lot of people complain it does not mark fish well, which I think is crucial for a 1 unit boat setup. 2) I think I am looking for a unit which will help narrow down my searching for fish. In order to do so, is the structure scan needed/worth it, or do you just need waypoints? Ie., stumble across a rock pile or tree etc. and mark it. 3) I mainly troll/drift crawlers looking for bass and the occassional walleye. Over the years, we have found a few points etc. which have produced, but need to more quickly narrow down productive water. Do you need down imaging to do so? Thanks in advance.

I think this topic has been posted before, with alot of controversy. Either way, I was down over July 4th and again last week. I was noticing some fairly large trees on the banks with huge root balls. When I asked my pops about them, he swears its the same trees being dumped into the lake. He said they dumped tons of rock and tree just up stream from their dock, and once the huge flood came all of them washed up on shore. It kinda make sense to me. Most 'natural' timber on the shore doesn't contain the huge root-ball. Its just snapped off trunks/branches... if most off this debris ends up 10 ft on shore after a year or two of flooding, its never going to provide any habitat.

I think this topic has been posted before, with alot of controversy. Either way, I was down over July 4th and again last week. I was noticing some fairly large trees on the banks with huge root balls. When I asked my pops about them, he swears its the same trees being dumped into the lake. He said they dumped tons of rock and tree just up stream from their dock, and once the huge flood came all of them washed up on shore. It kinda make sense to me. Most 'natural' timber on the shore doesn't contain the huge root-ball. Its just snapped off trunks/branches... if most off this debris ends up 10 ft on shore after a year or two of flooding, its never going to provide any habitat.

Great info Bill. I was fishing the same basic area this morning (8/1) up the Kings river and found the same exact pattern. We were drifting crawlers in standing timber in 30 ft. Found fish but they didn't seem to bite a drifting crawler. My partner picked up a short after tossing in and reallng just off the bottom, unhooked it and had the same thing happen after tossing in. Soon he had around 8 shorts in about 30 minutes. I started to re-rig a pole to do the same and picked up a 21 in walleye dragging a crawler on a bottom bouncer. Shortly after, my father picked up a just short eye casting in and picking up off the bottom. All in all, I'd say we landed about 12 bass and 1 keeper eye... the majority of fish were caught on the outside edges of the timber, closes to the main channel. All in all quite a fun morning.

I have a very generic depth finder which does display "fish" on the display. Occassionally, the graph just explodes, marking fish all over the bottom, in over 60 foot. My assumption is the P.O.S. doesn't know what the hell I'm doing in a lake that deep and shows fish just to keep me enthused. I can't imagine any game fish that deep, but the I can tell you that whenever my graph shows a nice blank screen, I've rarely caught a fish. From recent posts here, I assume there is some sort of thermocline in the 30 to 35 foot range. If there is some sort of thermocline, am I to assume fish won't be below this level? If they are deeper than 30, I assume they are down there to cool off and will be back above 35 ft shortly. I've been fishing the upper kings early morning and at dusk and the fish on my graph are scattered from 10 - 40 ft. My boat is terrible in the wind with an underpowered trolling motor, which basically forces me to drift crawlers through any timber or points I know of, but since the fish seem scattered, its been hard to dial in a depth. Any suggestions?

Does anyone have any insite as to why it seems TR only produces one or two walleye a trip? I am a very beginner walleye fisherman and come to TR once or twice a year. It seems as though dragging crawlers just off the bottom produces, but only one or 2. From everything I understand of this fish, it is a very social fish, and when found, you should be able to pick up a handfull. To the novice, whenver I pick up a walleye, its just one nice fish (well over the limit length). How come you never pick up a few shorts as well as the bohemouth?

I will be coming down to Table Rock the week of July 4th. In fact all of my siblings are coming down that same week to visit my parents. We have one boat, but figured it might be worth our while to rent a decent fishing boat to stop the squabling over the 1 boat. Past experience tells me the bigger the better during the holidays, however, most places I've found only rent smaller type fishing boats, just a step up from a jon boat. I normally just drag worms through the cedars and deeper points, picking up an occassional walleye and as many gills and spots as one can take, so I don't need too much - just a decent depth finder and trolling motor. My parents place is just up the bend from the Kings River Marina, and they rent a 16 ft. boat. It seems ok, but with all the pleasure boats out that weekend, would it be enough boat? I have a few younger nephews (12 and 7, and a 5 year old son) I wouldn't mind getting on some gills. Looking for advice: 1) Save your money. 2) Worth a shot and try to find some quite water 3) Better boats from other places in the area http://www.kingsrivermarina.com/images/fishing%20boat.jpg

RPS- approximately how fast do you troll those blades? I imagine you are using bottom bouncers with the wire, keeping them a foot off the bottom...

Bill, I'd like to get your opinion on this. I'm pretty sure I stumbled across a posting about this when it first started and you, along with many other area guides weighed in. If my memory serves me, most were against the program. Do most of the "pros" on this forum think it helped or was it not cost effective? I make a yearly pilgramidge to the rock and don't have the technology in my boat to find these structures, so there is no point in me stating my opinion.

How young is 'young'... I'll gladly pull out your hangs if you put a 10 pounder on my line. Nice job RPS... if you keep this up, all the shore pounders are gonna have down riggers on their bass boats.

Great fish RPS. Makes me want to head back down... not a week after I leave, you land a monster. Couldn't happen to a nicer man. Thanks again for making my week over the 4th.