packersooner

Started out trolling Reef Runners Saturday morning 20-25 feet down in 30-40 feet of water around Tucker flats. Nothing except for a gar. Switched to slow death rigs as we were marking a lot of fish in the area. Caught nothing but giant bluegill. Then made a run and fished the points and flats from Bee to Bear Creeks. Dropped down into the 30-35 foot range in 35-50 feet of water with the Reef Runners. My buddy caught a walleye that went just over 26". Then decided to kick up our trolling speed into the 2.5 to 3.0 mph range (versus 2.0 mph) and caught a couple more plus a big drum. Also caught a largemouth that was right around 5 pounds. Then got chased by the storms. Hope this helps someone... Jason

Have any of you all tried the clip-on weights? Church's makes a kit using similar clips to what they use on planer boards. The only downfall I can see is having to remove the clip while fighting a fish. Jason

Nice report Rangerman. I'll have to give the leadcore approach a try. Maybe those Depthmaster reels will go on sale soon at Cabelas. Are you trolling those on shorter rods, or using your 8 footers? Jason

drsnag Sounds like you all had a productive few hours! That must have been a blast getting your daughter out like that and watching her catch fish. Mine just turned four also. I haven't gotten her out as of yet. Glad you all caught some nice ones off of that tree. Not sure if you tied off to it or not, but that wind coming up sure made it tough to stay in one spot. Thanks for the advice on the walleye. I may give that a shot next time out...which is hopefully sooner rather than later. Jason

drsnag, Thanks for the advice. Started out in powerline cove fishing the old shoreline and only caught one small male on a jig. Then moved to Sons and fished shallow. Nothing. Finally tied up to a tree next to the creek channel and caught a limit. All on jigs between 15 and 22 feet. Just got done cleaning them and about half of the females still had eggs. I thought they would have spawned by now, but with the temperatures and rain...who knows. I then swithed to walleye fishing and caught a good handful of sub-legals on slow death. Mainly targeted points in the Twin Bridges/Mutton area. Most seemed to come out of 15 fow. How did you all end up doing? Jason

Was looking to get out on Tuesday and target crappie. I could be convinced to go after walleye Anyway, the few times I have gotten out in the last 6 months I seem to be fishing the wrong parts of the lake. Case in point went up north a few Saturday's ago and Bob and others tore them up around Twin Bridges. Looks like water levels will be steady or slowly rising. Cold start to the morning but sunny with highs in the low 60s. Any tips on what part of the lake to fish and techniques would be greatly appreciated. BTW, I will be in a gray 16' Lund with a faded OU ball cap. Flag me down if any of you all are out Tuesday. Jason

Good to see you posting again Bob. Hope you are back to 100%! Jason

I hadn't seen the Special Mates. They look pretty slick. I appreciate the "shopping list". Walleye fishing is quite the investment...lol! I am guessing you are running leadcore with some of those crankbaits? Not sure snap weights would get some of those down deep enough. The Precision Trolling book covers a lot, but it is just a starting point. Some things I will have to figure out include: Do the standard dive curves cover different trolling speeds? In other words, how deep will a Reef Runner run at 2 vs. 3 mph? If a 1 ounce snap weight adds 33% to the depth, does 2 ounces add another 33%? I am not even sure where to start with leadcore. The examples they use are with spinners and shallow runners at slower trolling speeds. Lots of trial and error ahead. Great excuse to get out on the water! Jason

LOL Rangerman! That is the next step for me. Been hammering the web trying to find the best price on Reef Runners and such. Will probably also get a snap weight kit since I am going to start out with superbraid. Of course, those B&B Bait Boxes look nice too. Gotta put those cranks somewhere. Jason

Your info is much appreciated gee3. I was able to get ahold of someone at Orleans Trail and they gave pretty much the same story. Jason

Thanks for the advice everyone. Sounds like I can't go wrong with Offshore or Church...using Church clips regardless. I am leaning towards the Folbe rod holders with extensions. Still not sure how I would mount them. I have a Lund 1660 Classic SS...which includes the Sport Trak system. I could buy the Sport Trak plastic brackets and side mount the holders to the brackets, or just mount them permanently to the gunwales. Would love to hear anyone's take on whether or not the Sport Trak approach would hold up to wear and tear of trolling for walleye. Jason

Was wondering the same thing. Has the weekend thaw been enough to open things back up...at least in the main lake. I would think that the sun/temperatures should have been enough to melt most of the snow and ice off of the ramps. Does anyone have a report? Jason

Saw a planer board thread about a year ago and rather than bump it, thought I would start a new one with a slightly different twist. What type of rod holders do you all prefer? Have done a little research and it seems like the Folbes have high marks. What types of planer boards do you prefer and how many do you run at a time? I want to give trolling cranks a serious try this year and you all have already been very generous in your tips and suggestions. Many thanks! Jason

Growing up in Wisconsin, my grandfather always told me "Wherever there is a perch, there is a walleye". Yellow perch are an easy meal for game fish. They are relatively soft and do not have a really spiney dorsal fin. They are great in the frying pan too. Wouldn't mind seeing them flourish at all. Jason

Launched out of K Dock Saturday. I see they actually moved the dock to where you can use the boat ramp After having to jump my outboard battery to get the motor cranked, we headed to the Hogan Creek area through the fog. Ended up with two sub-legal walleye (one 17 3/4"), 7 or 8 LM, and a handful of bluegill all on slow death rigs. We then scouted for brush piles and ended up with one keeper crappie on a jig. The pile we found was within site of K Dock. Quite honestly, that is the first crappie we have caught out of Bull Shoals. Just haven't figured them out. On a completely different topic, I would like to thank those (Mike Worley and Rangerman come to mind) that contributed to that walleye thread awhile back. Took your advice and picked up a copy of the Troller's Bible. Also purchased a couple of Depthmaster rigs. Just need to spool them up and start stocking up on deep running cranks. Jason

Nah...just two of them. Had two others that were right at 15", but I didn't want to take the chance and threw them back. The others were between 12 and 15". Good luck this weekend. Jason

Fished mainly for crappie from sunrise until about mid-afternoon. Caught one keeper and a few sub-legals. Tried numerous brushpiles and used jigs, jig/minnow combos, and jigs with crappie nibbles. Looking at Bob's report, I'm either fishing the wrong brush piles or just don't have a clue. I am fishing the same piles that were productive around this time last year. Then switched to walleye for a few hours and did fairly well. Caught 7 total, with two keepers. Caught quite a few big bluegill also. They were all caught trolling slow death rigs. Tried trolling a floating jighead and Gulp leech, but didn't get a thing. Fished around main lake points near the dam in 20-25 fow. Jason

Thanks for the responses Brad and Bob. My typical rig is an ultralight with 4 pound fluorocarbon. I use the lightest jigs I can get away with and usually tie two jigs about 15" from each other to cover more water. I love to vertically jig. Probably the method I am most comfortable with. There are several marked and unmarked piles from Googer north to the mile long bridge that I fish. These piles were very productive last year around this time. I would just drop my bottom jig to the top of the pile and you could just watch them grab it on the depth finder. Last time out, I tried lowering to the bottom and still got nothing. I have done very little casting and retrieving Road Runner type lures. When I have tried it, I have never done any good. Bob's comment about the time may be a part of it. Last time out was in the late afternoon. Not sure when I will be up next. Got a string of midnight shifts coming up. Thanks again for the advice guys! Jason

Glad you all got em Straw Hat. Perhaps the tide is beginning to turn. I think I have learned my lesson with NOT taking minnows. You all be careful out there this week in that heat. Hottest week of the year so far. Take care, Jason

Went out for a few hours Tuesday afternoon and it was tough. Tried the brushpile "bite" and struck out...except for pesky bluegills. Even tried Bob's advice of dropping jigs to the bottom of the piles. Then tried fishing the flats around Googer for walleye and got nothing. Then trolled cranks back towards the Twin Bridges and got one LM. Besides Bob, the only real positive reports I have heard on crappie have been from the timber. I would be curious to hear everyone's take on why crappie fishing is so slow??? Excessive baitfish, clear water, slightly high water, etc. You usually catch more black crappie around the brush/timber. Is the white crappie bite on in the main lake (around schools of shad)? Perhaps some of you all trolling can chime in. So many questions...so few answers Jason

Glad to help out Lonnie. Hopefully, your 997 is still working. Very strange that it just suddenly started working. May have been a bad connection or a pin slightly out of place. We appreciate you pointing us in the right direction last Monday. We started trolling cranks. After one LM and no walleye, we switched to bottom bouncers just after 9 am. We ended up catching a dozen, but only 2 keepers. We released 4 that went between 17 and 18 inches. They hit on spinner rigs and plain floating jig heads with a half crawler. We fished the flat side, but caught all of the fish in 25 to 40 fow wherever there were humps or basins. It was a pleasure meeting you Lonnie. I'm sure we'll cross paths again on the water. Jason

Bob, Just saw your note and appreciate the offer. Been a busy week for me. We ended up going down to Bull Shoals and fishing for walleye this last Monday. We did fairly well. Caught about a dozen but only had two keepers. Released 4 that were between 17 and 18". Mission accomplished though. He got his first walleye I may try and head up that way early next week...depending on the weather. Something is indeed different so far this year versus last year. Seemed like you could put a jig right on top of the brush last year and "watch" the fish come up and get it. Your logic of them being way down in the brush makes sense given the clearer water. Guess it may do me some good to get the courage to lower a jig down into the land of snags. Will probably have to scrap the ultralite with 4 pound test Jason

Did not try minnows. Even brought the minnow bucket, but figured jigs would suffice with some of the recent reports. May have been our biggest mistake. Jason

Thanks for all of the replies everyone! Looks like I will be taking a trip to Bass Pro in the near future...or at least looking around online Has anyone had any luck lately for walleye or crappie around K Dock or Tucker? My step father is due in town on Sunday and am looking to get him out on Monday. He is from Louisiana and has never caught a walleye. Am trying to decide between Stockton and Bull Shoals. The weather may have something to say about that...as well as fishing reports Lonnie, I'll give you a shout if we head south. Jason

Fished for crappie from sunrise til just after 2 PM. After reading all of the recent reports, decided to focus on brush piles. In a nutshell, we didn't do squat. Fished from Googer north to the mile long bridge. Even tried briefly up towards Crabtree. We must of fished at least 15 different brush piles...some marked and some not. Fished in them, around them, on top of them...you name it. Caught one keeper and a few shorts. Also caught a handful of whites, one LM and my buddy caught a nice cat. Fished plastic jigs, hair jigs, and Road Runners. The water seemed very clear with water temps ranging from 86 to 90. The boat traffic was just terrible. The heat wasn't much better. Noticed a lot of fingerling bass swimming around. Just not sure what went wrong. My step father comes into town tomorrow and was looking to take him out on Monday. Thought we could get into a good Stockton crappie bite, but my confidence is a little shaken. Anyone else have any luck Saturday? Jason