T-RockJaws

I have heard a few comments on the lake starting to turn over. I have not seen this in the areas I have been fishing. Can anyone give a status on the Big M to Shell Knob area?

Grew up fishing a pond on the 40 acres we owned. Caught fish any time, any day with a variety of tackle I would not even think of using today. Seeing this picture makes me remember what that used to be like. Great catch, thanks for the pic!

Congrats on the great vacation trip!

Sadly enough, it is not just fishing that the respect factor has been lost from. Try driving, going to sporting events, shopping, etc. etc. etc. Anything that has to do with more and more people is the same thing. We no longer teach respect in our schools or at home for the most part. Shoot, even the old tv shows taught us how to respect one another. That sure isn't the case anymore! With that said, there are still some people out there with good old values that helps to make it tolerable. I still enjoy going out on the lake, fishing and meeting new people. There are still many out there that are very respectful, the ones who are not just seem to get the most attention.

Went mushroom hunting last night and only found a few small white ones. All the signs I look for, except the trees being in bloom, point to it still being a little early for them. The May Apples are still small. Funny thing is, as wet of a winter as we had, the floor of the woods seem to be pretty dry. I guess I will just have to keep fishing for a while longer and wait another few days to try my luck again on the mushrooms!

We took second place out of about 15 boats.

Fished a small bass club tournament out of Big M this weekend. Started out early in the morning working grubs on bluffs and chunk rock banks using primarily smoke or electric blue colors. Had to drop down a little from the 5 inch grubs we had been using, but had two keeper spots and several shorts. As the sun warmed the water, we moved into shallow water in deep coves and started throwing spinner baits. Managed a couple more nice large mouths in the warm shallow water. All in all a good day to be on the lake, water temps were in the mid to upper 50's on main lake and saw some 61 degree water in the deep coves. Had 30 to 40 fish total with 5 keepers.

Fished out of Eagle Rock for a couple of hours last night. Found some small fish moving into the peagravel areas, but not really any quality fish there yet. Went back to fishing some bluff into chunk rock transition areas which still seem to be holding fish. Had a couple of keepers in these areas, one on a spinner bait and one swimming the grub. Chartreuse and white on the spinner bait with the smoke salt and pepper colors still working on the grubs. Water temps ranged from about 50 to 53 degrees with a little stain to the water.

Came around the semi-blind corner just down from Big M one day last summer to find the largest boat I have ever seen on TRock. The driver was sitting on top and had to be about two stories high. The wake coming off that boat was at least 5 to 6 feet high and I was running the inside track around the corner, no way to get away from it. I am running a Ranger 520 and was just able to get it shut down enough before we got to it. Had I been running the 70 plus mph my boat is capable of, we would still be in the air... Not sure anything is safe when it comes to dealling with this kind of big boat! Really wish there were some restrictions on them when you get to the smaller water above the Shell Knob bridge!

I had a couple 21 plus inchers hit a grub while bass fishing a couple weeks ago. They hit like a smallie and the fight was on.

We are suppose to have sunshine coming with warmer temps over the next few days!!! The colored water up the river arms will warm faster than clear water which should move the fish up. Fishing should be pretty good by mid next week.

Fished out of the Eagle Rock area last night with a buddy for about 4 hours. Water temps ranged from 47 to 51 degrees. Tried warts, crank baits, stick baits and slow rolling spinner baits for a while all with no success. Seems the only action we could get was still using 4 and 5 inch grubs in smoke and salt & pepper colors. We were working bluff into chunk rock transition areas while keeping the boat in about 50 foot of water. Casting in to the bank, counting down to about a 10 count then slowly retrieving. If you think you are reeling slow enough, slow it down a little more! The bite is very soft and the fish seem to be hitting in around the 15 to 20 foot deep range. Caught about 12 to 15 fish with 4 keepers, best one was 3.6 pounds.

I know that afternoon to late in the day is not exactly the ideal time to be bass fishing on the rock right now. With that said, my buddy and I went out Sunday afternoon to try a few new locations. We fished mainly from Eagle Rock to Big M without much success. Tried the stick just a little while throwing mostly a grub and a spinnerbait. It is a bit early yet, but the only fish we had came from my buddy slow rolling a spinner over some laydowns coming from the bank into deeper water. From the people I have talked to and from what I have read on here, this has been a pretty tough weekend for bass on the Rock! However, you sure cannot complain much about the weather we had. Really looking forward to the warmer weather to come... Good Luck!

Went down last year in the second week of march. It was extremely windy when you tried to get out and run in the main lake to get somewhere. I would suggest trailoring your boat to whatever creek you decide to fish. You can find access ramps in about every creek and the rates are pretty reasonable. Caney creek is the place where most of the guides are fishing this time of year. With that said, I spent a whole day in Mustang Creek and did okay. We caught a few fish, but the kicker was the 9.11 pounder that my dad caught on the last day of the trip. It was the biggest fished checked in for the week where we were staying. We had our best luck slow rolling a chartruse spinner bait, but lipless crank baits in red colors work pretty well too. Good Luck!

If you want good stuff but a little cheaper than the 100 MPH gear, the regular BPS gortex will keep you dry. Just a little cheaper than the 100MPH stuff. Not as warm, but keeps you dry!

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