T-RockJaws

The Wednesday nighter out of the Shell Knob bridge is $30 per boat. You do have to pay a membership fee of $10 per person the first night you fish so the first tourney would run $50 for 2 people, then $30 for each tourney after that. Pay out is based on the number of boats that enter for the night (typically 15 to 30 boats). There are some very good fishermen in this tourney as well. Jason - I would like to try out the Friday nighter sometime. Hard to get a way much with 2 young boys at home though. Maybe we will get a chance this year to give it a shot!

Not many, only around 14 or 15 boats. It was a nice night to be on the water though!

My dad went out last Saturday for a little bit to one of our "ole faithful" spots. Did not find any, hoping this warmer weather will bring em up!

Fished out of the Shell Knob bridge from 7:00 to 11:00 last night. Winning bag was just over 17 pounds (not by my partner and I). We only had a couple of keepers with best one about 3 pounds. The hour or so befoer dark we had a couple of shorts and 1 keeper swimming a grub on the inside of point with lots of timber on it. The bite was pretty slow for us all night. In the last hour we were out, the bite picked up a little using a chomper hula grub dragging it real slow on the bottom. The 3 pounder came on a main lake point that transitions into pea gravel, boat was in about 35 foot of water. For the most part, the water temp was running in the low 50's. Had a buddy that was fishing up in the Big M area, he reported catching strong numbers of fish with three keepers on jigs.

70 degrees Sunday with storms, then upper 50's all next week. Fishing should start getting good soon!

That is classic, I needed a good laugh!!!

We will have to get some good hard rain to dirty up the water much. The ground is soaking it up quicker than it can run off... Fishing should be pretty good this weekend though, I would suggest more of a jerkbait bite though. Need the water to warm a bit more before the wiggle wart really takes off. Big tourney going out of Kimberling this weekend, lake could get pretty crowded.

The rod I started this thread about wa soriginally bought about 5 years ago. Been a very good rod... this was the second time I broke it. The first time I used the expiditor service so I figured they would not allow it this time. I only used the rod once after I got it back before I broke it again. I sent it back fully expecting to have to buy a new rod at full price. I was very pleased to find them so willing to help me out!

If Loomis had not replaced this rod for me, I had every intention of going with a different rod. Since the experience was positive, I will likely look at Loomis for my next purchase. It will come from HLS though, like supporting that store!

I shop at Hook Line and Sinker quite a bit. Would much rather give them the business as to drive to BPS in Springfield. I forgot they handled Loomis. I was thinking that it cost me $50 the last time I used the expiditor service, thought I was just losing my mind or something when I saw the rediculous fee of $100. It all worked out in the end though!

I have several G-Loomis rods, mostly the lower end rods but a couple of their better ones as well. I really like fishing with them, just wish they were not so expensive! While fishing with one last year, I broke it trying to free a snag. Needed to get it back in a hurry so I did their expedite service. You pay about $75 to $100 dollars and they air freight a new one to you no questions asked. The next time I used it, the same thing happened. Over this winter, I sent it back to them with a letter describing what had happened. I fully expected to have to buy a new rod at full price. To my suprise, they sent me an email a few days letter that said they had not experienced this problem before with this type of rod. They also told me they would be sending me a new rod free of charge and thanked me for my business. All I was out was the $8.00 to ship the old rod to them. I know it is a hassel to not be able to take it back to BPS and exchange it on the spot, but their customer service was really great!

Congrats on getting a really great camera, I am sure you will enjoy it!

What a great idea! I love the new and intuitive approach... Much better than making a bunch of phone calls begging for money. I hope they have great success for such a great cause!

Nice fish Redbud!

Most of the time, I prefer the slow worm method. However, there are times when conditions can push me to cover a lot of water with the reaction baits.

Honestly, it all depends on the time of year... If I could only pick one though it would have to be a big worm. Not only will it generally produce fish, but I feel like the quality of the fish on average are a little better! However, if I am simply going for numbers I might go with the jig...

The fish appears to be almost as big as the fisherman...

For what it is worth... 99% of my fishing is done on Table Rock and yes, I do keep a couple of chatter baits on hand. Mainly black with a blue fleck and I like to use a craw trailer. I do not use them very often, but there are times in both the spring and fall when I like to throw them. For me, I like to slow roll them back to the boat while letting them "clank" on the bottom. I know that is not the traditional way to fish one, just something that seems to work well for me durring certain conditions.

Jason - head up in some of the creeks in your area. Throw footbal jigs in the 1/2 ounce size range on some chunk rock banks that drop pretty quick. You might also want to try some crank baits in craw fish colors on this same type of bank. If you like plastics, throw some 4 inch smoke colored grubs in and around timber. Good luck!

I would suggest heading into Long Creek and looking for chunk rock. Points or banks either one and yes cast toward the bank. After the top water bite goes away, try a PB&J jig with a watermelon trailer in the same areas. If you are out in the evening after dark, try a black and blue spinner bait on those chunk rock areas. Good Luck!

Cannot make it for the tourney, but will keep the family in my prayers!

There was one really good bag, another pretty good bag at 20 pounds and the rest of the "money bags" were about 7.5 up to 15 pounds or so. The fishing was pretty good for the most part!

Fished out of the Shell Knob bridge last night from 6:00pm to 2:00am. It was nice and hot to start with and the fish were not biting all that well, we only managed 1 short fish before dark. Around 7:00, the storms moved in on us dow around Carter Creek and the lightning started popping way too close for comfort. Since the fish were not biting well at this point, we decided to move on toward our next spot and tied up in a dock to check the weather. It was raining about as hard as it possibly could, but if you looked out of the dock to the North you could see a sky full of stars! Once the storm broke, the fishing got a lot better. We boated well over 20 fish with a couple of nice keepers. If you just want to catch some fish and are not concerned about the size, I would go with a 4 inch salt craw in black with a blue flake. We had several fish on that, but they were all short. Went to throwing a black spinner bait for the majority of the rest of the night. Both keepers and a few more shorts came on the spinner. Partner had a very nice 5.55 pounder on the spinner. Took almost 29 pounds to win the tourney and about 7.5 pounds to get in the money. Good Luck!

Fished out of the Shell Knob bridge last night, leaving just as the storm hit. Started out by running up Kings River to just above Sweetwater. Tried top water just a little, but primarily tossed a spinnerbait and jig. One short fish on the jig was all we managed. Headed back toward the main lake stopping once to fish a cut just down from Viola with no success. Then ran to Mill creek to finish out the night. Had 3 shorts and one keeper on a black and blue 4 inch salt craw. All fish came in less than 10 foot of water, never had the boat in more than 20 foot of water. Spent most of the evening tight to the bank. Good luck!

I usually try to post at least once a week and many times 2 or 3 times per week with what is or is not working for me. A lot of the time, I can learn as much by knowing what hasn't been working... I typically post for the upper white river area above the Shell Knob bridge and up in the Kings river. I cannot give you any specific points to fish in the KC area, but most of the time if it works in one area it is a good bet that it will work in another area. I always try to give as much info as possible since I owe most of my success to others here on this forum!