straw hat

Thanks paper-mouth. May head to Ruark tomorrow and that gives me a good starting point. Sounds like you had a great trip!

I stopped by CC this morning to see if the rain had helped the water quality. Unluckily there had been no improvement. While I was there I did notice that the surface of the lake was covered in small shad. The bass were going nuts busting the shad on top. I also talked to a couple of guys who said they had been bass fishing in the back of both Maze Creek and Turkey Creek but the algae bloom there had gotten so bad they had decided to try CC.

Good Lord!!! I am glad I was born in a different time. I just feel lucky if I can type correctly!! Thanks zaraspook. I didn't want to make a fool out of myself any worse than I already do. Good fishing!

I need some help from you guys in educating and old man. I am new to this forum/blog type of communication. I have figured out most of the abbreviations but "lol" has me stumped. When I was young (a long time ago) us young men would often sign the bottom of our love letters to our girl friends with "lol". This stood for "lots of love". Now I may be slow but I figured out pretty quick that this is not what you guys were trying to say (either that or times have changed more than I thought!! HAHA). Some times it appears maybe to represent lots of luck or lots of laughs. Help! Signed; Lost and Confused Straw Hat

Bob; your comment about using a pay phone is a good one. A little bit more of a hassle than using my cell but if the violation is bad enough it may be worth it. See you on the lake!

The lake is 3' 5" above powerpool and rising at the rate of about 3" per week. This could change given the weather forcast of possible more heavy rains today and a flash flood watch. Most areas of the lake are very clear with the exception of some of the areas were the tributaries come in and the back of some coves. These shallow water areas are warmer than most of the lake and some have very bad algae blooms and probably have low oxygen content.

Welcome to the site jighead. I look forward to your fishing reports and the new wisdom you can share with all of us. May all your trips be great ones.

Bob I owe you an apology. After reading back over my entry above it sounded short and rude. I am sorry. I didn't mean it that way. It just brought back memories of a real bad experience. I hope you will accept my apology.

Put in at CC at 8 AM. The water continues to be a very dark green with a surface temp of 85F. The water gave off a strong "algae smell" as we motored along. We fish 4 or 5 points on and near Shaw's Bluff with little success. The few crappie we did catch (15 fow) also has a strong algae smell. We decided to try shallower incase the algae bloom had lowered the oxygen level. The first brush pile we tried was about 7 to 10' deep. We caught around 60 crappie there. Only 8 keepers but they were nice ones. Ran out of minnows but on the way back to the ramp we stopped at a couple of other shallow brush piles on points and fished with some red/chart jigs and found more fish on each of these spots. Also picked up one walleye on the jigs. A lot of people were out but all were good considerate people, even the water skiers tried to stay away from the fisherman. All in all a good day on the lake.

I am sorry Bob but if you check you will find out that the perp CAN get your name AND adress by filing what is called a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) Request form to any civil or administative judge in the region where the citation is issued. That actually happened to me and my wife and we both recieved threats. The 911 system recieves the call and records the incoming number which is later cross referenced to the owners name and address. Subsequent to our previous discussion I have talked to two of the agents who work Stockton. Both said that if I contact them directly they will go check on the violator themselves and try to "discover" the violation as if they accidentally stumbled upon it. It should be noted that agent phone numbers are not listed. IF the violation however requires an eye witness (eg. I saw the person do...) then the agent would have to take and record your name in case of a court appearance.

Well the wife and I expected a lot of PWC and skiers so we decided to just camp out on the bank today. Fished from 8 AM to 3 PM. We fished the same spot where I caught the crappie on Wednesday but I guess they must have went to town to watch fireworks. Only caught a few small ones. Luckily the cats were still there. We came back with 8 channels (the biggest 6.5 lbs)and 1 flathead. We also caught one keeper walleye on fresh cut bait! All were caught from 7 to 10 feet. Most were females full of eggs. Only one female had already spawned. Last but not least I must confess that my wife caught 7 of the 8 channels. It is bad enough that she usually out fishes me for crappie but now she is putting it to me on cats as well. Oh well, it sure is fun to watch her have a balst out there. See you all on the water.

About deep? Sounds like my typing! Nice batch of fish! Incase you didn't know it my face is a little green after that report.

I can confirm what eyeman said about the depth. The wife and I have been catching one or two walleyes each trip lately. They have all come around 20 ft. We have been fishing around CC and the water there is very warm.

Don't feel bad about your boat. It seems like I am always fighting one problem or another with mine. I think that is one of the reasons I bank fish so much. As far as the fishing - well the crappie seem to be biting great. The problem is that the ratio of keepers to shorts is terrible. We have picked up one or two short walleye each trip when crappie fishing. Also have seen a few others catch some but the keepers seem to be few and far between. We have fishing CC lately so if I was looking for walleye I would probably head towards the main lake. I haven't measured the water temperature at CC but it is so warm that by the time you land a fish it is already cooked. Good luck on the lake and stay hydrated.

Went to the lake today for a little quiet bank fishing. A little windy but otherwise a beautiful day. Fished a couple rods for cats and later for crappie. Fresh cut bait for the cats yeilded one flathead and four channels. I also wound up with 3 keeper crappie. All fish were caught around 10 ft deep on a chunk rock bank. Not bad for sitting under a tree all day just taking it easy.

I hope that question about depth was rhetorical. As bad as I did on Saturday my opinion would probably be wrong. Considering that most of the fish we caught or that we saw caught were 10 to 15 ft deep, I would guess being nighttime they should have moved up some. We fished the CC area which has only about 2' visibility. I don't know where you went but if the water was clearer that would affect them also. I am glad to see that you left a few fish in the lake for my next trip!

Tough day! A lot of boats, battery problems, white caps and a headache. Did catch some in the standing timber and a few on brush piles. Not many pearls of wisdom from this trip but they can't all be gems. Just thank God I could get out on the lake. I hope you guys left a few for me to catch on the next trip.

I keep trying the timber each time I have went for the last few weeks. A few at 18 to 20 ft but I always wind up fishing the chunk rock banks (same depths). A lot of fish along those banks but only a few keepers. I don't know if this helps but I hope you do well. Let us know if you pick any up in the timber. With this heat they should be there by now.

While it may appear so it is not really a negatrive thread. When we as OAF members see or experience these types of activities we need to share it with others. The younger men who use the site can learn what actions are appropriate that way and other older fisherman should be encouraged to discourage this type of activity when they see it in tournaments that they participate in. As OAF members I think we can make a difference in minimizing these kind of bad occurances.

As far as Mr Gilly's comment about tournament fishermen... I am afraid that I agree that tournament bass fisherman have a higher PERCENTAGE of rude ones. They often approach where I am fishing and ask me to move to somewhere else because they want to fish there and they are in a tournament. Sometimes when I politely refuse (I bank fish and have a bad heart so it is difficult for me to move around a lot) they frequently cast across my lines and then cut them. I have NEVER had this problem with people fishing in say a crappie tournament. I fished bass tournaments on Table Rock back in the 70's and quit fishing them because this attitude wasn't acceptable to me. A lot of the regulars thought this was funny. I couldn't accept this. Many of my freinds will not fish a lake on the weekend of a tournament because of this type of activity. I know that there is money on the line but money shouldn't take priority over civility. It is a shame that a few of these guys (notice I didn't say fisherman) put forth such a bad image that tarnishes all tournament fishermen. Many of us would appreciate anything that tournament fisherman could be done to promote better sportsmanship during htese events.

We are speaking of the rock rip rap along the CC highway where it crosses the lake about 6 miles east of Greenfield. Cats can also be caught this time of year of the rock rip rap under the H highway bridge.

Just a note to let you kow that I ocassionally fish the Roark area for crappie this time of year and usually can pick up a few at 25 to 35 ft along the steep rocky bluff areas. I use minnows below slip bobbers and the bites are usually light. In those areas I usually do not pick up any walleyes so I assume they are probably along the windy rocky points but I am sure that others can better answer that question than me. Good luck and I look forward to your trip report.

We hit the CC area around 8 AM and fished to 4 PM. Lots of small crappie in 15 to 20 foot of water. Once again in main channel only not on the standing timber or brush piles. Must have caught over 50 crappie but only 8 keepers. All the keepers just over 10". We also picked up 2 short walleyes, a 3 lb flathead and one nice channel.The best part was that there wasn't anyone on the lake. We probably only saw 5 boats all day. See you all on the lake.

Well guys I really appreciate your answers. I am afraid I lost the arguement. So, I manned up and bought him dinner tonight. Thanks again for your help.

I need you guys to help settle a difference of opinion between my brother and myself. The question is; You are fishing a calm day (no particular time of year) and catching crappie. A 10 to 15 mile per hour wind comes up. Normally do the crappie go deeper or shallower? We have agreed that whatever you guys say will decide which one of us is right. After 48 hours I will total the results and let you know whether I won or lost. Thanks for the help.