Skeeter ZX190

Here is the picture.

Caught my biggest smallmouth today. 5 lbs. 5 oz. on a digital scale and 21 1/2 inches long. Caught it on a Pop R in the Orleans Trail cove. My biggest before this one was 4 lbs. 10 oz. that I caught on Table Rock back in 2001. The one from Table Rock is on my office wall, but the one from today was released after I took a few pictures. I've got to give my thanks to Sticksteer because of his post back on November 4th about catching smallmouth on a yellow magic. I tried to find a yellow magic but the Bass Pro in Olathe doesn't carry them, so I went with a Pop R. I seemed to get most of my bites on banks that were fairly steep with big rock.

Fished the dam area on Sunday afternoon. Only caught about a dozen with 2 of them being keepers. One fish came on a Bomber Model A. Everything else on a carolina rigged green pumpkin baby brushhog. I have a Lowrance with Structure Scan and I had marked a spot last March that I thought would be good this time of year. It is in Orleans Trail cove back past all of the sail boat docks. It is pretty far off shore and the water goes from 10 fett to 20 feet real fast. Caught 5 fish off that one spot with 2 of them being keepers. Not huge fish but still keepers. All in all it was a beautiful day to be out on the water. As the water starts to cool, the fishing should get even better. I went out last Wednesday when tropical storm Hermine was starting to move up from Oklahoma and Arkansas. It never rained on me but it sure looked like it was about to. I caught a 19 inch smallmouth on a pop-r. I then got into the white bass. There were acres of them surfacing and they were busting small shad about 1.5 to 2 inches long. I was over by the quarry close to Crabtree. I was using the pop-r and caught a ton.

There have been several posts about not being able to catch walleye. Maybe the secret is to not fish for walleye. Back in May and June I caught more walleye bass fishing then I have ever caught before. Carolina rigged lizard. Couldn't believe it.

Trav: If you don't go, you don't catch. Sure it's slow, but sure beats sitting at home thinking about it.

I think either the weather or the moon has something to do with the very slow bite. I fished Truman on Friday, and a friend of mine fished Truman on Saturday. Very, very, very slow. I was fishing minnows around numerous trees. Only caught 2 keepers and a few shorts.

Fished on Thursday from 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Started around the dam but went as far south as Mutton Creek. Only caught 1 up in the bushes. Everything else came out away from the brush line. Secondary points produced the most fish. Caught around 40 to 50 total. 6 or 7 of those were 14.5 inch walleye that were caught on a 3 inch green pumpkin yum dinger and a 1/4 oz. darter head. Most of the bass came on a carolina rigged lizard in watermelon red, green pumpkin chartreuse, or plum. Did catch 1 walleye on the plum lizard. That was a first for me. Biggest bass was about 3 1/2 lbs. caught in the Miller branch, about 12 feet of water in and around a pretty good rock pile.

Got to the lake about 2:30 p.m. and fished till 7:00. Put in at the dam and stayed pretty close. Water was really clear. We started out working the flooded bushes but no luck. Backed off and started to work the areas from about 7 feet to 15 feet deep. My son and I ended up catching 22 but all were shorts. Had a couple that were close but not quite. Green pumpkin chartreuse lizard and a green pumpkin purple fleck finesse worm were the main baits that caught fish. Secondary points and channel banks seemed to be the best spots.

Go to the Corps of Engineers office at the dam. I think they are $30.

Put in at Berry Bend around 1:00 pm. Fished until 5:00 and had 20 keepers. Had my son and daughter with me this time. The bite was real slow. All were 9 1/2 to 10 1/2 inchers. 1/16th oz grub. Either bright yellow or white.

Fished out of Long Shoals today. Put in shortly before 8:00 a.m. and had my limit by 10:00 a.m. Caught them on a 1/16th oz. bright yellow power grub with a red head. Also caught some on a chartreuse & black maribou jig under a bobber. Everything was in 4 feet of water or less. Mostly males, but I did have 2 or 3 females. 5 were over 11 1/2 but everthing else were 10 to 10 1/2 inchers.

Put in at Orleans Trail with no problem. Never left that cove but I saw boats going up and down the main lake. Caught 20 crappie in about 35 feet of water over a brush pile. The 2 biggest were 12 inches, but most of them were 10.