Report From My Trip: 5/14 - 5/18

[SRV1990]

Having rec'd so much good information from forum members I thought I would try to return the favor. Fished four and a half days last week, returning home yesterday afternoon. Here's what I/we experienced:

>>By far the best bite for us came on 5" Yamamoto green pumpkin single tail grubs, fished slowly on 3/16 or 1/4 oz jig heads. Also caught a few on the double tail version as well as a green pumpkin fish doctor fished on a split shot. Between me and my brother in law we caught around 40 fish, with me boating 7 keepers and him getting 6 keepers. For being relatively new to bass fishing, especially on the impressive and humbling Table Rock Lake, we considered these numbers a rousing success! Majority of fish were smallies, with a fair amount of spots. Very few largemouth were caught, as well as a few goggle eye.

>>A few of the fish were caught on main lake points from the dam down to state park marina, but opposite side of the lake (west side). The majority were caught from the corners of those same points and as we worked back into coves. On the points we kept our boat in 25' to 30' of water and cast all around the boat. Once on the corners/sides we moved in slightly closer and cast to the bank.

>>Thursday (5/15) afternoon was the toughest for us, with the heavy winds after the morning rain. Friday was good, as the wind calmed down a bit and it was a bit overcast. Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning were our best days. We fished a little closer to the banks of the coves and nailed fish that seemed to be hanging out in the flooded brush and trees, I guess shading themselves from the sun as they recovered from the spawn (most of our keepers seemed to be spawned out) and waiting to ambush our grubs as they passed by the shrubs and trees.

>>Our yearly trip is a "friendly" fishing tournament, 8 guys total. It's my 3rd year and my brother in law's 2nd year. Well, my 7 keepers came in at 14 lbs 7 ozs, good enough for first place! Three of those fish came on Sunday morning, all smallies (2-4, 2-1 and 1-11). I've never caught a real big bass, but knowing what it feels like when a 2+ lb smallmouth hammers your grub and heads to the bottom, I can only imagine how I would feel to land a bigger one. By the way, my brother in law came in second with just under 12 lbs.

NOTE: All fish were returned back to the water to get bigger so we can (hopefully) catch them again next year.

Thanks again for all the input everyone so generously provides on this forum.

Take care and happy fishing!

Tom

[rps]

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip and caught some nice fish. TR was my vacation choice for many years before the wife and I moved over. Funny, we don't vacation much now that we are here.

[Whack'emGood]

Nice report Tom... thanks! Congrats to you and your brother. Way to take the pattern and execute! Its nice to hear y'all had a good time and caught a bunch.