Saturday Afternoon/evening Report

[Whack'emGood]

We fished Saturday afternoon and had a decent day despite all of the traffic. We launched at Mill Creek and fished within (I would say) 6 miles of the launch ramp the whole trip. After launching the boat, we had a spot in mind that we were going to start on... Nope... a guy was fishing it. Okay, well next spot then... Nope... there was a boat on that one as well... Okay, well next spot... Nope... Well, you get the idea... The sixth spot we went to fish was open... we caught a few there and then had to search for another one of our spots that didn't have a boat on it. It was like that for most of the afternoon. I guess until about 5:30, anyway.

Anyway, we ended up getting 26 bass into the boat and had probably 5 more that got off before they could be landed. Alot of small fish-- about half Smallies and half Kentuckies-- with only one Largemouth. The largemouth did happen to be a toad-- 5lbs 9oz. on digital scales. See pictures below... We didn't plan to fish after dark, but we were catching them pretty well right before dark and decided to keep fishing. We caught one Smallie that was pushing 3lbs before dark, but most of our keeper size fish came after dark. We fished until about 8:30PM. I caught the big fish at 8:10PM on a Jig. We caught most of our fish on Jigs (green pumpkin was our best color) and a few on 4" (smoke) grubs. We tried crankbaits too, but with poor results. Most fish were caught on bluff ends with cedars and/or pole timber.

All fish were released unharmed. I hope my report helps someone. Thanks to all the guys who report.

Whack'em

5lbs 9oz... both pics same fish.

[techo]

Nice fish and nice report. Thanks. We had one of the family weekends in St. Louis things. I am trying to decide if I should fish tomorrow or get some of the work done around here and fish three days next week.

[nathan RN]

nice fish

[motoman]

Holy Moly Whack 'em..............you did just that.............WHACKED 'EM!

-

Nice fish!

[Spinnaker]

Great fish! Warm enough for t shirt too! Was there a tourney this weekend that took a lot of your best spots?

[Donna G]

Central Pro-Am was there for the Fall opener with 57 boats out of Ahoy's. Biggest problem on the fishing spots is the 200-boat Stren tournament coming up this week. Starts Wednesday, I think. A lot of them were there already. Here's a wrap, there's a wrap, everywhere a wrap boat. Robert Dodson won our tournament on the pro side and on Sunday had Stren boats following him everywhere. Someone reported seeing him 3 different times with 6-7 boats observing like a flotilla. Inquiring minds want to know.

I fished no-boater and didn't have any keepers on Saturday. My pro had 4 keepers off a dock pattern with a War Eagle jig. We didn't do much of anything else. Went down the lake Sunday and it was tough. My pro was super nice, though, and tried very hard to help me catch a keeper for points. Alas, no success.

Beats working. I'm itching to go again. There's a buddy tournament out of Ahoy's this Saturday. $100 team, $20 big bass. No membership fee and 100% payback. Ya'll come. I'm hoping to take somebody's money one of these days. lol

Donna G

[Whack'emGood]

Hey Donna,

I saw where James fished the Pro side and barely missed a check. It's disappointing to get that close but, as they say, no cigar. You will both get'em next time.

In my opinion, those Stren guys ought to be ashamed of themselves to follow a guy around and try to see his spots/techniques. What... aren't they good enough to find their own fish? I guess not. It is not technically cheating, but it is very unethical in my opinion. Besides, it is not satisfying to mooch someone else's fish. I find alot of pride in finding my own fish and figuring out how to catch them. Don't get me wrong, I always keep my eye out (on the forum and elsewhere) for a clue or a tip or two-- but I wouldn't go so far as following a guy around!

Yep, we saw alot of the wrapped boats Saturday. We were keeping an eye on them while we fished just to see if they were catching any fish. We saw one guy catch a dinker Kentucky, but that was it. We were catching them pretty well a few times when a few of them got pretty close to us, and noticed that they were watching us pretty closely as well. It will be interesting to see how they do this weekend. We are going to Stockton so we can stay away from the circus.

I hope you are doing well with your health Donna. Hang in there.

Whack'em

[Don House]

Donna, sorry to hear about your weekend, I been there too many times myself. It is really hard to fish behind someone on a dock bite with a jig. Those guys can really pick them apart. Tell James keep pushing on, I know my friend JEV just missed that check as well.. Good luck this weekend, hope you both do well..

Good Fishing

Capt. Don

[Champ188]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement, WhackEm and Capt. D. All in all, we had a good weekend. JEV is a good guy, Capt. D. He and I were fishing the same general area most of the weekend. Good to see him back fishing Central Pro-Am.

[Donna G]

Thanks, Whack'em. Yep James did well. He didn't have a fish until 2 p.m. the last day and limited out. He was proud of that. My dock pro didn't front end me and I had lots of shots behind him. It's still tough fishing used water. I tried throwing different baits than he was, but no luck. Course, I ain't completely crazy - I threw a jig, too.

Yeah, it was amazing how very curious some of the Stren guys were. All of them we met were super nice, but there were a few that would definitely slow way down when going past you especially if you were fishing out.

Good luck at Stockton this weekend. Sure is going to be a big change in the weather at Table Rock between now and Saturday. Think I'll have my 'woolies' on for the morning run. lol

Appreciate it. I'm doing well. Surgery day is getting closer (Dec. 9), so I'm a little anxious. Prognosis is good, though. If all goes well, I'll be back fishing well before next CPAA at Beaver in March.

Donna G