Anyone Been Out Lately?

[edwin]

I'm heading that way tomorrow for a 3-4 day stay, hoping the weather holds for Sun - Weds like the weather-guessers are saying. Anyone been out lately or have any suggestions on where to start? I had pretty good luck on the jig last week but I'm a tad concerned this crazy weather will have changed things a bunch.

Tight lines,

edwin

[Cajunangler]

Yea, I guess you could say I have been lately. I managed to round up a partner for today and we put in 9 hours on the lake. Overall, we had a real good day with regard to numbers. We put 34 fish in the boat, which consisted of 31 bass (mostly spots) and my partner caught three pan fish on the jigging spoon. He claimed they were harder to detect than bass.

We launched in Aunts Creek and began throwing jigs. We probably had 8 fish in the boat within the first 2 hours with two of them being keeper sized. They seemed to be holding in 15-25 feet of water. Unfortunatley, the jig bite seemed to dry up shorlty after this. But we had the good fortune to run into one of our fellow Ozark Anglers , S&M, as we were idling to another location. He was kind enough to help us out with both information and even a few jigging spoons. With the info he shared we proceeded to catch over 20 bass on jigging spoons. This was only the second or third time I had tried this technique and I don't think my parnter had ever done it. But we didn't take long to figure our a few spots that yielded fish. No large fish but at least some activity.

Since S&M helped to put us on this bite I won't go into great detail, but the fish we were catching were holding in 25-35 feet of water. I'll let S&M add any additional details he would like.

Also, I would like to say Thank You to S&M for offering useful advice along with baits to make it happen. My partner is especially grateful since 10 of his 13 fish came of the jigging spoons. I don't know if every Champion owner is this friendly toward other anglers but he sure is. I guess the Christmas spirit was still in the air today.

[Donna G]

Sorry. Been out, but stayed a little closer to home - Beaver. It was my first day back on the water since the kidney cancer surgery. I actually caught a few! Nice 3 lb. smallmouth on a jerk bait, but caught it when the bait was just swimming behind the boat. Champ was on the trolling motor and I just hadn't reeled in yet. Go figure.

Hope you have a catch 'em trip. I'm looking forward to getting back on the Rock.

Oh, and Cajunangler, of course ALL Champion owners are this friendly.

Donna G (AKA Mrs. Champ188)

[Don House]

Sorry. Been out, but stayed a little closer to home - Beaver. It was my first day back on the water since the kidney cancer surgery. I actually caught a few! Nice 3 lb. smallmouth on a jerk bait, but caught it when the bait was just swimming behind the boat. Champ was on the trolling motor and I just hadn't reeled in yet. Go figure.

Hope you have a catch 'em trip. I'm looking forward to getting back on the Rock.

Oh, and Cajunangler, of course ALL Champion owners are this friendly.

Donna G (AKA Mrs. Champ188)

Donna, glad to see you got out!

Edwin let us know how you do, that spoon information is right on the money by Cajunangler, I'm trying to get out this next week myself just for that spoon bite, plus I need a break from everything else.. Make sure you check the major creek arms about 3/4 of the way back right in the middle of the creek. Been finding some good ones hanging in the trees with shad..

Good Fishing Everyone

Don

[Donna G]

Thanks, Don.

[Martin]

Have you guys got any secrets for when the spoon fish come streaking up out of the deep tree's and race to your spoon, and then not bite it ? lol. Then they just hang with it and I can almost see them looking at it like a bluegill looks a nightcrawler when the grandkids are fishing at the dock. I've tried just holding it still, tried barely shaking it, tried jumping it again. To no avail. I probably should have cahnged colors or shape ??

[motoman]

Sorry. Been out, but stayed a little closer to home - Beaver. It was my first day back on the water since the kidney cancer surgery. I actually caught a few! Nice 3 lb. smallmouth on a jerk bait, but caught it when the bait was just swimming behind the boat. Champ was on the trolling motor and I just hadn't reeled in yet. Go figure.

Hope you have a catch 'em trip. I'm looking forward to getting back on the Rock.

Oh, and Cajunangler, of course ALL Champion owners are this friendly.

Donna G (AKA Mrs. Champ188)

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I was hoping someone would post a report after being out when we had these warmer temps.

-

Even better to see Donna getting back on the water so soon.........and catching fish too! Fishing is very therapeutic! Way to go, I'm excited for yah.

-

My father went through a similar ordeal a couple years ago, and it took him much longer to get back on the mend. But things are closer to normal now. So I can relate.

[edwin]

Edwin let us know how you do, that spoon information is right on the money by Cajunangler, I'm trying to get out this next week myself just for that spoon bite, plus I need a break from everything else.. Make sure you check the major creek arms about 3/4 of the way back right in the middle of the creek. Been finding some good ones hanging in the trees with shad..

Good Fishing Everyone

Don

Ready to get bundled up like that kid in "The Christmas Story" who's mom dresses him before school. Dropping the lift in a few mins, will pass along an update this evening. Thanks for the info...

[Ealy]

Have you guys got any secrets for when the spoon fish come streaking up out of the deep tree's and race to your spoon, and then not bite it ? lol. Then they just hang with it and I can almost see them looking at it like a bluegill looks a nightcrawler when the grandkids are fishing at the dock. I've tried just holding it still, tried barely shaking it, tried jumping it again. To no avail. I probably should have cahnged colors or shape ??

Sometimes the bass want to chase the lure up towards the surface. You'll know this when your bait has been down deep and you start reeling in pretty quick. Sometimes you'll have followers racing you to the top. In that case stop your bait right about the time he catches up to you and hang on.

If those lines on your graph are thinner than usual, you might be dealing with crappie. They like to come out and watch, but they don't always play. Once you've caught a couple of these you're likely to be able to identify them by the way they act on the screen.

Try dropping a grub down on them. If they won't eat that spoon there are a number of other good baits to drop down there this time of year.

[Martin]

Sometimes the bass want to chase the lure up towards the surface. You'll know this when your bait has been down deep and you start reeling in pretty quick. Sometimes you'll have followers racing you to the top. In that case stop your bait right about the time he catches up to you and hang on.

If those lines on your graph are thinner than usual, you might be dealing with crappie. They like to come out and watch, but they don't always play. Once you've caught a couple of these you're likely to be able to identify them by the way they act on the screen.

Try dropping a grub down on them. If they won't eat that spoon there are a number of other good baits to drop down there this time of year.

Hey good idea(s) Ealy. This particular area has yielded some nice crappie in the past, but none yet so far (by me) this winter. I'll give the grub a shot next time though.