2 Hr. Stink And Stink

[Bill Babler]

Took a couple of hours yesterday morning and threw stickbaits in the dam area. Saw lots of folks deep fishing the major cuts but really wanted none of that. Tried a McStick, a Custom Rogue and a Megabass and had zero bites on any of the above. Mostly targeted bluffends. Water was extremely slick and I just could not find any breeze. Spoke to 2 other stickbait throwers yesterday and nither had any licks, all morning. Surface temps 46.6 over most of the area.

Also spoke to Phil Stone on Saturday and he thought it was mighty tough with the suspending sticker.

Beck caught about 14 keepers in the Dam area on Saturday and had 14.5 pounds in a derby. All on stickbaits. He was fishing it extremely slow and it was weighted to sink. Bites were pertty spongy and he was letting it sit so long it would make a normal person sick. At least 30 seconds to a minute and a half between twitches.

Derby winner, caught them deep on a shot.

[troutgnat]

Took a couple of hours yesterday morning and threw stickbaits in the dam area. Saw lots of folks deep fishing the major cuts but really wanted none of that. Tried a McStick, a Custom Rogue and a Megabass and had zero bites on any of the above. Mostly targeted bluffends. Water was extremely slick and I just could not find any breeze. Spoke to 2 other stickbait throwers yesterday and nither had any licks, all morning. Surface temps 46.6 over most of the area.

Also spoke to Phil Stone on Saturday and he thought it was mighty tough with the suspending sticker.

Beck caught about 14 keepers in the Dam area on Saturday and had 14.5 pounds in a derby. All on stickbaits. He was fishing it extremely slow and it was weighted to sink. Bites were pertty spongy and he was letting it sit so long it would make a normal person sick. At least 30 seconds to a minute and a half between twitches.

Derby winner, caught them deep on a shot.

Bill,

Your post made me feel so much better! I thought I was the worlds worst stick fisherman Sat. Out of 4 of us in two rigs none of us got bit on the stick. The bad news is I'm going back at it tomorrow. But most of my efforts are going to be dropshotting and trying to fine-tune my depthfinder!

[zzjonze]

Ya know Mr Babler, it is good (for me) to hear your fishing reports sir good and bad.To know It wasn't just me having a bad day on the water, makes me think I need to keep trying.I never had a bite all day.

I often look for your reports to get an idea as to how to fish before I hit the water.

On the funnier side though My partner and I got up early and drove to Stockton to fish the Winter Bass Brawl.When We got there as the sun was rising only to find the lake completely froze over LOL! So much for my research huh?

So we turned and then drove all the way back down to Shell Knob and put in.

We fished wiggle warts shallow, deep jig, lucky craft,rapala,and Tim Hughes custom baits and never got bit, while mostly keying on the bluff ends in that area.

I guess we had a good Sunday roadtrip.

Thanks for your report sir, it gives me a clue that it was just plain tough out there yesterday.

ZZ

[techo]

Sorry for the slow fishing day, but I agree it is nice to hear it gets slow for the ones that do this for a living too. That Beck fella has to be one of the best. Nothing but respect for him!

[CaptainJoe]

I need to jump on the stink wagon, as well. Put in at Aunt's Creek and fished jerkbaits, spoons, dropshot, jigs, etc. and from Aunt's Creek to Point 9....nothing, nada, none, skunked. Water temp: 45 Air Temp: 34 am, 50 pm. No wind and slick water all day. Fog and cloudy with a little sun for about 15 minutes. Rough day....

[Gone Fishing]

Also only had one keeper on Sat. with the stick. Fished from Big M to Baxter. Water is very cold around Big M (37-39 degrees).

Just wondering what it took to win the Winter Series on Sat.

[fishermedic]

I need to jump on the stink wagon, as well. Put in at Aunt's Creek and fished jerkbaits, spoons, dropshot, jigs, etc. and from Aunt's Creek to Point 9....nothing, nada, none, skunked. Water temp: 45 Air Temp: 34 am, 50 pm. No wind and slick water all day. Fog and cloudy with a little sun for about 15 minutes. Rough day....

Hey all, this is my first attempt at posting here. Not new to the site though-I am on several times a week, but have never felt like I could contribute a whole lot. Mostly get on the site to daydream, and learn, which I have done much of since joining a few years ago. I used to spend most of my time on the creeks and rivers of S.W. Missouri with my 4 boys and occasionally my wife, smallmouth and goggle eye fishing, but since i bought my first bass boat 3-4 years ago i have gotten the bug, and the river trips have gotten far and few between!I fish only a few times each winter, usually at Tablerock, and probably fish a total of 20-25 trips a year, with 75% of those being at the Rock, and the others at Grand, and Stockton. I live about ten miles east of neosho. Took my dad out today for his first ever dedicated spoon and dropshot trip. We launched at Big M at about 1pm and ended up spending our entire afternoon till about 5pm at Roaring River, mostly because we took a fella whose boat had broke down near Big M and needed a ride back to Eagle Rock where he was parked, and we thought we would go ahead and explore the channels in the first mile of R.R. since we were already there. My dad doesn't know much about working or reading a depth finder, or how to fish with one, so we spent the day exploring and practicing with mine so he could see how fun it can really be.He caught his first ever spoon fed largemouth in 47 ft. of water right on the bottom of the first big channel bend inside the mouth of the river over where it swings real close to the bank. Caught it with a 1/2 oz. silver/black Real Image spoon, just slightly jiggling and bouncing off the bottom. We actually caught 4 or 5 fish from that same area over about an hour, all shorts except one keeper, that weighed about 2 pounds, and of course quickly released each of them. All were very light and mushy bites as you would expect. We messed around on up around a couple more bends as you continue up river for about a mile, and marked fish and shad in a few areas but could not entice any more to eat our goodies. I did catch a short on a drop shot with a green pumpkin 4" Zoom meathead, but the others were on the spoons. Water temp was anywhere from 39 to 40.5, and all were caught in that first deep channel bend. We saw ice on and around those north facing banks, and i heard that farther up river it looks like it is fairly thick still- we did not go very far back. I did actually throw my favorite for a short while, just to get my fix, which is a brown Jewel 3/8 oz. jig, but no luck. I wanted to throw a stick bait along some of those tree lined banks up river but as Captain Joe said, the wind was pretty much non-existent, so i didn't waste my time. It ended up being a beautiful afternoon!

There's my report for you all. sorry for the long ramble. I hope to start spending more time on the water during the winter, and I will post reports as I do. I will try to make a habit of getting pics too. I appreciate all of you posting on this site-I know you all hear this a bunch, but it is true-this is the best forum in existence!

[gwrightf150]

Thank you all for posting your reports from yesterday. My partner and I put in at Viola and threw everything we had in the tackle box, including the Kohler kitchen sink and not even a nibble. I did catch 3 tree branches, two stumps and a leaf. Glad to hear it wasn't just our inexperience.

[ozarksfishin]

As Bill said, I had no takers on the stickbait the other day. After I talked to Bill, I decided to go after some deep fish, only to notice that my graph had shut off. Turned it back on and the volt meter read 8.7 volts and was going down. Luckily it still had enuff juice to get the big motor cranked up. Quick call to Pete Wenners, and I will be back in business this week. Thanks to Pete, Lane Schumaker, and the guys at Battery Outfitters!

[Champ188]

OK, I'll jump onboard the stink bus, too. Donna and I fished 8 a.m. to dark Saturday and had two bites that we know of ... a giant LM that I missed on a spinnerbait early while there was still a bit of wind, then Donna caught a 12-inch SM on a Pointer around 9 a.m. Only threw the spinnerbait about 5 minutes, spent the rest of the day practicing different poses on the front deck while waiting 15-30 seconds between jerkbait twitches. Did drag a grub, fb jig and throw a Wart a little bit. They weren't having any of that either. Put in at North Indian and fished pretty near every dadgum bluff end between there and the Mill Creek ramp. I'm blaming part of it on Donna making the following comment at our first stop: "We can't not catch them today. Conditions are too perfect." LOL

I'll be back this Saturday for revenge.