Different Day Today

[Bill Babler]

Don't believe I have ever been that Cold in my life.

Launched at Tucker this Morning at 6AM with the Air temperature at 16 balmy degrees, and the Surface water temps had dropped to 39.1. Ed and I were nearly frozen. It's for sure our rod tips were, as they iced up till close to 9AM.

Water was just flatter than a pancake, and the stickbait probably looked like a stickered monster to them. CAught 3 very early on it with one Buck 16 inch Black keeper, and a very nice K, about the same size. We were moving the bait so slow, I fell asleep.

There were no strikes like the other day, the fish were just there, when you twitched the bait. Not much fight in them either.

Could not get bit after 8 AM, so went to a full size swimming minnow reeling it along the bottom, boat in 20 casting in to chunk rock and pea gravel. Caught 6 more doing this with 1 more skinny buck Black keeper.

We tried Hotdawgs Hula Grub on some very nice transition shelf stuff, but no takers. I'm going to keep trying it as I know that will work.

Three Keepers weighed 7.5 pounds Off the water by 11 AM. Water at the Launch had not warmed up much, just 41.7 at take out. It is going to be warmer tomorrow and is not suspose to cool off tonight, so we are hoping for a better day.

Heard the Whites bit up lake, but we were after Bass.

[techo]

With the south winds that are supposed to be coming with the warmer temps.... I for one hope tomorrow is your best day of fishing ever!

Good luck!

[denjac]

  On 3/5/2010 at 12:43 AM, techo said:

With the south winds that are supposed to be coming with the warmer temps.... I for one hope tomorrow is your best day of fishing ever!

Good luck!

Hope it goes well for both of you. Hope my day is better! Maybe some clouds tommorow and 10 - 15 mph breeze. Watch out!

[pat]

I'm fairly new to the forum and fishing Bull Shoals. Still trying to find out how to consistently catch fish.

What type/size of line are you fishing in your presentation (stickbait, plastics, etc.)?

Thanks,

Pat

[Bill Babler]

Still tough for T. and I again today. You would have thought different with the cloud cover and wind, but still mean. Water didn't really warm up much today. 41 at the start and 42.9 at the finish. Fish hit very short for us today. We did manage to trick 8 Bass with 6 Lm and 2 K's. 2 walleye 1 was a really nice 22 incher, the other was 17. 3 of the bass would have kept with the big boy at 3 pounds. Everything is still swimming in the Ice cold lake.

Mainly fished cove and creek arm transitions. Only had one location, with multiple fish. I missed easy 7 very nice bites today. The fish were just not commiting, or I was running the bait into them when I moved it. I believed T missed several also.

REally all day only had two hard takes. The Big Walleye, and the Big LM. All the others were just there, when I would twitch the bait, I would feel weight, not a bite what so ever.

Line used were 8 and 10 pound Maxi in moss green and 8 and 10 pound Seugar Fluracarbon. McStick and Megabass baits were used and the colors we used really would not help you, as they didn't help us to much. Tried the swimming minnow, hula grub and small Eakins jig today, but the Stickbait caught all the fish.

Good Luck

[techo]

I guess Bll has higher standards than me and he tends to use the word WE frequently. We spoke to another boat and they had one "bite" when we talked to them in the afternoon. So I would say the ten fish "we" caught was a spectacular day!

I do have to say out of the two of us I was the stinker. Not a skunk, but about four inches from it.

Seriously....what a spectacular wonderful day on the lake. Life has been a bit rushed for me lately and a day on God's great creation (I guess with a little help of a dam) with a good friend who happens to be a great fisherman was exactly what was needed to put the Earth back into perspective.

I have said it before I will say it again. Babler is a great guide. He has top notch fishing equipment and a good clean boat. He is easy on the rookies and hardly even grimaced when I broke his stickbait!

[pat]

Bill,

Thanks for the info. I'll be down there in a couple of weeks by the 125 Marina. I'll let you know how we do. Probably nothing compared to what you're pulling in. You catch more bass in the middle of winter than I do during the warm months.

Thanks,

Pat