Long Creek Report

[Hogfan]

You had all these patterns working on a late afternoon bite? Man If I were catching fish like that on the blade and the wart, I don't believe I would have time to have went thru all those baits. Probably if I were catching them like that on a blade I would not have even picked up the wart, let alone a grub and a stickbait. I went to the back of Cricket yesterday afternoon, and only saw 61 degree water. My gauge might be off, but there were 3 of us and all had surface temps in long creek, from 54 to a high of 61.

Most of us guide types thought we had good days with 15 to 25 fish in 8 hrs. in the same area you were fishing, with a keeper or two thrown in. Lots of purssure and not a ton of bites.

We had 17 fish with 4 keepers and were glad to have them. I had a very good fisherman.

Thanks for the info.

Good Luck

Do you not believe him Bill? You question the afternoon bite, the choice of baits and the water temps???

I apologize if I'm mistaking a sincere inquiry for sarcasm.

Just seems like he's not getting much credit for his efforts...

[Champ188]

All Bill is saying is that there have been a lot of guides working that same area lately and none of them found such easy pickins. Wart, blade, grub and stick is a lot of changing around in a few hours of fishing. Granted, the report did not include a specific number of fish but the overall tone was that it was "throw anything you want, they'll bite it." Look at the recent derby results and some of the names who have struggled. It ain't that easy.

[getfished]

Champ, it may not be that easy but it sure makes good readin up here in Totoland. That is what I call PJF panic junk fishin. It is common for me to bounce around all day looking for some consistency and by the end of the day have a fish or two on several baits but if I didn't leave a breadcrumb Or two along the way I'll be durned if I could repeat it the next day. It's a whole thing different fun fishin than guidin which I don't do. I always throw plenty of the favorites because I'm paranoid of painting myself into a corner.

Ya'll get em good for those of us who can't be there.

[Bill Babler]

All Bill is saying is that there have been a lot of guides working that same area lately and none of them found such easy pickins. Wart, blade, grub and stick is a lot of changing around in a few hours of fishing. Granted, the report did not include a specific number of fish but the overall tone was that it was "throw anything you want, they'll bite it." Look at the recent derby results and some of the names who have struggled. It ain't that easy.

/quote]

Let me clarify a couple of things. First, I moderate this section of Ozark Anglers, and when posts come up that sometimes are questionable or in disfavor, I get PM's and calls. Look at this topic, it has a lot of interest now. Over 700 views.

I have been contacted numerious times about the post by not only guides but others fishing the same area.

Sunday, was a very unique day, not only being Easter, but being one of the busiest guide days of the year so far. Another factor, also plays in that with the wind, all of these guide trips were pushed into Long Creek. Not only were the guides pushed in, but so were the area fishermen, making for a lot of boats in a pretty small area. Long Creek is not so big it can handle tons of fishermen, all doing the basic same thing, throwing a wart and a blade down the bank. All the banks were hammered and rehammered. I saw the bank just above Cricket Creek Marina, hit at least a dozen times from the Marina, clear out to the RV Park. I hit it myself. Cricket Creek, Long Creek and Yokum were all just pounded starting at 7 AM on Sunday morning and going until 5 PM.

We caught all our fish pretty early and for the most part all the guides stopped getting bit about 11 AM. I know of 4 of us that did not have a bite from 11 AM till 3 PM. The afternoon bite has just been terrible Lake Wide. In the AIA weekend before Easter, out of 70 boats there probably was not a limit caught afternoon, by any of the competitors. In the OMTT the day before it was the same. Afternoons have been terrible, at best. Yesterday was the first decent afternoon trip I had heard of.

I believe the temperature deal was what caught the eye of so many that were in the Creek on Sunday. No one saw water that close to 70 degree. That threw up red flags and got my phone a humming. Most of us at top had high 50's to maybe late in the day, a near 60 experence.

This same thing happend last year with some of us guides giving lake wide fishing reports, in generalizations. We were just trying to give clues of yearly patterns, and when folks fished some of those types of patterns, the fish were not there. It was a maylay. Now, no projections from any of us. We either fished it in the last day or we didn't. No presuming what they are doing. Just trying to help, backfired on us.

Clarity and accuracy are very important here. Really for most of us it dosen't matter if you catch them or not, just tell us both ways. If you just hammer them on every trip, the red flags go up. Understatement not to the point of fabracation, but humility, is always better than swagger.

We however, would love to see photo's of a big day. If you post that you are hammering them, lets see a pic or two, it gets all our juice's flowing. It solidifys your efforts and takes away all doubt.

I'll close this by saying Phil gave me some great advice. Write down your post and let it set for an hour or two. Come back and if it is really what you want to say, "let her rip." But remember this. This is a public forum and others will have there opinions of every word you have posted.

Good Luck and Great Fishing

[fozzype]

I also fished long creek on Friday and Saturday. The fishing Friday was much better than Saturday. I saw 60.2 at the warmest and agree it is very tough in the afternoon. Had 4 keeps on Friday. Three keeps very early on a wart/blade and one later while crappie fishing on a swimming minnow. The fishing did pick up very briefly in the afternoon, about 30 minutes before the rain hit. Saturday, there were just too many people and I skinned out to flat creek (via Rte.76) to catch crappie without a single keeper in Long all morning. Did hear of a friend catching a few on grub near Brushy, but he said it was very tough.

Bill, how was Taney this morning? I was just working on the new Bridge, wishing I could fish.

[Hogfan]

Got out for an afternoon of fishing after the Easter dinner. Saw 66.2 degree water up Cricket with some nice fish coming from the shallows on warts and blades. Worked my way up lake and the fishing was still good. Can still catch them on channel banks and points on the grub. Stick bite was also working on the windy banks which were not hard to find.

I'm sure Gone Fishing can defend himself but what I get from his post is this...

"Afternoon of fishing" - could be from 1:00 to 6:30 which would be 5 1/2 hours, which would be plenty of time to throw a variety of baits.

"66.2 degree water" - could be that in the very back of Cricket where it ain't no deeper than a mud hole that it's that warm or his graph may be off a degree or two (not his fault)

"nice fish coming from the shallows" - without knowing this fisherman a nice fish could be 15" or 16" to him and a good day may be 12 to 15 bass. He never said how big or how many he caught.

I enjoy reading how everyone does, guide or not. I just hate to see an honest contributor called out on something because others might not have faired so well.

I have been contacted numerous times about the post by not only guides but others fishing the same area.

If you got phone calls and PM's over that little post I feel sorry for you. Call me a fool but I didn't see much out of the ordinary.

Gone Fishing, I apologize if I've stepped on your toes in anyway.

[Gone Fishing]

Bill, I am not talking about the Cricket Marina, I am talking about Cricket Creek. I showed 61.6 at the marina but suprisingly warmed up in the dirty shallow water on up in Cricket Creek. Hogfan was right in that I fished 6 hours that afternoon but that is besides the point. Did you stop to think that all the views were from you basically calling someone a lier. Maybe next time you post a report and I don't catch them that good(or my weekend angler type buddies)I'll be wondering, is he pulling my chain.

Been an hour, Letting her Rip

[FishinCricket]

Hogfan, I may be reading it wrong too, but it sure does seem like he's kinda saying if you aren't going to (or can't) write up a precise report (preferably with evidence), then dont bother...?

Tough crowd, man...

To the original poster: Thanks for the report. You did treat the fish in my creek humanely, didn't you? :wink:

[FishinCricket]

Oh, shoot! I didn't read that part about waiting an hour.. You think I'll get a cramp?!?! Sorry fellas, won't happen again...

[snakem]

Same thing happened to us. Early morning was great then extremely slow. Wifey read our bass magazine and according to moon phase they were not to bite until after 3:45 p.m. We were gone by 11:30 because of the wind. This was Easter Sunday as snakem wrote in his earlier thread. Bill we are with you and understand your point completly.