Table Rock

[Fishrman]

Fished all day yesterday, came across Shell Knob bridge and looked over at Pizza Hut cove and there were hundreds of them schooling. Got boat launched and went over, caught 2, one spot and one white. Same problema as I have been reading about, size of the bait matters. Left them to go and and throw spinnerbait and crank. That bite never materialized for me, so went crappie fishing. Had 8 keepers, plus the white bass. Good mess to clean. Did end up catching 3 quality blacks up river on buzzbait. That is it for now.

[NuB2TR]

Thanks for the report. Would like to hear more on what crappie bait you were using (minnows? plastics?, etc.) and type of structure you found them on. Up river... Kings or White?

Thank you.

[Fishrman]

Caught them on the White and up the Kings. Caught them on tube jig, blue and white. All were out of brush piles in at least 15 feet of water.

[Crappie Fisherman]

Caught them on the White and up the Kings. Caught them on tube jig, blue and white. All were out of brush piles in at least 15 feet of water.

How big were the crappie you were catching? Did you catch a lot of sublegal fish too?

[NuB2TR]

Caught them on the White and up the Kings. Caught them on tube jig, blue and white. All were out of brush piles in at least 15 feet of water.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate your willingness to share info.

[Fishrman]

The keepers were a little over 10" to 12", probably caught 10-15 other sub legals. Some of the brushpiles I fished were ones I saw put in over the spring. Seemed as if you got the jig close to the brush you would get bit every time. They bit really well early in the morning and the bite faded as the sun got higher. Pretty typical I would guess. One other thing, look for a transition. If you know of a brush pile on a transition in the 15 foot depth it might be worth checking out.

[Fly_Guy]

To add - Fished some different bluffs and found a dozen or so black bass - kentuckys, smths, and lgmths. Perhaps 5 or 6 would've kept. Used everthing from grubs, to worms, to crankbaits. Fish were typically at 25 - 30 feet. Fog made it maddening, sun made it hard, but it turned on around 9 or so for a few hours.

[Sore Thumbs]

To add - Fished some different bluffs and found a dozen or so black bass - kentuckys, smths, and lgmths. Perhaps 5 or 6 would've kept. Used everthing from grubs, to worms, to crankbaits. Fish were typically at 25 - 30 feet. Fog made it maddening, sun made it hard, but it turned on around 9 or so for a few hours.

For what its worth I read an article the other day about Fall fishing and they were talking about using small spinnerbaits like the mini Strike King for example. I think this would work on the Rock too. I noticed all the minnows that were surfacing were pretty small, in that 2-2 1/2 inch range. I never thought to use something that small, always thought of those as a pond lure ,but I will be trying this technique soon to see if it works. They were using light line and open face reels(light lure easier to throw)and say they were very succesful using this method.

I think all the fish are staying deep or in the shade and probably relating closer to the main lake than in the backs of coves and creeks. Lack of rain and any current what so ever is keeping fish toward the main lake areas. IMO.

Hope this helps.