Monday Bite

[dtrs5kprs]

Good grub bite today on main lake gravel points and "grub looking" banks in coves. Basic 1/4oz head and 5" S&P single tail. 10' to 25' on lake both swimming and scrubbing. Shallower in coves. Also made the tube dragging bite work. Same places as grub but backed off and dead on the bottom. Had one right under boat in 28'. 8 keepers lots of shorts. Beautiful day to boot. If there are lakes in heaven every day should be as nice. Just warm with an all day breeze. Also ran into the fabulous Mr. Babler at the ramp this morning. Bill...make sure you thank Beck for pointing out that slippery spot on the ramp.

[Bill Babler]

Man did he fall hard. About one more deal like that and I'll just have to put the old boy out to pasture. He still Kicked my tail. He had 9 keepers and all we could come up with was 5.

Thanks for the report. You should have told us who you were and came over for a hand warming. Sounds like you did the deal real well. I think I stayed to shallow.

Good Report.

[dtrs5kprs]

You looked like you needed to get going. Will be at Schooner thru next Tues. You two beat me out this a.m. Slowed myself down at Ma's with the usual suspects. ...They kicked my tail today. In at 3p.m. 1 little keeper on the Ned Rig. Grub/tube fish still west of the bridge but could not make them eat it today. Can see them on the graph out to 30'. Looks like vertical fishies. Lots of shad and wind.

[dtrs5kprs]

Should add...after 8 days on lake still not sure what fish are doing or why they are where they are. Can catch some but very odd for me to catch more out on the lake than in the creeks. Even given the warm spring and water.

[Jason Essary]

dtrs. Im finding the same thing. They all seem to be on a different mindset. If you catch a good one, you should almost give up on that pattern and go to something else. Its weird. Thanks for the reports guys.

[Bill Babler]

Dtrs5 read your report this AM and followed it to the T. I slowed down and put 15 keeps in the boat, with close to 40 fish. Yesterday I just went to hard. Fished from Cow Creek to Baxter and fished extremely poorly. Today I fished from Schooner to point 5 and slowed way way down and fished pretty good. No giants mind you. 3.5 was our best LM, and had a mixture of all 3 types.

I will tell you this. We flat just crawled the grub. Really only fished 3 locations in 9 hrs. Yes it was a long guide trip. Most fish I believe came in the 12 to 16 ft. range in the steeper pockets.

We lost 20 jig heads and 3. 20 packs of grubs, keepiing it as close to the bottom as we could. I am worn slick. Billy's tube did not work as well today and he told me it was not going to. Said with 9 keeps and 20 shorts he maxed out what he was doing. He is usually right and was today. Just could not get changed.

I have fished this pond the better part of my life and for me it was almost impossible to find a place to fish. The lake is just jammed with boats, by the hundreds. They are completely all over my usual junk. Really had to improvise and you really helped. I appreciate it. This is not the first time, and I have pointed it out more than once. Read deep and put on a thinking cap and ozarks anglers helps everyone.

Good Luck

[Champ188]

Hang in there, Bill. Just a few more days and the derby swarm will be gone. You are right about dtrs5kprs reports. They are always worth a good read and right on the money. Much appreciated.

[Mike3004]

Thank you for the reports. We are from St. Louis on vacation here and staying near the dam. The boat traffic has been a sight to see. We were out this morning and caught some shorts on wind blown points. But as we read tonight, we need to try a slower, crawling approach it sounds like.

Looking forward to your future reports this week.

[dtrs5kprs]

Bill...I had your yesterday today. Between the wind shad and being pumped from Monday I fished too fast and ran too much. Only fished 4 places Monday and spent 3 hours each on 2 best spots. Fished 4 the first 3 hours today...

Caught some early swimming then jumped around with the FB and a tube. Nada.

Going to be a mob at dam and possibly around Mill/Joe Bald. These grub fish are pretty easy folks so be good to them.

[Sam]

Now I've got to make a decision. I don't fish for bass much and I don't keep bass when I catch them, but I DO like to fish the post-spawn on Tablerock. When it's time for Senkos, grubs, and crankbaits I can usually get in a few spring trips and have fun catching bass - and it sounds like it's that time.

On the other hand, I think I could go over to Bull Shoals again this week, have the lake pretty much to myself, and catch another limit of crappie.

A lot of boat traffic does bother me, and I hate to hear that's going on right now. Champ188, you said in a few more days the derby swarm will be gone - I don't know the schedules, when is that gonna be?

I go fishing to relax, not to aggravate myself.