Early

[Duck]

Fished the upper end this morning, first cast at 5:40, Red Fin was hot until 8 and then the clear blue sky turned the switch off. Total on top water 45, 3 after that on grub. Off at 11 .Better get there at the butt crack of dawn for a bite. Duck.

[Bill Babler]

A fish every 3 minutes for over 2 hrs. is magnificent. Great job finding that type of a location.

Guided out of Shell Knob today and had 29 fish with 4 keepers. Threw a fin and spook for about 30 minutes till 6:30 and had no takers. Saw very few working the surface. Switched to a split-shot up close with a watermellon candy Fish Dr. for all our fish. Most coming under 10 ft. in the pockets. Mixture of K's, LM and a few Jaws. All the K's were ripe with eggs.

Buddy guided Kimberling City and had 19 fish with 8 keepers on the same split-shot rig. Saw nothing on top.

That topwater bite is from Shell Knob up and that is it. Surface temps at 71.7 my entire 4 hrs.

Thanks for the report from the upperend.

[lildave]

Magnificent indeed... We saw Ks bustin shad today, but the shad were tiny, and the bass wouldn't hit Spooks or Pop Rs, or Spittin Images even if you dropped it right in the middle of the melee. Caught a few tiny sharks around the docks on top, but all our keeper and close-to-keeper fish came on big football jigs with craw trailers, creature baits like Brush Hogs and Space Monkies, and finesse worms. The wind made it tough to fish main lake points, but we had some luck on the lee side with the big jigs. Couldn't feel anything else

[rps]

Good information here. I am taking a fellow teacher out Saturday for an early day trip. Small topwaters and split shots are the primary ways to arm, looks like.

[dtrs5kprs]

A fish every 3 minutes for over 2 hrs. is magnificent. Great job finding that type of a location.

Guided out of Shell Knob today and had 29 fish with 4 keepers. Threw a fin and spook for about 30 minutes till 6:30 and had no takers. Saw very few working the surface. Switched to a split-shot up close with a watermellon candy Fish Dr. for all our fish. Most coming under 10 ft. in the pockets. Mixture of K's, LM and a few Jaws. All the K's were ripe with eggs.

Buddy guided Kimberling City and had 19 fish with 8 keepers on the same split-shot rig. Saw nothing on top.

That topwater bite is from Shell Knob up and that is it. Surface temps at 71.7 my entire 4 hrs.

Thanks for the report from the upperend.

Good to hear those K's are coming on up. Based on how they looked and where they were last week I was worried they might just be ready to drop eggs out in 25' of water.

What a piecemeal spawn. Guess it drags things out, but seems like fewer fish up as predictably...some now, some later...

[Duck]

Bill, I forgot to say there was 2 of us fishing. On finding the spot its easy when you have a guide like you show us. We were with you about 2 years ago up there. We had 9 fish over 15 inches yesterday and some about the size of the fin. Thanks again. Duck

[Bill Babler]

Duck, great report, keep it coming from up there. It is really usefull information. When RPS is not on the water it gets to be kind of a forgotten section of the lake. It is always nice to hear about the great action, and even when it is not so hot.

Sounds like nice size also with the keeps. Have not been up there yet for topwater, but may get there on Saturday. I still owe you guys a small jaw trip and we will do it one of these days.

Again, thanks for the reports.