Yesterday On The Rock With Cpa

[Bill Babler]

Went over after my morning Guide trip on Taney to check out the Weigh-in for the 2013 kickoff for CPA. Really great turnout with 64 boats in the derby.

Fishing has been very spotty with lots of do's but more dont's. These boys caught them pretty good.

30-5 fish limits were weighed in on the Pro side, so that is nearly half the field with 15" limits of fish. Pretty good. Weights were not as high as I expected after watching the first guy weigh in with 12 pounds, I thought one of the local crankers would drag in a BAG.

18 Pro's are within 3 pounds with Jeff Farley leading the deal with 15.4. Table Rock Lake Guide Eric Olliverson is in second with 14.5 and he also has big fish at 6.5 pounds. Mike Webb pointed out that the big bass alone for this derby is going to pay over $1,000.00. With the 64 boat field that brings into play all the money. That being bonus money from the boat and motor companies.

Winner of this deal with big bass and boat company insentives could exceed $10,000.00, by a long shot. Very strong start for CPA, and a lot of money on the Table.

Even with the wind, did not hear guys talking about Blade fish. Most of the talk was crakin and to my suprise the square bill was spoken of more than the Table Rock Beloved Wiggy Wart.

Lots of limits of very shallow fish, under 3' deep. Fish seemed to bite thru the mid-day and the lake warmed all day, kinding of moving some of the deep fish that these guys had been on. With the cloud cover the deep bite was really just not there. Lots of these guys depend this time of the year on deep spoon fish. Big LM can get on that jigging spoon, but that did not seem to be the deal yesterday, most everyone was winding.

Be interesting with less wind and more sunlight to see how it plays out today. Reguardless, these derbys give us locals a very good heads up on what we can do to trick one here and there.

Good Luck

[motoman]

Great read bill!......keep us posted what develops today.:-)

[Quillback]

Yep, thanks a bunch Bill for posting that info.

[rps]

For the umpteenth time, thanks Bill.

[Bill Babler]

Joe Brantly comes from back to win the CPA derby, with 26.5 pounds. Eric Olliverson second with 25.9 Only 13 limits weighed in as the Rock Bared her Fangs on Sunday.

Surface temps jump up by 2 degree and complete eliminate the deep fish bite as contestants scramble to put 5 fish in the boat. Joe Brantly duplicated his catch from Saturday as most other angles fall back and takes the event.

Best bite in a scramble seemed to be the dock bite. Using a 5/16 oz flippin jig and a small craw trailer, lots of fish were caught lake wide on this presentation in and around the docks. Bigger fish were scarce as hens teeth, and 5 keeps were indeed the most important deal for the day.

Weigh-in took a while as most contestants fish had to be measured close to make sure they were 15". Lots and lots of squeeker fish.

With forcast in the mid-60's to low 70's for the next week or more, this is going to set this thing back. I expect it to be pretty tough at least till the first of the year.

If this keeps up, the spawn may start next week, so I may be wrong.