Dam Area 19-21

[Alex Heitman]

Went out Friday at about noon and fished some muddy water first in the back of creeks and coves. Picked up 2 real quick on some gravel flats on a crawdad colored tube. Thought I had them figured out and then nothing on the tube for a long time. My brother caught some nice LM on crankbait in the muddy water. Visbility was about 6 inches. Tried the jerkbait after the tube and nothing on that which was a big surprise to me. Struggled the rest of the day while throwing the kitchen sink at them until I pulled out a swimbait during the evening and that was the ticket the rest of the trip.

Saturday I stuck with the swimbait and they were just eating it like crazy. I focused more on the clearer water with green tint that was stabilizing and clearing up after that big rain. This turned out to be a great decision. My brother continued to throw the crank and it was working as well. We caught probably over 20 keepers that day and lots of 14 inch fish, I quit counting after 10 keepers. A few SM mixed in but mostly really nice K's and some big LM. The K's are ready to explode! I caught them up close on the bank and backed out in the spawning areas. I feel that some of these fish are spawning deep this year with the rising water level we had come up Thursday. Some of the bigger LM we caught had already spawned. In the pic below is a 7 lb LM that was already spawned out. Saturday night lots of shad chasing activity in open water so I pulled out the spook and caught them on that all the way until dark. They were chasing heavily and explosions were common in the one area I was in.

Sunday I went back to the area they were chasing to try some more topwater and they were still chasing. Caught several keepers on the spook for about an hour. Switched back up to the swimbait and caught another giant LM. This one had not spawned yet. Continued catching them on the swimbait for an hour and had to get back home. Really a succesful morning. Only fished from 6:30-9:00 and caught them the whole time.

[Quillback]

Congrats, some very nice fish!

[MOsmallies]

Beautiful Fish!!! Were you throwing a Hard (Jointed) swimbait or a soft plastic swimbait (Hollow Belly/Paddle Tail)?

Paul

MOsmallies

[jmes]

Nice fish, great report

[Alex Heitman]

Swimbait was a soft paddle tail and used 3/8 to 1/2 weight

[abkeenan]

Great report and congrats. Seems like you have the touch this year on the big gals. Good stuff and thanks for the pics along with the report.

[Alex Heitman]

Thanks guys. I have just been lucky at the right place at the right time. Can't complain though, except that it gets you hooked and makes you want to be out on the water everyday!

[abkeenan]

Pictures sum up Table Rock...one day shirt off...next day bundled up with the 100mph gore tex on...hahahaha. What length/size swim bait you throwing?

[Alex Heitman]

Abekeenan I was throwing a couple different ones. I was throwing 3 and 4 inch storm swimbaits in pearl color. I was also throwing a scrounger head with a mag fluke if I got around the gizzard shad if not I was just throwing swimming fluke. Scrounger head sizes depended on what depth I wanted to be at. Used 3/8 and 1/2 oz heads.