Fishing Report 092813

[J-Doc]

Water Temp: 76ish near the FLiffty Area (if I recall correctly)

Clarity: Maybe 3-4ft? (We stayed in deeper water so I am guessing on clarity)

Weather: Partly Cloudy and on rare occassions, sunny before the front blew in

6:30am to about 1:15pm

I got an education on downriggers and striper fishing this morning with Feathers&Fins.

Striper fishing was slow.....we were surrounded by the striper guides and only a few boats caught any fish even though there were lots of stripers around. Naturally, F&F caught a striper. Should be a lot stronger bite in the coming weeks.

After giving the stripers a try, we moved on to "Downriggers 099". I say "099" because it was the remedial course for basic "101"! LOL! F&F set us up on a run with the downriggers out and trolling the infamous Flicker Shads. Wind was picking up and by the time we called it a day (due to the wife bugging me wanting me to head home), we managed to boat some nice quality crappie for dinner, a nice 2-3lb smallie, a white, a small striper and a wanna-be kentucky bass. He's a wanna-be becuase he wanted to be part of the party even though he was only 8" long. haha

Fresh crappie fried up for dinner was great!! Makes me wonder why anyone goes to eat fish at a restaurant when you can catch it yourself, cook it, and it's far better home-made.

After this trip............I'm VERY much a fan of downriggers. When the fish go deep, get lockjaw and don't want to bite anything including live bait, downriggers are a great option. You can continue to cover a lot of water much faster than casting and reach the fish that are out of reach of deep diving crankbaits, lockjaw fish that won't bite drop shots, etc.

Thanks again to Feathers&Fins for the training session.

Oh and my wallet says "Screw you" because I must buy downriggers soon. LOL!!

[J-Doc]

Here is dinner! :-)

Here is a nice 2-3lb smallmouth. Fought like a 4-5lb walleye. Little bulldogs they are!

[Feathers and Fins]

I still say your "K" went .7.8oz certainly bigger than that picture we were sent by a river rat lol

[J-Doc]

I still say your "K" went .7.8oz certainly bigger than that picture we were sent by a river rat lol

LOL!

Well.....he's beat me several times. I get to beat him on occassion. :-)

[Jeff Olson]

No walleyes today ? have they been slow there also ? they have been pretty slow on bull shoals the last month!

[Feathers and Fins]

No walleye, probably 2 weeks till things get going again would be my guess. The stripers should be up to Prairie Creek within 2 to 3 weeks and the Walleye should be turning on about the same time frame with the crappie. Lake turnover + Algae is not helping.