Flat Creek Today, March 22

[Phil Lilley]

Duane's probably still cleaning his crappie... so I'll beat him to starting the report.

I met DD at Bridgeport at 3 today. He already had a load in his livewell. We went up in the mouth of Flat Creek and starting trolling as he had been doing most of the day. He told me to pick up some Flicker Shad, #5 purple and/or chartruese. Had a tough time finding any- Bass Pro was packed and didn't want to fight that crowd. Found a few a various places between Branson and Bridgeport. Only the purple firetiger? But it caught a few whites and couple of crappie for me.

I'll let DD tell you the rest. I'll post the pics.

[duckydoty]

We caught a few fish today. It kinda came in spurts. First thing this morning there was a lot of action going on. Lots of boats, and a few other OAF members. The bite slowed down for me around noon with just enough action to keep me interested. I was using the #5 flicker shad in purple fire tiger catching most of my fish in 20-24 feet of water. Did pick up a few keeper crappie, a couple of shorts and 2 bass. Around noon, I did a little exploring on a few different flats out in the James River Arm with no bites. Picked Phil up at 3 and trolled the flats in the mouth of flat creek picking up a couple of big whites. We would catch one or two then nothing for a while. Went looking for my brush pile that I liked to fish before the lake came up and still could not locate it. Back out to the flats at the mouth and caught a few more till the sky got cloudy. After the clouds came in, the bite really slowed for us. The fish were still there, and others were still catching them, but we just did not have what it took to keep the fish coming to the boat. Had a good time out there despite the wind and being a little on the chilly side. Hope the other forum members that were out there chime in on the report, because I know one of them was just tearing it up all day.

[Sac River Jim]

glad you and phil got into some good fish . i need to get up to bp next week and pick up some purple tiger flicker shad i hope i can do as well on it next saturday on the kings as you did up there. thnx you and phil for the tips and a good report.

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

I saw you out there in your tracker jet boat Ducky. We cruised around all over the place. Finally picked a little brush pile within sight if the flat creek ramp that was good to me last year. Caught 10 crappie pretty quick 6 keeps a few were 12&13 inchers. All crappie were in about 8 feet of water and caught them with minnows and a slip bobber rig. Then we decided to run up the creek as far butt you can go caught 4 whites in white vibric rooster tails. Also picked up a few bucket mouths on a wart in peach orchard cove one keep. They were in 6 fow. Once we found the right spots we caught our fish pretty quick. Spent to much time driving around trying to figure things out. Warmest water I saw was 53.5 and that was right by the flat creek ramp. Lost a couple degrees when we ran way up the creek for the whites

[duckydoty]

We ended up with only 5 keeper crappie and probably 4-5 shorts total. Like I said, the whites were biting just enough to keep me interested. I normally don't troll the flicker shad looking for crappie, but wanted to try something new. What kind of boat were you in aarchdale? Capndan was out there too. His boat is actually in the background of the first picture. He had the whites figured out, because he was crushing it. Hoping he will report on here too.

[capndan]

_Ducky,

_{It was a pleasure meeting you and passing you repeatedly! Lots of traffic for a while huh? I do have to say very upset at some guy in a Procraft who ran over our lines as we were trolling and cut off to of our favorite FlickerShads. We hollered at him as his prop was winding our lines up. He stopped looked at us like we were crazy saw we were furiously trying to keep our rods from being yanked out by his boat, knew he just ran over us. Then with no reply or stopping his engine which would have had our lures hanging on them he roared off. Felt totally violated because I love fishing and getting to know others on the water and we are all on this planet together to make it a better place. Anyway enough of my sermon but shame on him.}

_{Now to the fishing, this was my third day in a row strolling and despite the cool off our luck held out we boated 50 whites and kept 2 limits for some of my buddies cooks in the Springfield School District. He says they are great ladies and do a great job of serving our kids and always have a smile and an encouraging word. All fish were monsters, 2~3 lbs. Only managed about a dozen crappie, 4 nice keeps but when you saw us leave for a bit we ran to Peach Orchard looking for Crappie no luck, then ran back across from Bridgeport flat just north of the bridge and fished the gut and caught 3 keepers in about 10 minutes but we both have enough crappie in our freezers to hold us for awhile and we wanted to get back to catching those big whiteys. We also had a lot of success dragging our A~rig and when it got really windy that was all we did at the end. Even able to stop and cast when we would locate a decent sized pod and pull out a few before we would lose them. Meant to stroll over and meet Phil but you guys took off. Sorry I didn't put the rod down and do that when you picked him up. Last thing I have a reward for anyone finding my Perch Flicker shad It should be washed up on that shoreline. Lot of paint coming off and that lure has literally caught me hundreds of fish strolling and casting. Big bass love that color but Berkley stopped making it closest thing to it is the pro flickershad firetiger not the regular flickershad firetiger. I also snagged a 47lb Grass carp 2 years ago in Aunts Creek on 6 lb test and fought it for right at 2 hours before having someone watching me in another boat use my gaff to help me get it in. I had to have it back and now because I reeled my swivel for my leader in to far and cut it off when I cast it out I am lamenting all morning, ha! For those of you that want to try your hand at it the #5 slick purple candy,and the pro firetiger throw it out behind your boat from 60 ~100 feet troll about 1 mph most people I thought were moving to fast. Also try dragging a big a~rig with jr flukes in shad colors, that really catches the giants sometime 2 at once> Good luck to all and sorry for the novel!}

[joey holder]

I was in same area had a good time today trolling shad rap #5 shad color had 13 big white sows . I was in green skeeter I had the lucky net job.

[duckydoty]

Thanks for chiming in capndan. Great to meat you too. It was a lot of fun passing each other out there when the fish were biting good. I saw that guy hit your lines. I was a couple hundred yards off but I could still see your line going all the way to his boat. I was afraid that was going to happen a couple of times yesterday. We were probably going just a shade too fast. In my jet, idling in neutral provide forward momentum, but not quite fast enough, put it in forward and it is a little too fast. I spent a lot of time shifting from neutral to forward and would pick most of my fish up on a turn.

[duckydoty]

I was in same area had a good time today trolling shad rap #5 shad color had 13 big white sows . I was in green skeeter I had the lucky net job.

That was an awesome net job! Phil and I were both cheering you on!

[snakem]

Capndan maybe that guy will get that line all up in his prop and eat the seal out of it ,know what that means, lol