September Weekend Report 9-21-14

[bluebasser86]

Good for you guys! Not even worth arguing with people like that. Even doubling up right in front of him he probably still didn't believe you and figured it was dumb luck These awesome reports make we wish I was going to be able to get down there this fall but our son just turned 9 months and isn't quite old enough to make an extended trip or spend much time in a boat yet. I can just imagine how it would go over with the wife if I left her in the hotel all day with our son to go fishing

[Sac River Jim]

Bill do you think the hook change has affected the falling action of the 80's. I switched over to #6 KDV triple grips and I think it hasnt affected them at all. But I am getting a few more fish to the boat than I was but that could be the fact i'm getting comfortable throwing it and i'm using a 6'10'' ML spinning rod with 6lb seguar and im getting used to letting the rod load up.

[Bill Babler]

Great report! Lake level 914.6 ?

Was hoping you all missed that. Level is 911.3

[Bill Babler]

I was trying with the hooks to add a little longer shank and also a bit bigger gap. Not only to increase the bite of the hook but to add some extra weight to the bait. The fall with the added split rings and hooks has increased it some, and it still falls in a very correct manner. To tell you the truth, and now I have thrown it quite a bit, the bite is not on the fall it is on the retrieve. This is not a stickbait, it is a spinbait.

The whole idea of the bait is to catch them on this on the retrieve. My clients and I don't have a ton of hours in with it, but going by man hours, I'm going to say, maybe 300 man hours fishing the bait. Not a single fish on the fall, they all come on the retrieve.

I want a fast fall to get it to the desired depth as quickly as possible. Then the proper retrieve to keep it in the correct location in the water column. If your using this for schooling or chasing fish, there is a better mouse trap as fish even with all that I have done come loose quite a bit of the time, even with experienced fisherman behind the wheel.

This bait comes with a pretty short shank size 8 hook, with a very narrow gap. I am putting the wider bigger and heaver Death Traps in size 6 on it. If your putting any type of a triple grip or circle type hook, remember to just wind the bait. If you set the hook or pull back it will cost you fish. That triple grip is designed to hook the fish and then create a closed circle to keep them on. When you set the hook with a triple grip, you close the circle before the hook penetrates the fish.

Good Luck

They will bite this deal, but if you have to pay your dues with it.

[MOBass]

A lot of folks get hung up with hammering the bank. They see all the TV shows with guys pounding away at shallow cover and believe that is the only way to do it. When they roll up to Table Rock they don't adjust for the fact that the water is clear and deep, that the fish are more likely to relate to deep structure, and the latest and greatest bait they saw on the show shot in Florida isn't going to cut it.

In this age of information there is really no reason to be unprepared when fishing a new body of water. A quick search on google yields a plethora of good, current information. Someone following a bit of the information given could at least get on a few fish.

It amazes me that someone would not take advantage of local knowledge while on the water. That guy could have asked a few questions and made some adjustment that would have put him and his wife on at least a few fish. Strange people out there in the world.

Oh well. I need to clean up tackle and get ready for a week of vacation in October. Maybe a few fish will get shallow and I can throw a crank and spinnerbait.

[Sprint21fter]

I don't understand why this spybait is getting poor hookups. To me it looks like a jerkbait which normally for me gets very positive hookups.

[Jerry Rapp]

Bill & others - do you think the spy baits are getting you more bites and fish in the boat than other traditional baits?

[Bill Babler]

Bill & others - do you think the spy baits are getting you more bites and fish in the boat than other traditional baits?

Jerry, I do not. I think it is just a pretty expensive toy to play with. I feel any or probably all the fish we are not catching on it we could be catching on a spoon.

THIS IS NOT. LET ME REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A STICKBAIT. The bait configuration and the placement and size of the hooks are not as they are on a suspending jerkbait. It is not specifically meant to be jerked. The proper way to fish it is to let it fall as quickly as possible to the same depth as the fish and reel it thru that area of the water column. The roll and the spin of the MOVING bait is suspose to trigger the strike.

It is kind of a fun toy, but including myself and my clients we keep saying "Durn, I missed him," way to many times.

MoBass, as far as the gentleman this weekend, here is the rest of the story. I told him to move out some and check his graph for deep trees. I went on to tell him to look for trees in usually about 70+ feet of water where the tops came to within about 30' of the surface. Usually at the mouths of the major creeks and large coves. He had a brand new Triton fish and ski and looked like he had a decent graph in the console, but really nothing on the bow.

He asked me if his spinnerbait would work if he let it fall to the count of 20 or 30 and I said Maybe. He said he had no drop shot stuff and only a few jigging spoons. I would have given him some flutter spoons, but they are now as hard to find as hen teeth and expensive as all get out.

When I was pulling away my lady client said, " I would not have told that A-Hock anything Bill, your way to nice."

That guy did not know me from squat. What would you think if you had not caught a fish all day, and some old fool is setting in the middle of the lake, throwing a bait at nothing and setting in 120' of water, saying he has already put 25 in the calaboose?

As MO. stated, this is a very different cat than most folks are used to skinning. He might should of done a bit more research.

Course Champ would have been right up there with him, only difference is that Donna would have throw out the lake side of the boat and would have caught something.

I made a Funny.

[Champ188]

Course Champ would have been right up there with him, only difference is that Donna would have throw out the lake side of the boat and would have caught something.

I made a Funny.

That's why I only fish banks with a 45-degree or steeper slope. That way we can fish 1 to 100 feet of water at the same time.

[Quillback]

Bill & others - do you think the spy baits are getting you more bites and fish in the boat than other traditional baits?

I was throwing one for a bit Friday at schooling fish, I put one in the boat on it while Jeb probably caught 1/2 dozen in the same time frame on a spoon. I put it away at that point.