Water Clarity

[capndan]

What does the water look like above Bridgeport? A friend of mine lives on the James and he said the water has come down significantly and looks good around Hooten Town. I have been fishing around Aunts and Jackson Hollow to stay away from propbusters and all the traffic, Aunts is a nice green with some visibility. Jackson is clear Green with good visibility. Catching bass late in the evening in the backs of coves. Jackson is full of shad and you can see massive schools just under the surface. Some of the schools are the size of a house. Hope we don't get too much rain...

[Bill Babler]

Was in the back of Trace Hollow yesterday (Up the Big Indian at Baxter.) and it is completely packed with both gizzard and threadfin shad. All over the surface. Fished it for over 2 hrs. without a bite.

Moved to the main lake and it was on swimming a grub deep. Caught about 30 with 20 solid keepers. Fished one location that I had not caught a LM on, only big K's. Told my guys that we would not catch a LM but should gather in a toad spotted bass or two. 14 keeper Largemouth later I pretty much fessed up that I knew next to nothing. There had not been a LM in the area all Winter till yesterday.

Everything we caught remains for me in the Campbell Point area in pole timber with the boat sitting in 50 to 85 ft. and the fish coming most often in the 15 to 25 ft. depth range.

Beck said up later in the day they got on a stickbait pretty shallow at Kimberling City to point 9 He thought they were in the 15 to 20 ft. range suspended at that depth on the points.

Does not seem to be a fish under or in those shad. Surface temps in there were 45 and the water was that really bad turquois color.

Good Luck

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

It was muddy above beidgeport yesterday. Didn't see many floaters. Clears up inside flat creek

[sixstring531]

Sounds like our day yesterday, Bill! The biggest bass we saw (3-4lb) was dead on the bottom just off the end of the dock at Mills Creek when we put in, in the morning. Water was crystal clear down to 20'+ in the morning. We tooled around the points there and picked up one 2.5lb smalley on a spinner head w/ a fluke jr. She was deeper, around the cedars. We fished the Kings and an arm up the Aunts and only picked up one more smallmouth on a senko about the same size as the first. Toward the end of the day we returned to some of the points across from the Mills launch and graphed fish around 35-45', dropped down the spinner head and grabbed a small kentucky, but couldn't get anything else to bite.

We threw the kitchen sink at them yesterday, from every angle and they just weren't hungry. We caught the same temps: from 45-50

[Grappling Coach]

We fished yesterday morning. I dropped a white lure down and the water up flat creek and up the James a ways had about 1.5 feet of visibility. The temp got up to about 54 - 55 degrees. Most of the trash was gone up the rivers, but there was still some around point 15 and a few bigger pieces to watch out for up the rivers.

[CadeWompus]

Hey Bill...mind if I ask what type of head you like for your grubs?

[Bill Babler]

Don't know that I like them, but I use the absolutely cheapest 1/4 0z. Round Ball Lead Head and cheapest 2/0 mustad combo I can find.

Reason being I don't own them very long before they take up new residence in a Table Rock Lake Tree Top.

Bo says he is coming out with a better mouse trap for fishing the deep trees so I'm waiting patiently for his new weed guard head. Until them, the ones I have been using are running me about a .25 each.

[CadeWompus]

That makes me feel better, then. I have used some cheap ones in the past, and they seemed to work ok. They have a pretty light wire hook on them which is great for getting unhung, but I always worry about straightening on big fish.

[mixermarkb]

This is going to be hard to describe on the internet, but here goes-

Bend your index finger into a hook shape.

Now with your other hand, with your index finger in the J of the other finger and try and bend it straight, like bending a hook out.

Now put the pressure on your fingertip, like the point of the imaginary hook, not the J or gap, and pull.

Easy to straighten, right?

Hooks are the same way. If you can get the point driven through, so you are fighting the fish with the hook Gap instead of the point- it becomes much harder to straighten.

That's why I mainly like light wire, as sharp as I can get hooks. I don't remember the last time I lost a fish due to him straightening a hook on me, because with the light wire I get good penetration, as long as the point is strong enough to not roll up on the rocks.

Just my thoughts- others probably have different ones- I'm just a hack with a 3 month old baby at home that is seriously cutting into my fishing time and friends who keep sending me pics of fish they are catching!!!

[Champ188]

You make a great point (pun intended), mixer. And unless me and my buds are complete idiots (shut it, peanut gallery), the norm is to throw grubs on 6-pound line. You aren't likely to straighten any hook before you reach the breaking point of the line.