BridgePort area

[176champion]

I guess there is no fish up in that area, fished there many times with no success.....maybe i just dont know what im doing....lol.....New to fishing Tablerock Lake and areas but not new to fishing. Guess im just not holding my mouth right...lol...any help would be appreciated.

[Champ188]

Lots of fish up there. Tie on a Bandit 200 series crank bait in chartreuse rootbeer or green speckled craw, a 3/8-ounce War Eagle spot remover spinnerbait and a brown or PBJ finesse jig with a green pumpkin Lil Critter Craw trailer. Oh, there's the Ned rig thingy, too. Might want to tie on one of those.

Then go fishing. Bluff ends, big rock-to-gravel transition areas, points of all descriptions. You'll catch em.

[merc1997 Bo]

right now, that area is wall to wall shad.  many feeding bass will be on flats or pockets where the wind is helping blow the shad onto or into.  the next issue is to figure out how to trigger bites.  you just have to keep trying different lures and presentations to figure out what will trigger bites.

i also believe that when there are just so many shad in an area that many bass stay out in the middle suspended.  they can eat just as well out there as they can on or near the bank.  but, they will still tend to use terrain changes to trap the shad.  you can find shad without bass, but you will not find bass without shad.

deep trying, there are plenty of bass in the bridgeport area.  wind can be your aid when fishing water with color and plenty of shad.

bo

[Fish24/7]

2 words we should  add to our Fall fishing vocab...

lipless crankbaits

 

 

[Alex Heitman]

I have only learned how to fish a lipless crankbait in really shallow water with the burn and banging technique. Still then I think I catch more on a square bill or TW. I wish we had grass around here so I could do the ripping method of the lipless crankbait. 

[176champion]

I noticed a lot of shad running around there yesterday, i did catch one around point 15 area, he was about 13 inches.Another problem i have is im not an early morning person so usually its noon or so before i get out...thanks for the help and tips.....i ordered some baits per what champ188 recomended..oh and i do have a whopper plopper perch colored....lol.

 

Most all my bass fishing was done in Florida many years ago in a 10 foot john boat, i moved up here in 1996 and just started fishing this year after buying a 17'6" Champion DC fish and ski and doing a restore on it..had to put a transom in it and it has a 135 mercury on it and still working on setup....thanks again

[abkeenan]

I noticed a lot of shad running around there yesterday, i did catch one around point 15 area, he was about 13 inches.Another problem i have is im not an early morning person so usually its noon or so before i get out...thanks for the help and tips.....i ordered some baits per what champ188 recomended..oh and i do have a whopper plopper perch colored....lol.

 

Most all my bass fishing was done in Florida many years ago in a 10 foot john boat, i moved up here in 1996 and just started fishing this year after buying a 17'6" Champion DC fish and ski and doing a restore on it..had to put a transom in it and it has a 135 mercury on it and still working on setup....thanks again

Well a lot of your troubles is in that 2nd sentence. The expression "Early bird gets the worm" is especially true in my experience with Table Rock. Early morning fishing for the most part is the most productive fishing time in the course of a day. Sure there are exceptions to the rule but for the most part it the saying holds true. Get out at 6am and throw that Plopper around for 2+ hours. You might surprise yourself and turn into a morning person.

[Wart 57]

I guess there is no fish up in that area, fished there many times with no success.....maybe i just dont know what im doing....lol.....New to fishing Tablerock Lake and areas but not new to fishing. Guess im just not holding my mouth right...lol...any help would be appreciated.

Fished up in Flat Creek Wednesday and Thursday 10/21  10/22  Fishing was very slow except for one Big Bite on a custom painted wiggle wart  Only caught 10 shorts and one keep spot on a blade. Wart fish  LM about 6.  Shad were everywhere so they had plenty to eat. I think a little rain is going to help the bite up there as well as the upper James

[176champion]

I was iust around point 15 Wednesday and Thursday in afternoon...Wednesday shad was everywhere and i caught 1 LM about 12 inches..water temp around 69 degrees and fish seemed to be holding in about 15 foot of water. Thursday went up into mouth of James and caught a sun bass i guess thats what there called( looks like a striper but with broken strips)..May go back out Sunday or Monday not sure yet...It's about 22 miles from my house to Bridgeport and about 24 miles to Shell Knob bridge ramp.

[Sam]

looks like a striper but with broken strips

White bass, a.k.a. sand bass in Oklahoma.

I've been looking for those.  With so many shad in the upper James River arm right now, you'd think white bass would be busting into them on the surface.  I enjoy "chasing the boils" when that happens.