Weekend Game Plan ( Campbell Point to Big Bay )

[dtrs5kprs]

7 minutes ago, BassBlind said:

Well it is VERY muddy back here in big bay.  Any tips for getting on them in muddy conditions??  Or are we SOL??

You can try the Ned. It certainly works in color, and even mud. Might be worth trailering to clearer water though. Up the White from the sound of things.

[BassBlind]

Thanks DTRS gonna hit the NED hard and try and get lucky.  Unfortunately we can't really trailer anywhere 

[abkeenan]

1 hour ago, BassBlind said:

Thanks DTRS gonna hit the NED hard and try and get lucky.  Unfortunately we can't really trailer anywhere 

Typically if you are in color you want something that goes bang, thump, clank, rattle, flash or have stand out color. Off color water also warms faster than clear water due to material suspending in the water. It COULD force a few fish shallow warming themselves. A crank grinding through the rocks or slow rolled spinnerbait along the bottom might be a good choice. Pete Weeners posted a video just this past Wednesday and said he had good success on the jerkbait in the colored water. Not much quantity but really nice quality fish as he put it. Try using one a bright colored one (table rock shad, french pearl, etc). Just gonna have to try a few things and hopefully get it going.

[Steve McBasser]

I've been fishing Big Bay regularly for over 40 years. It is the muddiest I have ever seen it and its just hanging right there and not moving. A buddy and I fished it a couple of weeks ago after driving around for 3 hours looking for clearer water to fish. After giving up and deciding to go ahead and fish the mud, we put on the brightest colored lures we could find and immediately started picking up fish. We caught all of them in 6-12' of water. I threw a crank bait and a hula grub in bright candy apple green.
The mud had me psyched out at first. I had no confidence the fish could even see the bait to pick it up. But after catching a few, I realized they were there, in the mud, and they were chewing pretty good. Fish slow and bites will come.

[96 CHAMP]

nice fish, I seen your article in BBC the other day, you guys did a good job in tough conditions, Big Bay is where one of my bigger fish has come from, again, nice fish!!

[Bill Babler]

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 0:20 PM, Steve McBasser said:

I've been fishing Big Bay regularly for over 40 years. It is the muddiest I have ever seen it and its just hanging right there and not moving. A buddy and I fished it a couple of weeks ago after driving around for 3 hours looking for clearer water to fish. After giving up and deciding to go ahead and fish the mud, we put on the brightest colored lures we could find and immediately started picking up fish. We caught all of them in 6-12' of water. I threw a crank bait and a hula grub in bright candy apple green.
The mud had me psyched out at first. I had no confidence the fish could even see the bait to pick it up. But after catching a few, I realized they were there, in the mud, and they were chewing pretty good. Fish slow and bites will come.

Absolutely excellent fishing.  You used baits that would scare the begeebers out of me.  You caught them where the locals could not.   Congrats and thanks so much for the fantastic report and pictures.

[Bill Babler]

This is a bit off subject here, but I believe it is relevant.  For any of you looking for a home on Table Rock Lake if you are a fisherman, the first thing I can tell you is that you have to be mobile.  You buy a house with a dock and really if you are a died in the wool angler, you have not only shot yourself in the foot, but you have put a bullet into your belly.

Table Rock fishes 110 miles  and it does not fish the same in any 10 mile stretch.  If you are not willing or not able to constantly move on Table Rock you are in serious trouble as a fisherman.  I have heard lots of guys say we just will learn our water and learn to catch them near our dock.  "IT DONT WORK THAT WAY, NOT HERE."

Every good fisherman on this board is extremely mobile.  The guides here are extremely mobile.  I live at the mouth of Long Creek, I fish Holiday Island to Cape Fair to Long Creek.  You have to chase the bite here, and it is the easiest lake in the world to chase the bite.  There is information on a constant basis on how and where. 

It is very hard to bend these fish.  McBasser caught some and did a great job.  He fished stuff we would fish on either Truman or lake Oz during muddy times.  Great Report.  On the other hand there were guys fishing the clear water catching 15 to 25 keeps, you have to chase the clear water for big bags and also quantity

Some of the local tournament guys are posting big fish on facebook.  Look at the water, it is upper James, Upper White River and Long Creek water.

A bit off topic,  Stay after them and good luck to all.

[rps]

Bill is absolutely correct! You want fish nearly every trip? Be ready to fish anywhere on the lake.

I know this because there are times when my 14 years of fishing the upper end means nothing. No fish come in my boat because the upper end is not ready for that to happen - at least by any means I have learned in 14 years.

Sometimes a base is an anchor.

 

[Steve McBasser]

Thanks Bill.....I appreciate the nod. I'm still a workin' man and a non-boater at this point. I can't pick and choose when or where. I have to go when I get a day off and fish where my buddies want to fish. Sometimes you have to bare down and scrounge out the bites where you can. And.......its a ball tryin' to figure it out. I always appreciate your reports too......keep 'em coming.

[Bill Babler]

Thanks Steve, Great point.  You make the most of your opportunities and win or lose when it comes to fishing and being on the water with friends it is a win, win situation.

Table Rock can be a very cruel mistress or she can be the girl of your dreams.  I like her pretty good catchin or not.

Good Luck