About to surrender!

[Jasonacer]

Good morning, folks. 

Thought I would post on this forum as a last hope for Table Rock for me.  I need some assistance.  Or at least tell me I should give up fishing and save my money!  LOL.

3 days in a row with zero fish (other than a couple perch and a super short LM).  I normally am on the water at about 4 PM and fish till 8-9 PM..

I have studied this forum, youtube, and articles. 

Here's a list of techniques I have tried and how I tried them. 

     - Ned rig - PBJ, green pumpkin - left sitting on bottom with rare hops, slow drag, and bouncing retrieve.

     - Jig - black and blue, brown and purple, grn pmpkin, various weights, various manufacturers - hopped, slow drag, and swam it.

     - Topwater - whopper plopper, buzz bait (black on black), spook jr (clear), several others - popped, slow retrieve, fast retrieve

     - drop shot - could do some more work here but have been frustrated.  8 in up from weight, slow drag, left in place and made it dance.  Only used one color so far.

     - Senko - wacky, texas rigged - grn pmpkin,

     - crank - sexy shad, square bill.  I hate crankin but am getting desperate! 

     - spinner - twin willows, white mostly/some blue - slow roll, burn it, lift and sink, normal retrieve, bounced off stuff

Have hit three different departures since starting my efforts - Aunts creek, bridgeport, and Indian point.  Focused on wood, rocks, transition zones between rock sizes and other ground types.  Have fished mainly 12' and shallower, fish have been being graphed at about 5-16 feet, mostly in the 10-12' range.  Fished with wind, against wind, clear skies, cloudy, water temp has normally been around 77-82.  Stained water (wondering if this might be a big part of my problem). 

Not ever gonna stop fishing but Table Rock has beat me down pretty good.  Am I missing something?  Hell I have even turned off my Lowrances. 

Thanks for any words of wisdom.  You all have already done a lot by posting past advice on these forums, which I greatly appreciate. 

Jasonacer

p.s. - If all this info offends anyone, sorry, I plan on deleting the post soon but needed to get the info about what I am doing to give the whole picture. 

 

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Me too brother, that's what keeps me going.   Lol, maybe I'm just crazy. 

[Brian Sloss]

If you can afford it, hire a guide once or twice and take the opportunity to learn as much as possible.  That could really help your learning curve.  Ask lots of questions about different times of the year and conditions.

[rps]

When I moved to Eureka Springs in 2002 I had fished Table Rock twice during the ten years before I moved. Both times were with a guide.

The first season (fall) I could hardly catch a fish. The next Spring I started to have some luck - oddly in the same areas I had been fishing the previous fall. Then as May ended and June started I moved out and fished deeper than I ever had before. The other change I made was stop fishing cranks and spinner baits after the Spring shallow bite. Slow jigs and plastics became my friend.

Look at the marked maps on the forum (Thank you Bill Babler) and go fish the Ned every place he has marked jigs. Where he has marked crank baits, move out deeper. Good luck!

 

[dtrs5kprs]

I'll just chime in on the Ned and topwaters, because you shouldn't need much besides those right now. 

The two things notably missing, in terms of what you fished (unless you left them out), are fishing plain gravel in the creeks or main lake, and mouths of deep coves/creeks. That pea gravel is the place to fish the little rig this time of year, but you may have been too shallow. Don't get worked up about using electronics to find fish when you throw the Ned, just use them for depth and structure changes, especially little high spots and ditches on those flat gravel spots. It's always fine to start shallow, but we are heading toward the time of year they will stat to pull out. You can also happen across chasers working shad on the outside edge of the gravel.

Mouths of the deep coves and creeks are places where post spawn fish go to work shad. Topwater, grub, and swimbait places. Run outs would be another.

Of course there is nothing like a holiday weekend to make them tough to catch. Bridgeport can be a really tough place to catch them too. It gets hit pretty hard, and can fish pretty small. 

[Jasonacer]

@Daryk - Thanks for the sympathy, always glad to hear I'm not suffering alone.  lol.

@Brian - Great idea, will book one soon.

@rps - I have not seen that map.  I use the interactive one a lot (think its from conservation?) and use it to guide my fishing areas.  I'll try to find the one you talked about.  That would be HUGELY useful. 

@dtrs5kprs - Great advice, I hope.  I have been looking for chunk rock because I read somewhere that the fish were moving toward that type of structure.  I will look for pea gravel now and especially the humps and dips.  That tidbit is awesome advice that I had not thought of.  Heard it before but was too panicky about not catching fish!  Guess I should slow down and really analyze better.  Thanks much.

Thanks to all of you again, giving me hope that I can slay 'em on day.  LOL.

Jason

 

[Jasonacer]

Oh . . my . . . goodness.  Those maps are pretty spectacular.  Thanks another million for pointing me towards them, rps!

 

[dtrs5kprs]

6 minutes ago, Jasonacer said:

@Daryk - Thanks for the sympathy, always glad to hear I'm not suffering alone.  lol.

@Brian - Great idea, will book one soon.

@rps - I have not seen that map.  I use the interactive one a lot (think its from conservation?) and use it to guide my fishing areas.  I'll try to find the one you talked about.  That would be HUGELY useful. 

@dtrs5kprs - Great advice, I hope.  I have been looking for chunk rock because I read somewhere that the fish were moving toward that type of structure.  I will look for pea gravel now and especially the humps and dips.  That tidbit is awesome advice that I had not thought of.  Heard it before but was too panicky about not catching fish!  Guess I should slow down and really analyze better.  Thanks much.

Thanks to all of you again, giving me hope that I can slay 'em on day.  LOL.

Jason

 

Pea gravel is where fish go to feed. I tend to fish chunk or big rock if it is still cold, or after a front. Ugly places versus pretty postcard places. Ugly is usually better.

[Old plug]

I got to wonder about your presentations. ThT to me has always trumped the lure.

[Jasonacer]

Interesting point, Old Plug.  You mean speed of retrieval, location of cast or boat, or pops/twitches, that kind of thing?