Finally a good day and good report (2/11)

[RyanG]

With temps in the 70s I was gonna fish somewhere, decided to hit beaver since I have been only once in the last two months or so. Put in at PC and water temp started at 47 and at the end of the day was 51. Ran all the way to Clifty, got 3 in the boat, two spots and a smallie but they were short. Ran back to mid lake, fished bluffs in the wind with a deep diving jerkbait, the rapala shadow rap I believe. Got 3 largemouth around 3 pounds and about 15 more spotted bass and another smallie. The spotted bass were absolute footballs, a couple came close to 2 1/2 pounds. All in all, it was a great day. Stay on the vertical stuff on the main lake and you can catch em. Good luck fellas! 

[Ozark Flyer]

Great report.  Thanks for the post!

[RyanG]

Got out again on Sunday from noon until 4 and got another dozen on the same pattern. Slower bite but was pleasantly surprised to get a nice 18 inch walleye in the boat. Ran two different areas in mid lake from Saturday and both produced fish. With the warm weather again at the end of the week this coming weekend might be a real good weekend to catch some winter fatties. The striper however are still eluding me. Good luck guys and tight lines! 

[Stump bumper]

I was out Sunday also and couldn't find stripers anywhere near PC. There were no big shad balls moving into the creeks. I did pull some large swimbaits and got big spots every time. So I picked up a ned rig and hit some gravel banks and had 10 big smallmouth quick. The only big shad concentrations and big fish I found were around 50- 70 feet down, not a winter pattern at all. I was amazed at how Beaver was fishing just like Table Rock in the wind Sunday and how many keeper smallies were between PC and point 10. It is also funny that a 12inch spot can get hooked on a 8inch swimbait.

I am sure the stripper were hot somewhere else in the lake that day, probably earlier in the day before the wind came up.  I also didn't hook one Largemouth, they must have been hanging deeper with the shad. 

[RyanG]

I almost picked up the ned rig but was just having too much fun with the jerkbait. It's not something I usually throw so it was a confidence building weekend for me. I have been catching a decent number of smallmouth mid lake in the last year or so now, they seem to be more prevalent. That or the tournament releases are putting larger numbers in the areas I fish more often. Interesting though. I did see the birds start diving on shad so tried to get over and find fish but couldn't find a thing. So back to the bank I went. 

[Guest]

Did the Jerkbait need wind blowing or shade? Just curious

 I'm not too good with a Jerk but I will certainly try it, along with a RK crawler along vertical stuff. 

This weekend looks prime, so I will go out & see what happens.

did you notice fish on the graph on the bluffs holding fish? There are lots of bluffs on that end of the lake. 

[RyanG]

I fished mostly in the wind but that wasn't so much by choice, just most of the bluffs were mainlake and the wind was not taking prisoners. Lol. I did catch some fish out of the wind Sunday though. I'm not sure how much the wind was playing a part. And no shade, but some places had a small mud line due to the wind and waves so that may have helped. I didn't actually mark any fish, I don't have the best electronics but I did notice quite a bit of bait in the water along the bluffs that the wind was blowing into and I'm sure  that's why those banks were more productive. With the warming trend the bite should pick up I would think. I didn't have to work the bait really slow at all either, only pausing a few seconds at a time. Hope this helps! I'm not the best at throwing a jerkbait but a weekend like that will build the confidence for sure 

[Guest]

If you're reeling a deep jerkbait, then a suspending wiggle wart or modified RK Crawler should work. But I would have a run windy banks, dont think we see that kinda wind this weekend. Maybe a Ned deal, hard to say. 

[Stump bumper]

I have always like jerk baits in the winter and for some reason Table Rock shad has been my big fish go to color. I tried that this Sunday with zero fish. It must have been a color thing, I was working bluffs that held fish in the same wind. I knew I should have gone more natural, but hard to put down old habits even with a 50 jerk bait assortment at my finger tips.