Elite Solo & the Open

[Dewayne French]

First off let me say I will try and not make this to long and a big thanks to all the guys and ladies on this site for their unbiased going on's with this great lake we have.  I have been a OA member for several years and even post from time to time, normally I fish Nofork/Bull.  These highland lakes with their beauty and humbling fishing characteristics make it a challenge.  Everyone always denotes fishing to putting those dang jig saw puzzles together as kid, Well I wasn't good at that and I like CATCHING better than fishing any day.

I have been on Table Rock for about 9 days stright since the 23rd of Feb fishing Webb's Elite Solo Feb 25/26 and then the Open and I will be quite honest I struggled to put the winning pattern together in either one.  I'm not a grub fishing dude I have never gotten that down (BUT I KNOW THAT IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO) to catch them this time of year if the A-Rig isn't in play and love to fish a crankbait this time of year.  As I had a sammich with Champ & Donna before my elite solo (She can make A great Sammich BTW) after I had been on the water a few hours & yes we where not around the lower end. After my solo tournament and finishing mid pack with the crankbait and Jerkbait I realized I needed to go to the clear water and try the Grub thing.   After a couple of days of riding around all the boats from KC to Long Creek bridge and catching some quality I wasn't satisfied with my practice and ran back to my Crankbait & Jerkbait fish and started catching numbers and Quality mixed in with out the boat pressure I was seeing down the lake.  I made the decision to make a long run to above Eagle rock for the Open and knew I wouldn't have the pressure as I would down the lake and If I could get lucky I could end up with a good kicker up there on the crank/JB. Day 1 after arriving to my first spot and then second spot with out a keeper and very few shorts. I rotated back through and began catching quality on a Gizit, I was always told by my Dad to never leave fish to find fish.  These fish where not going to be moving a along way (they can not go that far up there) so I had to adjust my bait and presentation and Boom a limit, but without a kicker I left early to make the run back and try some clear water spots (just shorts), ended up in 50th place after day 1. Day 2 dawned still cold and bundled up for that long run again, but this day was my long day and I could stay until 3:15 before I had to make the run back. I never finished out my limit even with the Ned I could only manage shorts, but I had the kicker a 4.5-5 lbr that helped boost me up to 36th and a nice check to help pay for my trip. 

I found water temps during these 9 days from 48 to even 60 on one of those shorts and flip flop afternoons.  I never caught anything from the green algea/snot in the clear water and never caught anything from the 60 degree stained water either.  I caught fish where shad was to places I didn't even graph a bait ball much less see any. Lures ranged from a Crankbait (WW/RC), Jerkbait, Gizit, Shaky head, Swing head, and yes the NED.  Practice was more running and gunning, but on one of my best days of catching before the Solo I did have 27 fish with 7 of those keepers mostly the swing head and 2 custom Rock crawlers did the damage.  The shorts also where not those little dinks most where just shy of the 15 inch mark.  A good number of just sub legal fish where caught. During the rest of practice I didn't do a lot of catching just looking. The clear water fish I did catch were of good quality I just couldn't duplicate those in areas I thought I should have. I'm never a fishing in a crowd type of guy so I opted to go to the river and I avoided the crowds and actual had fishing areas to my self up there and I learned more about those fish and what they do and where they go up there.

Thanks again to all you guys and gals I enjoy these highland lakes and trying to figure them out. We are blest with very good people on this site and if you see me out there on the water please come by and say hey. I run a Basscat and it always has Purple in it. 

[Sore Thumbs]

Thanks for sharing. Good luck the rest of the season! 

[magicwormman]

Great report! Thank You for sharing all the details. I'm happy to see that you got a check. There was a lot of good sticks, that never won a dime. I know that fishing the derbies is fun and exciting, but I didn't envy any of you blasting across the water in the early A.M.

[edyer]

Nice report and good work in the tournament. You did better than a lot of very good anglers. Nice picture of the biggun!

[likinmo]

Congrats on the fish you caught. That pond can be extremely tough to even catch a keeper! Way to go! Goodluck out there! And thanks for the report I enjoyed every word!

[Bill Babler]

Thank you very much Dwayne, that was exceptional.  You were extremely versatile in what you did.  I'm going to guess right now and I may be completely wrong,  but for me I'm stopping the boat in 90+ feet, way out off the main lake points, channel swings and bluffends.  If you are stealthy, you will see fish.  If you run into the 40' and under before you shut down, you are most likely setting on them.

I got another great tip today guys are also targeting these same fish on the bottom with a big jig in the 3/4 to 1 oz size and catching some nice LM in the 30' to 40' range on the bottom.  These fish can also be targeted with the Dimiki rig or for us old dudes a C-tail Yamamoto or Chompers grub fished vertical on a 3/8 homemade bullet head.

Thanks for that wonderful report and Good Luck in your derbies.

[Mitch f]

15 hours ago, Dewayne French said:

First off let me say I will try and not make this to long and a big thanks to all the guys and ladies on this site for their unbiased going on's with this great lake we have.  I have been a OA member for several years and even post from time to time, normally I fish Nofork/Bull.  These highland lakes with their beauty and humbling fishing characteristics make it a challenge.  Everyone always denotes fishing to putting those dang jig saw puzzles together as kid, Well I wasn't good at that and I like CATCHING better than fishing any day.

I have been on Table Rock for about 9 days stright since the 23rd of Feb fishing Webb's Elite Solo Feb 25/26 and then the Open and I will be quite honest I struggled to put the winning pattern together in either one.  I'm not a grub fishing dude I have never gotten that down (BUT I KNOW THAT IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO) to catch them this time of year if the A-Rig isn't in play and love to fish a crankbait this time of year.  As I had a sammich with Champ & Donna before my elite solo (She can make A great Sammich BTW) after I had been on the water a few hours & yes we where not around the lower end. After my solo tournament and finishing mid pack with the crankbait and Jerkbait I realized I needed to go to the clear water and try the Grub thing.   After a couple of days of riding around all the boats from KC to Long Creek bridge and catching some quality I wasn't satisfied with my practice and ran back to my Crankbait & Jerkbait fish and started catching numbers and Quality mixed in with out the boat pressure I was seeing down the lake.  I made the decision to make a long run to above Eagle rock for the Open and knew I wouldn't have the pressure as I would down the lake and If I could get lucky I could end up with a good kicker up there on the crank/JB. Day 1 after arriving to my first spot and then second spot with out a keeper and very few shorts. I rotated back through and began catching quality on a Gizit, I was always told by my Dad to never leave fish to find fish.  These fish where not going to be moving a along way (they can not go that far up there) so I had to adjust my bait and presentation and Boom a limit, but without a kicker I left early to make the run back and try some clear water spots (just shorts), ended up in 50th place after day 1. Day 2 dawned still cold and bundled up for that long run again, but this day was my long day and I could stay until 3:15 before I had to make the run back. I never finished out my limit even with the Ned I could only manage shorts, but I had the kicker a 4.5-5 lbr that helped boost me up to 36th and a nice check to help pay for my trip. 

I found water temps during these 9 days from 48 to even 60 on one of those shorts and flip flop afternoons.  I never caught anything from the green algea/snot in the clear water and never caught anything from the 60 degree stained water either.  I caught fish where shad was to places I didn't even graph a bait ball much less see any. Lures ranged from a Crankbait (WW/RC), Jerkbait, Gizit, Shaky head, Swing head, and yes the NED.  Practice was more running and gunning, but on one of my best days of catching before the Solo I did have 27 fish with 7 of those keepers mostly the swing head and 2 custom Rock crawlers did the damage.  The shorts also where not those little dinks most where just shy of the 15 inch mark.  A good number of just sub legal fish where caught. During the rest of practice I didn't do a lot of catching just looking. The clear water fish I did catch were of good quality I just couldn't duplicate those in areas I thought I should have. I'm never a fishing in a crowd type of guy so I opted to go to the river and I avoided the crowds and actual had fishing areas to my self up there and I learned more about those fish and what they do and where they go up there.

Thanks again to all you guys and gals I enjoy these highland lakes and trying to figure them out. We are blest with very good people on this site and if you see me out there on the water please come by and say hey. I run a Basscat and it always has Purple in it. 

Were you using a shad colored Gitzit and swimming it thru the trees? 

[Dewayne French]

Thanks BB I did give it a go and I like most people resorted to what I'm confidant in. I had a good tip from Matt who won the Elite solo and another Solo competitor that it was real specific to what they were doing (this grub deal) and with the right conditions it was good for a limit and good ones, but if the stars didn't all line up is was work. I was told as you said to stay way out off the channel swings with timber (under the surface) and the transitions from bluff to big chunk rock.  And the better swings where not the bluff end ones that are easy to see on a GPS map but rather the mid bluff ones and the actual old river channel ones way out  in the middle.  Well as luck would have it on the first one I stopped at on practice Tuesday morning I had a 3.75lb LMB... I say to self Wow this is easy. Then the next 4 hours go by without as much as a sniff and seeing boat after boat and some even pulling up to same location that I had just left. After this good start then the lack of bites with all the boat pressure in this clear water I opted for a long run.  Both like I said to avoid boats and to get into a confidence area. With modern electronics, GPS mapping, the internet, and a welling mind with a little patience a guy can pick up a lot with out every splashing his/her boat in the water. That's is what I do when I go off to these places I have never been. 

Mitch-I was using an old colored Brown gizit up the river in 5-15 fow (on the bottom) I even had to employ a 3/8 oz head to keep it there, they didn't hit it if it came off the bottom. I could catch these fish in practice on 2 or 3 Rock Crawlers I had painted up by a couple of my custom sponsors.  But when the Open tournament came around they would only bite the RC in certain little windows. I knew the fish where there and I used the old Ozark winter time trick of when you can't get bit from fish toss a gizit. I'm not a guy that has a lot of raw talent like some have out here, it is a struggle for me to get the bite going from keepers and I have found over the years that simple is way better than a rocket science pattern. In the clear water I was tossing a 4-5" grub and 4" swimbait that a local company makes for me on 1/4 and 3/8oz heads I pour myself

 

 

 

Hope this helps a little just remember (K.I.S.S)

[Bill Babler]

Dewayne, way above and beyond the call.  Thanks so much for that great information.  Hearing stories of fishing the tube always makes me laugh, thinking about a story Beck told me.  This is way, way back in the day when they first came out and at that time, they were not tubes, they were Gitzits  Beck told me of these two old hillbillies with big blue suspendered  overalls on winning this derby with just a huge bag of fish.  When they came to the scales to get their checks the MC asked them how they had caught their wonderful limit of fish.  One of the old boy's piped up and said," it was on a brand new wonder bait. it's called a Gid-Jet.  Said, boys, this is a for sure miracle bait, only troubles is they get it way back in their Craw, you kind of got to pull the trigger real quick like."  The way Bill tells this, gets me laughing so hard tears come to my eyes every time he tells it.  Usually after I let a fish swallow something.

Thanks again Dewayne and Good Luck

 

[Champ188]

Great report, Dewayne, and again, it was very good to see you. Members like you are what puts this site light-years beyond any other fishing forum on the internet.

Good luck the rest of the season and stay in touch.