Dazed and Confused

[Smithvillesteve]

Got down to beautiful Table Rock Lake late friday night and fished sat, sun and mon. Gorgeous 3 day weekend! Air temps in the 60's. Cloud cover sat and sunday with light winds. Sunny and low 70's mon. 2 days, 1 day, and day of a new moon! Water temps in mid 40's and did find 50 degrees monday. I"m thinking its on!! Started sat throwing a jerkbait and my partner, who shall remain unnamed, and i caught 4 bass in the first 1hr and a half with a nice 17.5 inch LM in there! The jerkbait bite is on!! Uhhhhhh not so fast. We caught only 1 more fish the rest of the day. Sunday we caught 2 bass. I got shutout!! Nada!! El Skunko!! Embarrassed to write this!! Monday more of the same. We caught 4 bass, no keepers. I threw my jerkbait. Jig. Crankbait. Underspin. Spoon. Ned. and even tossed an A Rig around a little bit. Hard for me to thow that thing very long. I'm 66 years old. Tried various depths. Shallow out to 30 ft. Tried bluff ends, points, dropoffs. ledges. Then i get home and read where Quillback catches 30 bass with 5 keepers! Dock in it killed em! Somebody posted it took 22 lbs to win the Cape Tournament! Talk about a punch to the gut!! Came home with my tail between my legs. A humbling experience. What am i doing wrong boys? I realize the local boys have an advantage down there but come on!! The local boys win all the tournaments up here at Smithville most of the time. Any advice from you boys? Yes, it was still a great trip with a good friend. Beautiful weather. Nobody got hurt!! But my feelings are hurt!!

[Dutch]

What part of the lake were you on?  I am older than you and I just suck it up and throw the A.  A couple of Tylenol before and after helps.  This time of year I do better up in the rivers than main lake.  I live close to Cape Fair.  I was down there Saturday and Monday.  The total count was 11 and 5 so not so great for me but it is still winter.

[Guest]

it has more to do with the time of the year, lots of current running through the lake, water temps, and  few other factors.  the lake can fish very small this time of the year, and the feeding windows can be very short and can, and most often do this time of the year, occur at first light to about 8 am, and then not much until the last hour before dark.  there is a lot to be said about timing.  being in the right place at the right time can make or break any fishing trip.

bo

[Quillback]

I've got a milk run set up, based on 10 years of fishing the Big M area in the winter.  Usually I can find some fish on one of my milk run spots.  Tuesday I found a bunch in a couple of locations where I hadn't had much luck so far this year.  The fish just seemed to have showed up on those spots, don't know if it was some kind of pre-pre-spawn thing or maybe had to do with craws getting out.  If those 2 spots had not held fish, it would have been a tough day.  And as Bo says, it's fishing small, it's real easy to get on empty water, gotta keep looking for fish if you aren't on them.

I have a lot of faith in the Ned rig right now, I've been fishing it real slow, but it seems if there are fish around they'll eat it.  Jerk bait bite has been an early thing, I can't catch them on it after the first hour in the morning.

[Dock-in-it]

I normally fish from 7 to 10AM and I struggle on plenty of days. I fish deep 90% of the time. If I find active/feeding fish, I am able to see (on my screen) the feeding period start and stop. Some days it is done by 9AM and others it will last until 10AM. The screen will show fewer and fewer fish as the feeding period peaks and starts to wind down. Currently, the key for me is finding the right amount of shad. Some places are stacked full of shad and I have to avoid those locations. On some of the days you fished there was no wind in the morning feeding period, then the wind would pick up for jerkbait conditions but the feeding time had expired. I really like the very calm mornings because I can idle in a area and search with my eyes for flickering shad. I can easily see flickering activity 200 yards in any direction. I have invested a little time with a crankbait and you can catch some on primo locatons when conditions are right.

 

[dan hufferd]

A rig😁

[Bill Babler]

Both Bo and Quill could not have been more spot on.  If you come down this time of the year, especially as Bo said with the constant running water the fish are in very specific locations and just for sure not everywhere.  It's really hard to come and find and catch a lot of fish.  The bite is very specific and as Dock and Bo both eluded to, timing can be minutes, not hours.

The guys that are catching numbers are making a milk run and are fishing lots of days per week,  When the fish stop biting on their runs they look for more locations but as you found out they are not easy to find.  Deep ones are even harder and even more time specific.

Early bite usually starts to turn on first up the White and James, so keep that in mind.  I really think the White early is best and I mean Point 19 and up.  On the James Aunt's creek is most always the first to get decent, especially on an A-rig or a jerker.

Good Luck

[Bill Babler]

On a double post here, Sorry.  

You are just not going to find the type of information anywhere that Dock, Bo, and Quill have on the above thread.  These guys are fishing now and the information is as insightful and current as can be.

God Bless all our wonderful posters and to tell you we appreciate your insight would be a understatement in any language.

[Smithvillesteve]

I cant say it any better than you just did Mr Babler! I have become a much better bass fisherman since i joined OA and started checking out the forum page every morning. I sincerely appreciate the info you guys are willing to share. One common theme from you boys was the early bite. Especially this time of the year. And especially up the White where i am fishing. I am going to have to get some discipline and go to bed a little earlier and get out there early. I had never fished a "highland reservoir" before so this is a new experience for me. 2 things that really hurt me: 1) I am not very good at deep fishing. I will throw a jig and a ned sometimes in 30 fow and thats about it. I dont have very good electronics. I want to upgrade. Sometimes you boys down there talk about finding fish suspended in 50 fow in 80 fow. Thats tough for me. 2) A lot of you boys talk about finding the baitfish. Sometimes Bo talks about not fishing for an hour or so until he finds the baitfish. Being a visitor to the lake i dont have the time to do that and once again my electronics hurts me there. Thanks for your input boys. I look forward to seeing you at the OA tournament. P.S. Dan: I can only throw that A Rig for so long. Wears my old fanny out! I did catch my first A Rig fish on this last trip so i did gain some confidence in it. 

[Dutch]

I have not been finding an early morning bite where I am fishing up the James.  There is a little water color and there really isn't deep water.  I am finding that I have to try a lot of water before I find a productive place.  For example a friend and I caught 35 on 1 stretch a couple of weeks ago.  The last two trips it has only given up 1 fish each trip.  I had to keep moving to find fish and as the water has cooled each trip the fish are getting fewer and fewer.