An Odd Question

[Quillback]

1 hour ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Yes but the old plastics didn't float like Elastek. 

That is what makes a difference.  

[Dutch]

3 hours ago, kjackson said:

I just finished re-reading Brewer's book on his do-nothing technique, and one version he mentions is the "reverse" do-nothing--where you cut off the tail of the worm and thread to head portion of the worm on the jig.  That is very Neddish...and something that dates from the '60s.  There are many old methods of finesse-style fishing that aren't talked about any more but still work.  It's all marketing and popular perception.  I love the hype on the "Damiki rig", for instance, again, it's marketing.

 

Same for drop shot.  Long before the term came about we were using a jig below a worm instead of a lifeless sinker.

[Flysmallie]

My dad and uncle were catching the crap out of fish on Lake Lawtonka using a paddle tail grub on a jig head with the paddle cut off. Smoke gray color. For some reason I remember that very well. That was 1977 or 1978. 

[Al Agnew]

Regarding "structure fishing", I read Fishing Facts magazine religiously for several years and learned all about the whole Buck Perry thing.  I put it to use and caught a lot of bass and won a few local tournaments back in those days.  I was catching big fish on channel swings and subtle drop-offs on the local lakes pretty regularly.  But as the years went by, maybe I just stopped fishing lakes enough to keep up with the times, or maybe it was something else, but those spots that had once been pretty obscure and known to only a few with good electronics and a lot of time on the water became known to just about everybody and fished to death.  Maybe that's why those flats that Wrench talked about are good these days...they aren't sexy enough structurally for the average angler with a depth finder to think of fishing.  Nowadays, you see a lot of big tournaments won by guys fishing the banks and pounding cover, not fishing in the middle of nowhere on a drop-off.  Now not all banks are equal and not all cover holds fish...you gotta find the particular banks that have subtle differences that hold fish, as I'm actually finding in river fishing for smallmouth.  Used to be, I'd just float a river and fish everything I came to that looked like it could possibly hold a bass, and catch them regularly all up and down the stream.  Now, on the heavily pressured streams (those big enough for jetboats and bass tournaments), there are good banks and long stretches of water that seem devoid of fish, and a lot more fish are hanging on subtle drop-offs, current seams, and transitions, and not in the cover along the banks.

[Gavin]

Lots of pressure moves fish to refuge, or puts them on the feed. Have caught allot of fish below wads of dragging canoes. Other times they hang where the canoes wont go...Woody stuff that you gotta punch, or thread a top water through. 

 

[fishinwrench]

On 2/25/2020 at 5:03 PM, moguy1973 said:

Some channel swings on Lake of the Ozarks (red arrows)

You can call those "channel swings" if you want, but the channel in those mainlake areas are deeper than a bass will ever go.   Actual current in Lake O is never deeper than 15ft. anywhere, and you can be assured that everything deeper than that is completely covered in a thick blanket of silt and sediment. 

The mental picture you probably have of fish hanging on a clean distinct pile of rocks around an old stump in 25-30+ foot of water on Lake O is a fallacy.    That 3/4oz. jig of yours is completely buried in a poof of feathery yuck as soon as your line goes slack.  The bottom contour looks just like your neighborhood after 10" of drifting snow.  

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

You can call those "channel swings" if you want, but the channel in those mainlake areas are deeper than a bass will ever go.   Actual current in Lake O is never deeper than 15ft. anywhere, and you can be assured that everything deeper than that is completely covered in a thick blanket of silt and sediment. 

The mental picture you probably have of fish hanging on a clean distinct pile of rocks around an old stump in 25-30+ foot of water on Lake O is a fallacy.    That 3/4oz. jig of yours is completely buried in a poof of feathery yuck as soon as your line goes slack.  The bottom contour looks just like your neighborhood after 10" of drifting snow.  

How do know that?   Extremely low water?

[nomolites]

3 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

You can call those "channel swings" if you want, but the channel in those mainlake areas are deeper than a bass will ever go.   Actual current in Lake O is never deeper than 15ft. anywhere, and you can be assured that everything deeper than that is completely covered in a thick blanket of silt and sediment. 

The mental picture you probably have of fish hanging on a clean distinct pile of rocks around an old stump in 25-30+ foot of water on Lake O is a fallacy.    That 3/4oz. jig of yours is completely buried in a poof of feathery yuck as soon as your line goes slack.  The bottom contour looks just like your neighborhood after 10" of drifting snow.  

That’s a fine map of Horseshoe Bend there FW...I’m glad there aren’t arrows pointing to the spots I like!  😉

Mike

[moguy1973]

5 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

You can call those "channel swings" if you want, but the channel in those mainlake areas are deeper than a bass will ever go.   Actual current in Lake O is never deeper than 15ft. anywhere, and you can be assured that everything deeper than that is completely covered in a thick blanket of silt and sediment. 

The mental picture you probably have of fish hanging on a clean distinct pile of rocks around an old stump in 25-30+ foot of water on Lake O is a fallacy.    That 3/4oz. jig of yours is completely buried in a poof of feathery yuck as soon as your line goes slack.  The bottom contour looks just like your neighborhood after 10" of drifting snow.  

LOZ just has a good map on the Navionics site I knew I could use to point out what a channel swing looks like.

 

I've dived down to the bottom of the lake near the Gravois Mills ramp in about 12' of water and I know what you mean about the bottom.  I'm not sure how shakey heads can be seen by fish because they should just disappear in the sludge on the bottom.  It's not even really muddy, it's just a slimy feeling goo that gives when you put your hand in it.

[fishinwrench]

13 minutes ago, moguy1973 said:

LOZ just has a good map on the Navionics site I knew I could use to point out what a channel swing looks like.

 

I've dived down to the bottom of the lake near the Gravois Mills ramp in about 12' of water and I know what you mean about the bottom.  I'm not sure how shakey heads can be seen by fish because they should just disappear in the sludge on the bottom.  It's not even really muddy, it's just a slimy feeling goo that gives when you put your hand in it.

Yep.    In most places the bottom is fairly clean down to 12-15ft.  (I assume from wake action and occasional current movement) but the generator intakes at the dam are at an elevation of 645 top-637 bottom, so the very deepest current capable of scouring the bottom when the lake is at max full pool can only be 23', and it is only going to be that deep within a stones throw of the dam.