pbrussell

for me, it's 2 hours for both paho and bilby ranch. It's a little less time for mozingo. I have a feeling I'm gonna have to maybe put in on one of those three before the season is over.

Been hearing some rumors about bilby ranch lake up in ne mo. Supposed to be populations of big green fish in there. Anyone know anything about this place?

Here are the two nice smallies I caught saturday.

And oh, the gate lady. She's a firecracker, and it was very clear she didn't want me there. She even admitted to being a "hard ass." Eventually I won her over with my boyish charm, and by offering to spray my own boat. However, she is a tough cookie to crack. If you're patient and show her you care about preserving the lake, she might even pass for nice?

I want to win a prize! ha. I'll post some pics tomorrow of the two keepers I caught. Anyhow, yesterday was a bit of a grind (was for a few others from what I understand as well.) I caught 12 fish, two of them keeper smallies. Didn't catch a single largemouth. Dinks on the ned rig. Dinks on a squarebill. Big fish on the jig. Apparently a lipless bait worked well for green fish, ripped through the grass. Found that out from a regular. I almost tied one on to do just that but figured the water was too warm. Water temps are sitting at 77. Docks were not productive. Rock was. It appears horizontal presentations can work out here, but you have to find the "money bait" to make it count. I imagine things will be different next week. There's a lot of options for these fish I think. The person that discovers the pattern within the pattern will win this thing. Also willing to bet the winners will have a 20+ pound bag, and someone is catching a 5+ smallmouth. Just my guess. At least I know I won't draw a blank out there, but I don't expect to win. I might even swing for the fences and fish a giant jig all day just to see if I can't tangle with a baunsee giant.

I found a spot on the north end that held both numbers and a few that had size. As some have noted, the rock was "chunky" in this area. A side note, it appears that the biffle hard head (chompers also makes a ripoff) can catch fish pretty good at melvern if you have the right bait behind it. I've fished the gambler ugly otter in pbj with pretty good success. Fish it around rock and real it in slow and you will catch fish (multiple species I might add). Heading to wabunsee early tomorrow to try and get an idea of what the lake fishes like. Gameplan is to hit the docks, and rocky areas. Gonna fish a buzzbait early to see what happens around some docks. Of course, I'll be throwing a jig as well as this seems to be a money bait. Chances are some cranks will be mixed in as these are my confidence bait. Weather looks like it should be nice. A report will follow tomorrow. I'd like to just get into one big fish (5+). If that happens, I will be happy.

Crankbaits>Jigs>everything else

Getting them to bite + finding them at perry is key. I have struggled on this lake, but I figure if I keep putting my time in, things will eventually come together. Today was slow as usual. Had one smallmouth, and one largemouth up in slough creek that jumped off. The largemouth would've gone somewhere between 4-6 but it's hard to tell where it would've gone between those numbers because she hopped off so far from the boat. She happened to bite on a deep crank in the timber filled areas up in slough. Smallmouth was at the bridge. Caught a number of BIG channel caught throwing the deep crank as well. That was odd. This is the only lake that has stumped me as bad as it has. I'm fishing the hot spots. I'm throwing crankbaits, dark plastics, chatterbaits, etc. It's just very rarely to I get it to come together. However, as we all know, I keep fishing it because the fish I do catch have a great chance of being big. (I've caught smallmouth up to 4, and largemouth up to 6 out there). Anyhow, flipped docks at the marina. Fished the riprap around the marina. Fished some main lake points. Fished the bridge in slough. I should've stayed in the timber, however, wind came up and rain came through so I retreated in case things got worse. I want to get out there again this weekend but I imagine the crazies will be insane. Also, I want to be fishing some smaller lakes but don't know of any with paved roads. Yes, I'm gonna be that guy with the shiny glass boat now that tries to avoid gravel. Know of any smaller lakes with paved roads to em guys?

Caught a number at 15, and one 17 out there amidst all the small ones saturday.

these threads areeee the bestttt

Melvern had some good fishing today. Caught 5 on a sexy dawg early, a number of fish on the biffle hard head, a number of fish on a havoc subwoofer, a number on a dt10 and some more on the ned. Couple of walleye decided they wanted to play too. Biggest was 17 inches on the nose, and had a few stout 15 inchers. The rest were dinks, but it was still fun. Didn't catch a single largemouth, though I did catch a fish with horizontal markings like a spot but was brown like a smallie. Almost made me wonder if it could've been a meanmouth... fish couldn't decide what it wanted to look like.

I launched out of indian point. Points south of the dam worked, transition banks east of point 5, and where the spring branch met the main lake. http://www.swl.usace.army.mil/Portals/50/docs/District%20Maps/TableRockLakeMap.pdf The smallies were hanging around pretty decent at point 165-60. Crawling jigs in 10-20 fow.

Shallow bite was pretty non-existent at the rock. They were letting down the water like crazy, so most of the flooded bushes were no longer flooded. I didn't fish much deeper than 20fow. Best areas were transition banks, and points with deep water on one side and shallow on the other. I only fished 3 hours or so every day. Best day was 6 fish a piece. Best baits were kvd sexy dawg jr (early), pbj ned rigs, and 1/2 ounce bitsy bug jigs in green crawfish with a tiny paca chunk in summer craw color. The smallies were eating the jig really well. Largemouth were the only fish that wanted to take a swing at the topwaters for some reason. Spots and smallies preferred the ned/jigs. A couple were taken on squarebills and spinnerbaits but they were few and far between. Here was the best keeper fish I caught, and mightve been my pb spot.

The water is up and over the bushes so I think you know my gameplan. Gonna flip finesse jigs, tubes, and a pit boss up in there. I might try waking a redfin over the tops and around the bushes early morning. Might be able to coax out some fat momma's. Might get out onto some points with stairstep drops on one side and shallow water on the other. This should give me an idea of where the fish have decided to hang out given the rising water.

The resort owner I'm headed down to this week for my table rock trip just caught a 24" smallmouth not far from the resort a few days ago. Shallow. I AM STOKED. Biggest smallie he's ever caught. He didn't have a chance to get pictures because his wife and him got in a fight, but I take him for his word (he's my extended cousin). Honest as they come. Said the fish would've gone in between 6-7 pounds. That is INSANE.

I guess it's time to dredge up bill murphy's book again and restudy this structure thing. I love this place. Thanks Catt.

Almost as cool as the giant goldfish out of troost lake.

Heading to table rock next week, but water is two feet above normal pool and rising. More rain looks like a certainty as well. I'll be launching around indian point. I'm already a little concerned about the possibility of floating debris. How high is too high on this lake? How concerned should I be about said debris? If I can be certain I'm not gonna be hitting any logs with my new boat, it sounds like it could end up being a find and flip the bushes bite. Looking for any words of wisdom you guys can give me regarding this situation (mostly concerning safety). Thanks.

I'm looking forward to following this thread. Check out the "spybaiting" technique if you have not already. It seems to be very effective in japanese waters.

I spend money

We had trouble getting it to run right at first. The fuel filter wasn't tightened all the way? Not sure why it was like that, but it was. Took us a while to figure out the problem, and by the time we did we just ended up playing with the boat and forgot about throwing a line. Oh well. At least it runs well.

Holy crap, the boat screams.

That thing Peter caught... is big. I'm going to perry again tomorrow to break in my boat. Hopefully I catch something besides a drum. I have a good feeling that will be the first fish I catch in the new boat. Yuck.

Woohoo! I now own a real bass boat. But, the thing is a little more complicated than my old fish and ski. So now, I also own a number of questions and a lighter wallet. Anyhow, here are some pictures. I happen to think that she (she is a she, for now) is a very pretty boat. I am half way tempted to name the boat sharknado (or bassnado), but Jenny (inspiration from forrest gump) or Mr. Badass (if she becomes a he) are both high on the list. We'll work out the name later. Anyhow, with new boat ownership comes new questions. And here they are! I might be posting in this thread a lot, so here are the first ones I've got. Livewells: This boat has two buttons on the dash for livewells. Livewell 1, and livewell 2. Both have a manual and auto option. Keep in mind, this confuses me, as there appears to be only one large livewell in the back of the boat with a separator. I do not see a button for an aerator. There is also a toggle switch of sorts next to the throttle that reads "Recirc, empty, auto". Livewell 1 switch does absolutely nothing on auto or manual. Livewell 2 switch appears to work on both manual and auto settings. However, I have no idea how these livewells really work, what the difference is between the manual and auto settings, and what the switch recirculate, empty, and auto does to the livewell. Could someone walk me through all of this? Jackplate: I have a CMC powerlift jackplate (or at least it appears I do). I've never owned a boat with a jackplate. I was under the impression that jackplates raise the motor up or down and are usually hydraulic. However, as much as I have looked, I have not found a cylinder that raises the motor up or down. Nor have I found a button which does this. All four tilt/trim buttons on my boat (one button on motor, one button on throttle, one grafted in button on steering wheel, and one up front) only tilt the motor up and down. None of them move the motor up or down with the jack plate. Could this plate not be hydraulic and it need be adjusted manually? Could I not be finding the switch? Could the switch have been removed for some odd reason? Is it possible this thing isn't even a jackplate at all? Trolling motor prop/noise: I have a minn kota maxxum pro, 24v 80 pound thrust model. It's got some clicking noises coming from the prop, and I'm thinking it is because it has some play. It appears there is a lock nut on it. Could I have the wrong nut on the prop and that's the reason there's play/ a clicking noise? I really don't want to be scaring fish away because of a clicking trolling motor. It doesn't sound very good as it stands. Should I remove the prop and lube anything up inside there? If I were to get a new nut, is there a standard kind of nut minn kota puts on their props? I am REALLY hoping the trolling motor's internals are good. Depth finders: I have an older lowrance unit up with me on the dash. It doesn't have a built in graph or anything of that sort. I happen to own a hummingbird that has di/and a built in graph on my old boat. The transducer of the lowrance unit is on the passenger side of the boat. If I were to mount the humming bird somewhere next to the lowrance unit and mount the transducer on the passenger side of the boat, would they interfere with one another if they are on at the same time? Bank Charger: The boat has the factory 3 bank charger, and each bank has 5 lights. When these lights are done cycling (or turn off) does that mean the battery is fully charged? Bilge Pump: My dad is under the impression that when the bilge switch is toggled to auto, it should even run without the power switch toggled. Is that the case? Or, when you're docking your boat over night (say you're at a resort) do you just leave the bank charger plugged in with the bilge on auto and power switch toggled? I think I know the answer on this but I imagine he will want the answer in writing from someone more knowledgeable. I think that might be it for now, but I'm sure there will be more. thanks!

It is a 99.