flyingmonkie

When I visit my buddy in NE Oklahoma, he always wants to take me fishing in his Crownline. No sonar, no deck, NO TROLLING MOTOR... no thanks. In no way does having a boat (any boat) make things easier, and a boat without the proper equipment (and expertise with that equipment) is just counter-productive. I'm with Ratherbfishing. Use this as an opportunity to go bank fishing off the beaten path. Norris Lake looks FREAKING amazing (seriously, wow), and in a couple weeks, you should be in spawn primetime. Look for pockets/coves that are protected from wind and current, beach the boat about half-way in, and then get off and walk/fish your way to the ends. With the water low, this should be cake! You'll be in your comfort zone, and you'll be fishing in areas that don't get much (if any) foot traffic. If I were you, I'd head up the NE creek arm of the lake and start going up into the coves and pockets. You have several options within a mile or two of the marina - I'd start on the backside of the first little island, and then then hit the big cove across the lake from it. There will likely be fish in various stages of the spawn in any of these areas. Don't forget to tie the boat to something before you walk off and leave it.

I'm with you! Hard to beat!

Lol, to Frisbee/Netflix. We had our spring "guys camping trip" last weekend with similar conditions. We ended up fishing less and drinking more, but when I did fish, single colorado (gold) spinnerbait in chartreuse was the only thing I got bit on... and bites were few and far between. Fish the skinny water and target wood.

oOOOOOh yeah. I remember these. Want to say they came out 15-20 years ago... made a big splash on the tackle scene when they were released. Remember, you could buy replacement tails for them? I fished it once or twice... I was quite underwhelmed. Pun apologies...

As a teenager, the smaller (2"?) sassy shad on a small spinnerbait (no skirt) was THE ONLY THING I fished with!

Bring some sunscreen, and spend as much time fishing as you can. You'll have a good time no matter what you do.

Historically, I've fished a lot of straight braid. The past year or two, I've started using leaders more often than not. You'll catch fish, even in clear water, on straight braid... but I must assume that, especially when using slow moving baits, a transparent leader will get you more bites. You rarely see guys in the Elites fishing straight braid unless it's their frogging rig... a few for flipping/punching. My Logic: Braid is arguably the easiest line to cast, has great longevity, and unparalleled strength. Braid is my mainline of choice 80% of the time. Rocks cut through braid like a warm knife through butter, and braid (especially 30# and down), has the tendency to snap (heavy lures + backlash, quick hooksets) Flouro can be hard to cast but is invisible, abrasion resistance, and has a little bit of stretch. Fouro's strengths almost perfectly compliment braid's weaknesses! They are like pizza and beer - why wouldn't you put them together?! Not only is the Albright not easy to learn and reliable, it will make you feel like a man after you do it right.

Intersting... then I assume you're using a pretty short leader.

I admire the organization! Too much overhead for me. I buy soft plastics like billionaires buy water rights. Can't have enough! I usually only take a limited assortment with me each time depending on conditions.

You're right... got my screen dimmed and just saw a line going into nothingness.

Forget about the lips, did you get that hook out successfully?!?!

I bet Zona is the guy that gets on twice a year to ask our favorite bass recipe...

I've started using an ice chest as my "tackle box". I toss in the 6 or 7 most relevant plano boxes, and then dump a drawer full of plastics on top.

We have something similar going on in our neighborhood - they've put herbicide in the water for years, but [thankfully] haven't the past two years. We've got the slimey stuff now... it's a pain in the butt, but it's better than muddy water IMO. This time of year, I like weightless slow sinking stuff... senkos, flukes, paddletail swimbaits... t-rig them and you'll get through a little cleaner. You'll learn to appreciate the vegetation - especially in summer. You can pull frogs right over the top of it, target the edges and holes with soft plastics.

Grab a case of beer and throw out some juglines. Might not help your confidence, but it's a good coping mechanism.

The water is 2-4' deep, or the grass is 2-4' tall? How much of the water column does the grass occupy? Not near as experienced with this as many on here, but I'd be doing at least two things: 1) Ticking/rippping the top of the grass with moving baits like a spinnerbait, swimbait, chatterbait, lipless crank 2) Looking for holes in the grass to pitch a jig or soft plastic. Pretty killer spot for a wacky rig, I'd think.

Started catching a lot of small bucks up shallow this week. They seem to be livening up a bit in my area, but haven't started fanning beds yet.

I actually look forward to not thinking so much - I'm hopeful being a co will be liberating! As the guy that usually fishes from the front, I feel like I spend more time thinking about where we're going next or controlling the dang boat than I do fishing. It'll be nice relinquishing that responsibility and just fishing. The way I see it, it's a two (maybe three) day guided trip with the chance to win some $$$.

They are fun to catch... spunky as hell. Pound for pound, I think they pull like a smallie. Watch out though, they are prone to pee on you.

I expected to see some here this week, but no such luck. Bunch of little bucks up shallow, but not much going on. Didn't even appear to be fanning beds yet. We're still about a month away from historical prime time in my area - curious how it works this year.

Congratulations!!! I expect you to be the epitome of wisdom this time next year. No excuses!

I have. The wrong chemical residue in the bag can wreck havoc. I'm no chemist, so this is as far as I go. Fun experiment - dip something with Elaztech in JJ's Magic. Double-dog-dare you.

Bluegill! I have a 120 gallon cattle trough on the side of the house - I net these out of drainage ditches and stick them in the tank to grow up. Great learning experience for my little girls.

I lost my first fish of the year too... it happens. :/ I don't lose sleep unless it happens more often than not. Treble hooks aren't designed to get deep/solid penetration and can rip out easy. General rule of thumb is lighter power on rod (or stretchier line like mono) and good drag. You were using flouro, but had a ML rod, so unless you were overworking the fish, was probably just bad luck.

I keep a Google Sheet with date, location, air temp, water temp, wind speed/direction, barometric pressure, specific location on body of water, lure, species, size, and notes. I don't get to fish NEAR as much as I'd like, or it would be quite cumbersome. I have a hard time keeping up with it as it is.