FIN-S-R

South facing steep rocky points, or manmade structures. The key is like you always hear 45 degree angle, but what you dont hear is at least 45 degree angle but not vertical, though vertical is better than gradual. Bait is key, and right now in southern oklahoma the bait is down around 25-30' during the majority of daylight hours. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but right now I do better deeper earlier, and then a little shallower, and then back deeper by say 10 or 11 am. A crank cant be beat this time of the year. A BIG DEEP crank, and then pick up the 3/4 oz jig and knock off the stragglers in the area. Thats my strategy, and dont be mistaken, Its an athletic event to wind those Manns 30+ and DD22s for 5 or 6 hours, my shoulder still hurts from last weekend.............

Gotta luv that smokey joe DD22 on texoma aye DANCES.....Dont be givin out all the tex. secrets ;D

Ive had 12" smallies and green fish hammer down on a 10" castic shad. Never caught anything real big, but then again Im not really a swim bait thrower. Had other person in boat slow rollin a big storm S.B. and smack a 4+ smallie behind me while throwin a DD22, so I guess there are times......

Got to admit, I could give a $#!# if they can feel anything or not, as long as they keep kickin till weigh in and get me paid.

Get a 6:3:1 reel or a 7:1:1 reel. With a high speed reel you can take up slack real quick and keep pressure on the fish which will help quite a bit. To help you understand what is necessary to KEEP a fish hooked after you stick it think about a finnesse type hookset and the handling of the fish while fighting it. There is nothing power or fast about it. You simply maintain pressure and lead the fish where you want it to go, and like the guy before stated it only takes a couple of lbs of pressure to stick a fish with a sharp hook. The trick to maintaining pressure is to, like you said, keep your rod tip high (avoid obstructions, but down when they come up to jump), but also, you need to be aware of the angle the fish is moving in relation to the angle of pressure your putting on the fish. A perpindicular pressure angle to the direction of the fishes movement will lose quite a few for ya. Also, pressure exerted directly opposite the direction the fish is moving is likely to get the hook thrown. The optimal angle for keeping a fish hooked is just a few degrees left or right of the direction the fish is moving (picture the hook in the fishes mouth) , and then LEAD the fish where you want it to go. By doing this you will maintain the maximum amount of hook staying in the fishes mouth, ie. the part of the hook you will be pulling against will be the bottum of the curve. I got to learn this stuff the hard way while losing bedding fish left and right 1 day. But as I began to pay attention to the direction the were facing when I set the hook, and fought or played them in, it became really clear what was going on.

Grand lake in NE oklahoma is sort of the same deal. you will occasionally catch a smallie in the main lake, but the resident smallies from the neosho river stay in the neosho at the upper end of the lake. When you do catch a smallie out of the main lake it is usually down by the dam. I figure the reason for these lake positions producing smallies is due to the concentration of current. They (The ODWC) wont stock grand with reserviour strain smallies like you find in most of the okie lakes with good smallie fishin because they propose the native strain would interbreed with the resviour strain and then the native species would become all but lost as a specific species. This tells me that different types of smallies are conditioned to thrive and subsequently live in preferential SPOTS. Now largeheadz tend to be more versitile in making a living pretty much anywhere they can stay wet so the fact that you can successfully stick greenies but not smallies in the ares you fish suggests that the biggest deal is probably to change up areas you are attempting to stick the brownies. In my somewhat limited experience (all of which has been gained on multi bass species water) I find you will catch largeheadz in areas predominantly occupied by smalljaws, but rarely will you find brown fish in predominantly green fish water....the tactics will be dictated by the conditions, ie. cover/ structure/ weather, but the suggestions above sound pretty good to me, especially the mojo, splitshot, or the now known as "PETEY RIG" using gulp, robo, or yamamato cut tail worms, or dinger/senko type baits.

Lake murray southern Oklahoma- Clear/ Deep, and grassy with little to no current. Bluebird days throwin cranks shallow during July and august mid-day have produced the largest smallies for me there. 15 miles east of murray-Texoma-Semi turbid no grass with current, February for the biguns on the bank during storms...I dunno?? :-?

This weekend I caught a Smallie that was over 24 inches long but only weighed 4 1/2 lbs- less than an inch wide on the bottum of the belly (looked more like a small mouth snake fish. There were 2 others weighed in that looked like the twin to the 1 I caight, the heaviest of which was .12 lbs heavier than mine. The smaller brown fish weighed in were all really fat and healthy, but a number died really quickly after being caught. The lake has been high for an extended period of time, and the smallies have been shallow for about a month which is pretty uncommon for Texoma during August, and ther is tons and tons of really healthy 2-5 inch shad EVERYWHERE, so what gives. What would make the big uns' so poor, and the smaller 1s so fragile?

Stayin home is not an option....there is grass to mow, and a pool to clean and a list of hunny do's Ive been puttin off all spring and summer long....cant get caught up in that right now...GOTTA fish!!

C'mon guys, you gotta gimme somthin'????????????? Nobody out there with and outside shot at an idea?

Ran into this same scenario about a month ago up at grand, and now the same thing is happening at texoma. Extended period of high water has caused O2 levels to drop sharply due to veggie rotting. Lots of shallow flooded cover, but no fish...or dead fish, the gar and shad are even leavin the shallow water. Surface Water temps not too bad, somewhere around mid 80's. Fish kill has begun to happen in the last few days, and will more than likely run for a couple of weeks considering what Ive seen in the past on tex. Im seeing quite a few non micropertus species cruisin belly up. The lake has some current runnin through it to the tune of about 35k CFS which is not quite enough to form eddies on the surface on point and pilings, but enough to move your boat a little if there isnt any wind. So where are the BASS? I find huge piles of fish and bait sittin on a hard line at 17ft on or near the channel breaks as would be expected. Upon stickin some of these fish while crankin I find they tend to be Stripers, sandies, and blues. This is a must figure out situation due to the fact I have already paid the entry fee, and need the points for the championship. My thoughts: Head toward the dam and find- Predominant south wind= bait on north/ southerly exposed edges (banks and drops). Combine this with outside channel beds that intersect these edges for a wind current/ channel current effect which helps to escape the O2 depletion. Only deal is when I find and fish these spots (not just with cranks) I hit the motherload of paper thin stripers, and sand bass. There is an occasional smallie or spot mixed in, but not consistent enough to run a pattern. Also, I have around 50-60 brushpiles placed and located from the past several years and they are located in the areas I previously described yet are holding no fish or very few very small fish. The only keeper large head I have stuck had a 6 or 7 lb head and weighed right at 3...bones showin everywhere. Flippin/ Frogin is not an option, I have burned through miles of flooded willows, hardwoods, and "brush" without so much as a nibble. And here is another curve ball, 6+ inch rains in west and central oklahoma have swelled the washita and red rivers so instead of the lake continuing to drop...thats right its movin back up into the stinkin' rotting (literally) woods again. With H2O temps in the mid 80s (probably mid 70s at 15-17ft) those fish have got to eat and must be or they would all be cruisin belly up. SO what do you do...Im stumped, after a solid 40 or so hours over the past several days out there, all I can figure out is random fish and there, no correlation in the conditions or postions. HELP!!!!

If you can stand it, try looking up research articles from symposiums and scientific journals. Let me first tell you that the reading in these things is dry dry dry....not what you would call entertaining, but they contain largely or semi uninterpreted data..observations, that you can evaluate for yourself. Lots of this stuff can be found through a google search, but you might have to go to a library to actually get your hands on it. IMHO this is the best way to improve your skills as an angler because you'll be able to understand the concept containing all the little pieces in any scenario on the water. I have found that is it less important to have the hottest new baits, or best equipment than it is to be able to find fish and then decipher their current "mood" and possible angles to approach the situation from. It then will start to become clear what is going on when a fish is caught from a certain spot using a certain technique, and building a pattern from only a few bites becomes possible. This is conceptual learning , and it will make you much more versitile than merely being a memorize and regurgitate learner which is what you get from most magazines and videos. Not that the information contained in those mags and videos isnt helpful or good info, because that type of info can give you new ideas in approaches to different situations.

From back in young childhood I remember catching lots of pale blue crawdads that had recently molted. Also, While doing some shallow diving I have seen crawdads in and around shale outcrops that have dark blue and purple streaks, as well as black backs. Now as for color mattering, its probably a visibilty issue, when color doesnt seem to matter much...they just have to be able to see it. Now when color seems to matter its probably a function of a concentration of 1 type of forage in an area. Example: May tourney post spawners would only eat a light weight green pumpkin jig with matching trailer on heavy mono or FC for a super slow fall...took me 3 days to figure it out. And it had to have a rubber skirt, and be a certain lighter shade of green pumpkin to be the most effective. After a few of the fish I caught puked up 3-6inch blue gills that were exactly that color I began to realize that the Bream color was very important. I experimented with some other colors in likely spots and got nothing or maybe small fish, but it was probably a 10:1 ratio for any other color against the light green pumpkin jig. In the same spots after trying alternate colors, on the very next cast or a couple of casts later, I would produce a fish on the green pumpkin...color mattered. I got on a good vibe bite another time but they would only hit a vibe with the green scale pattern overlaid on a black back...the black back alone would get you nothing, and a vibe is obviously a reaction bite. Another instance was a very productive deep crankin bite I was on, was extremely good on a dark blue green back DD22 under semi low light conditions...any other color would leave you empty handed...and I tried other colors. Now when a cloud rolled in, They would quit the Smokey joe, but would absolutley crush a a green joe (same thing but with a chart line just under the blue green back). Color mattered. On the other hand, I found post spawners hangin right off the bank 1 day and absolutley smoked em with senkos. I started out with june bug, but ran out after about an hour. I changed to white and never skipped a beat. I started changin up just to see, and caught fish on ever color senko I had when rigged weightless, but not a single nibble on a t-rigged or shakey head, or drop shot. That instance was purely a technique deal, but I had good water clarity and anyting that was visible and presented a certain way got bit. Tim Horton commented that he has never been too hung up on color, if your around the fish and they are actively feeding, the right presentation will get you bit every time. This is probably correct for the most part, but I think color can be the difference between a good bite and a great day.

Thanks guys, I kind of figured that was what I was facing, but I didnt know if maybe I had just over looked somthing. I have encountered this situation recently on murray, and dropshotted them vertically with my electronics with great success, but those grand river LM are different. By the way 9 measly pounds got a check and there was only 3 fish over 5lbs weighed. Usually 9lbs is big bass weight on grand, and a 5 lber wont even raise an eyebrow. We got some help from Kreit on places and techniques, the fish were there, but I guess I left the mojo at the house. Anyway, thanks again for the input.

A number of 4 fish limits were caught (200 or so boats), but not many fish over a couple of pounds which is highly unusual for a lake that usually kicks out 20-25 pound winning sacks of 5 fish and sees lots of fish in the 6lb clas come to the scales. I think 16 or 17 won, but I think that was kind of a lone ranger weight, most bags hung around the 5-8 lb range. The bite was obviously way off, and plenty of guys blanked or like us had 2 or 3. It was brutal to say the least to see these 3-6 lbers comin up and crushin bait within a few feet of the boat and then not be able to catch any of em'. And hey RW, I didnt mean to come across sideways at you with the 2nd post, hope it didnt sound that way.

I took a similar approach with some storm/ castic/ and various other swim baits in sizes from 3in to 12 inch, as well as a just about every style hard bait and soft bait you can imagine. To put the numers of types of cranks/swims/ jerk/ etc I put to use in perspective- I have a dozen of the big plano storage boxes full of just cranks, and a comparable amount of the others too, and between 2 of us applied just a bout every style we had and worked them every way you can imagine short of being ADD about changin out lures. In 23 hrs on the water you have time to try lots of different things. I have just never been met with a situation where I found "the" fish, but couldnt coax a bite. Would heading up river hold any promise in a situation like this

What have gas prices done to my fishing...nothing changed ther, but I now survive on PB&J sandwiches and Ramen noodles, and Oh yeah no more shopping sprees for the wife ;D

This weekend I fished a tourney on grand lake in NE OK. When I arrived friday night I found out there was a big shad kill due to O2 levels being depleted in the lake. Sat morning this was confirmed when I hit the water and got a big wiff of dead fish as I unloaded and saw thousands of dead shad and smaller fish floating. During practice (15 hrs of it) on sat, I found good size schools of quality fish chasing shad off the ends of points along the main channel and in big creek arms on points relating to the channel. The smaller shad (fry to 4 inches) seemed to be ok and werent dying off, but all the larger gizzard shad were either dead or dying, so I tried to mimic both types of bait and the current state they were in. I watched several groups of 15-20 fish ranging in size from 14 inchers to 5 and 6 lbers schooling up on both types of forage, but couldnt get them to react to anything, and I mean anything. In 23 hrs of fishing between me and my partner we caught 4 bass over 14inches, and 6 bass total. We covered the entire water column for just about any main lake and creek arm scenario you can imagine with every presentation and speed you can imagine including but not limited to: Flipping willows/ Dragging plastics on c-rig, t-rig, Dropshot, splitshot, weightless, etc./ Cranking deep mid and shallow fast and slow and stop n go and grinding/ Top h2o buzzin froggin walkin poppin/ Jiggin/ Yo-Yoing/ Strokin/ Hoppin/ swimmin/ Jerk baitin/ Rippin Vibe baits/ burnin, slow rollin and everything in between a spinner bait/ Swimbaits, and probably more that I cant remember. The only true pattern I could ID was that the fish suspending on the points were hangin between 12 and 17 ft and would become active when a school of bait moved in, this would last for maybe 5 minutes, then they would move back down and suspend. They were unresponsive to lures when schooling on the bait fish. Occasioally you could provoke a strike on top if you flailed em with a barrage of big loud poppers/walkers/buzzers/ and frogs while they were incactive and suspending with no bait in the area. They would not respond to a vertical presentation using electrolics either. What do you do in a scenario like this besides throw in the towel?

Clear Rico- long..................................................................................Pauses

Hey senile, check out those everything I know posts, and give er a try being in missouri your in prime time light line country. And to once a gain attempt not to sound like a pompus A##, that was pretty much everything I know, not everything there is TO know.....I'm no posing as an outdoor writer used car salesman like that other fellow who posted so much here a few months back. And I gotcha...all in good humor....and thats how it was taken ;D ;D ;D. I realize I laid it out there and opened up to some poke funnin'

I started to put the 1 of her I took right after she caught it...she was in her bikini...she said she'd kill, so....

If you read any of my dropshot posts last week, you'll understand this. Took her (The wife) fishing sat evening and this is what she did to me with a crank, to the tune of 5lbs 8oz. Murray Smallie!!

;D

Ok this is the last one. I hope you guys and gals have been able to take something useful from these write-ups. Id like to say I dont consider myself an expert on this subject and dont want to come across as pompus or anything, just someone who has spent a whole lot of time with a drop shot rig in hand, and found out it works great for alot of different situations. ok, on to the meat..... Bed Fishing with a Dropshot: I realize some of you that might read this are opposed to bed fish, but as chiefly a tournament angler, I will bed fish to fill my limit with larger than usual females that would otherwise be almost impossible to catch. A note here on my bed fishing skills: I only weighed in 1 fish off a bed this spring out of approximately 25 or 30, and it was a Kicker fish type of scenario. Additionally, through bed fishing with a drop shot, I have observed the effectiveness of this technique in catching fish that are completely uninterested in eating and will only respond to the most realistic imitation of a live crittert. Generally I opt for the drop shot as my first choice for a bedding fish. I have gone to using GULP almost exclusively for this application to increase the sensory stimulation of those targeted fish. Case in point: A lake I fish experienced weather conditions that had the spawn delayed so that when the big surge happened it was almost unreal in the numbers of 5-7 lbers moving shallow. These fish were semi responsive to a number of presentations, for a day or so, but got pretty leery of any multi-appendage critter attached to braid or heavier line awful quick from pre-fishing pressure. Tournament morning dawned to a lake full of locked on lock jawed females who were to say the least a bit skittish. I worked a 4-5lb fish for about an hour before I left her to pursue another, but was still in sight of the nest she was sitting on. A competitor pulled up and caught her within a couple of minutes. I noticed he was throwing a dropshot rig, so I grabbed mine, and caught the fish I was targeting within a couple of seconds. I returned home from that event with an idea to experiment with the fish in my home waters which are notoriously impossible to catch when spawning. I found the drop shot rig on a short leader with a ¼ oz weight seemed to fool them every time. Upon employing a multitude of GULP baits I found them to be almost completely susceptible to the offering. I also began to pitch the standard senko and creature type offerings in the conventional t-rigged or weightless manner typically employed for bed fishing. Out of around 20 to 25 bass both large and smallmouth, I found that the static suspended presentation of a dropshot seemed to cause less anxiety to the fish, and also made it possible to keep the offering available for more close examination due to the fact it was at eye level for an extended period of time. As a safety measure for the fish I did nearly all of this fishing with either cut hooks or barbless hooks so that when I released pressure, the fish would quickly come loose and be able to resume it's reproductive tasks. The key I discovered was to keep the bait over the bed while keeping the weight out of the bed. This is achieved by varying the length of the leader according to casting distance. I found that the set-up mentioned in the dock fishing section worked best with regard to line and rod choice. This is most likely due to the fact that when a bed fish is hooked they have a tendency to run at a 90 degree angle from the direction they are being pulled, that is to say they will run sideways instead of away from you and the added leverage can help with control. They also tend to turn on their side quite often when caught off beds. The combination of these two things can cause an initially hooked fish to come loose immediately upon turning to face you since they are typically hooked shallow in the side or top of the mouth with more conventional flippin type techniques. With a dropshot two things play to the angler's advantage in this scenario. The first is that normally a dropshot will hook a fish in the side of the mouth fairly shallow anyway, but due to the hook type and light pressure in hook set and reeling in, when turning to face you a fish won't be as likely to throw the hook. Second, the fish don't generally exhale the offering as quickly when turning due to the fact they don't seem to be as anxious when evaluating the smaller offering, and you're not crossing their eyes with the hook set. Additionally, If you're releasing fish immediately after catching them on beds, I believe the drop shot causes it to be a less traumatic experience for the fish, and there is a better chance they will return to life as normal upon being released.

In these last 2 Installments I will relate to you what i have found while using the dropshot for some very specialized bass fishing techniques. Playstation Dropshoting: My partner and I came up with this term a few years back referring to fish we were catching while pre-fishing for a championship. We would get questions from fellow participants who knew we nearly lived on the lake, in an attempt to probe us for our productive pre-fishing techniques. We just let them know that we had been playstation dropshotting, and flat killin em'. I don't think most gave it too much thought until after the 1st day of the tourney when we were in 2nd or 3rd place. We wound up finishing in 3rd out of about 100 boats and had Big Bass on one day. Eight or nine of the ten fish we weighed came from playstation dropshotting. Since then I have heard it referred to as sight fishin with electronics, or TV fishin, but all the same it's just a technique using your electronics to find the bait and fish. Some of you may have seen Edwin Evers doing this at last years Elite Series event at Table Rock, and let me tell you, he's got skillshe made it look an awful lot easier than it is. Rarely will you find a scenario that allows for a perfectly vertical presentation to a school of fish you can watch come up and look at your bait before they bite. Though this may sound somewhat disconcerting, it's not impossible, and staying right on top of the fish isn't completely necessary. Most of the time when you see something on your electronics you have generally already passed it. This is a really good way of playstation fishing because it allows you to cover the spot from a few different angles as well as directly above and it gets your sound wave bouncing electronic gadgets away from the fish. Normally I opt for the heavier DRAG rig I mentioned in a previous installment since this is usually done in relatively deep water, but if the fish are suspending, and you got boat skills like EE you can use something lighter. A combination of the pendulum and open bail drop is key for this technique. When coming up on a feature, you can pitch the rig in front of you a bit as you move over it. In this way you will sort of meet up with your falling rig as you move forward. To do this you alternate between the pendulum and free fall, controlling the rate of fall, while swinging the bait back toward you. By doing this it will contact the bottom at the point in the swing where it would be pretty much under the front of the boat, and subsequently on the spot you are looking at on your electronics. It is a great help if you are able to nose the boat into the wind to help steady your position while doing this. If you do encounter a scenario where you can remain almost motionless as far as boat positioning goes, the best way to present is to pitch out in front towards the far side of the target, and allow the rig to free fall. It will show up on the electronics at the point where it enters the cone (the transducer signal) due to the fact that the cone gets larger as you go deeper. This will usually allow you to watch your rig enter the desired area at which point I generally open the bail and back off a bit while I let the bait soak or slowly work it through the area. This can be a tedious frustrating way to fish, but often times will provide results when beating the bank is fruitless. Flippin' the docks: Typically when you hear the term flippin or maybe pitchin, your mind doesn't move toward the drop shot as a first choice. I have enjoyed some success thanks to this now growing practice, and it's really even easier in some ways than flippin or pitchin a jig on your conventional pool cue equipment. I typically opt for the lighter end of the scale in weight choice for two reasons: 1. Bass suspend around docks, and a slow falling bait is typically more effective, 2. the lighter weight is more forgiving on the pitch, and is easier to work through cover. Also I tend to use a shorter leader between the hook and weight. This will keep the tendency of the weight to bounce and fly in a circular motion to a minimum. A very light touch on the retrieve is very important to avoid staying snagged all the time, but even with a well seasoned crappie fisherman's lightest touch on the retrieve, you will still encounter some snags. Because of the propensity of constantly getting hung up with a drop shot around docks, this is one of two scenarios I will opt for 8lb line, and a medium to medium heavy action 7ft spinning rig. Generally a hooked fish will swim away from cover when stuck, but in a maze of docks and boat slips, the route toward open water may lead under cross members or around poles, so the heavier line and stiffer rod help to coax a fish in the right direction. And if you do get wrapped around a pole or buried up in a brush pile while fighting a fish, the best way to give your self a chance is to flip the bail open or free spool the reel and give the fish it's head. That circle hook will do its job and stay put most of the time. A note here on hook choice: In areas with excessive debris, I will sometimes opt for a #1 owner wide gap hook and t-rig the worm skin hooked. This allows for the same type of passive hook set, yet reduces the number of snags encountered. The flippin/pitchin technique used with a spinnin rig and drop shot requires the same general motion as with casting gear, but once the weight of the dropshot leaves your hand, the differences become very clear. The main thing is that the weight will try to sort of bounce against the weight of the worm and hook. To avoid this, a certain amount of back pressure has to be exerted with the rod angle and on the line with your pointer finger after the weight leaves your hand. This resistance can cause the pitch to fall short of the target until you practice it some, and figure out how to increase and decrease the speed and trajectory of the rig in mid air. One of the greatest advantages to using a dropshot around docks is the ability to allow the rig to drop almost perfectly vertical. In doing this you will be presenting your offering to fish down the entire length of a dock pole, or directly under the walkways at the very back of a boat slip. The pendulum pattern of fall encountered with most other types of gear will miss areas in corners that a drop shot will be able to exploit.