Fish Catching Travel
Day 2 of our great adventure was a little slower than day one, but before it was over it turned out to be a pretty good day. Clyde joined us today and we decided to fish the mid-lake area out of the little town of Oakland near the Missouri line.
The way the day started it looked like we had gone to a different lake. We headed up to Spring and Gulley Creek and started fishing both jerk bait and grubs. One thing about the mid-lake area, is it was definitely clearer, if that was possible. The water temp was fine, but it had been a cool night with an almost full moon, and the fish got off to a slow start. I think it was around 9 before Shoedog put one in the boat on jerk bait. We finally made a big move and headed up lake fishing some of the places Clyde knows. I finally got a really great bite on the watermelon read flake grub and it was a titanic struggle on 8lb. line.
Nothing like a big rubber lips to start your day.
Now I hate to downgrade the lowly carp, but after a 500 mile drive it was not exactly what I had in mind. So just a little while later we hit another bank, which Clyde said was a place he catches a few drum, and of course you guessed it. I was now 2 for 2.
Another great fight, but not exactly what we were looking for.
So with that nonsense out of the way lets get to the real fishing. l stayed with the watermelon grub most of the day. Clyde alternated between the various grubs and jerkbaits, and Shoedog stayed with that wacky striped red/orange suspending Rogue aberration that worked so well yesterday, And try as Clyde and I could, nothing beat that funky color Rogue, and the only one that would even come close to keeping up was the classic clown color.
The Shoedog put some great smallmouth in the boat today.
The pattern was clearly flat gravel points when we were in about 15 foot of water. We caught a few in the back end of the creeks, Music for example, but the water was quite a bit cooler there than out on the main lake. We caught them right on the main lake, and on flatter gravel points further in the creeks, but no matter what, it needed to be gravel. But as the day wore on the fishing got better and better.
Clyde with a real honking white bass. Notice the clown Rogue.
Unlike yesterday when we were way up lake, today we only put 3 white bass in the boat, and no walleye. The water clarity was unbelievable mid-lake, but there just were not the white bass there that there was way up lake. Of course that is logical with their spring annual spring migration, same with the walleyes. There was one big difference, even though we did not boat the numbers today, around 30, the fish were bigger. And the Shoedog just kept on putting them in the boat.
I am real disappointed in how this smallmouth came out. Folks this was the biggest of his life, and this picture does not do her justice. Definitely a CPR fish.
This was actually his last fish of the day. In fact he was whining, a couple of days of constant jerking that jerkbait is tough, and Clyde made him fish one last place. Shoedog finally said last cast, and I said watch this, it will be big one. I no more than said it when he bowed up and caught the one above. It was one beautiful smallmouth. A great finish to a good day.
I have spared you the obligatory dead fish stringer, but we had one. We ended up keeping 12 bass for the table, 4 smallmouth and 8 kentuckys, not a bad day by any definition. We could have easily kept a few more but were plenty happy with what we kept. Of the keepers, 3 or so came on grub, the rest came on the Smithwick Rogue in what we have learned is the Red Bream. If you are fishing Bull Shoals right now, get a couple, the fish love them.
So tomorrow instead of a day on Norfork as planned, we have decided to head back to the upper end of Bull Shoals where Shoedog and I fished yesterday. We really want to add a few more walleye to the pile. So it will be Sunday before we get to Norfork, and then it will be some crappie and striper fishing. It should be great. So keep stopping in. Thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
