FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

The best balsa baits on the market.

Like I said yesterday, we have caught them every other day, so we should catch them today.  Well we did.  And just like every other day it sucked until noon, and then just like someone switched on the light it started.  Prior to noon Shoedog had put 4 or 5 in the boat, all on this purple back, chartreuse sided, white belly jerkbait.  I on the other hand could not catch a cold.  Now I may be slow but I ain’t stupid so I dug out a clown color jerkbait and it was game on.

Nice smallmouth.

We ended up catching 10 or so out of the first place and it went on from there.  My second bite was a full scale smash, he knocked the crap out of it.  I finally caught a good striper after boating a bunch of small ones this week.  I did catch one other small one today.

Finally got a real one!

It was just as I suspected, either the water running in was going to help or hurt, and it ended up helping.  The water temp really did not go up or down appreciably, but with the sun shining all day it slowly went up in the back of the pockets where the water was off-color and the fish went with it.  So our initial pattern of them holding on the deeper banks waiting to get with the spawn was correct, but as the water warmed today the fish moved into the back of  the  coves just like they are supposed to, and it was game on.  Until we quit around 6, every place we fished we caught some, and when the last back end did not produce we called it a day.

Shoedog with a big Kentucky.  A real toad!

It was jerkbait all day, just working the warmer off-color water with a jerk- jerk/jerk – jerk.  They were not slamming it, but most of them hit it pretty good.  They would not hit grub or umbrella rigs at all, but we did catch 4 or 5 on spinnerbait, the first of the trip.  For the day we caught largemouth, smallmouth, kentucky, crappie, walleye, and stripers.  That is one of the great things about fishing North Arkansas, lots of cool fish.  You never know what is on the end of your line.

Another nice Kentucky.

It really has been a good trip, and though the good catching has been every other day, it has been a great time.  We have caught an amazing amount of different fish.  And of course we have had a great time with Clyde and his family and it was good to be back on my old stomping grounds.   It took most of the week to get my bearings and put us in the right place at the right time, but it kept coming back to me and in the end it was a pretty successful trip.  It is hard to believe I have been gone for 20 years.

A walleye headed to the fry pan.

We really did not crappie fish intentionally though we caught a couple every day, but if we had done that it would have been load the boat time.  And the walleye were post spawn and like the crappie we caught a couple most days and if we intentionally fished for them we could have caught a lot more than we did.  But the joy of throwing that jerkbait on these lakes is you never know.  And though they were not really interested in the A Rig, it was nice to finally get to catch some on it this week.  At least I got a feel for it, so look out Coleto.   For the day we probably boated an easy 25 or so, a real mix.

Now that is a crappie.  You know they are big when they hit a jerk bait.

So what is next I am not sure.  I may fish tomorrow, but I am definitely going to hit the road later in the day.  Since I need to leave by 3 to make dinner with the parents it will be hard to get motivated when the fish don’t bite in the morning.  The weather looks like it may be a little sketchy, wind out of the north at 20mph+, which probably won’t slow it down tomorrow, but with the low expected to be in the mid 30’s tomorrow night it will slow down for a little while.  But their really good fishing is right around the corner.  And I will be watching to see how the Elite Series does here, it is their first time on Norfork.  It is time to call it a day I am really tired.  So this could be it for a couple of days, but who knows.  I have a couple of things to chat about so keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines