skeetermike

I used to fish nights a lot more and plan on camping on the lake this weekend. I'll probably do some more night fishing then. Use a blacklight and some fishin line that is clear blue so it glows. I use plastic worms in dark colors, black sb's, and sometimes topwater. Jigs work well for those steep banks and I also use C-rigs alot. Remember at night use dark baits. The mosquitos usually go to bed a couple hours after dark. Although they are there, just not as bad. Good luck. Snakes come to light as do bugs, so keep the lights to a min.

It was a nice cool, cloudy, still day, but the fish weren't doing much. Our minnows were dead in no time. Water temp. was 86. I was planning on camping down at the lake here in a few days and crappie fishing. I may try jigs this time, if I crappie fish. I miss the spring days already. They gotta eat even in hot water though??

YES, the 27 should work. I now have a bigger boat but once had a 14' with a 20 horse Merc. I used a 32 Lb hand control MinnKota and really liked it. That boat on a full battery charge would plane off! I also had 3/4" plywood decking down and a make shift live well. It was really heavy. I know if 32 Lb worked for me then you would be fine with around 30 Lb. I'd get at least a 32 Lb though for the windy days and as mentioned above get a good battery. I've heardy Interstate and Optima are the best batteries. Good luck. I now run a 67 Lb Motorguide on a 18.5 bass boat.... a lil small though, wish I had an 80 Lb for the wind.

Sounds like he commited fishaside to me! Next trip I may spray the fish attractant on the boat not the bait!

I never caught a single bream! I have a good excuse though. My boat decided to jack up. The trim only knew one direction, DOWN! Down isn't good considering you have to load on the trailer at some pt. God was with me though as I drove probably 12 miles or so back with the motor only inches off the ground and it never hit pavement. I've since gotten technical help from a auto mechanic and got the motor trimmed back up. I now have taken my relay switch off and intend on going by the local boat shop for another one. I'm not that EL savy so this was a major deal for me. Hopefully I'll be back in business soon. Worst part of it was one of the guys that helped me out was also bream fishing and had a whole ice chest full!!! 2day just wasn't my day, but I'll be back!

Thanks for the advice. I was aiming low but you don't have too long to shoot once the light hits them! I thought about tieing a can on a string and tossing it out into the pond for some practice? That would be the closest thing to bow fishing I can think of.

Me and a friend traveled to a simular type lake earlier in the summer. We struggled also. Our thought was they just need to turn loose about 5000 beaver in the lake and let them do the work, they love to cut crap down and build! ;D All joking aside we had trouble fishing the bottom like we wanted to as did u. We did pretty good on the topwater frogs. I'd think anything you could keep just above that junk would work, ripping a jerk bait, ripping at lipless cb just above the summerged grass. I like the small weight with the watermel. worm idea someone said earlier.

Well if this helps when we were bow fishing the other night on the lake we never seen a bass. We hit the shallows around grass beds with a 2million spot light. It was mostly gar, carp and buffs. We did see a few huge watermoccosins! :-/

Our objective was simple, find the shallow grass beds and stay ready! I took the ol zebco and put 50lb mono on it. I then attatched it to my old Hoyt bow! Yes we were there for the carp! I got lucky on the 1st shot with about a 2lber and then it went down hill from there. I shot at gar, I shot at buffs, and several more carp. That bow fishing is hard. I'm now hooked though. Any pointers for my next journey?

Good to hear someone caught them at night. Last time I went out at night I fished till 3am and had a 3lber, and let one get off....that was it! I have been looking for a better choice of worm though. I may have to try the ol anaconda.

I agree it sounds kinda like a post spawn type pattern. I have never just tore em up in those conditions, but will throw a c-rig or a tube tight to cover that is out away from the bank. I think you have to really slow down at that time also. All this ripping of jerk baits just under the surface don't sound like what I'd do at all. The bass aren't as aggressive then and all that is going for is the reaction strike. Remember this too: Fish just may not have been biting then either. Try a diff. time of day. If it was morning, try evening.

Yep fish your rivers around big rocks. In slow water I like a 7" culprit moccason color worm w/o the weight. I like crawdad color crankbaits just down from the shoals in that kinda eddy looking water. Man their fun to catch!! I try to get folks to put them back though cause it takes them so long to get big and I caught them as a kid here in S.Ark and want other kids to have that same chance. Too many people take more than they need and it really hurts the bodys of water.

Fish from the bank, shallow water... thats an easy one. 2/0 owner hook is my favorite to use. Fish a plastic worm slow, just twitching it now and then or a slow drag toward the bank. Fish it around logs, trees in water, rock. Just fish around structure of any kind. Best colors are going to be red shad, blue fleck, purple, pumpkin, and watermellon. That, a spinnerbait, or jig are also good ones. I used to pond fish all the time and thats the ticket, try it and hang on. Perch may hit the tails pretty bad, but the bass usually take it and keep going. You might have fun with the perch/bluegill/bream with a smaller worm and hook. Good luck, have fun, and save some for seed cause you should catch fish!

Hybrid/white bass, they are really close to each other in species. The Hybrids get big, 15lb and over. The whites only get 3 or 4lbs tops but big fighters and as someone said earlier not too bad to eat if you cut out the dark red strip down the back. Deff. not a crappie, white or blk. White perch is the name for white crappie. Shad don't get much bigger than that and it's tough to catch them on rod/reel.

Suprised Low-Budget didn't recommend the jig. It depends on how high? The pads/docks u mentioned... how far under the water. If 12 to 15' or less that may be an option. I fished a tourn. yesterday in Arkansas with water temps near 90. The big fish came off a c-rig or a crankbait if that helps. The spinning rod should work well with a tube jig. Maybe find some back water or something. Do u ever fish the Illi. river? I remember it used to get up when I worked up around ottawa... really up and tough to fish unless you fish over the corn fields !!

Bigger vessel, 12/24 volt with good batteries... i'm still looking for the best trolling batteries. I've heard interstate, and optima make good ones. I fished a tourn. today and my batteries were pretty drained by days end. I have one brand new battery too. I like fishing in the wind but isn't West Texas worse for wind and the midwest. I live in SW ARk, not that far from East Texas and we've only had 10mph winds lately. I've enjoyed those winds as I've caught more fish when it's blowing. just need full juice on my batteries before I go.

Sounds like my only day on Fork... I swore up and down I'd never be back to it after the summer night we had on it. Fished till like 3 or 4am and never caught a fish. Was sorely dissappointed from wall I'd heard. Lake o pines is the lake I like. I've never been on S.R. though. I like the wind though. It makes the fishing better.

Well I didn't win the tourn. but between me and my father we had 4 fish to place in hourly money. My dad caught the biggest fish for the day on the lake we fished. Tourn. was on 3 lakes at once with a 6.3lb bass as the winner. Dads fish went 5.4lbs and he still didn't place into the top 4 overall. I had a 2nd on the hour, a 4th place for the hour and a 5th. I missed 2 places by a total of 6 tenths... now that sucks. It was a good day overall though. We were on the fish that last hour when my dad caught the 5.3 and next cast I caught a 3lber but let him swallow it. We had to head to the ramp before the fish died and I wouldn't be able to count it. We left fish with over 30min to go. I will always wonder if I could have beat the tourn. leader of 6.3 if we had stayed. It was a perfect spot and they were there! In case anyone asks we were throwing brushhogs on the c-rig. One fish came 2nd cast of the morning on a spook. It was tough....lots of little bits but the big fish were hard to come by on our lake. Thank you to the fisherman up above for our luck today!

BIGGER THAN UR'S IS SON!!! Not really.... a lota fishing pressure around here. Anything over 5lbs is a quality fish. I've caught 3 or 4 that size this yr. Here lately its been a 4lber each time out. We had 40+ up lake levels for a month or so that kept everyone off the water for a while. Sucks, need bigger lakes, less pressure and more water capacity!

Yes, please don't skimp on price with that one.... it may be several yrs before you are lucky enough to catch one that big on public water. Bass pro used to advertise for replica fish. I'm sure they can hook u up with a good taxid. who can be of service.

POND FISHERMAN! I've noticed there a lota pond fisherman on this forum. That said though, the ponds can produce some big crappies. They are a little bit more wary and fished for in the lakes though.

Bounced out while going over another boats waves huh. Thats why I drive a well built, great handling boat. I don't push it and I usually wear my pfd but I know it will take care of me. I've been scared to death before in other boats, Tidecraft, older Rangers, Nitros, ect. As far as the logs. I've seen way too many lakes that need logs sawed off during late sumer months. The idiots leave them right out in the middle of the boat lanes!!! I've seen rebar sticking up at the last min. Those are obstacles that can be elimiated, accidents waiting to happen! Now the rivers are a very different, and dangerous type of water to navigate on. Sandbars mysteriously appear up outa the middl of nowhere, trees get washed in ect. In my opinion Skeeter makes one of the best boats out there. My buddy almost had a head on the other day by a Skeeter with a 250 and a Ranger with a 250 right on his tail. It was take off from a tourn. and they met at a bad curve in the main lake. My buddy drives a Trition but said he's never seen anything like what the Skeeter did to avoid an accident. The boat made a sharp cut at 70+ mph. I told him my boat will probably do that.... i've never had to find out though.

We got started at daylight today on the local lake here in S.Arkansas. It was glasses but the fish weren't having anything to do with the topwater baits. Buddy caught one on a chug bug. As the day went on the wind got worse and worse but the fishing got better. We were finding them on the windy banks with the C-rig. All said and done I had 10 and my buddy had 4. He made a lota swings though that didn't catch anything. The lake has a big tourn. on it come Saturday and it was really busy out there today. Amazing how rude some of those guys can be. We got cut off several times. Too bad today wasn't tourn. day. I had one 4lber and my buddy had one 3.5lber. We had around 12lbs or so. The wind brought the fish once again.

More than the type is the line wt. Anything under around 10lb will cast much easier. I don't like P-line as much cause it tends to fray... I guess it doesn't have the abrasion resistance or something. I still use it for leader line though bc it disappears well being a flourocarbon. I like Trilene for its strength overall. There are some many out there though. I have a spinning reel loaded with PowerPro 6-20 braid. You can really pull up the bottom with that stuff!

Old toilets! Is that with or without the logs!! Good one. I just have/know some banks on local lakes that are nearly bare. I've caught fish on them before but only where you find the structure.... just thought if there was more underneath i'd have more fishing opportunities, and probably to myself.