High water ?

Hey guys:

When the water comes up and goes into and floods the forest floor and the trees, do you guys llike to go right up in them and fish, or just stay mostly out in the typical water areas?

Yes.

You never really know where the fish are going to be so try everything. Current has a part to play in your questions also. Bass will use the flooded timber as current breaks if the current is too strong. I’ve seen some very nice bass come out of the flooded timber by the upper landing at Dresbach dam.
Depending on the current I would recommend you start fishing the outside area and work your way in, only because you never know.
If I were you I would head to the lake. Some big limits came off there over the weekend.

Good Luck

Fleck:

Thanks for the response. I was just looking at the flooded timber on my way to work this morning, and started thinking about it. I’ve caught bass up in the flooded woods, but I don’t think I really target it as a primary area. Just trying to see what other guys do.

I was hoping to get out yesterday, and was going to hit the lake. But I was working on my trolling motor and depth sounder, and didn’t get done in time. Once the clouds rolled in during the afternoon, I figured it was going to be good out there, and I had my boat in pieces. Was there a tourny this weekend, or did you head out and see some limits caught?

West Salem Bassmasters had their Spring tourney on Saturday. You would have needed over 20lbs to cash a check. I don’t have any names, but one team had just over 30lbs in 8 fish to claim 1st place.

I fished with Jeremy and we managed 8 fish 18.9 lbs. Not too bad with some really limited time on the water. It was my first time out Bassin’ this year. Man, did we put some miles on that boat. The spinnerbait bite was on too. PM JC and ask him about it.

As far as flooded timber goes, it looks like it won’t be flooded for long. The river is dropping in a hurry. The forecast river stage calls for 8.2 by Sat. It may very well be lower than that by then.

Good Luck. Catch a bunch.

That sphincter bait actually caught fish. Only southern fish though. There was one point where I netted a fish for Tom and had to grab my rod off the deck so that it wouldn’t get ripped into the water. A largie had all but eaten the durn thing. I had a great time and even enjoyed the fishing. If anyone PM’s me about spinnerbaits be prepared to for mumbelings and question dodging.
Later
jc’

Find CLEAN water and then look for any noticable signs that other fish are using an area. There will be fish in other areas but cleaner water seems to give up more fish in these conditions.
jc

Southern fish? If you are referring to largemouth, you forget about the Smallie that pounded my offering at the boat. Then I subsequently hammered the panic button screaming like a little girl to get the net Finally I flipped it into the boat like a seasoned pro on some TV bass fishin’ show.

Hillbilly bassin’ on pool #7 YEEEEEEEHAWWWWWWW!!!!!!

sphincter bait…you said sphincter…that’s cool. heh heh

That was exactally why I love to fish tournaments. It makes the little thing that much more important and special.. and I don’t mean special like a tax deduction but special like really cool.
I don’t remember the pro’s fish flinging off the hook into the bottom of the boat.. They must edit that part.
I better watch my step as Tom bailed us out. He was had me in the back culling fish so fast I could hardly keep up. at one point I had 3 largemouth in 2 hands picking out the smalliest two.
Did I tell anyone about Toms inate ability to locate Gators and Doggies?
After we ran 300 miles I figured we were ready to catch some fish. I like to make sure we give everyone else a chance to catch fish before we put the hammer down. Has anyone else fished pool 7 via pool 9?

After I finished dredging out all those bass, gators and doggies were all that was left. That and some air bubbles.
As far as running from 9 to 7, I thought you were just showing off your boat to everyone we drove by.

Jeremy, I can’t figure out why you ran from 7 to 9 and wasted 2 hours??? Didn’t you know that 2 BFL All-Americans and Tom Monsoor won an Everstart out of that pool. They were fishing close to the same conditions and time of year you were. Also my biggest largemouth (over 6lbs.), and a handful of huge smallies came from that pool. I think that you made a poor choice to run all that way and not win anything when you could have cashed a check or whatever by staying in pool 8. Thats just my 2 cents, maybe you should give it some thought.

Keith

The decision was based on our chances to catch some fish where I knew they would be from past experiences. I haven’t fished 8 this year yet and didn’t feel comfortable staying on waters where I wasn’t sure we could get a limit. I knew we could catch fish on 7, which we did. As it turns out some of the places I thought might have had fish on 8 did have fish and also were crawling with boats. Another hour on 7 and we may very well have cashed a check. We got hung up at the #9 dam(their buzzer didn’t work) and wasted some valuable time waiting to lock. I would definitely not call our choice a poor one. We did better with what we had and did than some of the areas best anglers.

Last year in the first team supreme tourney I fished the same area and the company I had was second to none. And yep old Tommy boy was there as well. 2 weeks ago I pulled 5 fish just shy of 16lbs. Similar conditions only make this spot better. With that pace we would have boated just shy of 26lbs.. Yep that would have cashed a check huh. Maybe you should put your hard earned money on the line against me and see how you fare. I can find my own fish without following the ongoing cult of “what is tom doing because it must be right.” Funny thing is I don’t remember him bringing in the 30 lb bag from the lake. Seems to me this was the same person as last year… Maybe the proverbial hat has indeed been passed to a new generation. As for running to 9 then 7. This is all part of the game. If your best fish aren’t home you head to your second. But then again I guess all I would need to do is look for tommys boat and I would see you closely behind because I am sure you are finding the same fish he is…

jc

A pal pointed out something in an email this morning that is straight away the truth. I must have a big red target on my profile. I swear I get blindsided by ignorance more often than anyone deserves. G-perz.
AAARRRRRGGGG. I will speak with my rod and intelect in the near future! Trust Me!
jc

JC…….relax you know your right, I know your right most people do. Nothing wrong with making the long run to pile of fish, especially if you have confidence in them. Most people don’t have the guts to run away from the crowd.
gunakapaducka……..when Kim Carver won the All-American I guarantee you he didn’t win it off Pool 8. It was Pool 9. Might want to make sure you know what your talking about before jumping all over someone else.

Couldn’t have said that better myself. Unless you’re God, it’s probably not a wise move to criticize someone else’s tournament strategy for absolutely no reason at all.

im on board with chadg and mwchiefs, why are us bass guys always hammering on each other, the only thing that does is give the impression to other anglers that bass fishing and tournament fishing is somehow on the caliber of pro wrestling with enemies at every corner, take it easy on the criticizm and he who starts to criticize let the fall from everyone else, if you start it you better be able to take it. lets just have fun

Keith,

Knowing Jeremy, if he said we need to go two hours to
load the livewells, my answer would be, “You don’t have
the big motor running yet?”. I have run from Pool 8, to
the far upper end of Pool 7, to get a limit, and be back
in Pool 8 before 11am. Not that there was not a limit
in Pool 8, but there was a sure limit in Pool 7. We then
went back to Pool 8 to look for kickers. The point of
all of this, is each person has a strategy, and I don’t
think anyone should sit in judgement of another’s strategy,
unless one has been fishing along side the strategy maker.
I hope we fish the same tournament some time. I would
love to get a lesson in strategy. You seem sure of your’s.

Big Bass Bane

Jeez, lots of tension guys. My two bits: cast off concerns about what anyone else thinks, It’s the fish you have to beat. There are enough bass in every pool that everyone should catch a limit of them every time. Unfortunatly the bass resist this process. If you feel you got to run to catch them, run. If you feel someone else is wasting their time running, then smirk to yourself and teach them a lesson at the weigh in. If you don’t feel like your going to catch them where you are, your beat mentally and won’t fish well. Sometimes I run, sometimes I stay put, sometimes I cash a check, sometimes I suck. You think you got it all figured out, come to the tourney the scale tells no tales. If tournaments are not your thing, just slip them back in the water, go look for the next bite.

heard that your motor blew up this weekend jedsall that true?

Yep, Almost a year to the day to the last time it happened. Wound up fishing the whole day with my trolling motor. Me and my partner fished our buts off on the one spot that we could get to that we knew had fish. We finished 7th I believe in a 27 boat tourney. Could have had a pretty good shot at the leaders, if we could have just moved the boat That’s life. I run a high performance motor, so plenty of peeps tell me I should switch to something more dependable. I say there are lemons in all of them. I know a couple of people that have had Optimax, motors, evinrudes, and even Yamaha’s blow up more than once in a season. Scheduled to have my boat back Thursday. Friday will be a lot of hours trying to get through the perscribed break in procedure. Hope to be “Setting the water on fire” By Kfan Saturday morning.

Yeah i have a buddy that runs a 2.5 on a hydrostream that runs pretty sweet. has his in the upper 80 mph’s. last year he had a nick on his prop and didn’t think anything of it and then all of a sudden he felt a big jerk in the boat and one of the prongs ripped off and cut through part of his lower unit, just sliced it right off, but he has to get his motor rebuilt every year up by st. cloud.

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I will speak with my rod and intelect in the near future! Trust Me!
jc

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Jeremy,

The word “intellect” usually has two L’s.

TLH

….that really stinks. Any idea how many hours you had on that powerhead? Any idea what broke? My guess would be loose ring retaining pins? Alot of that going around. Good luck with the new one.

Cliff

I ask you, is their anything more annoying than the spelling police?

“Pull over! I just registered this username to point out a spelling infraction!”

Welcome aboard TLH. I hope your future contributions are AT LEAST as worthwhile as your first.

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Quote:

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I will speak with my rod and intelect in the near future! Trust Me!
jc

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Jeremy,

The word “intellect” usually has two L’s.

TLH

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I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Quote:

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I ask you, is their anything more annoying than the spelling police?

“Pull over! I just registered this username to point out a spelling infraction!”

Welcome aboard TLH. I hope your future contributions are AT LEAST as worthwhile as your first.

Quote:

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Quote:

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I will speak with my rod and intelect in the near future! Trust Me!
jc

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Jeremy,

The word “intellect” usually has two L’s.

TLH

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If it pleases you I will double check my typo’s in the future. Nice to see your one post as being very informative.
jc

Ya,
I knows what yous guys mean. I really wish dar was a new type book of spellin words fur us Minnesotans. Dis still wont be helping JC, cuz hes what you calls one of those Ioweegins.

Huked on foniks shur wurkd fer yu!

I’m not really into bassin, but you guys shure,’oops’ make it look fun! Hey Jeremy, where can I get one of those shirts?
Getting any ideas Blue Fleck?

We all wear one of those shirts from time to time. It’s just that some people have nothing better to do than point it out.

All you have to do is accept that some times you’re the pigeon, and sometimes you’re the statue.