Smithville 4/10

[APKape]

Tough day today. The wind was blowing, 1-2 foot swells, Corp letting water out at 1000 cf/sec, and water clarity about a foot. But it was great getting out.

I mainly fished Rock Cove today (first pic). I fished deep, shallow, in the trees, next to shore, in the open and didn’t get a bite. I talked to a couple of guys fishing for crappie that said they didn’t catch a thing either. One bass guy reported the same thing – nada!

My next spot was the brush pile in the Southeast cove next to the W Bridge. I didn’t get a bit here either. But I did notice the Parks Dept may have dropped some more bush here. I noticed some new sonar spikes that I didn’t remember from last year. Later on this year I will be looking forward to fishing this spot. When it gets hot, this place will hold a good number of fish.

My next spot was the brush piles right next to the golf course (second pic). Not sure if anyone knows about these piles. They are small and I usually hit them only once or twice a year. Today, this was my best spot. I hooked three dinks – woohoo! Glad I caught something.

After about 3 hours of getting hammered by the wind and waves, I decided to call it a day. Not a good fishing day, but at least I caught a few.

I want to talk about a product that a just purchased called the bait pump (THE BAIT PUMP). I wanted to start using Crappie Nibbles but hate how they end up smearing all over me after a days worth of fishing. This thing injects the Nibbles into the tube jig. The Nibbles squeeze out the back as they absorb water, so there’s always a scent trail and nothing gets on my fingers. Really like the product. It’s a bit pricey, but this isn’t a cheap piece of plastic. It’s a solid product.

I also want to notify Smithville’s Lost and Found Dept. Someone lost a ladder around the Little Platte Marina approximately 21 feet of water (third pic). If it’s yours, I’ll be happy to email you the GPS coordinates. Let me know

The last pic is the bush pile just north of the boat slips at the Little Platte marina. Just wanted to snap one more pic before I put it.

Well…hope tomorrow is better. I’d like to hear how the rest of you guys did today, post a reply.

[Double D]

That is some sweet stuff there Alex. I hope to have a SI next year so get real good so you can educate me. Always a good post buddy.

[WantinCrappie]

I also want to notify Smithville’s Lost and Found Dept. Someone lost a ladder around the Little Platte Marina approximately 21 feet of water (third pic). If it’s yours, I’ll be happy to email you the GPS coordinates. Let me know

Good stuff right there Alex.

[longliner]

I'am just not smart enough, but thanks for the pics.

[APKape]

That is some sweet stuff there Alex. I hope to have a SI next year so get real good so you can educate me. Always a good post buddy.

I'll be happy to help out. But gotta say there's nothing to using this thing. It's easy. The hardest part is to weed out all the different views you don't want (they give you about a zillion to choose from). From there you can program you favorite views into the preset buttons or scroll though the different views with the view button. One feature that I like is the video recording option. You can record your entire fishing day (track, gps coordinate, sonar view, waypoints) on a SD card. I found a third party application that will allow you to play back the recording on your PC. From there you can view your fishing trip, look at your images(sonar, side imaging, down imagin, etc.), and even create new waypoints to load back to your HB fish finder. It's pretty cool stuff.

But using this finder has put the fear it me a bit. The reason I say this is it shows me underwater obstructions I never even knew about. Case in point, there is a large cove, east side of the power lines, on the Camp Branch side of the lake. The cove is full of trees but open toward the front - at least what I thought. In the past I never thought twice about running full throttle into this area and then coasting into the cove before the trees. Then this all changed when my down imaging view picked up a 26' tall by 20' wide full tree sitting in about 30' of water. That made my "you know what's" shrink right up. Because I was doing this even when the lake was down. I wonder how many times I've almost tore my lower unit off not knowing what's under the water - Yikes!

Anyway, when you get yours let me know and I'll be happy to help out. Keep your eyes open at Bass Pro or Cabelas. Sometimes they have some 0% financing on thier inhouse credit cards. Well, take care and I'll talk to you soon.

[rugsrme]

That picture with the ladder is cool, its the first time I've been able to identify what the imaging is showing. I guess I need to see one of these units working "live" some day to understand more about what they show you.
Cool report again, even though you didn't hammer the big crappie this time.

[gatorbitu]

Great pics and report!

[TnRidge]

I went this morning for a few hours to try out the boat . I got a few bites , but no takers . There was a large bass tournament out of Camp Branch this morning . I waited until after the blast off to make a run . It's the first time I have had it out on the water since I moved here in December .
Everything worked well . The 4 stroke Merc started right up and purred like a kitten. I marked fish from 10-20'. I stayed within a mile of Camp Branch Marina , but I'll venture farther out each time I go as i learn the lake better .

[red ranger]

what unit are you useing to take these?

[APKape]

what unit are you useing to take these?

It's the 898c SI unity.