Thread: Smithville 8/7

It's been over 2 months since I was on the water and it felt great to be back. But, I wish the fishing was a little better. The day started out clear, warm, and a slight breeze from the south. Water temp was 89 and relatively clear. Lake level is back to normal. So, all the tree tops are just over or under the water; watch those props!

Area 1: I fished the trees close to the bank. This area is in about 8-12 feet of water. The trees are pretty tight and tends to hold fish pretty good. But, today they only gave up a few 10 inchers.

Area 2: These trees are in about 4-8 feet of water. The trees are set pretty far apart. Every so often I will get a surprise when one of these trees has a hog sitting in them. Today, not so much. Nothing here.

Area 3: There are a group of trees in about 15-18 of water. I only caught a few fish here. There were a lot of nibbles, but nothing really good to report.

Area 4: The trees in this area are in about 8 feet of water. The spawn held a good number of large fish. I'll hit this place each second or third trip to see what's holding in the trees. Today, there was nothing.

Area 5: There are a lot of trees closely packed in this area. Depth is 15 feet. There were a lot of black crappie here. All were dinks.

Area 6: I tried the brush pile next to the W Bride. I forgot to bring my buoy markers today. So holding over the brush was kind of hard. By this time of the day, the wind started kicking up. I picked up a couple of 10 inchers here.

Area 7: My last spot was the west side bridge pillar. I hit this spot around 11:00 am. By this time, the sun had come out and the shad was a welcomed benefit of the bridge. I didn't catch many crappie, but I landed a lot of white bass.

The best bite was in deeper water today. And, the crappie were holding pretty close to the bottom. I was fishing with black/chart and blue/chart. My brother was fishing with orange/chart and black/silver Gulp Alive Minnows. Best bite was on his Gulp Alive, then orange/chart, and black/chart. Hope you all did better than I did. If you were out today, post a report. I'd like to hear how you all did.