Holiday recap
Patricia thanks everyone who visited her at VIP Day Spa skincare on Monkey Island. Her On Grand Time print-on-demand products are doing well, with a few in the spa and many more at OnGrandTime.com. Fourth of July week was wild and crazy on the lake, with everybody running from storms, but the fishing was really good over the holiday.
Crappie
Haydn (Williams Guide Service) had clients out heading into the holiday and caught a ton of Crappie on main-lake brush piles, mainly from Sailboat Bridge over to the Governor's Island area around Shangri-La. He caught most of them on minnows, which is typical for this time of year. He can pull a few on jigs up and down the piles, and his favorite is the Desert Hero Lucky Bug, but minnows get clients in and out faster.
Bass
Jeff and Owen went Bass fishing with Luck E Strike products Jeff is still learning. Many were developed long before he arrived, since the brand is 50 years old. Owen "put it on the old man," catching some really nice Bass on a 3/8 oz Mighty Craw football jig in PBJ, fished on drop-offs with old stumps. From the back of the boat, Jeff tried the Scrounger, swimbaits, a chatterbait-style bait and a spinnerbait, and lost one really nice fish on a deep Smoothie crankbait run in 8 to 10 feet of water on a point. Tony Coatney of Shangri-La Guide Service says he's doing really well on Bass, catching a lot of fish on jigging spoons.
White Bass
There are a ton of fry in the lake, so White Bass are busting on the surface midday, early morning and late evening. Look for wind blowing into points. They can be particular, so downsize to the small Lucky Bug (called 2-inch but not quite) on 1/16 oz jig heads. At night under lights, small Lucky Bugs in purple and pink were a great color.
Catfish
The Catfish spawn should be about done. A few hand fishermen may still be after Flatheads, but most Blues are off the nest, and drift fishermen are catching a lot around Shangri-La, Horse Creek, the islands around Sailboat Bridge, and the flats east of Sailboat to the mouth of Elk River. Use fresh, good-size cut shad.
Fishing with Krystal Keith
Jeff took Toby's daughter Krystal Keith fishing. She'll be spending more time working with Jeff at Luck E Strike, and she's quite an angler, having spent a lot of daddy-daughter time fishing with Toby growing up. They fished underwater rock piles and islands in the Horse Creek area with a 1/8 oz Scrounger and a pretty good-size split shot ahead of it. On a 2½-inch Lucky Bug (Jeff's go-to size) and the Scrounger they caught Crappie, White Bass, drum and Catfish, and shot a couple of video clips that Luck E Strike followers loved.
Walmart Grove end cap
The Grove Walmart sporting-goods area has a sidekick display with Toby Keith stickers, a Red Solo Cup sticker, Bigfoot stickers ("Should Have Been a Bigfoot" is the top seller, plus "Proceed to Party" with a Bigfoot holding a red Solo cup), and Jimmy Houston Redman spinnerbaits. It also carries Luck E Strike American-made Lucky Bugs and swimming minnows. Other lake dealers have requested catalogs, and after a long year Luck E Strike finally has inventory to supply them.
Dog days
We're rolling into the dog days, with little wind and real heat, but the fishing should be outstanding as long as there are no big floods. Fish get very predictable now, so if you caught them trolling in the evenings before, you can do it again. Tie on a Crappie Magic crankbait, troll it and hang on to your pole.