Matt Herren is somewhat concerned about the lack of bites this morning. He has moved into another creek arm on the upper end of Bull Shoals Lake where the water has a little more color in it.
Several factors concern him. The water color, for one, which has been clearing all week. The lack of wind is another. The bite has been best when the wind is blowing. The lake level has dropped several inches from yesterday, another concern. And the big one is the cold front that moved through overnight and presented bluebird skies today.
"I wondered when this lake was going to start showing its true colors," said Herren, who has a lot of tournament experience on another lake in the White River chain – Beaver.
So Herren pulled out a spinning rod with a shaky head worm attached.
"I just want to make sure there ain't something happening that I don't know about," Herren said.
He added a 12 1/2-inch spot to his livewell on the shaky head, but knows that isn't going to help him at the end of the day.
"Boys, it's dadgum tough," Herren said.
But he also knows that his best fishing all week has been about mid-day.
"Sometime between 10 and 12 o'clock they go to chewing," Herren said.
*Editor's note: We have got really bad cell service in this part of the lake. In fact, I have none as I'm writing this. We will probably leave Herren shortly and try to find someone else, and maybe some better service in the process. Luckily, AT&T comes in and out up here; my Verizon cell phone might as well be dead.