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Great day for sticks! Water temp 40-41 fish caught in 10-14 fow. We fished banks that transitioned from ledge to chunk rock with pole timber. Fished 110+1 KO's with a very light twitch- 1-2 with no more than a five second pause. Most fish were on when you made another twitch, but about 3-4 absolutely took the rod tip straight down at the pause. We finished with 15 of which we had 7 thick fat keepers. Tried rock crawlers, jigs, ned and tubes with no luck except for a small spot on a tube dragged on the bottom in 20 FOW. We fished points leading into creeks about 100 yards in, also fished a secondary point In a large creek arm and the fish were within the first 100 yards inside it as well.

Good to have you on board. Best fishing site, Ozarks or otherwise, that I have ever found. Folks who own Fish Hook used to fish with my old bass club here in Leavenworth, should have a great stay. Will try this in order: 1) Yes, there is stuff to hit, but not like at Truman or Smithville. If you look at a good map (paper or locator) you will get an idea of what to watch out for. Use some common sense about not cutting off points (take the time to run around them) and idle back into coves/pockets/creeks you are not familiar with. Stay up on the water levels, and you can kind of figure out where trees might be. If it would happen to rain hard there could certainly be big floaters coming down the lake, especially in the rivers. As a former Iowan, and occasional Miss R fisherman I feel your pain on the wing dam. My least favorites were the closing dams that would run all the way across a chute entrance. 2) You are smack in the middle of my favorite area of the lake, 3-5 miles either side of the Kimberling City bridge. This warm up will get them moving, but I would start by looking at transition areas about half way back in the creeks. Places where rocks change types...slab to chunk, chunk to gravel, etc. There are fish there, and some are shallower than you might expect. "Dead" spots between docks are worth a look as well. Bluff ends, pockets around from end points, and secondaries are sure worth a look as well. Stickbait and wiggle wart places. Plan to fish slow. Slow and small is really working for the folks who have sent reports my way. Hard to beat the Ned Rig/Varmint. Maybe a stick like a Megabass 110 or McStick if the wind blows. Heard the shakey head did not keep up with the Ned. Grub bite is probably a little bit down the road. 3) Gas...I always fill up while on the trailer, usually in Kim City. From your resort you should not have to run far to catch them. I stay at Schooner Creek Resort about 2 miles up the lake, and rarely burn more than 10 gallons of gas on a two week trip. On the water you have Baxter Marina up the White, the big ones at Kim City by the bridge, and Cape Fair at the back end of the James. I'm not big on burning marina gas. 4) Food and fun...Fillin' Station in Lampe for BBQ and homemade cobbler, Dana's BBQ and burgers in Branson West or Branson. For fun, outside of the usual Branson tourist stuff, I really like the battlefields at Pea Ridge in Ark, or Wilson's Creek in Springfield. If it is open, and it might be early, the Altenhof Inn is a lot of fun. Great view, German menu, but also excellent pizza, burgers, desserts. http://altenhofinn.com/ Have a great trip.

Left State Park at 10 water temp 43.1 and fished until 3. Caught 16 fish with 11 keepers. No brown fish. Threw jerkbait and the Little Varmint. PB&J varmint was the deal. LM were in pole timber in 15 to 20 feet. Spots were at the same depth on a combo of ledge and chunk rock. Sloooow and very little twitching. Light bite. I only have my phone but will try to post some pictures. Best fish was 4.5. All keepers were nice thick fish.

Excellent!! Thank you for asking those questions and thank you for posting!!!

Neosho fish hatchery is having there annual rainbows for veterans free fishing day at the hatchery from 9am 2 pm. This is a great event for all who come no equipment needed it will be provided if you do not have gear. Lunch will be served and lots of other stuff. If you are a veteran or active military I would like to say thank you for your service and come out and enjoy this nice event and weather. http://www.fws.gov/midwest/neosho/

Tough two days for us. The worst this year. Launched at Baxter Marina yesterday and went up as far as Campbell Point. Water temp 42. Started late. Caught two keeper spots from noon to 4:30. One on JB and one on Ned. Sunny with some wind. Went out of Shell Knob today and went down as far as Millcreek. Water temp 40.7-41.2. Three short LM all on JB. Cloudy all day with very little wind until late. Ugh. Ready for the bite to get better. I know there were some good bags in Central Pro, but there were quite a few anglers that struggled, too. We stayed at our favorite place - Harpers Valley Resort in Fisher Creek at Kimberling City and some of the derby boys were bunked there.

More like a monkey (Zona) and jackass (Mercer) show these days --- especially the final weigh-in. Never seen more poorly manufactured "drama" than this year's final weigh-in. They even bordered on disrespectful in showing scenes from 9/11 during that painfully long slideshow of four decades of BASS. The Classic is the world championship of bass fishing. Unfortunately, over-the-top efforts to make it something more "exciting" (and fill the arena with people who don't know a bass from a bullfrog) have pretty much soured it for a lot of serious fishermen. Note: The above statements are opinion, not hate. I reserve my hate for savages like ISIS or people who abuse animals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmfHYw2oW08

I get it every year.

Witness protection program ?

I had a great day today... I fished the LWRCA area and noticed a midge hatch around 1pm. I tried a Parachute Adams with no luck and then swtiched to a #18 Zebra Midge and WOW! The fun was on. I missed several and had a good 10 or so on but landed 6. Sizes ranged from fingerlings to this almost 20" (best guess after measuring Rod when I got home). I did get some really good GOPRO video footage I will be working on later. Sorry for no close ups, I forgot my net and this guy put up a 9 min fight on my 7x so my main goal was quick pics and back in the water. I did get some cool video of him swimming off strong. NOTE: I did notice several REDDS or leftover REDDS. This excites me. I fished about 70% from the bank or real close to the banks today making sure to not step on any REDDS. I did not see any fish on the beds, however mainly noticed them up close so I am sure the fish (if they were there) swam off. Water was up a little from the recent snow melt and a bit murkey....... Have a great day everyone.... Chris

Generation patterns on Lake Taneycomo have stayed basically the same in the last month. The dam has been generating water most mornings until about 9 or 10 a.m., then off for the rest of the day before running a little some evenings, but not every day. Weekends are still a big guess. Most weekends there has not be running water. With warmer temperatures around the corner, we might see less generation unless Table Rock's lake level jumps up. Then we should experience hard generation as spring approaches. Trout fishing is still pretty good, but there are a bunch of small rainbows in the lake. If you're looking for nice rainbows to catch and keep, you'll have to thin through quite a few and keep the bigger ones. I guess there's nothing wrong with catching a bunch of fish, is there? Following that thought, if you are releasing trout, you certainly don't want to kill and release. When handling hooked fish with the intent of release, it's important not to harm them. Keep these pointers in mind: 1. If you have to touch the fish, use a wet hand or wet cloth. Don't squeeze or drop them in the boat. Trout have a protective slime on their skin that keeps bacteria from growing on them. Handling them incorrectly can remove this slime. 2. If the hook is deep inside the fish's mouth, cut the line and let it go quickly. Dislodging a hook will harm the fish more than leaving the hook in. 3. If you want to release a trout but want to take a few pics, keep the fish in the water, in the net, while getting the camera out and ready. Lift the fish out of the water only for as long as it takes to snap the photos then release the fish as soon as you're done. I've heard anglers report catching big numbers of rainbows on Lake Taneycomo some days. As I am listening to those reports, I'm hoping they practiced good handling techniques. If they didn't, they could have potentially killed a lot of trout. Fishing below Fall Creek, out of the trophy area, garlic-scented Powerbait is still one of the best baits working right now, in yellow, orange and white. Salmon-colored paste Powerbait has also been working well. I'm sure night crawlers would catch good rainbows, too, but it just doesn't seem like anglers are focused on using them lately. Minnows are working fair. Four-pound line is still okay to use. Our water clarity is fair to cloudy, depending on generation and boat traffic. We don't see the really clear water until later in the spring and summer. Trout Magnets under a float have been hot! Pink/white, pink, white and chartreuse are the best colors on a gold hook. Fish them starting at three feet deep and move down until you find where they're holding, which could be as deep as 10 feet. Dockhand Duane Doty is catching rainbows off the dock using his spey fly rod and fishing 11-feet deep with a Trout Magnet. I'd use two-pound line or 6x tippet. Micro Jigs and marabou jigs are also working under a float. Best colors are brown, sculpin or brown/orange with an orange head, sculpin/ginger, olive or brown/orange with a brown head. Best sizes would be 1/125th, 1/100th, 1/50th-ounce. For micros, use olive, sculpin or ginger, again, with two-pound line or 6x tippet. If you feel comfortable doing so, add a Zebra Midge under the jig using 6x tippet--about 12-18 inches from the jig. Use a #14 or #16 red or black Zebra. I say "comfortable" because this rig is a little difficult to cast without getting tangled. If you get out early while the water is running, work a stick bait against any bluff bank for both rainbows and browns, particularly browns. Throw Rapalas, RC Stick, Lucky Craft Pointers, Rebels and Super Suspending Trout Magnet baits. We have had no reports of shad coming from Table Rock Lake through the dam. Table Rock's water is cold enough to cause shad to die, but I don't think we've had enough hard generation to pull the shad through. That may change this spring. In the trophy area when the water is off, fishing under an indicator with either jigs or flies is best. For jig and micro-jigs, the colors and sizes mentioned earlier in this report will work. Look for a choppy lake surface for best results. How deep to fish your jig depends on the depth of water. If you're throwing a marabou jig without a float, use a 1/32nd-, 1/16th- or a 3/32nd-ounce, depending on the line size you're using. You can probably get away with using four-pound line up there, but you're going to have to use a 3/32nd-ounce jig. Use two-pound line when throwing smaller jigs. The best colors would be sculpin, sculpin/ginger or orange, olive, black, brown, ginger or white. Use brown or orange heads. Trout are still taking scuds and midges up in this area. Zebra Midges are always good, not just up in the trophy area. Switch colors and sizes and you will find what they are liking. Red, black, green, yellow, rust, primrose & pearl and others in size #14 to #18. Fish these under an indicator from six-inches to four-feet deep, depending on the depth of water and where the trout are cruising. When using scuds, fish them deep enough so they're running on the bottom in the gravel. That's where they live. Don't be afraid to use a bigger scud either. Move them around because scuds swim. The best colors are different shades of gray, brown, olive and ginger. Here's a picture I took of some scuds in a tank. You can see how they vary in color and size.

Finally had time to fish. Its been too long. http://looknfishy.blogspot.com/2015/03/cfs-2015.html

Just announced by BASS.

Went yesterday and felt weird the whole time there with the time change and all, but managed to catch a couple. One bow and one brown was all I managed. Went last week after they stocked and just slayed them. There have been a lot caught out since that last week I could tell. I caught mine on an olive jig I tie myself, but everyone else and their family was down there catching them on power bait. It doesn't take long for them to get caught out. When I was leaving there were 4 guys with over 10 fish that I could see. Doesn't take long before they are all gone! When I got back into town I swung by Hickory to see if I could catch some there. HA! I must have counted over a dozen people fishing down there. I just gave that idea up for the day and headed back home. Great day to be out though.

Roads sucked, but had the river all to myself, nice & peaceful. 7x and small midges were the ticket- fished the catch & release area at the dead end.

Dave, I'll work security detail at your booth for a few of those hand tied TRUE VARMINT jig heads.

same here Greasy.....I will be a big time law breaker

The walleye run above greers is supposed to be good. I've always wanted to float the headwaters. I've fished the lake and tailwaters plenty of times, but never up there.

I had the whole place to myself on the afternoon of the 28th as all the snow and ice was falling. Did very well with the midges coming up between the flakes. Rainbows were onto them. Also got a nice button buck to close out the last half hour of bow season. Not a bad day. I went back during the midweek nastiness as it was blowing in. Parked on top of the hill by the AGFC hut since I figured I'd not be able to get out if I drove down to the campground. Hiked in and spent an hour practicing casting in the wind that was whitecapping the river, but couldn't swear to you there was a trout anywhere in it. Hiked back out and called it dues paid. Still nice to have the place alone for a while.

After reading my previous post it sounds like catching 12 bass Sunday wasn't a very good day. I was interrupted while typing and would like to state that I would take that kind of day anytime. Seeing the cloud cover Sunday had my expectations running high.

I know that some years it is excellent, but NONE of the runs are excellent EVERY year.

Wow, I'm also surprised they are back, but I like it. The Expo is definitely worth going to, if you can go Thursday or Friday it is much less crowded.

Thus my dog and pony show comment above. I must admit....... Mercer's "g-g-g-g- giant bass" is worse than nails on a chalkboard.

Even if this bill dies in committee there's no doubt the efforts to rob the citizens of Missouri of access to their streams will continue. I appreciate the efforts of everyone trying to get the word out and rally the troops. I'll do my best to make my position known to my representative every time these thieves try to kill our way of life. One thing is certain, if something like this comes to pass I'm doomed to a life of crime.

Well I spoke with my district rep Ben Harris and he will be voting against this. We spoke about the Chronic wasting disease bills as well as the bills to cut funding to MDC and what maybe behind it. He also feels it started with the deer farms but I'm sure there's more private interests then just that.

Thanks for the report. I didn't catch many either, fished the KC area Saturday and Sunday. Managed 6 Saturday with only 1 keep and 12 Sunday with about 5keeps. One LM and the rest K's. The shallow bite both days was not good, but I found some decent K's on the drop shot in 45' over 60' right in the middle of a major creek. The few that were shallow were in about 15 to 20' on the Ned with the TRD and the JB, didn't want to mess with the chandelier. These were in just a few locations about half the way back in pockets/creeks on steep secondary points. Water temp about 40 degrees.

Mr. Carlin -- time to get Dr. Hartley to up your dosage.

Thanks for the comments guys. Joe is doing good , just had to stay home with Mom on this trip. He's getting old enough unfortunately that he isn't up for really cold or hot weather trips. Kind of like myself I guess...getting old and soft!!

Everyone, you MUST join CFM right now! And those of you who are able to have GOT TO MAKE A DONATION! Right now, they are the only fighting force that is arrayed on our side against the MO Legislature. And their new director, Brandon Butler, wants to go after the legislators with (metaphorically speaking, of course,) both barrels blazing. But he needs OUR HELP TO DO SO. Please do what you can.

Hidden away in the bill, as well, is a part that would deny legal redress to anyone injured by polluters or those who contaminate our waters and other natural resources, or at least that is what it seems to do. I cannot help but think of the West Lake Landfill, in Bridgeton (near St. Louis), where a smoldering, sub-surface fire is creeping steadily closer to the buried radioactive waste. Boy, I'll bet those landfill operators donate even more money to the legislators than the deer farmers do. With all that the legislators are trying to do to MDC, our free-flowing streams, our whitetail deer, and the strings that they are attempting to pull in favor of the state's polluters I'll bet our parents and grandparents -- the ones who worked so hard for conservation in Missouri, and who helped to make our wonderful state what it is today, are turning over in their graves. (That is, if they are dead; many of us, unfortunately, are still alive to see them try to ruin the most-conservation-minded state in the country). We have to do what we can to make these folks sit up and take notice. Did you know that MDC received over 28,000 letters, phone calls, and postcards in FAVOR of their new deer farm regulations during the last battle with our so-called legislators? If every person who cares enough to send a letter or postcard or make a phone call is truly equal to 1,000 who are too lazy to do so (according to marketing principles), then that tells me that close to 3 million Missourians are AGAINST the legislature on the deer farm issue alone. How many MORE would be against something that would restrict stream access AND reward polluters??? Just think of how many people enjoy our free-flowing streams? It boggles one's mind to think that the General Assembly can think that they can pull this one off. Oh, wait! They ALMOST -- but for one vote -- got captive deer reclassified as livestock, so no telling WHAT they can do, if push comes to shove. I shudder to think of it.

Water temp was 40-41 in the lake. I spent most of my time trolling for whites or crappie in roaring river with zero luck. Water temps there ran almost 50 in places.

The Little Red River, Heber Springs. Plenty of bank fishing from JFK park, camping also, with water/electricity/trees/plumbing. There are a few other walk in locations that you can bank fish also. Like Ham said the White is also a great fishery...but a couple hours further from Dallas...I drive in from the LA/AR state line. check my blog out for more info...plenty of info for the LRR and camping trip from Jan. http://looknfishy.blogspot.com/

Let's see if I can lend a helping hand with the pics... Had to resize them. Hopefully they look ok. Guarantee they looked good on the lake!

46 degrees today and up a foot. Wait til Wednesday then it'll be crankbait crazy time.

Chief: The conservation action email went out on January 19th. I just logged into constant contact and resent it to you. I'm not sure why it didn't get through the first time but that's the web for you. The CFM just sent out an alert about HB 955 BTW. I can't make it to Jeff City but I sincerely hope others do and ask Representative Ross to clarify. IMHO the language of HB 955 is a great example of how legislators can use legalese to confuse and confound ordinary citizens. The state aim of HB 955 is the repeal of section 644.026 of the RSMo and to replace it with new section of the RSMo which would, if I understand it correctly, pertain to County Surveyors and Land Surveys and Torts and actions for damages. I don't know that complicated even begins to cover this. What's Representative Ross attempting to do? Is there a water quality problem he wants to fix? How will these proposed changes serve his consituents? I don't know. To the best of my knowledge Elder v. Delcour established that the public right to navigation extends to recreational boating in Missouri. All persons have a right to navigate any river or stream that has a sufficient flow to float a recreational boat like a canoe. I can honestly say that I personally and the Missouri Smallmouth Alliance (and most of our anglers are predominantly paddle or foot powered anglers so this is close to our heart) as an organization is 100% opposed to any proposed laws or regulation changes which would in any way change this basic right and I hope that all like-minded people will publicly and repeatedly tell that to all those who would act to diminish or eliminate this right. Thanks, Matt

Yep, congrats Stacey!

I'm going to wait until the next week the days are supposed to be in the 60s for the next two weeks! This will bring them in

Hey Chief, Send me a pm with your current email. We've sent out emails regarding all of the previous legislation and I'm drafting something about HB 955. So, if you're not getting our emails I can easily fix that. On a related note, I'd encourage people to take a look at Harry Styron's blog as he does a great job of summarizing MO water laws. http://styronblog.com/law/harry-styrons-missouri-stream-law/ Thanks, Matt

Not a bad day, but not a good one either. The water was pretty stained up and pretty high due to the snow melting. Caught an few small ones and this 16" skinny largemouth on a jig skipped under a laid down tree.

I was out walking the neighborhood this afternoon, and heard a Spring Peeper, even though there is a little ice still around in the shade. White bass run is near. We should see the males up river in a few days.

Ron - Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention. I don't normally get involved with politics, but like all of us here, the outdoors and stream fishing in particular is very important to me!!! The scariest part of these proposed bills is the fact that my 2 year old son may not get to enjoy the beautiful outdoors that Missouri has to offer. To me that's a tragedy!!! I have emailed 6 elected officials in my area and urge everyone else to try and do the same.

I've read and re-read this bill, and to be honest it doesn't make much sense. The terms they use for "navigable", "non-navigable", "public" do not match the present laws of Missouri, and it's difficult to really figure out what streams are described in those terms. However, I strongly suspect that was done purposely to obscure exactly what the bill proposes. I have absolutely no doubt that the intent of this bill is to limit public access to floatable streams and shut off entirely the marginally floatable streams. And that's not even the ONLY problem with this bill. There's one bit of it that says that a landowner can't be fined or prosecuted if he "substantially" follows state and federal pollution regulations and harm results! Who defines "substantially"? At best, this would result in far more lawsuits and court decisions, at worst, friendly judges would decide that ANYTHING could be "substantially".

With the weather that is forecast for the next ten days, I'm feeling hopeful about the walleye/White Bass runs.

There is a tiny scratch. No dings. That scratch bothers me. All the time.

Forecast is for a week of high 50s to low 60s in afternoons. That might kick off the white bass run.

I forgot about Whisler's little greasy bundles! Chicago cheese steak is pretty good too.

And yes they still have the taco special. Bairs Food is great, drink prices are awesome. Service can be spotty, but hell for a $5.50 pitcher I don't expect it to be great. Grad School down town is good, so is just about every other food place down there. If you want something quick ish Mo' Beef is really good as well. If it's late it's hard to beat Pappos Pizza or Whistlers Sliders.

White bass Hush puppies Bush's baked beans Yeah Baby !