Leaderboard

Grandson asked me to "fix" his reel that his Dad had messed-up. Quickly discovered Dad had looped line around the rear of the spool and had just kept crankin'. Easy fix and an opportunity to show "Patch" how to disassemble an open-face and how they work. Included a little lesson on how to correctly set the drag and how to fight the fish with the rod and not just by crankin' the reel. Showed him how to take care rigging-up the Ned Rig and how it was important to get that worm on the hook shank straight and he watched Mr. Fumble Fingers (me) struggle with it and tied it on. Later that evening he takes the same rod/reel/Ned and lands, gets a picture of and releases this beauty....

Through a series of fortunate events I got the opportunity to put up 4 guys for the last MLF event when it was changed from Grand... We had Jacob Wheeler, Dustin Connell, Mark Daniels, and Adrian Avena at our lake cabin for 9 nights. These guys couldn’t have been nicer! They treated our place with the upmost respect, left it basically just how they found it, and are definitely welcome back anytime! They welcomed me to hang out on a few occasions at the house and even took me along for the (mini) party on Wednesday night... All 4 guys made the cut to get into the money and took home almost $150k between the 4 of them. I have a feeling our paths will cross again. Thanks for the gear DC, Jacob, Mark, and Adrian! truly became once in a lifetime when Jacob won that $100k

Couple from today

I was on the water a few days during bot events and I saw several of them. They were all very respectful and nice. I was by accident at State Park when they were taking out after Martens won. Martens aske if I had a cold ohne in my boat. I said water and cherry Pepsi. He said a Pepsi soumded great. He talked with me for 20 minutes and showed me how and where he caught his fish. The next weekend my boy wanted to meet them and we went to moonshine for take off. Ike wanted to see him when he went by. He asked my son if he fished and he said he has been this morning with his dad. He said he caught a 2.5 smally on a swimbait. He them told Mike it was a keitech and not a crappy Berkley one. He listens to what I say I guess. Mike laughed really hard. Enjoyed seeing the live feed on your home lake.

Advanced anglers know this but for the benefit of all levels, the first thing to do when preparing a Redfin is to remove all of the existing split rings and hooks and toss them. They aren't worth saving for anything. Next, I turn the bait over and wipe the rear belly area of the main section with an alcohol to make sure it's clean. Then I take two SuspenStrips and lay them on either side of the molding seam, touching and ending precisely at the tail -- not lapping over into the joint area. I press them down as well as possible, then take two SuspenDots and center them over the seam where the two strips are touching. The reason for weighting the rear area of the main body like this is to raise the nose of the bait when it sits in the water, therefore encouraging it to wake on the surface rather than dive. After I get my strips and dots in place, I paint over them with pearl-colored nail polish. This not only makes the bait look better, but most importantly keeps you strips/dots from peeling off. Might have to reapply the nail polish from time to time but it's worth the effort. For the record, the pearl polish is for the Smoky Joe colored Fin. The only other color I throw is blue back/chrome and you can use clear nail polish to seal your strips/dots on it. I'm not 100% sure of the size of split rings I use … but I think No. 3. Just be sure they are thin enough to work freely within the line tie and the hook hangers. My favorite hook combination is a Gammy EWG No. 2 the front (you can open the bends a bit if you wish) and the same hook on the back with hand-tied chicken feathers. I don't like the Gammy pre-tied feather hooks but the Mustad Ultra Point KVD hook with white feathers works good in No. 2 size. Lastly, I always throw the bait on top-quality 17-pound mono. I've tried 20 but my personal favorite is 17 pound. I haven't tried braid and have no reason to do so. Obviously, you guys can try anything you want. This is just my system. Lastly, I always use a snap to connect to the split ring on front of the lure. That way, I get complete freedom for the bait to wobble and wake. I've been on the couch for a very long week with lower back issues so I didn't bother with step by step pics, but here's one of a finished version.

Picking up poop in the backyard. Maybe I should show y’all my best two.

He was not throwing a wake shad. It is a jointed shad shape bait. He was throwing a bait that was not designed to wake

Stockton Lake, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Update on closures at Stockton Lake Beaches: Closed Fishing Docks: Closed Ramps: - OTS Closed - Courtesy Docks pulled at Mutton Creek North Access, Hawker Point, Crabtree Cove - High Point and Greenfield are available to launch but no dock is available. - Masters, Cedar Ridge South, Ruark Bluff, and Stockton Ramps are open. No fees are being charged. Campsites (Closed through June 26th but may be extended depending on the lake elevation): - Orleans Trail South C Loop 13-20, D Loop 26-36 - Ruark Bluff East A Loop: T 1-6, A 1-16, 31-35 B Loop 5-45 - Ruark Bluff West: Group Camp, 5-36, 46, 51-66 - Hawker Point: A Loop 1-14, B Loop 1-20 - Crabtree Cove: A Loop T 1-4, 31-35, B Loop 3-13 - Cedar Ridge: T 1-12 Roadways: Many roadways in open campgrounds are underwater and may cause difficulty in getting to and from open campsites.

I think you need to show #62 about the ned. She looks in awe of that fish.

I'm not really a fan of anyone per say. I just enjoy the live feed. But I do find myself rooting for him and Mike McClelland. That being said. I seem to be posting a lot this morning. My apologies. I'll go check my meds! 🙊🙉🙈

did not have anything to do last night, so leonard and i decided to go sift in between all the tourney boats and see if we could find another bite on the lower end. we did put in around 7:30 to give us a bit of time to look around to see if we found more than one area that was loaded with shad. we only found one that was really loaded and guess what. that is where we caught all of our bass. 14 keepers. we fished until 1 am and called it quits because i had a few things to do today. these shad were 1/2 way back in a bigger cove. like i said, you just drive around looking until you find something. of the 14 keeps, 1 k, and 4 lmg, and the rest brownies. nothing that would weigh 4, but 5 that were in the 3 range. depth was from 10 out to 20. best bait was the 1 oz. Elite Black Widow. had one a 3/4 GrassJig, and one one the "big wobbler". we did fish three other areas that we saw some scattered shad, but no bites. the shad were thick enough in the place we caught them, you could smell them. there were quite a few boats went up long creek, and several of them came back fairly early. there were some that just came back through in time to get back to weigh-in. bo

Had a pretty good day with Neds around Baxter. Stayed within trolling motor range of the Baxter boat ramp due to some technical difficulties. Fished from 6 to around 2:30 and ended the day with right at 30 fish with 10 keepers. Had 2 on topwater and 2 on swimbaits and the rest were all victims of ned. Most fish were in 10-20 ft range with a handful in less than 5. Had a couple that were pushing 3 lbs but most were in the 13” to 16” range. Color of ned didnt seem to matter. Despite the boat malfunction it was a very good day on the water.

My wife and I had guests from Louisiana in this weekend. With work in the way, they made a flying trip up arriving Friday evening and departing Sunday early afternoon. David and Patricia are a little younger than us. Patricia is a part of my Minden Medical Center work family. Our kids were schoolmates and friends. They are set to marry in August. David likes to fish, but had been so busy with work that he had not been in a few years ( 😬). Patricia and Krista wanted to fish also. River was dingy yesterday, but had cleared at Cotter. They were running perfect jig water 3000 cfs or so. I was stoked. I have grown fond of the lower river and the relative lack of guide boats so I took off for Buffalo Shoals. This was a mistake. I’m guessing Crooked Creek is dumping more dirty water than I anticipated. Water was stained, but not muddy. It did make for a slower bite though. Lesson learned. Well, David did pretty well with Zig Jigs. Krista did fine again, but lost a > 20 inch Brown boatside and that bummed her out. Patricia struggled with casting and struggled with catching, but she did catch a few. I did ok. I caught a decent hen Brown. I caught a good number of plus size model trout. They are fat and happy. I lost a sea monster of a Brown that I never saw, but from the way it handed me my hat I know was LARGE. David caught a real nice male Brown trout and was thrilled. The Buffalo River is pumping out an unbelievably large amount of chocolate milk. The river below the confluence is a No Fly Zone for a while. I did witness something I had never seen before. The Buffalo is running so high the water coming down the White can’t push through it and is backing up. The lower half of Buffalo Shoals was innudated and there was no flow. All my landmarks were flooded out and I could not get the slack water. I was lost as a goose for a few seconds and then I figured it out. Beautiful Day on the water and a fun trip. David mentioned wanting to make annual trips up to visit.

Just got back from a week in NW Ontario...worst I have seen. Couple of guys had allergic reactions and swelled up from so many bites...and they were wearing headnets, etc. Black flies and B-52 skeet’s. I hate wearing that crap so I wore 100% DEET and pretty much swatted full time. Caught lots of fish as usual, so it was worth it. Mike

Wheeler could be the best out there right now in the professional ranks. Not saying the best all time, but he could definitely end up being one of the best all time.

I don't think they can combine the two especially BASS and MLF. When the top 80 parted ways, I think it was probably like a bad divorce. Wife got the kids and the house and the guy got to keep a little of his future earnings.💀 They could however fish FLW as it is a pay league and all you have to do is pony up. I bet some will do this. As for Wheeler, the dude is a Complete Hand. Shallow, deep, flippin brush, docks it doesn't matter, dude is a total stud with a fishing stick in his hands. If you watched him throw a spook in the first movie and then watched him flip docks in the encore it is pretty evident that about 1% of fishermen in the world have that type of talent. On top of that he knows where they live.

No fish bite a crankbait in the rivers. NONE.

Went up to Bull Shoals Dam this morning since the river was muddy from the rain runoff here at Cotter. There were some small mayflies and midges hatching so I tied on a size 18 Parachute Adams. Caught quite a few rainbows, 1 cutthroat, this nice brown and a really fat rainbow...

Truly good ya think, or just having a good run ? When I think of truly awesome pro fishermen the only ones that always pop into my head are Nixon, Clunn, and VanDam. And I don't think anyone will argue that Clunn has been the best ever, so far as a guy that can do it all, anywhere, and do it consistently. I wonder if there will ever be another guy like him.

I won't disagree with that. There's no need for "flood control" if you just let floods be floods everything works out just fine.

The fish at Table Rock has been eating up the Ned Rig so we took the grandkids down to Shell Knob to get in on some of the action. Its the easiest bait to fish I have ever seen and the fish eat it up. Everybody caught fish.....it was a ball. Family time, lovin' on the grandkids, and catching fish.....what an awesome day.

I did, you were AWOL. Smallies rainbows and browns on the same trip

Heaven forbid that some of them set an example of professionalism in courtesy as well as fishing techniques. Donna and I were way up the Kings a couple of falls ago and Clunn ran up behind us with his boy in the boat, then idled over to us and asked if we minded if he fished BEHIND us. Now that’s courtesy. And perhaps a total lack of confidence in our fishing abilities. 😆

Roark Creek is full of stockers right now. Anything under a float will catch them. Jigs, power worm.

Mixer - there are four things that you can do in this order. 1. Read Phil's latest report here.....watch a couple of his vids 2. When you get down to Taney either by car or boat head over to Lilly's Landing and walk up to the office and they will have the day's specials on the board in addition to where the better places are to catch fish 3. If you are not in possession of the right tools they have them available for purchase! 4. Fish / catch (the appropiate limit) and eat!! C4F

It takes a lot of patience to get as good with electronics as these guys are. Learning how to set them up, learning what you are seeing... I always just give up and start casting and fishing every time I set out to spend a day just learning electronics. I'm just gonna have to take all the rods out of the boat and spend some time getting better at it.

I looked at it yesterday and the river looked good. I’m planning going next week while it is cool do some Sucker fishing. oneshot

My boat sets in garage a lot, so I use 87 non-ethanol and Mercury fuel products year round. I buy gas for my 1997 V6 Merc from Phillips 66 Miami OK (which sells only non-ethanol fuel for all grades 87, 89, & 91). Politicians in Jefferson City are benefiting from corn. Oklahoma was 5th rated state for Oil production in 2014.

Fortunately there are not very many ugly trout.😄

I found the one I have, going to put a feathered treble on the back and replace the front hook and give it a shot one of these days. King Shad on top, Wake Shad below.

awesome that they took care of your home! bo

If they are running water go to Lilley's and buy bottom bouncing drift rigs in several sizes and powerbait eggs. The person at the counter will have an idea on hotter colors. I always buy powerbait from Lilleys. I may be superstitious, but I figure they sell more trout bait than walmart or bass pro (maybe not bass pro at the landing, but I avoid the landing at all costs) and not sitting on the shelf for a year can't hurt. Seems the last few years we have had most luck with orange or an orange/white tandem. Chartreuse, rainbow, yellow, etc will work too. Get a couple colors in garlic scent too. Two eggs per hook and try different colors and combos. I think the powerbait works better than gulp eggs. You can also put night crawler on. Powerbait micetails have been good at times in white/bubblegum color. Easy fishing for a youngster as usually the trout will end up just swallowing it and there is no hook to set for them. I'd boat up to just past monkey island and drift down past Scotty's. Stay closer to the south side of middle as you drift between the island and Scotty's. We catch most fish before 65 bridge and in the no wake zone right there across from Scotty's marina near the mouth of turkey creek going towards the business 65 bridge. If water is off I'd put a splitshot about 24-30" above a size 10 hook. 4lb line is best, but my brother uses 6lb and still catches fish. Two power eggs on, throw it out, and just let it sit. You can also use a float with a pink worm. I'd anchor at the mouth of turkey creek or out in front of the landing. If you want to get the motor warm and see some of the lake boat up to short creek area. It's not as good as it used to be before the floods took out the gravel bar, but that area still can be good and daddy will have a chance to hook nicer fish throwing a jig while junior is fishing powerbait. Of course, I caught a 17" rainbow in short creek area last year using a drift rig with powerbait eggs so you never know.

For the most part, I grew up along the Grand River = big mud hole, now the Osage that was a lot better river. RB

You can fish for free on Lilleys dock too. Just sign in at the office before hand.

KVD is a heck of a power fisherman, but I don’t recall really seeing his prowess when it comes to finesse. Based in how far aheadhe is on money earned, I can’t say he should worry about it too much though. His style seems to work in his favor well enough. He did throw a spybait for some big lake smallies a few years ago on a soinning rod, but that is about the only time I recall seeing him finesse fish. Wheeler and Martens are guys that can do it all. I think Wheeler is the most well rounded angler out there. The dude just seems to catch them everywhere he goes.

This video is from stage 6 the first round here at TRL that Martins won. They stayed at our place for stage 7. Jacobs camera man does a pretty good job editing these videos considering he’s going off 3 GoPro’s and not allowed on the boat during tournaments hours.

Ok thinking 6/27-6/30 timeframe Mid-MO Streams.

You have to plan ahead with important people like me.

I don't want anybody knowing if I break down. That would be embarrassing. I'd rather just paddle home. 😏

And trout are so much faster and easier to clean than a crappie or walleye imo I just use a pocket knife and my bare hands. Stick the blade in the 💩 shoot and slice open the belly make a cut under the lower jaw and remove the gills and guts, then I use my thumb nail and run it down the spine gets some blood out, rinse them off good, wrap them individually in foil with lots of butter , olive oil ,salt and pepper , and sliced lemon inside the fish and bake them on the grill.i use 300-325 degrees approx 25-30min for a small stocker . I think that's right been so long ago lol hope the family doesn't mind the heads left on haha There's other ways for sure ,good luck!😆

Cajunangler and I survived another overnighter. We try to do as many of these as we can, but my work schedule, weather, and real life issues have been getting in way a lot the last couple of years. I used to think things would get better. I’m not at all sure that’s ever going to happen. It’s so much fun on these trips. As much as is possible leavie all the BS real world stuff at the put in and just fish and goof off. We (I) were only able to get away for one night this time around. We prefer two nights. Three nights is a little too much and I think four nights would kill me. Time is taking a toll on this perpetual kid. I haven’t learned how to pace myself very well. I haven’t adjusted to my diminishing physical abilities very well. We had good water. We got lucky with the weather. We caught a tremendous number of fish and We had some Good ones. Nothing over 18 inches though. Catch and release works. Lots of these fish had been caught before, but Not everyone that fishes knows how to remove a hook properly apparently. Our campfire supper was delicious and nutritious. Chef Johnny is outstanding. I highly recommend him. Grilled chicken and fresh grilled veggies with a toasted ciabatta. Excellent! The large number of floatable streams in Missouri and Arkansas is truly a blessing. If you can, you should do one of these trips. I can foresee a day when I won’t physically be able to manage these trips anymore. That is starting to make these trips a little bittersweet. We of course released all of the fish we caught and we of course left the river cleaner than we found it. It astounds me that people will choose to throw their trash down on a gravel bar for someone else to deal with.

Nice! I love an overnighter on the river. Two nights is about perfect because you know at least one of those days you are going to wake up on the river and go to bed on the river. It doesn't get much more perfect than that.

Branson, Mo. Table Rock Lake Report White River Outfitters Guide Service Amy with a fantastic top water Table Rock Smallmouth bass Due to an emergency cancel from my today's clients I'm home after just an exciting last few days on both the Rock and Taney. Bass fishing on the Rock from end to end is really setting new standards for quantity and if your work it some very nice quality. Numbers of fish on guide trips is just outstanding with most 4 hr. trips averaging 35 plus fish, and if I can get people up, about 1/2 of those will be top water. Shane with a nice Redfin fish. Best top water bite even on clouds has been 5:30 to 7 AM. There is now a real solid shad spawn going on the bank,and it is over about as quick as it starts. The progression is very interesting, and you can follow it out just watching the chasing. At first light its on the bank behind the bushes and then works out to depth as the sun rises, or really just as the morning progresses. Best top water for me and mine, remains a wide wobble top water wake bait. I just am getting very little love on either a spook a chugger or a pooper. Not saying they won't just tear them up, but not even close on the number of strikes right now on the wide wobbler. Every once in a while something really special happens. Amy made it work with a double on the fin catching this super LM and Jaw with one swing of the fin. Lots of times you can get two on but getting them in for a photo is quite a different matter. Good Work Amy. When the topwater deal winds down, I'm going with really 3 presentations, and the drop shot is not one of them. When they are still up there shallow and under 10' I'm going with a Ned. I'm using GP or PBJ any natural variation in the clear water, In any of the off color water and there is still a lot of it, I'm using orange craw. As the morning moves later, the swim bait is still just simply on fire. Don't get caught up with only a paddle tail, the C-tail grubs are at times producing better. Pictured are a Chompers smoke pepper, Yamamoto smoke red fleck and of course 2 from the Keitech family. All of these are on 3/16 Keitech tungsten ball heads with 2/0 hook. I'm talking here after 8 in the morning and you will still see some chasing. Don't let these get away. Put on a heavy spoon or a tail spinner that you can throw for distance and keep after them, as they are just always out of reach for a top water bait. The hooks on the Little George are trash and if you don't upgrade you will be sorry. Most of these fish are remaining under 25 ft. right now and instead of dragging the Ned that deep I'm fishing a 3/8th. to 1/2 oz. Pig Sticker Quick 5 in GPO. Trailers are plentiful, but the smallie beaver is working fantastic for me right now and it has just the right amount of orange already in it. Yes,the pro's and some others are catching them on bluffs. With clients this is pretty much impossible as they are paralleling and that does not give everyone a shot, These fish are on the long gravel points. One of my clients on his own last week had 36 off on point. He said they were just stacked in 17 ft. He nedded the heck out of them at Shell Knob. Visibility is ranging from 2' to 12' depending on lake section. Surface temp is pretty much 75 lake wide with a little variation. They are biting, get out there and enjoy it. This post has been promoted to an article

Don't ever apologize for having too much stuff on the deck - personally, I find it makes it much easier to just heave it all overboard whenever I get exceptionally frustrated and want to make a statement! 🤬

As many guys as we have here on OA there's no reason any of us should be left stranded for very long. Just put a HELP! post on here with your phone number, and somebody that can help is either gonna come running...or know someone that will and can contact them. I check in here 3-4 times a day, and I know plenty of others do too. We won't leave you out there with the gators and skeeters for very long.

When i used to eat trout i would just boat up to monkey island from Scotty's anchor up my little jon boat behind the island in the eddy and throw any color power bait you want on a #10 hook with 4 lb line pretty simple. Its also fun to trow little rapalas or jigs at them. You could always troll little rapalas or flicker shads around the landing and catch quite a few. Ive always caught lots on the down stream side of the White river fish house in the little eddy it makes. As far as regulations, youll just need a trout stamp if you want to keep them

http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/forum/344-skiatook-lake/ Here you go, Randy.