Jbrant

A friend went yesterday and had 11 keepers in 4 hours (with two 3.5 #'s). Water temp was 46 to 47. Jerkbaits and wigglewarts fairly shallow.

Thanks for the report. Hoping to get back down there soon.

We put in at Hermitage today about 9:30. Fished till 3:30. Only saw two other boats all day. Water temps were anywhere from 41.7 early to almost 45 (late in the back of a wind blown creek). Fished mainly around the dam. Lake is at normal pool, pretty good water clarity. We had a hard time holding the boat in some spots with the wind gusts. We caught 7 keepers all on jerkbaits. We threw a wiggle wart and swimbait a little - but stayed with Megabass and McSticks most of the day. Our 5 best went just a little over 14. Two biggest were 3:9 and 3:8. Both of those came late in the day within a hundred feet of one another on a channel bank with some trees, wind, and big rock. One was pretty shallow, the other out in 15' or so. Had a couple hammer the jerkbait, the others we barely even knew they were there. We caught a few in 4'-8' and a couple more in about 12-15. Some on secondary points, some on channel banks. Never caught one on a main lake point. All had a little wind - we stayed out of the strongest wind most of the day. We talked to one other boat and he had caught 9 keepers - nothing very big he said. Great day to be on the water.

HOw clean is the water at Long Shoal right now? Thanks

We fished the upper to mid Gravois yesterday. Water temps were anywhere from 52 to 54. Water was pretty clean everywhere. Fished from 8 to 1 and caught about 10 - mostly Kentucky's. We did catch three keepers including a 6:10 that my brother caught. All of our fish came pretty shallow on either points or channel banks. Caught them on wiggle warts and football jigs. Didn't see much shad activity but did see a lot of cranes on main lake backs.

Fished Pomme today from about 8:30 to 4. Put in at Nemo and started at Haverstick. Bounced around to a few main lake points, went down around Pittsburg, and finished at Nemo. Water temp was 56-59 down there with limited visibility, especially way up the Lindley. Never put anything consistent together. We caught a couple of a square bill, one on spinnerbait, one on a jig - missed more bites than we caught - and nothing very big or even close to it. By about 12:30 we decided to head to the dam. Got over on the Pomme and found a little warmer water and a little cleaner. Started in a cove out at the main lake. Worked a shallow stump filled pocket without much luck. Started down the bank and caught a solid 2.5 on a spinnerbait on a flat, empty bank. Got back into some stumps and kept working down the bank with some docks mixed in. Caught a couple off some docks then started catching them shallow on the spinnerbait. Almost had to thrown it on the bank. Worked about halfway back into the cove and then came back out the other side - kept catching fish extremely shallow. After we had worked that cove, we decided to move to a similar cove and couldn't hardly find a fish in there. We did miss one on a swimbait and caught another solid 2 on it - same thing shallow points. Both of these coves had some big gizzard shad up in the shallows. The wind had really picked up by then. We went back closer to the dam and caught another 2.5 in the wind, shallow on a point. Finished with a couple more keepers. Ended the day with about 15 keepers - best 5 went about 11.5 pounds. Never found anymore fish as shallow as we did in the first cove in the Pomme. Still caught them in less than 3' of water but not in inches like we found them stacked in that first cove. Don't know if the fishing was that slow up the river (as we struggled all morning) or if the afternoon bite was just better.

Heading down Saturday. Anybody heard anything the past few days?

We came down for the weekend. Ended up fishing about 10 hours Saturday and Sunday combined - stayed around the dam/Indian Point area. Started at 6 Saturday morning - quit at 12:30 to watch MU. Caught one keeper Kentucky out of a shallow dock well on a jig. Caught a few shorts on a football jig (on a windy point in the 15' range) and a couple on a Shakey head (pretty shallow in the wind). We started a little later on Sunday and caught a smallmouth (windy point, 6-7' deep) and a nice 17" largemouth (shallow, windy bank). Both were on a football jig. Couple of shorts mixed in as well. Struggled both days with fish just bumping our jigs - couldn't get a hook in them. Threw a spook and spinnerbait quite a bit and never got a bite.

Thanks for the report - that is as good as you'll find on LOZ.

I'm coming down the 13th through the 16th of October and am looking for some advice on smallmouth for this time of year. I fish LOZ and Pomme about 80% of the time so the few smallmouths I've caught (when fishing Table Rock & Stockton a few days a year)have been more by luck than skill. I don't really know much about smallmouth patterns. Will they migrate back into creeks and onto secondary points or will they stay out closer to the main lake on the long gravel points and flats? I'm going to assume the areas with wind will be key. Any key things to look for?

Thanks!

Just checking to see if anyone on here has a vacation rental by owner on Table Rock available in mid October. Let me know if you do or know of a good one. Thanks!

It's starting to cool off - was down the first part of July and found water in the low 90's. Went down last weekend and found it in the low 80's. Looks like the excessive temps around here may have finally broken. Water has been pretty clean as we haven't had much rain until recently. Pomme can raise in a hurry though with a few rainy days.

That is about as far as I got. There were some docks on the right with a boat fishing the flat timbered area out in front of them. Then there were three or four more boats fishing the laydowns on the bank on the LH side too.

We fished from about 7 to noon yesterday. Put in at Lightfoot (haven't fished this area but a couple of times). Started on a flat with lots of wood and docks that led into a small cut. Caught 4 keepers in a couple hundred yard stretch. Nothing bigger than 2 1/2. Went on up the river, hit a few random spots and kept going until we hit a lot of boats already fishing the laydowns and cover along the banks. Tried to idle past them but promptly hung on a stump and decided that was far enough. Turned around and fished a couple of cuts full of trash/laydowns, and a couple of other spots heading back towards the ramp. Found one more 2 1/2 pound keeper on another flat with laydowns and docks. Ended with 5 keepers that went around 8. Lots of small baitfish in the river, water temps were around 83. Caught our keepers on a crankbait, 10" worm, and tube.

I'm heading down too. Just looked at the Regatta Permits and it looks like it will be a busy weekend down there - lots of tournaments this weekend.

We found a lot of fish up around the dam in late October last year. Football jigs and spinnerbaits on main lake points. Water temps were in the low 50's - lots of shad in the coves at that point. Of course the lake was way down, don't know how that will change things this year.

I like the cove that you are in. Caught a few fish in there but not as many as it seems I should. I don't fish right there around the Pizza place as much as I should - don't know why. We've also caught some decent fish on the north side of the jetty. We've started fishing more around Proctor Creek and on up the lake from there and have started catching a lot more fish than we used to down there.

We are in the cove with Coffman Bend Marina.

We managed to get about 9 hours in over the weekend. An hour right before dark Friday, about 5 hours early Saturday morning, a couple hours Saturday afternoon and evening, and an hour this morning. Caught around 20 with 3 keepers. Best 5 went around 15. Found 3 three pound keepers on texas rigs in one brush pile Friday evening on a main lake flat, they were in about 5' of water. Caught about 10 Saturday morning with two more keepers. The first keeper came in about 2' of water on a main lake flat on a crankbait. The second keeper came on a brush pile in the back of a creek on a soft plastic t-rig. Caught another 3# way under a dock in the back of our cove on Saturday afternoon. Caught two more keepers Saturday evening. Caught the first in the middle of the back of a cove on a texas rig. Caught the last 3 pounder in the same brush pile as Friday evening. Lost two other good fish, one on a main lake flat Saturday morning. He hit close to the boat and made a hard run and pulled the hook out - think it was probably the biggest fish of the weekend. The other was Saturday evening in a brush pile. Set the hook and had him for a bit before getting hung in the brush and losing him. Also saw a couple of guys taking a picture of a pretty good bass on the way back in Saturday morning off a dock we had fished before the sun came up (they looked to be flipping). Water was as warm as 92 at times. Wasn't quite as clear as it was last weekend. Shad were in our cove Friday and Saturday afternoon but they weren't as big or as thick as last weekend. Didn't catch a fish deeper than 6' of water. I've never really attempted to fish main lake flats before - found a couple of spots that held some fish but had problems finding similar areas. Also fished quite a few docks on the flats that we never sniffed a bite on. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for as far as a good flat (lookng for flats close to the river channel, looking for brush, looking for a drain on them, etc).

Headed down this weekend. Haven't fished this area in a couple of months. Anybody got any suggestions on where to start (main lake flats, docks in back of coves, channel banks, etc)? Been down a couple of times in the last month (with the jet ski instead of the boat) and have seen several big balls of 4" shad working in an out the back of our cove.

I haven't been to LOZ for a little while but the bite seems to have slowed a little bit from what it was a few weeks ago. Still, I've heard multiple people say that the fishing has never been better overall down there. http://www.724outdoors.com/Fishing/tournament_results.asp?TournID=6265 http://www.724outdoors.com/Fishing/journal_detail.asp?wID=2776&iArticleID=8202

Sounds like fun! What part of the lake (upper or lower, Big or Little Sac) and where were the bushes (main lake points, secondary points, etc) Fished Lake of the Ozarks this weekend and struggled to find them.

Those are some amazing stories - I can't even imagine. Thoughts and prayers to all in Joplin, they've still got a long road ahead.

Went down last Thursday before all the rain raised the lake back up. We found them in the outside of bushes on texas rigs (mainly). Water was pretty clean and around 65 degrees. Saw some tourney results where about 10-11 pounds won over the weekend.