FishinJack

Yeah, the cold front doesn't always mean bad fishing. We slayed them on Sunday in particular. Good number of keepers and a couple 5 pounders. You can throw about any bait at them right now and make it work for you.

Water levels are slowly rising but still a couple feet below full pool. Water temps from 69-74 the last couple days. Several species are spawning right now like crappie, bass, gar, bluegill, and shad. It's kind of early for some and late for others. I thought the crappie would have quit by now but the last couple days I've still been able to catch several spawning crappie behind docks in a couple feet of water. I've been around the 60mm the last couple days. The shad spawn started a couple days ago. Shad don't spawn on your typical gravel bottom either. They like rip rap, big rocks, or sea walls. You'll see some small fish flipping up shallow chasing each other. Quickly cast near by and usually there is a bass just a couple feet deeper watching the excitement. Spinnerbiats, topwaters, and my favorite a Berkley Sinking worms or Heavy Weight worm (Senko's). Bass are at their peak spawn right now. The Gravios section has the clearest water if you like to sight fish. The dam area is also pretty clear. I usually like to stay back a little and make a long cast to likely bedding spots verses get right up on them. Pb2 has been good with a lot of release bass being caught on carolina rigs. The Niangua has been solid. I fished from the mouth of the Little Niangua to the 54 bridge. Get creative on your casting to reach back behind docks where many of these fish are spawning. Pitching, Skipping lures way underneath the walkways works very well. I use 15lb Spiderwire braid with a leader to help my baits get way back there. There is some current in the lake and we are getting a lot of rain right now. Get out there, fishing is very fun right now.

I had a guide trip up there the other day. Water carity was a bit off color compared to the rest of the lake. But we did fine, fished for bass only. Several keepers and a five pound kicker. Bass are spawning and shallow. Berkley Sinking Worms (like a Senko). Some heavy rain right now, might muddy up the water a little more. Try a spinnerbait if the water is muddy. Jack

I'd relax. Every year they do this. In fact most years when the water is higher the carp are more abundant. Several species are spawning right now. Some crappie are still spawning, also bass (peaking), gar, some bluegill, and the shad spawn started a few days ago. These are all first hand accounts that I have seen. A lot of the time the carp will spawn in the muddy bottom spots compared to the bass spawning on the gravel or hard bottom areas. The big problem is carp eating eggs.

Yep, we're fine. No 2011 flood, don't even say that people will believe you. That's all the lakes way south of us, like on the Arkansaw border. Everything is normal. Fish are biting just fine. I've mostly been crappie fishing lately and have had our limits everyday since Sunday. (and that's because I had 2 kids with me). Three good limits today, three good limits yesterday, more limits on monday.

You'll do fine. I run a guide service here and I had some clients staying at Lakeview yesterday. We had our limits of crappie pretty quickly. The lake was being sucked down in case we got poured on, but we didn't. The rain stayed south of us for the most part. So now the lake is being allowed back up. It's not muddy, or anything bad. We have been hovering around 60 degrees for three weeks now when that sun pops out thursday and friday the bite will be on, bitime. A lot of crappie still to spawn. 90% of the bass have not spawned yet too. I had a guide trip out of Alhonna resort last week and we killed the bass right around there too. Carolina rigs and Crazy legs chigger craws worked the best. That's where the "Fish Stories" picture came from. Check it out I posted it a little ways back. I think Alhonna resort is about a mile or two closer to the dam on the right side. fishing is pretty darn good, you'll do fine. Slowly rising lake levels and with the sun coming out the water temps will be around 64. fish will really start spawning.

They started pulling heavy generation through the dams. Bass were back on jerkbaits and c-rigs on main lake points lower lake. It was one of the best guide trips in a while. Water temps are up and down with the water levels and all the crazy weather. More fun with bad weather to come soon. Fishing up the Osage sucked today. I was up around the 55mm and just couldn't really figure them out. Caught some fish and we managed enough for a good mess of fish eventually. Wind out of the east at 20mph against the current killed me. It'll be a lot better tomorrow. I'd keep the spinnerbaits wet.

Great day yesterday for bass. And the day before we had 60 (4 limis) of crappie.

I don't know about the float-n-fly but. I have fished everyday for the last few weeks. Fishing has been great most days, poor other days. The water is rising again after the bottom fell out last week. I think we're around 653.9. It's supposed to rise one foot per every 10 days until it's full. A lot of my spots are literally dry. It's a great time to get out and learn new brushpiles. It's also a great time to tear up your trailer trying to put your boat in the water. So be careful on the small ramps. Pb2 is fine, Pa Ha tsi (spelling?) is pretty shallow, 2mm ramp is almost impossible, Shawnee bend is fine, linn creek ramp, I wouldn't try, Tan Tar A's has a big drop off as do most small to average sized boat ramps. A variety of baits are working now. Wiggle warts and Kopper's crawfish crankbaits are working fine. The water is stained to heavily stained for much of the lake. It's getting clearer in some areas. I'm using a jerkbait in the clearer parts. Crankbait in the more stained parts. Spinnerbait on the high wind days. The Gravois has been the best area for tournaments. The Dam area is fine; Lodge of four season’s fine/good. I had a guide trip at the dam yesterday where a guy caught 5 big drum. They weren't bass like we were trying to catch but he was having a blast! He'd catch a bass every now and then but mostly 5-7lb drum. The Glaize river is fine, I had a guide trip up there today and we didn't catch a lot of fish but we did catch a 6 pounder and a few 3's and some shorts in a half day guide trip. I'm sure a Carolina rig is about to start catching fish along with other soft plastics. Crappie have been great (with exception of this past fri and sat). Lots of solid, good fish. Shallow on brush or docks. Some bobber and jig, or bobber and minnow action. Some straight jig or grub days. The upper sections have been the best. Past Hurricane deck, Niangua, Gravois has been the most consistent. Some days the mid lake crappie will go nuts, other days just fine. This is going to be a great spring for crappie. It might be earlier than normal. I don't think they are far from getting behind the docks. But all these cold fronts keep the fish changing all the time. If you're not getting bit, keep moving until you find a cove with them in it and then slow down and dissect the cove. I hear the paddlefish guys are doing pretty well. I haven't had time to go, been to busy fishing for everything else. Mid Osage River is what I'm told. Below Bagnel is producing some, but the average size is much smaller below Bagnel. Some white bass are being caught. I've only caught them by accident, but I am catching them. Someone might be doing real well for them, it wouldn't surprise me. Several bass tournaments have been around 24lbs to win the last few weeks. 8,9lb bass are being caught. Stable weather and slowly rising water will have the whole lake fishing great shortly. Get out there; it's a beautiful time of the year Anyone interested in booking a guide trip see my website www.FishingLakeoftheOzarks.com April is full, but I can fit in half day trips in some spots. May has lots of openings. Good luck fishing everyone. See ya out there. Jack

What part of the lake are you fishing? Maybe get out and find all the brushpiles that have recently been exposed because of the low water. Use a Gulp! grub swim it high in the water column.

Captain Kenny!!?! I know exactly where it is. It's in the back of the this little cove by the 31mm. It's the back two docks. I've been killing the crappie there. I can't believe how many limits I've taken out of there in the last couple weeks. Limit after limit, everyday! Just kidding everybody, I'm just messing around. Sorry, I don't know where Bagnel creek is, maybe somebody here does.

With this dirty water up grade your bait size. I'm usally a big fan of 1 1/2 tubes, but not with this water. 2 inch grubs with a curly tail has been doing it the last few days. Or even bigger grubs and baits are fine. They are shallow on docks and brush. Plus I'm marking all kinds of people's brush piles right now with the low water. I'm been fishing the mid-lake or lower lake section. Are you fishing up a river section? Those rivers can take a beating when they drop the lake like this. They have dropped it several feet in just a few days!!

heard 12 bags of 20lbs in one of the tournaments today, don't know which one.

We had 44 on Sunday on a half day guide trip. We could have hit 45 (our 3 limits) but it was my mistake. They still had a great time. So yeah, they're biting. One piece of advice is that they are not everywhere, you might hit some of your best spots, not catch anything, and start to think that fishing is bad. But when you finally find them, they are loaded up! And I mean stacked in there. Pretty deep, give or take around 20ft. Close to brush, jigs and minnows are both working, I prefer jigs. At times they want it just held still. At least until you get them fired up. My fish have been coming from the main lake too. Haven't been up the Glaize much this year. But I did catch a mess pretty close to PB2 a few weeks ago. Jack's Guide Service www.FishingLakeoftheOzarks.com

I'm selling it on Ebay if anyone is looking for a good graph. http://cgi.ebay.com/Humminbird-747C-Fishfinder-5-Color-Display-Screen-/320660796264?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aa8df7368

Thanks Bill, I didn't know that. You might have saved me some money

I've never done it but I have heard some guys catch them from shore below Bagnel dam. Try campground side at night with jig and minnows. I would expect that you should bring plenty of jigs.

I went down there to today, caught one decent walleye. Handful of bass too. I fished the afternoon. Should have fished more low light times.

Just messing with you. They don't do much stocking here, they don't need to. It's the best lake around. They stock some walleye, and quite a few paddlefish. The baitfish you saw are shad. We have gizzard and threadfin. Most likely you saw threadfin, they are much more visible. Gizzard shad can also be seen but not as often as the threadfin. Threadfin in the fall are 2-3 inches long while most Gizzards are about 8-9 inches. Both make great bait and both do a great job of feeding all the fish in the lake. We also have several species of bluegill, and black and white crappie, which some of the larger fish feed on at times. And most likely you caught white bass or maybe hybrid bass, I would assume.

Mostly rainbow trout are the main forage species!

I went out below the dam couple days ago to try for some walleye. Didn't catch much, they shut off the water and I guess the water needs to be moving at least somewhat. I'll try it again soon, but during the week and try to make sure the dam is generating. I also floated the Niangua yesterday since it was another nice day. Didn't catch a single fish. Ice on the backwaters and snow on the banks everywhere. I might have gone a little too early in February. Snow melt had the river running perfect and had a good time. Maybe in a couple weeks it will be different.

Below the dam did you prefer water flowing heavy or light generation? Did you cast out from the bank or boat? Were they in current breaks (eddies), current seams, or just along the bank? Did you night fish this time of the year? How close to the dam were they? Or are you talking deeper holes down stream from the 54 bridge?

Oh, I've caught them on other lakes. In some ways they are a combination of catfish and crappie in their feeding habits. Comfortable mostly at night, live bait/minnows are popular, light action rods and let the fish mouth the bait before you set the hook. I'd like to learn more about their spawning habits. Who far up the creeks/rivers do they run to spawn? Do you catch them in the riffles or past the riffles? I'm sure they hold up in some deeper pools, but how deep, are we talking 6ft or 16 feet? Are these areas easily accessed by a canoe or is a jet boat needed? I know there is people out there that catch some monster walleye in the 10-13 pound range. But thise people are prety tight lipped.

I want to start a discussion on Walleye at Lake of the Ozarks. I have caught several over the years, but have never been able to produce a big stringer or establish a predictable pattern. I've caught some on jerkbaits, jigs, and jigging spoons. I hear many people talk about catching them on crankbaits and crappie jigs sometimes tipped with minnows. I understand that the peak time to catch them is soon approaching towards the end of the month. The upper Osage, upper Niangua, and below Bagnel are the best spots. But I know there is more to it than that. Because I tried some of this stuff and struggled. What are your thoughts? Where am I missing the boat?

Yeah, there is going to be ice, the question is how much ice. Right now it's frozen solid. I'd bet it's going to stay that way most of the weekend. Maybe break up Sunday afternoon, but that's wishful thinking.