Devan S.

Its really incredible the fish they produce and they are fished hard by catch and keep. IIRC 12" length and 15 fish per person. We did the similar trip a couple years ago but had to bail on Grenada due too an east wind in the 30 mph range. We fished a north/south cove on Enid and still managed a pretty good haul of 13"+ fish with waves coming over the front and back of the boat. Was a good time and would love to go back with a jig pole and waders and hit up the stake beds in the spring. Also really like the biscuit pit there in Grenada.

As the title implies, what is your bucket list fishing trips separated into 2 categories. One category is thing you want to do and likely can do just need to make it happen. The second being the trip you want to do but have significant barriers(time or $$$) that prevent you. My likely ones are spending time fishing Lake Fork for a big bass or going back to Mississippi Delta for Crappie and jigging them in waders. Followed by Musky at Pomme and/or Striper at Beaver. Canada is always on my mind too along with Missouri/Mississippi river cats. Least likely is Artic Char in that deep red color and/or Alaska fishing in general second may be Sturgeon in the northwest. Probably wont ever happen until the little one is grown and gone but will never say never.

I'm use to launching at ramps(Kings River) where there was enough erosion that if you got off the ramps without the boulders you would really be in a pickle.....I guess based on that it doesn't really bother me that much.

Probably to prevent erosion from washing out materials from under the ramps and causing buckling of the ramps.

It's funny you bring up Viney. Looks like it will be closed permanently next year with MO Parks not involved anymore. When the closing of Viney began, they had the "town hall" meeting the corps said any ramp in Emerald beach or owl creek were public ramps and there was nothing anyone could do to prevent the use of the ramp. The only recourse they had was if you were parking above the take line. Isn't it funny that the corp will do that exact thing they said private citizens couldn't do in closing the ramps at Viney Creek?

There is no question in my mind....you take it to be certified.

Keyboard Warriors. Those same people that say he should have released it would be the first ones to question the size if he would have taken pictures/measurements and released it immediately. I think everyone that knows anything about Taneycomo knows that the team at Lilley's has a top notch setup. I would wager 99.99% of places that have the potential for multiple state/world record class fish don't have the facilities/setup to even begin to attempt to keep a fish like this alive through the process. I would also wager that 99.99% of people that catch a fish in the world record class wouldn't think twice about trying to get certified measurements regardless of what they proclaim on the internet. Your fish was 20% larger than Frank which means the likelihood of him being caught again was low since he made it that much bigger than the state record without being caught to begin with. Heck Frank, Frankie, and Carl has really stuck to a pretty predictable stretch of the lake and none of them are being caught multiple times. Most people aren't remotely prepared to catch a fish that size on regular trout gear. Congratulations on the fish of a lifetime.

On Taney is the suspension or even depth of a jerkbait critical? It seemed even with the 110 my lure was only maybe running 3-4 feet and due to the current there was no way it was actually suspending. All of my jerkbaits are bright colors. Maybe I need more dark colors(similar to the sculpin colors) that would be a little more realistic? Seems like unless theres shad present the darker colors tend to be the direction the big fish go.

I'd be the first to admit we didn't/don't know what we were doing. We basically drifted more or less dead center and cast upstream to either side bank and worked them back to the boat. Trying to avoid letting the lure get way behind the boat and having to work against the current.We tried a couple drifts closer to the bluff side banks but really felt like with the short casts we weren't covering much water so we backed off and threw longer casts.

Mcstick 95, 110 and countdowns. Everything we threw was 3" or bigger.

Me and a buddy fished Saturday when they kicked up generation. Stayed between Fall creek and Cooper creek. Threw jerkbaits the whole time and caught nothing. We knew going over the chances were slim but we were only after one bite. For as busy as it was with pontoons, kayaks, and fishing boats, everyone seemed to be very cautious and courteous.

I wonder if it partially has to do with the additional action of the marabou. Maybe it makes the jig look slightly more realistic compared to a jerk bait or crank since the marabou can dance and flare. I've bought a couple Hudd's and I've been toying with the idea of coming down and tossing them around or even throwing a Keitech.

I believe there is a video out on youtube of sizable schools of striper below the dam in the tail water taken by some divers several years back. Really its surprising there isn't more frequency to catches like this.

The Kings river is the one I'm closest to finishing complete. I lack from Marble up stream and between Marshall ford to Rockhouse. Marble up is difficult for me to commit to because of water levels. The only gauge is at Berryville and therefore isn't representative of the river level that far up stream. I'm always hesitant to drive all the way down there just to have to drag through every thing. Marshall ford to Rockhouse involves a long shuttle ride. To the point I would rather do Marble to Rockhouse in a multi day. I tell myself every year I'm gonna take a week off and do the whole thing or just finish up the sections I'm missing but I haven't done it yet. Flat creek is another one I need to check off. For its relative proximity to me I haven't floated a single section....Maybe someday.

Don't think a pond is really the absolute solution. I have a small pond stocked with Catfish and it's hundred of yards from any house except for the one I own on the property. Randomly people started telling me they saw lights down there in the middle of the night. I started scoping things out and started finding trash around(liver tubs, kid sized flip flops, worm containers, fishing poles, stringers, tons of junk line). Turns out neighbor kids and their dogs(between 8 and 12 y/o) were coming through the woods and across a field with a bunch of cows in the middle of the night. Keeping every fish they caught and taking them back to their parents and having family cookouts. I finally camped out and ran the kids off only to get a dirty phone call and confrontation from my neighbors informing me of how rude I was to their kids. I simply informed the kids they did not have permission to fish, keep fish, cross my property, trash my pond, or disturb my cattle. It wasn't that I didn't like them; I just didn't want the liability of a bunch of kids after dark, around a pond, in a field full of momma cows. I wouldn't allow it with my own kids in that situation let alone someone else's. The back and forth continued to the point I put up private property signs and had to get local authorities involved. Frankly if it wasn't for mom and dad loosing their house and being kicked out, I think I would still have problems with those now young adults.

couldn't agree more.....I think finding a warm weekend during C&R season is much "easier" to enjoy for them. The only downside is the park isn't chock full fish like it is on kids day.

If your strictly wanting to fish there are quite few coves/small creek arms where the bigger boats wont be as plentiful. Think way back in roaring river, owl creek past the boat docks, rock creek, and maybe Viney cove(viney cove will be subject to large boats). There are decent smaller ramps in owl creek and several in Viney Cove on the Emerald Beach side. Use google maps to get locations. The problem with all of this is at some point your going to have to run down lake or will at some point meet or pass a pleasure craft unless you launch at owl creek and stay up past the boat docks(even then it might happen). If I was really wanting to fish a larger area you could put in at Hickory Hollow on the Kings side and fish a lot of the river. Still yet there will likely be some level of boats even up that far and the lake is much smaller up there. Unfortunately it wont be until school starts before its starts throttling down and then the weekend will still be busy. Your best bet will be launch before daylight and pull off as they start coming out.

I would almost dismiss all your cat fishing adventures. Take me to Table Rock and let me put out a trot line or jugs or limb lines and I can catch catfish. You put me on the bank soaking livers, live bait, or stink bait and I cant count on 1 hand the number of fish I have caught over 10+ years. I just cannot sit in one spot long enough and I am convinced not all bank fishing locations are really good cat fishing spots. Me and a buddy spent a whole summer bank fishing late into the night, every night when I was 18-19 for cats and outside of maybe 2 night most of the time we didn't catch a thing. I would also expand the time your fishing. My idea of summer is mid June to late August also the one time of the year I try to avoid fishing if at all possible. To me not much is happening that time of year except in the rivers where you have been successful. Get out in spring, fall, and even winter and I bet your luck picks up.

Bill...out of curiosity, how would you split the people you take into 2 or 3 groups and what percentage makes up each group? Additionally could you put those groups ranked into difficulty of taking on a trip. Obviously individual personality of each person can make or break a trip but just generally speaking how does it break down?

I would answer 2 distinct ways: As an informed fisherman or local- I would be trying to gain knowledge on how to fish deep/use electronics. Dealers choice on when/where/and how. I want you to show me and give me the best shot. Catching is an afterthought mostly. Like has been said I want to translate what you have showed to do it myself and duplicate it elsewhere. I wouldn't expect to catch zero fish but I realize that a 3-4 fish total day could happen. As a non-informed vacationer- I would think this is Table Rock and is played up so big as a heck of a fishery(Records broken on MLF, ect). I would be looking for a significant amount of numbers of all 3 bass species and be hoping to luck into a 4+lber. I also probably wouldn't want to be up at the crack of dawn or have to drive from one end of the lake to the other.

Alaska too. Record heat this week there. https://q13fox.com/2019/03/29/alaska-hit-70-degrees-the-earliest-ever-and-more-record-highs-are-expected/

40-50 yds under your conditions seems reasonable. I've never heard anyone say, "I wish I couldn't cast so far." I'm always wanting another couple feet or bumping the trolling motor to get me closer to something.

She is way to happy to be standing there holding his hand like that.

I wish I had a smaller boat just to try out fellows. At this point, in the fall I may just use my canoe to try and land a musky.

My biggest was just shy of 8lb. Caught it trolling cranks early in the year. Caught the Eye, White, Crappie, and a largemouth(5lb) off the same pile on consecutive passes over. My shoe is a size 12. My best 4 would have to be this spring early. Took a buddy and total numbers was into the teens. Big 4 would have been a 7, 6, 5, and 4. Still hunting the elusive double digit fish.