Goggle-Eyed

You are correct. Sorry for my rant.

as for the NED rig... many of us have been fishing it for at least 20 years... I bought the Zman baits and paid for the "mushroom" heads.... I still haven't seen the increase in fish over 1/2 a worm (senko or whatever) on a jig head... Still seems like a "hyped" tactic (Based on a Name) and I refuse to call something I have been doing for years by a "Name" No NED Rig for me.. Will still fish a 1/2 or less salt impregnated worm on a mushroom head (same as 5 years ago) just won't brag about it and name it after a single fisherman. Joe Rig

Everyone I talked to today said it was tough (I didm't talk to anyone after 4pm)... this past Thursday was HOT shallow, this week NOTHING. I thought they were on until the next full moon.. Guess NOT. If you caught them today, please post reports! Joe

Thanks Ham... I will look up the zig jig

Well, if you would have asked a week ago, I would say they are moving up and it is HOT... After yesterday and today..... I am lost... On both Bass and Crappie.

Having fished Fork on a weekend and most recently (last weekend) on Lake Austin, I doubt it was truly take a number fishing.... On Lake Austin I literally saw boats Lined up to fish row of docks.... I gave up on "the bite" and we hit "other" water with little pressure... That was rewarding, I caught several over 3lbs and my buddy form Austin caught 1 over 7lbs... These fish were caught truly fishing recycle water....5-10 boats ahead of us everywhere we went! LOZ and Truman don't really no pressure compared to Texas lakes! Joe

First, thanks for any information... I have planned a trip the first weekend in May for my Dad's Birthday... I have a gathered his group of friends and booked a rental house next door to Wild Cat Shoals public access. We are planning on renting a 4 person and 3 person boat from Rainbow Drive Resort on Friday and Saturday... Unfortunately, I am not an avid Trout fisherman but know that Dad has been to Cotter and "loved it"... I just found out today they were "drifting power bait".... I am not so much a bait fisherman, so..... I am looking for any jig suggestions or fishing suggestions based on the Rainbow drive resort area.... I know I will eventually be throwing jerk baits, any color information would be great..... Any other fishing information would be great. First Time in this area and can't imagine 6 pissed guys my dad's age (under 70- barely) As most of you know, I post real reports when I fish LOZ or Niangua River, hoping for the same, or at least a PM or Ten! Thanks, Joe

Mid Lake confluence, 1/16th ounce jigs. about any color but Black/Char was hot this week. They were SHALLOW... I am going tomorrow but need to fire off the jet jon first so I am gonna run up the Big Niangua and look for some whites, was planning on just Crappie but called a boat mechanic today that was squealing like a little kid, he was looking at white bass up near the Gravois Arm... Got me pumped about the hitting the shallower water.... I will probably hit the lake in the afternoon... I will post reports for both! Joe

Man, I hate to post this but you guys have been helpful on other waters.... It is on at the lake right now! Things have broken loose! Lots of shallow fish and 10" seems to be the minimum for keeping a limit in under an hour! Bass fishing is just as good right now, but I am keyed in the crappie! Joe

Thanks for the correction, I meant "I didn't "keep" anything under 10.5" and all smaller fish were released immediately"

Hmmm, I can't imagine running a stick steer 16PF anywhere safely above Fiery Fork let alone as far up as Cedar Camp... Sounds like I need to go do some river recon! Might have some new fishing water in the Jet! I haven't been up that way in about 7 years so I guess it has changed a bit! What is the antique outboard club? I have a few 56-58 Johnson 3HP up to 5.5HP that I like to run on the river occasionally. I just rebuilt a couple of pressurized gas tanks just for the 5.5hp engines. Joe

Cedar Camp area is way to small for that boat. If you put in at Green Mill Bridge on J road you might be able to run up as far as Weatherall Slab and down as far you want to go. If it was tiller steer and you had a lift or were VERY experienced you might be able to run it up near Cedar Camp. I have a 1650 lightweight jon boat with a tiller steer 50/35 jet and I don't even take it up above Weatherall Slab. Good Luck.

Launched at AA and ran to Linn Creek since my BIL had caught a mess there on 4/11. Fished from 9:30 till about 1pm and only had a couple of fish in the live well. Decided to run back up the Niangua some and picked up a couple more. Was getting tired of fighting the wind and what seemed like millions of boats and headed to the ramp. Saw a main channel bank that had a ton of wind and wakes but no other boats, guess it was so bad there no one else wanted to try and fish it! Decided to hit a couple of the docks and was rewarded with a limit of fish in about 30 minutes and was able to not keep anything under 10.5". The boat was sitting in 5 FOW and the fish were in 1.5' to 3', numerous females. Magic color was Electric Chicken or Black and Char. The first half of the day was a real grind, not sure if it was because of they weren't biting or because of the pressure from all the fisherman. Oh and for those of you that use AA Larry Gale, please pay attention to how you park. The lot was packed but if everyone would have parked in the lines and made sure their trailers were in line there would have been room for 8-10 more vehicles. I had to help one guy "drag" his trailer over just to get parked in the last spot. Joe

a couple of buddies fished the same area this morning and almost had two limits in two hours, they stopped and ate lunch then the bite turned off and it took them the rest of the day to finish off there limits. Sounded like it was good early and good late but the in between stuff sucked! Joe

Nice... They oughta really be doing it by the end of the week and next week. Joe

Could it be the difference in "knowing" a lake, Vs. fishing a new lake? Obviously, he knows what he is doing to win tournaments.... He is one of the best in todays world, I guess they would all fish there "local" lakes different than they fish on the tournament trail. Guess that is why they are pro's making bank, not guiding the rest of us!!! LOL.

Ya, i guess it does. it has a low voltage alarm that monitors the battery. Guess I need to figure out how to read actual's not just set the alarm for low voltage. Besides that stuff, I am gonna need you to look at a few other things, Hydraulic Steering and Trim pump. Got some "clear" oil leaking from somewhere. Just noticed tonight when when I was putting the boat back in the garage. Had a spot on the floor and notice some "oil" dripping. I will trouble shoot this week and let you know what I find and then we can talk about getting in. Thanks, Joe

Only thing that might have made that photo better would have been a PBR instead of Genuine Draft!!! I couldn't believe how Clear the water was at double A, probably close to 2' of visibility, with the rain coming the next couple of days it might push these mudlines into more areas of the lake. as you proved, it might not matter to the Crappie! I guess that will just move them up even closer to the bank! BTW Wrench, I still need to get my Xpress/Evinrude to you and install a Voltage Gauge, I did get the Electronics installed yesterday, took me about 5 hours but I did run dedicated wires back to the batteries and didn't just hook them up to the acc connectors... Joe

How was the river from Lead Mine up to Blue Springs? Was there anything that looked really hairy at the water levels you were floating? I usually take the Jet Jon from Lead Mine up to there until the river gets below 300-350CFS. Any major blockages? Thanks, Joe

That is surprising based on the gauge levels. it looks like it was still running at over 450CFS when you guys got off the water. I always figure anything over 300 is good to go... Glad you caught some fish and glad you didn't see anyone else, just one of the reasons I love the Niangua and that float! Joe

We actually just put in at the Larry Gale Conservation access on Double A and ran over there, it's not bad depending on your boat, took about 10-15 minutes running 45mph. You can launch at the Linn Creek Campground right now, just keep your motor trimmed up and idle until you pass the shallow flat that runs out on the "right side" as you are running out from the launch ramp, it will be obvious. Once you pass that you can run on plane. Joe

Got out with my Dad for about three hours this afternoon. Didn't fish real hard and tried some new spots near Linn Creek. Ended up with 20 in the live well all, good solid fish, only had to measure two fish and they were both right at 10", all other were around 11-13". Most came from less than 6 FOW, only had 2 females (oddly those were the 2 smallest fish) both of which came from about 12 FOW. All in all a good afternoon. It is still very muddy around the my condo so that is the reason we put in and ran to Linn Creek. Water at Double A was very clear, Linn Creek had really good color. Joe

Here is a link to their FB page. It is "unofficial" but giving hourly reports. https://www.facebook.com/anglersinaction

The Niangua was a pretty brown this morning, looking south from the bridge towards Ha Ha Tonka. I am not sure what it looks like above Tonka where the river is dumping in but at the bridge it was not looking good.

I just got a loan through my local bank, but I checked US bank and a couple of others and they were all under 4%, ended up at local bank for 3.99%. It will depend on year, price and value of the boat as well as your credit score and length of loan. mine was for a 2004 Xpress X19 with 200HPthat I was borrowing about 50% of the value for 18 months or 2 years (can't remember exact length).