Leech Man

Finally going to make it up to the lake as things have been a little hectic around the Joplin area. Live south of town so had no damage but been helping some of my less fortunite friends. Plan on fishing the Ruark Bluff and Mutton Creek areas. Was wondering if anyone knew if the crappie are still suspened or have they moved back into the brush. What are they hitting on minnows, jigs, crank baits. Are the walleye still on the points or are they on the flats now? We had a pretty good system come through last night and was wondering if you got that up at the lake. Will be coming up in the morning and staying at the Southwinds Motel that night. If you are in the area stop by. Give a shout if you are on the lake and see us. I have a Tracker Pro V tiller steer and drive a Blue Ford 4X4 truck.

WM there is a way to pop those Y bones out of a fillet with a couple strokes of a knife. I have watched the guys do it and they show me how but never did master the art of it. Gilley loved to hear that term Jack Fish as had not heard that in a few years. Once you cross the border into Canada there is only one fish and that is a walleye. I got a friend that goes up there and fishs catfish in one of the rivers. They get some real monsters as he has sent pictures. The Canadians around that area really think these guys are crazy. But they do have a bloody good time hey

WM I must say you have got my interest in these slow death rigs. Up home about 75% of my walleye fishing was done with a Lindey rig and leech up till mid summer. This set up sounds like it is very similar to this. Been trying to find some of these either pre rigged or just the hooks to make my own. Haven't had any luck around here so might have to order some out. We would use small colorado spinners on some of the rigs if we couldn't get anything going on a straight rig. Would use nickle plated on bright days and bronze on cloudy days. There is a lot of pre-made rigs out there with a bunch of funky colored blades. These might work once and a while but the consistant colors were silver and gold. A lot of time was spent backtrolling these rigs or just drifting with them. After this bite slowed we would go to trolling crankbaits. When we would get a fish on we would throw out a marker and land the fish. Slowly go back to the marker and then work it with a bucktail jig or jigs and leechs or jigs and minnows.

Thank's guys for your input. Got a paper punch tossed in the boat now and a nipper so should be ready next time I hit the lake. Could have got myself into a problem and not even realized it.

Buddy and I were talking and he mentioned that MO law states that you have to tag or mark your fish to keep them seperate. I had never heard of this as where I am from they would only check the count as to the number of fisherman. Do they enforce this or is it just another of those on the books thing. Don't want to get my butt in a jam. How do you guys mark or keep fish seperated to know who caught what. Thank's Jim

Thanks Fishmeister. I am new to the area and have only been up to Lamar Lake once. Buddy has fished it off and on. We didn't have any luck but that was about a month ago. He has hit it when the gills were on the bite and said they were really nice sized. Might head for Stockton instead and hold off going here.

Was thinking about heading up to Lamar Lake and was wondering if anyone has been there recently. Mostly interested in Crappie and sunnies. Appreciate any input you guys might have. Thanks in advance. Jim

Bob thanks for the offer and will be taking you up on that call. Ended up taking the boat in to have the tilt release on the motor fixed. Appears that the rod has come loose in the lower unit and has shorten it up so it is not coming up far enough to trip the release bar. Like all shops they are busy this time of year so it will be a few days before I get it back. Sounds like we are in for another weather change so that might slow things down some. And Gilly did I ever tell you about the time back in 59, Oh just forget it you would just think it was another one of those fish stories.

Dennis I was going to give you a yell as you passed by several times on the lake. I thought the boat looked formilar from the pic posted on the form. Had checked out the pic again this a.m. before I posted and figured it might have been you. Man I should have been in your boat. Just posted pic of my boat on here in the topic asking about boat pic. You may recall seeing us as you passed several times. We were the two old duffers in the Tracker V Pro. Of course I was the good looking one.

Not big and not fast a lot like it's old owner. It gets me around the lake. Only have had it out a couple times and just getting it broke in.

First off I am new to the form and want to thank all the posters for the wealth of information that I found. I took my time and read the postings from the past couple years to get as much info as I could. I am new to the area and lake and found this very informative. A special thanks to Bob and Marty for their input. I moved to the Joplin area after retiring from a PD in MN. Winters got the best of me. Yesterday was only my second time on the lake and it was a tuff one. We were out there from 9:30 to 5:30 and only one small bass was caught. We wanted a nice bunch of crappie. I put in at Greaser Creek and fished Sons Creek Arm from Ruark Bluff Bridge south to about a mile from the 39 bridge. We fished the shallow, timber, brush piles and about every nock along the way. We used slip bobbers and minnows, jigs and minnows, jigs and several colors of plastic in twister tails and tubes, Beatle spins and every other thing we could think of. We marked a lot of fish in 20’ suspended at 4 to 10’. We marked fish in shallow also but couldn’t get a bite. Tuff day it was. Then to top it off this guy we talked to at the landing had just filled out fishing by the landing in about an hour and half. Oh if this gentleman is on the form here thanks for helping me get my motor tilted back up after it locked in the down position. Thanks again to all of you for your information on the form. One of these days I may be able to post some input of value.