MSUFisherBear

Hey man... I agree that the upper end can be tough at times, however, I have found that when there is a good current coming out of the river, that it stacks feeding fish up along channel breaks and on the downstream sides of cover to ambush. The trick (and the difficulty) for me is to fish up river and bring the bait back with the current, bringing the lures as close to those breaks as possible. Outside of that, I don't do well above the bridge until I actually get to the "river" area, and again I am usually looking for a little bit of moving water. Nice bass, and I certainly appreciate the report!

I don't have any problems either with bigger boats running their motors, as long as they aren't throwing wakes that would like to capsize someone. I have taken on decent wakes, but the one the guy ran by me the other day with was way too large. Suffice it to say that the breakback wakes from the shore after the guy passed were still enough to give me a fun ride.

A guy with a 20HP about rocked me out of my kayak the other day. Came within about 20' at full throttle. To say I was perturbed by the situation was a mild understatement. I didn't turn him in because I couldn't catch the tags quick enough. Had I, I most definetely would have reported that one. Part of the reason why I fish Springfield so much more than Fellows is so I don't have to deal with it. As for the keeping or releasing of fish... I doubt honestly that a trophy fishery will ever exist on Springfield. I started the idea almost as food for thought. It would be neat, but I figure the 6 fish limit really isn't going to put a large dent into the population if the majority of anglers are catch and release anyway, and those that catch and keep are always going to be in to keep the really nice fish, which any way you look at it, means there is less of a chance of catching a nice fish again (whether it is the same or a younger generation of that fish). And DARNED the luck with this rain and snow. I was ready to hit the lake again tomorrow, but that may be postponed until Sunday afternoon once again!

Yep. I'd agree to that. I was little worried about the extended period of cool weather that started today and is supposed to run through Sunday at least. However, looking at the forecast for next week, if it does have an effect, it won't for long. I think we are supposed to bounce back pretty quick from the temps starting around Tuesday.

No problem! Be sure to report back after the trip. I'm interested to see what that area still holds. I know there are lots of little largemouth that make runs up the creek from Kilarney (the little private lake just outside of town), and those holes right above the lake have produced some good smallies for me in the past.

Nice! I got one of the Kodak PlaySport cameras. I'd like to figure out a way to mount it on my Kayak to do a little videotaping on my adventures. Maybe I overlook it, but it'd be cool to go back and study some of the "game footage" to visually see some of the things that worked best for me and some of the ways that I presented so that I can try and mimic that again.

Yaknar, What type of camera did you get?

So, if you haven't seen, KY3 said at noon today that there was a possibility of snow late tomorrow night into Friday morning. They also said if it occurs, it would be the latest it has snowed in 70 years. My question of the day is... If it does snow (and even if it doesn't) how much does this affect the lake over the next week or two? It seems like temperatures were finally stabilizing and now we are getting the same stuff that we should be getting in mid-March.

Have you tried any poppers or buzzbaits yet? I knew the frog bite should start any time soon, the grass was starting to green the last time I went out.

E. I grew up in A.V. and have waded all over Stouts creek. There are some decent smallies in the creek. I would suggest throwing smaller craw-patterned cranks as well as craw style soft plastics (watermelon or green pumpkin). I'm waging on the location of the cottage, and I am thinking that your best bet is to throw above boulders into current and allow the bait to sweep in towards the backs. That little portion is fairly swift this time of year and they will hold tight in behind those rocks. I'd also have to say that your best bet if visiting the St. Francious may be to head to Silvermines and fish around the park. Again, I do super well on crankbaits in craw colors.

I'd also just like to tack on, thank you all for the great discussion on this. I have thoroughly enjoyed the thinking behind the genetics vs. food sources and how it relates to bass growth. It's always interesting to see opinions of others on wildlife management and promotion of conservation. I think the most enjoyable part of it all is that there are several other like-minded individuals like myself who are always trying to make our resources better.

Mule, I am with you, but if they are going to take the bass home, take the smaller ones home. Leave the trophy fish to fight another day. There are a lot of bass in that lake. Enough so that even on what should be a slow day on most lakes, I can still go to Springfield and catch a few and may even have a few decent ones at the end of the line. And Calwood, while I understand that thinking and agree that its not possible to completely control genetics in any wild animal, helping to push it in one direction or another doesn't hurt. My point isn't totally controlling it (that would be farming) but to help push it in that direction (ultimately what our MDC tries to do in improving hunting areas and fisheries) by helping to keep the genes that produce more trophy sized game in the gene pool. And I do have to say that yes, food and cover are a big portion of what helps in making bass grow bigger, but to say genes doesn't have something to do with it is overlooking the fact. If it didn't, how then have we been able to make animals grow bigger, be more disease resistant, etc. etc. in a controlled environment. Again, don't think of my statement as completely controlling the genetics. Just helping the situation out a bit.

NICE! Congrats on the good catch. Was the current still a little crazy? How was the water color in the main channel?

I too agree with you. There has to be a happy medium there. I don't like when folks take the larger ones, and it's sickening to watch that happen. Even at a 2 or 3 pounder, I am happy for that fish to be back in the water. I just think letting the big ones get bigger and giving them a chance to continue on their lineage and keep the genes in that pool really help. Part of the reason that I think this would work is based off of the MDC's stats of recent fish surveys. http://fishing.mdc.mo.gov/reports/22313-prospect-report-lake-springfield. My thought is that this would indicate that keeping a short one wouldn't have massive effects on the population. But, I can see the flip-side in the thinking of those fish being young. Some of them may just not have reached maturity. I would be interested in an MDC study on the average size of a sexually mature largemouth.

LOL! Thanks for the tip. I've been wanting to catch a mess of 'em. All the rain lately probably really helped a lot of anglers causes when it came to the cats.

Here's my opinion on that one. Keep the dinks. The more big bass there are, the better the genetics in the lake would be. Anything over 12" needs to be turned back. It's really the same scenario as taking a smaller buck as opposed to a larger one so that your heard has genetics for bigger deer left in them. The problem therein lies with the fact that the smaller bass are competing with larger bass for food. Likewise, a short bass produces short bass. If you want a case-in-point scenario, look at the conservation methods developed by FL and TX.

The lake has a really good population of gizzard shad (I get the two mixed up sometimes). They benifit from the warmer water temperatures from the power plant located on the lake, as well as the good habitats. I have seem them in schools working the surface during the summer as big as a large bass boat. The MDC has a little more info on them - http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/gizzard-shad In all honesty, they do eat a bunch of these, but they are pretty weary on some baits to me. I think a SPRO Lil' John in Cell Mate would be a really good color for this lake. One I haven't tried yet, but want to shortly.

I think I know we're you are talking about. I mean, like I said, I'm sure people have been all over it.

Super nice fish and I do hope you find a wall hanger out there.

Well, I'll probably get throttled for this being as so many guys are crankbait and spinnerbaits guys, but personally those would be the two lowest on my list. I do really well on swim baits, jerk baits, worms, and jigs. I do we'll on black and silver due I think mainly to the thread fin population in the lake. I also do well on green pumpkin colored soft baits

This may be very well true, but I have never seen a soul other than myself fishing it :-S. Usually everybody just blows right on by to get to their "spots".

I do agree with the theory that the big ones move up first (some of the talking heads in bass fishing have long theorized this). Considering the one that I happened to catch and the ones that you seen, maybe the larger ones have already spawned out. I have a really hard time believing that, but maybe so. I do know that the senko bite has been hot on the flats for the last couple of weeks. I really didn't throw that this weekend, because I was looking for crappie and possibly some big red-ear (caught some about this time last year). I absolutely love catching them, and they taste pretty darn good. So, maybe they have already spawned out. If so, that's a-ok with me. It means the topwater bite is going to start getting hot here before too much longer, and by far, that is my favoirte way to fish. Aarchdale - I wanted to say, one place that I was paddling to (I really don't want to give this spot away, because it has held some big fish for me before :-)) had hydrilla growing in it and quite green. Starting Sunday and moving in to the first part of next week should really kick us off that way.

Ok, I hate to be that guy, but are you catching them anywhere else in the lake (i.e. out of a boat). I don't like being a snob, but I am a little gunshy about being around a bunch of people flinging large hooks (bad experience). Anyone catching them up in daylight hours?

Nope and Nope. I found a little isolated piece of timber out on a flat off from the channel. It was on a swimbait. In fact, every fish I caught Sunday was on the swimbait. There are some new pieces of wood in the lake that have washed in. The google eye was the only thing that came off of them. One thing that I have noticed is the uptick on my swimbait bite. The thing about it has been, it's not been on big swimbaits, its been on really small ones (like 2-3 inch ones). The lures that I have done well on the lake with the past three years are really not producing, but those are. It's not completely suprising to me, as I have noticed a lot of fish gorging on shad. I have to believe that this prolonged cool weather has prolonged the spawn much longer. I do know that the females have moved up. I caught one, completely by accident (I can't really site fish well in a kayak, and I wouldn't have wanted to do so on intention anyway) that was full of eggs, and her tail was really tattered from fanning. I put her back right away, right where I caught her. It did tell me though that at least we are inside the spawn. Who knows for sure how many waves of fish have moved up. I have a hunch though that it's still very early, and that this years may be prolonged into the middle portions of May, moreso than they have in the past.

Luckycraft, I about had a hen take my head off flying over me yesterday. I'm sure the Tom was somewhere near.