MoSportsmen

Right, that is where I do my best anyway. I always have a hard time if I got to find fish deep. I am going to go to Ray berins Instead of the west end of the lake this time. I figure that end of the lake might be a little less thick.

We have been getting quite a bit of rain this week. Wondering how muddy Twain has become, going this weekend. Any tips on muddy water crappie fishing?

I reread the book last year on the plane to Dominican Rep. in anticipation of doing a little fishing down there. Must see/read for any fisherman. Turned out to be good luck, our boat got into the dorado pretty good. Those of us that weren't puking had a pretty good time.

I just used Jigs......with crappie nibbles. Any color seemed to work, really did not find a better color cept yellow did not do too well.

Yes, that is right. I had a hard time finding it too. We were releasing them below 9 inches anyway just to cull for bigger ones. You probably could self regulate at 10 inch and still put a limit in the boat without much trouble.

Timber ridge resort and/ or Cannon dam general store could get you in touch with someone. I have seen some guides post photos on their face book pages but can't remember the guides names.

Yea, that explains it pretty well. The whites in the lake were probably there from the start and have built up their population through the years. I would imagine the ones in the Salt below the dam are from the Mississippi rather than coming through the dam. North Missouri water clarity depends on lots of factors. I used to live in Kirksville and Hazel Creek and Thousand Hills clear up pretty well as do many other small city lakes. Now I am living in Macon and Long Branch never seems to clear too well although Thomas Hill is not too bad. Route J lake just north of Mark Twain is very clear of course it is only 100 acres or so.

I really don't know about the walleye. Heard they are not what they once were and have not heard anything else. I have heard some recient reports that there are whites up the creeks. Actually.....we did catch a few small whites while crappie fishing last week. Small...like 4 or 5 inches.

Every bass guy I talked to last week were not happy (with current conditions). Not to say the bass fishing at the lake is bad just sayin. The one boat of bass tourney guys had two keepers in the boat. I have seen worse stringers in tournaments.

Lots of standing timber, suprising amount of rock bluffs for north Missouri. Water color can get pretty muddy. Boat traffic is mostly fisherman....???? I have not been there much in the heat of the summer? The major marinas with the big boats are on the east end mostly so the big boat probably stay up that way. The facilities are pretty new so camp grounds and such are pretty nice. Not a lot of places to buy gas on the water on the west end where I have spent most of my time on the lake. Last week with the crappie bite on the word had got out and there were boats in every cove where I was, but like most people we never got very far from the boat ramp. Don't know how the fish populations are most people were fishing for crappie and cats. We have encountered successfull big cat fisherman both times I have been there durring turkey season. Tom

Fish report. I fished last week mostly for crappie. Caught some nice ones. lots over 10 inches they were up on the banks but we heard there are more big femails still staging and headed that way, so the prospects are good. I wish I could go back before this next cold front hits. Tom PS Catters were doing well saw some big flat heads, and blues at the fish cleaning station.

I think there are more. They are just ashamed to admit it. I grew up in St. Louis metro so I am familure with the southwest direction most st. Louisians direct their attention for recreation. Amazes me that MT has never developed much as close as it is to the city.

Yep it is definately a water mocacin...........isn't that the correct slang for banded water snake? Should be cause that is what everyone calls them. (the uninformed) Definatly the banded water snake is the most frequent snake that fisherman and anyone around water sees. I pretty much leave tham all alone. I have heard while non posionous the BWS is pretty agressive when cornered and will definatly bite.

Couldn't be a muskrat. Too big. I would imagine it was an otter.

Fished Mark Twain last week. Crappie were biting right up against the bank but we talked to some crappie pros that were still catching them at 12 ft in 20 FOW said they will all be up on the banks within the next few days. Nice size to the ones we were catching.

I thought I saw an otter on Marktwain Lake last week. It's head was as big as a bever and I did not see the bever tail as it went under. The reason I think it was an Otter was it was swimming about 70 yards from shore I haven't seen many beaver that far from shore and we were close enough that a beaver might have slapped his tail as us and this did not. Has anyone seen otter on big resivours in Missouri. I thought they were mostly in streams. How many of these babies are living in our lakes too? Tom

The wool mentioned. I have heard of using freyed nylon rope as a lure and hook for gar. The freyed rope just gets caught in the gars teeth.

Al, You are probably right about the rudder in OZ streams. The nice thing about a rudder though is they pop up in a flash if you do not want to use it. Pop it up when aproaching a riffel and drop it when entering a long streatch of frog water. True also about a bent shaft for quick turning in an ozark stream. or positioning. I like a little one handed paddle for positioning while fishing, worth bringing IMHO.

I was a 4-H Fishing project leader. 4-H has a multi species format that is interesting. Problem is in Missouri at least there is very little participation......great on paper but falls down in implimentation. Kinda like a lot of 4-H projects and organization. Most of my life I have fished for bass, trying to get better at more now. It is a whole nother learning curve. Tom

I once had a welding shop make me a bracket to bolt to the front of my boat so I could attach a transom mount up front. To the meatle bracket I bolted s 2x4 and counter sunk the nuts and bolts on both sides to attach it. I painted the steel bracket to prevent rust. Tough to make one from aluminum that would withstand the tork. Made dads old high bow runabout at least manuverable enough to fish from.

A transom mount can work. You can easily turn the control head 180 from the way it is mounted from the factory. The other problem is the factory mount is made to attach to a vertical transom. The only thing you have to attach to on the front of your pontoon is the horizontal deck. There are commercially made brackets that you can bolt to the front of the deck but it would not be practice to remove when you want to go party mode.

I found a bent shaft of only about 16 oz for only 45.00 on ebay last year, hand made. Just search bent shaft paddle on ebay there are a few makers that sell their wares there. There is also a commercial manufacturer that is now making aluminum shaft plastic blade bent shafts now. Tom BTW....a bent shaft paddle is properly fitted with a shorter shaft than you may have used in the past. I am 6'2" and I like my 48" paddle. My race boat sits quite low in the water though.

Thanks for all the sugestions. Helped me a lot. We dumped the side of the family that is so worried about being close to the outlet mals so I chose to get away to Runnaway 2.....looks like my kind of place. The phone conversations have been impressive as far as people being very friendly and helpfull. Tom

You can learn to keep it straight with a single blade, especially if you get a nice bent shaft. I just prefer a double blade. Yea a rudder helps.

I ran a rudder in my race canoe. Any rudder is good when you are moving. If you are in moving water you basically need to be going faster than the water for it to work very well. If you are going to use it in lakes and ponds it is probably a good thing.....maybe. Don't have much experience using one for fishing. Mostly rudders are for keeping you straight when you are going, not so much for turning although they work for that too. They do reduce the effort it take to get across the lake. You don't have to waste strokes on course correction. Then flip it up when you are fishing and use a little skull paddle to position the boat. Double blade to get across the lake. Tom