usmcgrunt

Up at Stockton I like to go up to the Mutton Creek Marina and throw craws and large spinnerbaits at night during the week. The owners tend to get upset if you fish near the docks but don't mind too much if you're respectful of others and don't make a ton of noise. And if they tell you to fish somewhere else, then follow their directions. I've caught a few 7 pound largemouth out of there.

Has anyone had any luck on catfish from the bank lately? I've been hitting Aldrich and catching an obscene amount of shad for bait but just can't seem to catch anything. I was thinking about hitting the main lake, but it's been so long since I've fished up there that I don't know where any of the good cat spots are. Any pointers? I'm not looking for a secret honey hole, just a good general area. Thanks!

I went to Springfield lake yesterday by the old boat ramp and threw swimbaits all afternoon. I caught 2 small largemouth and saw a whole bunch of bass bruising

Definitely a great place. It's clean, has good friendly service and good prices. Night and day difference compared to Lakey's

They weren't very big at all, maybe 3 pounds at best.

I haven't caught any crappie but I went out 6/7 from about 8 till midnight and caught 2 flatheads and a muskie right before dark. The cats were caught on a 3 inch bluegill and a crawdad, and the muskie on a white spinnerbait. I caught them on the east side of the lake across from the fishing dock.

I've always done quite well on bass there. I've been going out every Friday afternoon and most Saturday evenings and I've always caught a few. I seem to have the best luck on the main lake side of the fishing docks and I've been catching them on a weightless senko during the daylight and blue or black craws after the sun goes down. The males I've caught are almost always in 2 to 4 feet of water and the few females I've caught are still full of eggs and are hanging back in the (slightly) deeper water.

Me and a buddy of mine night fish every weekend, but since we don't have a boat, we fish from the bank and can't enter any tournaments. We throw 3 baits- a 3/4 ounce black and green spinnerbait with a black colorado blade, big worms, and craws. The best colors for us are black, dark purple, and green. We mostly walk the bank around Mill Creek and we catch more keepers than shorts, and an average 5 fish limit for us is about 18 pounds.

I hadn't been catfishing all year and was itching for some cats on the line. I picked up my friend and we went up to Aldrich about 5 PM and immediately saw swarms of shad cruising the surface. A few throws with my cast net got us plenty of bait for the day and we loaded our hooks up with 4 little shad on a hook. 10 minutes later, I missed a bite that almost took my pole in the water. After that, we hardly went 20 minutes without a bite, even though most of the fish were drum and some gigantic carp. As soon as the sun went down, we quit catching the rough fish and started catching cats. the final tally was 12 cats, and 46 pounds total. The biggest of the night was a 15 pound flathead that I caught right before we packed up to leave. On a side note, the crappie were THICK there.

Be careful if you're fishing from the bank at Port of Kimberling. I've been asked to leave twice now for bank fishing there. They claim it's private property and will have their "security" run you off. However, the Corps of Engineers says that access to public water is guaranteed and is to remain unrestricted so don't worry about it too much.

Gamakatsu actually makes a lot of hooks for BPS so those are usually what I buy. Of course my employee discount doesn't hurt either lol

The game wardens do make an appearance quite a bit, usually during popular fishing times like weekends and holidays. As for people keeping fish below 60 bridge, it really depends on the game warden to decide if its legal or not. The wildlife code is subject to their interpretation and will be enforced on their judgement. Depending on the game warden, you may or may not agree with what they say. The 2 men that show up are nothing but fair and courteous, the female is... shall we say less so?

The water did cool down quite a bit. Plus with them not running any water for some reason pretty much shut things down. The water temps should be rising again with the warm forecast so the cats should be picking up again soon. Although since the lake is so warm compared to other bodies of water, they may be spawning right now. On most lakes around here they spawn towards the end of May, so in a week or two we should be tearing them up

Don't worry too much FisherBear. We catfishermen are a lazy bunch and only fling our obscenely large hooks a few times a day lol. As for when and where, try the first fishing dock by the power plant and throw just a little to the left of the current. Most of the ones I've seen caught were in the afternoon and they were using cut suckers and nightcrawlers for the channels and live perch for the flatheads

Check out the Wire Road CA down in Crane. It's managed for the trout stream but there are a ton of deer cruising around. It's archery and muzzle loader only though. But the plus side is there's a lot of people that hike and ride horses there so the deer are pretty used to human scent.

I can't imagine it's any better right now. We still haven't had enough rain to make a difference and the lake is still low.

I second that!

They're out there Jim and I'm confident that there's a few cruising near the dam. I hope you catch one that makes all of mine look tiny

You can request a reward but it has to be approved. I think the rewards go up to 1,000 dollars but I'm sure that's for helping to catch arsonists and the big poachers. I've never gotten a reward but I don't think I've ever asked for one so that may be why lol

That's what Operation Game Thief is for. I'm a big believer in conservation so my daughter will have a chance to see why I love doing what I do, and hopefully fall in love with it like I did. So when I see people with no regard for daily limits, Conservation gets a tip from me.

Bacon is a pretty good bait. The trick is to throw it in a pan for just long enough to get the fat juices flowing. Then you can either wrap it around your hook and tie it on with some thread or just roll it up and stick it on the hook. I've had pretty good luck with it on eater size channels.

Jim, hopefully I'll see you out once this weather isn't hot enough to melt my sinkers lol. Springfield Lake is basically a low pressured lake for big cats. Tons of people fish there, and most of them catch fish but there's not very many people that have the equipment or the know how to specifically target the big ones, making them easier to catch than in higher pressured places like Stockton and Truman. And it's a much smaller place so you can cast to the majority of the fish

For me the perfect eater size catfish is 1 to 5 pounds. Anything over that still tastes good, but I'd rather keep a big fish in the gene pool and for someone to catch later. The people that keep those tiny fish aren't real smart since there's hardly any meat on them, and you need a lot to make a meal. Kind of hard to do when the limit is 4 and possession limit is 8. I went out last night and got a few bites, but no takers. I was getting some hits on a shad head, but I had one monster hit and run on a bluegill that was about 6 inches long. I think I'm going to wait a few days before going again since the fishing has been so slow lately. Hopefully we get some rain that'll kick start the fishing again. I'm itching to hook into some fish so big it scares me lol

For live bait you should only use fish from that particular body of water, but for cut bait you can catch your bait in one place, cut it up and use it in another place and conservation doesn't have a problem with that. And wayne, you're right about the circle hooks. I don't think I've ever had a swallowed hook or a foul hooked fish with circle hooks. My biggest problem is I keep setting the hook too early. The key is to wait until you feel the weight of the fish pulling on the line before you set the hook

Hawk, I fish Stockton some but do most of my fishing at Springfield Lake and I've caught a ton of cats out of there. If you want eater size cats, I'd use 10 lb test line, an egg sinker, and a swivel as a bottom rig and use shrimp or liver or cut shad or bluegill for channel cats. If you're like me and figure if you're gonna spend a night fishing, you might as well catch some big ones, I'd use a 3 way float rig on no less than 15 lb test line and use a bluegill as bait for flatheads. To make the 3 way float rig, you need a 3 way swivel, preferably a circle hook about 5/0, a bank sinker about 1 or 2 ounces, and a bobber. First tie the swivel to your line, then tie on a leader about 2 feet long and tie on your sinker. Then take a leader about 18 inches and tie on your hook. Stick the bobber on your main line right above the swivel to keep your bait off the bottom and swimming around. This is my favorite rig, and the best one IMO for night fishing with live bait. As for places to fish, I always try to go to the end of the point and cast towards the dam. It's about 80 yards to cast, but I carry a 12 foot pole that has no trouble making that cast. If you don't have an obscenely large fishing pole, just cast as far as you can. If there's someone there, the last dock on the left facing the cove is another pretty productive spot. Just cast diagonally to the left to compensate for the heavy current. And since you're new to Springfield Lake, be sure to watch out for idiots. They come out of nowhere and try their best to ruin your night. Common symptoms include: repeatedly crossing your lines, scooting over bit by bit to take over your fishing spot, yelling and screaming just because they can, and other annoying things that seem to be common courtesy to the average fisherman. Hope this helps, and good luck.