MCrump

The planets aligned to where I was off work, kids had a sitter while the wife worked, my dad was off work, and the weather cooperated phenomenally well. Put in at Taylor about 7 and headed up until the prop found gravel, luckily no damage. My 9.8 is a long shaft which I don't prefer for the river but it runs better than the short shaft 6 horse. (And runs a lot better than the ones tore apart in the garage, haha) We pulled over to the gravel bar and while I was tying on dad hooked into the first white of the day. He stayed 1-3 fish ahead of me all day, which was awesome. We caught about half of our limits in various places up through the s-curves. Then once we got pulled up the last big riffle into the long eddy, we went to the top of it and tied up to a log. Dad finished his limit there and I was about 10 minutes behind him a few yards down river. Had a couple smaller fish but nothing so small you couldn't keep. And a few slightly larger ones but we did not get into any real nice ones. Still an incredible amount of fun, as catching those things always is. I honeslty thought our take was mostly males but it was slightly over 50% females, just not big sows (at least my limit, dad could not recall). Saw several people out enjoying the weather and fishing, 2 guys in a canoe and 2 guys in kayaks that had started their day on a float from up river at 215 bridge. I was jealous of their walleye luck, only other species we touched was 1 little smallmouth. Kayaker's had come up and some were fly fishing the s-curves on our way back to Taylor. Saw 3 different bald eagles I believe also. Don't know the water temp but clarity was a little clear for my liking over there, I'm sure the rain has drastically changed that now, however. I don't get over there near as much as i want to or used to be able to, so i cherished my day, especially having that success with dad.

This will be getting away from Pomme de Terre Lake, but in regards to the Pomme River, this dropped pin area is good for fall crappie and fall and spring whites (and for my buddy last fall, hybrids, sucked missing out on that one.) From the pin, going upriver to the first riffle is a good area for whites. The term first riffle should be used loosely though, that depends on Truman level and if there is a wet spring they will let that resevoir climb and climb and climb. On that note, MoPan, do you know if Ameren pays the Core to hold that really high sometimes to prevent property damage along the shores of LOZ?

None that I could see MoCarp. I assume you're bringing a bowfishing possibility to the table? Correct me if I'm wrong. I would find a bowfishing cause real hard to believe.

You've got that right.... I wasn't willing to drag a bloated fish into the boat to measure it but I'd say all were keepers and some easily going past the 2 foot mark.

Was down evening of 3rd through evening of the 4th and saw between 10 and 20 dead walleye (and that was only at the end of each arm/dam area, there's probably many more) and probably 1/3 to 1/2 as many muskie that were dead and floating in the water. Looked at some news online and they are talking about the heat accompanied with so little rain causing this at another lake further north I believe. Causing low oxygen I think it said. As slow as this lake brought white bass back (if you are a believer they're back), a die-off of those 2 species would be terrible. I checked before posting because I figured MoPan would have the scoop on it already but I didn't see anything.

Female agent in person told us the steel bridge at Orleans was the legal dividing line. Best I can remember I double checked with an email to MDC and it was the same story. But there's nothing like checking for yourself.

That's how it goes for me Seth.... Love to fish. Lots to learn. Haha. Guy I work with caught them shooting docks Tuesday so I didn't know how many I would find from the bank but the weather was too nice to just sit around home. But generally speaking, any given day most people can outfish this guy.

Went down last night (evening of 12th) to hopefully find and catch spawning crappie from the bank around McCubbins Point area. Found 7 total, 3 that would've kept. So it was definitely a slower trip than I wanted but I couldn't keep from trying after 2 warm days with sunshine. Lake is lower than usual for mid-April, best my mind can recall anyway. And I don't have temp readings for you guys, sorry. The fish I did catch weren't picky on jig color. Had a good time. Some rain and continued warmth should really get things going. Saddest part of the whole trip was catching 4 of those 7 in the last 5 minutes I was there, but the wife was with me and we needed to leave to go pick up our daughter. Tomorrow, (depending on what the weather today does) we will chase the whites.

For our crew the combined total from Taylor's area today (3-24) was right at 15. Only one dink. 6 females when we cleaned them but several of the males were just as big. My father had a "hot streak" late morning where he caught 3 or 4 in 7 or 8 casts i think but otherwise it was very slow. Slower retrieval and lighter leadheads helped but nothing was magic. Few largemouth also. Several trying it this morning and it was looking difficult for everyone, couple guys doing much better than us though. Water was a little too clear for what I like but according to the forecast that's going to change.

I sank a silverado to the skidplate one night by the old bridge pillars. Where there is gravel it is usually fine, I just made a bad decision and it was my fault. If the lake is low, you can pull past the little "parking circle" (4wd is necessary) and get closer or if the lake is high you could manhandle your boat to the water easily. Walking is no problem. Just be careful becuase even if an area looks okay just rememeber that sometimes the COE keeps the lake at or right above normal pool or higher for months into years and that stuff almost never fully dries out. Experience and long night taught me, I had to have a buddy come pull me out. Good luck and be careful.

Good info riverhyker. Mostly just a curiosity question on my end, highly unlikely that I will ever do that with my kayak. But I've wondered about that for a long time. Thanks for sharing.

Will, if I recall correctly the language on DOR website is "any vessel powered by means other than oars" (or something like that) has to get registered and have a sticker. So.... not to change subject or get off topic, but let's say someone buys a kayak with square stern area for trolling motor mount? Are they exempt? Maybe I'm wrong (I probably am), but I didn't think kayaks came with titles....? Maybe you just fill out a title application with HID/VIN.....? I am honestly curious to know after a guy at work and I had this conversation earlier today. I've only ever purchased one kayak, and it was used.

Shrapnel, I'm glad you brought it up, at least I don't feel like the only surprised one this way. After a week of work I ran down tonight in the glaize around army rec and my heart sank when I got close enough to see the chocolate milk that replaced the lake water. I put in and exercised the motor to make sure everything was in working order for when conditions are right, but as for this evening.... didn't stay long and got skunked. I'd say visibility was at max 5 inches. Saw water temps 47 to 51.

Shad on a spoon for crappie Oldplug? What size spoon? Never targeted them that way before... sounds interesting.

Since you didn't mention it I will provide you this. 660-438-7317. Listen to the prompts and press 2. Government stuff so it is rarely ever updated on weekends and holidays. And they can change things a lot in your 1.5 hr drive. Also look at this website, (it looks better on an actual computer web browser than a phone) http://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/nwk/lakepool.txt But I'm in the same boat as far as living far away. I like to see truman on the forecast online showing anywhere between like 16,000 and 32,000 cfs. It is fishable anywhere from 0 to mid 30,000s in my opinion. Much over that and it is difficult to fish depending on where you are in the spillway. Use the online forecast and the phoneline to help make a trip decision. Also, on the phone, most guys will note if the water is over the spillway or generation or split between the 2. And if they run 22,000 cfs for 3 weeks straight after a flood, week 3 will rarely be as good as the first 4-5 days in my opinion because the fish get used to that flow. Just my thoughts and opinions on stuff, there are guys on here that are way better fishermen than me. I'm always torn on when to go. Traveled before and done great, traveled before and beem skunked too. Hope this helps.

Not quite MOPan. But you'll just have to trust me on how delicious they were, even without taters and onions.

If anybody is curious, the water was merky but we managed several suckers and didn't go hungry. Tasted great cooking them on the bank. Several dead trout in the river we saw as we went up and down too. Buddy said they had probably done water treatment of some sort that caused it. But there were several smallmouth and goggleye sightings too. Along with couple muskrats. All in all a great night. Even sheared a prop pin and had that taken care of in less than 10 minutes. No more gigging this year, and with bow season over there is one thing to look forward to, spawning whites.

Wondering if anybody knew the clarity of the niangua above or below Bennett? Friends and family told me the gasconade was too merky to gig last night. I would like to squeeze in one last trip before season ends but tonight is my only chance. If anybody has any info i would appreciate it.

Oneshot, as much as it seems that you like to rod and reel fish for catfish and suckers, I have to agree with Wrench on Mayfield Springs access. Haven't been there in a few years but that hole is huge compared to most of the water I grew up fishing. Right at the access a riffle dumps into the giant hole. Riffle is lined with bedrock and not gravel (at least it used to be), my assumption is that is why that hole has remained so deep, no gravel to get washed in with every flood. That bedrock ruined a gigging trip for me one night many years ago as we headed upstream. Poor lower unit... Also, if you want to walk a short distance, there is an old road that had been blocked off at one point on the right as you head down to the access. But if I remember correctly, it is a tall, steep bank at the river where the road ends.

I've not been yet this year, but a friend from work has been to Bennett at least 2 times and got fish both times but water at the ramp was low, swift, and made putting in and taking out a pain.

Haven't been able to try much but I have had zero luck with the whites.

I know nothing about walleye fishing but when I luck into the occasional one I thoroughly enjoy it. Usually just a bonus fish while catching spawning whites in the springtime for me. Caught my personal best on the lake Sunday night. (Other news about short crappie remains the same. Couple keepers but nothing major.) Got on here to post this and had to read the stockton blog about successful walleye fishing from guys who actually know what their doing. Had me a little jealous.

Went with my brother Thursday evening. Weather was beatiful, got started about an hour before dark and fished until about 11. Breeze was strong enough early on to keep the bugs away but as we went into the night it slowed and they started bothering us a lot more. Anchored on the edge of the flat and caught crappie on minnows and jigs both. Caught them 8 feet down all the way to the surface when they were interested in chasing a jig. we were in about 10-12 foot of water. Honestly, the goal was white bass feeding on that flat but did not even catch a single one of those. Only 6 crappie would've kept out of probably over 50 that we caught. The keepers were far away from monsters too, biggest was barely over 9.5 inches. Bonus fish was a decent largemouth for my brother and about a 1 lb flathead that i caught on a jig. We stayed busy so it was fun even though that keeper percentage hurts the morale some. Rain had moved through earlier that day so I'm wondering if that hurt us a little. And a question for you guys.... The minnows I bought from Trading Post at Carson's Corner were literally the smallest minnows I have ever used. Some were probably less than 3/4" in length. They still caught fish but I had never purchased any that small before. Anybody else?

With the lake low you can walk out onto a big rock flat by the northwest end of the 245 bridge. South side is a bluff face with deep water. North side is a shallower cove, might be good for spawning crappie (I can't speak to that personally because I've never tried it there). I've caught whites from the bank there in the fall on a day when the wind was blowing into that area. Should be a good area to catch a variety of fish.

I haven't been in 2-3 weeks but when I was there last time we could not get past the old bridge pillars in a small boat with a short shaft 3 hp johnson. Didn't get stuck but certainly were churning lots of mud. I think a flatbottom with a jet, kayak, or canoe are your only options at this point. That being said the lake is nearly identical level now, maybe couple inches lower even. I can't personally comment on the bite near there since I haven't been but some friends caught about 65% of a limit Saturday and went back yesterday and caught only one keeper. Still early enough that things haven't been consistent. At least not for those guys in that area. Perhaps other people have had different luck.