countryred

It may sound weird but I think those snakes are pretty cool. We have copperheads and a few rattlers up here and as long as you don't mess with them , things go fine. There are plenty of hiding spots along all those rocks and bluffs. My only concern would be coasting through a riffle and getting swept into a tree that has one in it Scooper- our 10 acres is just up the road from Bunker

Hawgs!!!!!

Sounds like you had a great trip Al. Some days the fish take a while to start biting. Smallies on a topwater really make your heart race.

Your 1st tournament, have fun with it! Don't worry about winning or where you place, just go fishing. The fish should be in full blown early summer patterns by then which means look for Main lake points. Drag a carolina rig around those points anywhere from 6' to 25' deep, A 10" worm or brush hog is good too when you find some brush on those points. I am a jig man so I always throw a 7/16 oz Eakins jig out there too. If the boat trafiic get too bad out on the main lake , head into the bigger coves and creeks near the weigh in and fish secondary points and docks at the same depth range. You don't want to have to make a long run back to the weigh in once the big boats start churning up the water. You can catch some topwater fish early then but over the years I found you can catch better quality on those structure fish. You can also have some fun pitching a single tailed grub to the shady outside corners of the docks to catch some big Kentuckies. Some throw them on spinning tackle but I used a 7' pitching rod and rigged them on a ton monsoor jighead. Not sure where you are launching .........

way to go ! congrats

Welcome aboard. Having fun is what it is all about.

Welcome aboard. The LOZ is a great place to fish. I used to fish it all the time but still try to hit it onve a year, if possible. I really like the far ends of the lake, from the Gravois to the dam and from Deer creek to Truman.

Frog fishing is exciting. Stiff rod and braid helps. Also when a blow up occurs, reel fast until you feel weight and bust'em.

No perfect answer. Would the permits limit the number of people due to price? I doubt it, they are already spending big $$ just driving down from the big city. Would it be safer? Don't know, common sense can't be taught. Some people do need some pointers though. Limiting numbers per day, hard to do and enforce. It would raise the price per float I am sure, but it would be unfair for the ones who have their own rigs. I grew up a country kid, not all that fond of big crowds. Whats funny though , is that some of the folks out of the Big cities get there with 200 plus canoes around them wall to wall and think of it as normal. I used to fish Lake of the Ozarks all the time but after mid May until after Labor day it wasnt worth it. Too many lake dorks, making big waves and causing trouble. I agree Al,....the river dorks spoil it for all of us.

I used to fish bass tournaments every weekend. Probably 25 flat tackleboxes and duffel bags full of plastics. I gave that up a few years ago but still do some pond hopping, creek fishing, and go with a buddy out in his boat once in a while. I have a smallmouth box, full of heads,jigs, hooks, sinkers, toothpicks, jerkbaits and topwaters. I keep a small bag just for the my smallie plastics like craws, grubs, tubes, and finnese worms. I also have a largemouth box, full of jigs, texas rig stuff, a few bagley crankbaits, a buzbait or two, and a few spinnerbaits. There is another bag for plastics like 7-10 worms, chunks, senkos, etc My smallie box also works good for panfishing. I still have tons but a lot of my buddies have depleted my old baits that I don't use and just happen to be hot at the time.

yep,,,looks like one to me

Beautiful fish ! Love the coloring. Glad she got turned loose to get bigger and make more smallies.

Steve Wilson is a good guide there. Great time to fish , you can catch spawners sight fishing, flip the backs of docks, carolina rig secondary points.

Release fish areas always seem to have way bigger numbers but many unhealthy fish. The glaize has a tremendous amount of fish in the 15-17" range , plenty of big ones too. I don't think they travel back that far, and some years good areas get depleted and other areas get hot. I remember when Millstone was a big weigh in site and alot of guys fished around it. My old home lake , Mark Twain , had areas that always produced even though they were not close to the weigh in areas. I think it was due to them being the best spawning areas.

Congrats ! looks like you have a future fishing buddy !

Years ago, I was staying in Kimberling City visiting a buddy of mine who was fishing the BASS Elites and while they were out fishing I drove up to a small town, Galena, I think ,and caught several decent smallmouths around the boat ramp and an old bridge. Drifting zoom critter craws in the current with a 1/8 oz wt. It was in september if I remember right.

May seems to be the key month, and it lasts off and on for a while.

When I have seen it, the shad will follow your lure back to the boat. You will see them flipping around real close to the bank and most times it's early in the morning or when its cloudy. The best day I ever had on Mark Twain was during a shad spawn situation. I threw a white spinnerbait with big white blades along shallow weeds on mud flats. 13 keepers and 5 over 5 pounds.

The water has more color in LOZ than the Rock, making it easier to fish. LOZ always seems to have a dock bite with jigs, with many other patterns mixed in. The Rock does have better sized Kentuckies, on average, than LOZ,and they can really stack up at times and the smallmouth fishing is pretty good too. If its pure numbers of bites per day, I might go with the Rock, but for average size,,,the LOZ.

I always used 20 or 25 lb test. They bite at the bait that has a heavy wire so the line size doesnt play much of a role . If the water is real clear, use a green line.

The Niangua arm is a great place to fish. I would imagine there is some color in the water there. I would throw a bright colored crankbait between the docks and a black and blue jig or tube bait around the shallow brush and the back sides of the docks. The areas that I would key on are transition from chunk rock to pea gravel and secondary points. The coves right around the Larry Gale access seemed to produce last time I was in there, but its been a while.

What happened to it? Broken bill?

Thanks Al, I don't mind them as long as I see them in time. We have a fair amount of copperheads here.Some of them have an attitude. My wife's not fond of any of them so she carries her Ruger with her. I am sure there is some of all those snakes with all the downed trees and rock piles on our new property.

We bought our property from United Country in Mountain View. UC has a pretty good website.

Theres a bunch. There is a good cove midlake. In florida behind the mark twain birthplace shrine. Shell Branch has several good pockets just north of the boat ramp. More timber there. Get a good map and look for the hunter/ fisherman gravel parking lots,,some have no ramps. If there are some good coves close by your are fixed up. We used to really catch them in gravel pockets around brush. The key to catching the bigger ones was fishing the bigger trees out off the bank where you find alot of males shallow.