nomolites

I fish for hybrids/stripes a lot on LOZ but as others state above I rarely catch true stripers but the hybrid fishing can be pretty good. The trick is finding them amd staying with them and that is easier said than done. They are a hoot to catch as they usually get a tad upset when they find they are connected to a boat; better have that drag set correctly and no frays in your line....

No, the brush pile bite is a sinking mans game. I've seen a lot of new ones in good spots this year though...

There is always the turd(Ned) in PB&J. You will catch fish on that thing if they are there although there will be a lot of shorts. I threw one with a 1/16 mushroom on 6# test a couple weeks ago on the lower end and it was ridiculous how many fish I caught - the lighter head was the deal as it would just tick bottom if it ever made it that far before getting bit. If that won't catch them, they ain't there. Mike

There are plenty in LO please come and get them; they keep snagging up my walleye offerings and are quite a nuisance. That said, I will remain concerned primarily with what I am doing as I find that can be challenging enough. Please carry on. Mike

I know Lakeview Resort is about a half mile east of the MDC ramp; they have their own ramp and docks. Don't know of much off the water on that side myself. Mike

Nice report; my sometime partner sure likes those quackers too! Mike

The fish kissing is critical and I love it as well as I seeing a youngster get into fishing! I spent many days as a kid looking for the next bite and I have not outgrow it. Very nIce report, as you say the fishing was surprisingly good if you could tolerate the boat traffic. Mike

Fished from Gibson in the Gravois to the dam this week targeting walleye and crappie. Struggled with the walleye as usual but caught some excellent crappie dragging cranks at 28-32 ft over 60+ FOW as they are gorging themselves on fry; you could see the clouds of fry with the crappie working them over on the 2D and every fish we cleaned was just full of them. We had two 15" fish and a number 14+ with the majority in the 12" range. There are a few holding at 15' but the good ones were deeper. Bass were on fire and we caught a number of incidental keeps on The Ned in PB&J fishing main lake and secondary point transitions - had several fours and one pushing 5; if I were actually bass fishing I would Texas rig a 10" Power Worm in tequila sunrise and fish those points from 5-20'. I did still see some fry shallow but looked like more were suspended in the basins. Caught oodles of catfish bouncing for walleye in addition to the nuisance drum. I only fished the Ned for a couple hours in total and have included a couple pics for the lovers on the board; I will say it was non stop action with that thing tied on! Mike

Glad you started getting some action your way! They are DEEP on the lower end for this time of year; brother and I did catch ours yesterday morning but only after breaking out the lead core and serving up the cranks at 25-35 ft deep. Had some real nice ones in the mess close to 15" - don't know if it is the boat traffic or what pushing them down. This morning we decided to pitch PBJ Ned's and caught a ton of green fish, mostly small, with 3 keeps and a 16 lb carp - I can see why they chase them in Europe as it was quite a tussle on an ultralight. Hope to get out this evening and catch our crappie and a few bonus fish. Mike

Yes, on "the" bait. Mike

We still have fish spawningon the North Shore. I have heard people talk about night spawning and I believe this is the first time I have ever seen it. We have a large dock over 25 FOW in a pea gravel cove with a mature crappie bed beneath; the area between the dock and the shoreline is littered with beds that are empty during the day. Later in the afternoon males move on those beds and the females must be coming in after dark; I have never seen that before. You can't buy a bite vertical jigging over brush(really unusual) under the dock but we have still been able to go out and catch good fish pulling cranks deep during the day at 18-21 suspended over the basin in deeper water. Nothing shallow. Most of the fish are females and have not yet spawned but are ready. My wife and I caught ours in a few hours Saturday, not fast and furious as is sometimes the case-just steady. Caught this toad while we were at it.

Lots of surface shad activity in the mornings. Try topwaters or a floating jerker early. Later in the day I would be throwing plastics. Little Rizzo's is near you and they have good pizza and Italian. There are tons of other options out there

That is a nice blue; I suspect I know what she fell for...?

Very nice indeed!

Was fortunate enough to meet a very nice young man yesterday. Conor and I fished N Buck from about 9:30 to noon yesterday and I think we had 22 keeps and a handful of shorts on the aforementioned wart pattern. WT was 69-71. Fish were scattered off gravel secondaries at 15' over 25-30 FOW. We had another boat insert itself into our loop early on but that happens occasionally - I'll take that as a compliment in this case. Tried casting for walleye later with no success but did pick up seven big whites on a stickbait - they were still fat with eggs. This morning fished two different pockets close to the house and had a limit of nice female crappie( except one) doing the same thing; the fish in the creeks were spawned out and toward the main lake they were ready to drop. Mike

I had a bass derby on the 25th and caught a number of 13+ crappie and a nice 'eye on the jerkbaits casting wimd blown inside turns on the 24th and 25th. That is when I started to see the suspended fish moving into the basins chasing shad...it should be on right now for trolling. Better late than never....

Troll cranks through suspended fish off the bank in the spawning basins. You can catch the females holding on the way in and the way out. See what depth they are suspended and pick a bait that runs there and go. Believe it or not, a wiggle wart in one of the UV pink or orange patterns is tough to beat as you can fish it 10-24 ft deep depending on how much line you give it. In my experience, big crappie simply can't pass it up. Mike

Many boats launching??

lol

Property is sure cheaper; anything on the lake is a bit pricy. Been looking for a couple years for the right spot to retire(good water, protected, ice free, good price, lower end, etc.) and have not found one that has everything I want. Have seen many beautiful spreads off the water, reasonable. I will say that I trailered over to Shawnee Bend last week and that's another nice ramp....

X4.

We have an awesome crappie bed I feed under our dock and have never shooed anyone away-keep it up for mom and the nephews and don't fish it myself. Have never had any issues with any thieving, but I don't leave the 'bird on the ram at night or any high dollar rigs on deck to tempt marginally honest folks. Fish? Have lost a many to coons, otters, and even a blue heron in live cages. To save trouble they usually go from the boat livewell to the knife to the freezer. If you must use a cage, sink it deep/have a complicated latch or rocky will get them every time. Mike

I have found things to be tough as well. I have caught all my big crappie on a jerk bait while fishing for bass and have only scraped out limits the last our or two before dark-two fish here, three fish there, etc. On the flip side, I fished a bass derby today(1 four pounder is all) and finally started seeing suspended crappie and shad in the coves; that should spell better fishing. Mike

I fished for about an hour and a half Saturday evening and cleaned 7 males and 2 females 11+; they were holding deeper than I expected with the males suspended off the banks on dock corners and the females holding to a bit deeper over brush. I found myself bracketed front and back by bass boats looking for crappie at each stop which is not normal - BBB playas I'm sure. While water temps were 64-65 the only thing on the banks were buck bass. Mike

Agreed Bill, we usually get what we pay for. I know the first T7 I bought was at a show in St. Louis for $139.99, but I'll allow it was more than a "couple" years ago. That was my 6-10 stickbait rod and the weight and balance convinced me to buy several more and I know none of them were over $179.99 so I'll just consider myself a good shopper.(Not really, but it sounds good - I tend to buy what I want when I need it-borderline impulsive) For years the only spinning setup I had was the UL Falcon but when I got into walleye fishing I realized my casting rods just didn't fit the bill for many presentations. These days I usually have more spinners than casters on the deck; good thing I've got plenty of rod storage...and if the St. Croix is a bust my wife will get it and I'll do a little more economic stimulation with Falcon.