whiteley.matt

Fished from 7 until around 3 with full intentions of trying to get a few crappie. That did not work out. Ended up getting skunked on those. Did however find white bass that just wouldn't quit. Ended up catching 52 and left with them still biting. Gave the whites a short break this afternoon and did catch 10 largemouth, 3 keepers, on a rockcrawler parralleling some chunk rock banks with some wind. Went back and the whites were still going until I left. All the whites came on an A-rig. Had probably 16 or so whites that were over 15". This post has been promoted to an article

Nice job on the crappie. I fished sons and all I could catch were whites. Had 52 white bass and 10 largemouth.

Prettymuch what everyone else is saying. I fished Sons creek arm and water was 57-59. Water was fairly clear until You get way up the river arm.

Very nice! I am heading up tomorrow. Fishing for bass and or crappie, which ever wants to bite.

I am heading up tomorrow. Gonna launch at Mutton but havnt decided which direction Im gonna go yet. Will be fishing for bass and crappie, whichever wants to bite. Will reply tomorrow with some details on the water conditions.

Fished for 4 days and the fishing was steady every day except for Thursday the 22nd. Here is a quick recap for each day. Thursday 3/22 Launched at Baxter at 7 and loaded the boat around 3:30. Fished from Campbell's Point all the way to Mill Creek launch at Kimberling. Covered a lot of water with little to show for it. Ended the day only catching 3 with 1 being a keeper Kentucky. Not really much to say. We threw cranks, spinnerbaits, a-rigs, and neds to no avail. Luckily, this was the worst day and it got better from there. Friday 3/23 Launched at Moonshine at 7 and fished until around 4 or so. Fished from the dam almost to Kimberling City. I think we ended up with 16-18 or so fish and had 6 keepers. The fish were split pretty evenly between a jerk bait and the a-rig. The jerkbait fish were all coming from cedar trees on the outside of pockets and cuts. This is what all the better fish from the weekend came on. Lost one that would have been around 5lbs on Friday. Got it almost to the boat and it decided to take a turn into one of the previously mentioned cedars. Did get the megabass jerk bait back though. The a-rig fish were scattered. Out deep off of points and also caught several casting right up to the bank and slow rolling it back. Best 5 that made it in the boat would have been around 12 lbs maybe. Saturday 3/24 Launched at Moonshine and started the day in Spring branch. Worked the first couple of points and pockets and had a limited by 8am using both a-rig and jerk bait. Shortly after 8 we caught our big fish of the weekend. 4.76 largemouth out of a cedar tree on the jerk bait again. It was good enough to place 3rd for the hourly weigh in and win us our entry fee back. Fished several pockets around the dam and then back up towards spring branch the rest of the day. Ended up with 15 fish and had probably 10 keepers. The bite really died off for us after around 11:45 or so. Only a couple of fish after that. Sunday 3/25 Fished same locations as Saturday, but, much slower early on. Managed only a couple of fish by 10:30 or so. Switched up to just chucking the a-rig and did manage to start catching some with some consistency. Mostly smallies. Ended the day with around 16 or so with 8 keepers. Of the 8 keeper fish 6 were smallies. Most of them looked like they were about to pop. They were all in that 8-10 foot range and were just crushing the a-rig. Could not get them to hit anything else. Here are some of the fish from the weekend. Had pretty good weather, caught some fish, and spent some time on the water with some good friends so it was definitely a successful weekend. This post has been promoted to an article

Sounds like I picked the wrong body of water. I flipped a coin on Wednesday between Table Rock and Stockton and ended up at Stockton. Was hoping for a crank or spinnerbait bite but that was not in the cards there. Water there was dirty but not terrible, but, did not get a bite in any of the brown water. Went north to some cleaner water and managed 8 fish, with 4 keepers. Wednesday was a beautiful day and I did catch some fish so I'll take it.

Fished all day and ended up with 8 fish, 4 of which were keepers. Also had one white. Launched around 8 out of Mutton Creek, water was pretty dirty. Fished for a couple of hours on the main lake around Mutton without a nibble. Decided to go North to get out of the mud. All of my fish were caught in the back of Hawker. Chunk rock banks 15-18 feet and all came on the A-rig. Water temp was 43-44. Could not get bit on ned, jerkbait, or jig. For most of the day it was dead calm with just a slight breeze, then later in the day the wind picked up a bit. Did not seem to help the bite though. Was a beautiful day out and got to set the hook a few times, so it was a success. The water starts to clear up about halfway between Mutton and the bridge. The really muddy water in the main channel is a bit warmer than off in the creeks. It was 48-49 and then would drop to 43-44 once you pulled off into a cove. The first pic is at the Mutton Creek ramp. The other pic is at the mouth of Hawker. These are the 4 keepers. Nothing special, just 15-16". And the white Banks like this were the only places I could get bit. The real chunky rock on a steep bank. This post has been promoted to an article

Launched at Shell Knob bridge at 6:00 and headed up to Mill Creek. First hour was slow. Lots of activity chasing shad but was only had a couple of bites on top-water. Worked our way around to the main lake point on the west side of the mouth of Mill Creek and fish were absolutely stacked there. We started off catching them on a War Eagle spinner bait and a jerk bait. That bite transitioned to a shaky head paired with a speed craw or baby brush hog and a Ned as the day went on. These fish were located right on the drop off into the main channel and didn't stray to far from it. If you got to far away from that in either direction you were not getting bit. (Attached is a pic, between the two red lines was the hot spot.) If you were in the right area you could catch fish from the shoreline in 2 foot of water all the way out to 30 foot of water. At times the fish would be higher in the water column and at others they would be on the bottom (Didn't think to get a pic of this). When they were higher you could get bit on spinner bait or small swim bait. When they dropped to the bottom the Ned and shaky head were the bait of choice. These fish were there all day, we left at 4:00pm and pulled off of that point still catching fish. Would not be surprised if these fish are there for a while. They seemed to be feeding on any and everything. Had several that were spitting up shad, several that had craws in there throat and then several that spit up both. One thing I noticed that I thought was interesting was that we never saw a school of shad show up on the graph. Shad were everywhere, you could see them all over the surface and the fish were clearly feeding on them. I assume they just were just scattered and weren't schooled up is why they didn't really show up on the graph. We ended the day with 70+ fish between the three of us. Biggest fish came on the Ned and was 3.75. (She had a rough go, had a tore up gill and several dings on her body) Ended the day with maybe 8 keepers and best 5 was around12 lbs. or so. All of the fish we caught with the exception of maybe 10 or so came off of that point. Not many fish with any size, but, fun catching. Surprisingly, it was a pretty even mix of spots and largemouth. Did have 1 smallie and 1 walleye that hit a spinner bait. Water was 73 at launch and 77 when we left at 4. There was quite a bit of debris in the main channel with a lot of it being very large logs in the morning. When we left the wind had pushed a lot of it to the shoreline. Hopefully I'm not giving away someone's spot. Just trying to pass on some info that could help someone else have as much fun as we did.

Split time fishing Aunts creek and around the dam last Thursday thru Sunday and threw the a-rig quite a bit. Had 15-20 fish on it each day. Had 4 fish in the 4.5 - 5 lb range fishing it Thursday and Friday. (When it didn't count) Saturday and Sunday had same quantity but no size. Biggest on those day were 3.75 and 3.5. Partner threw jerkbait and caught as many or more with that. On Thursday and Friday we had a 3rd guy in the boat with us and he threw the ned all day both days and that caught the most fish numbers wise.

5-20 Baxter Area Launched at 6 and ran right out to the point. With the conditions I had high hopes of some serious topwater action. But, for 45 minutes there was no surface activity and I didnt even get a sniff. I motored across the way to the bluff to see how that was. I notice that right along the bluff wall there basically a 12" layer of small shad. Millions of them. I was throwing a spinner bait and a ball of them would follow all the way up to the boat. Did this for about 30 minutes with several different baits and nothing. Decided to head back across to the point because I knew they had to be there. This time they did not disappoint. They were busting all over the point. I was throwing a strike king sexy dawg and was picking up a few, but not like I should have been. I picked up ned and it was lights out. Was pulling spots and smallies every cast. In the midst of that landed a walleye as well. Fish were all spitting up 2" shad, one is pictured. Most of the fish were in the 12"-14" range with a few squeaker keepers. This lasted several hours. Bounced around in that area the rest of the day with similar results. Ended the day with over 60 fish and maybe 5 or 6 keepers. A few on spinnerbait, swimbait, and topwater but most of them on ned. Was out with a couple college buddies who dont get to fish much, so it was perfect. Ned is their new favorite lure. 5-21 Coves below Chateau Went out for a few hours before I headed home Saturday. Got out at 630 and the topwater was blowin up on the main lake point. Caught 10 or so, all spots and smallies. Once fog lifted switched to the ned and caught about that many more before calling it quits. Lots of pleasure boats out that dont care if you are there fishing.

Fished from 7:00 to 3:30. We ended the day with 14 total and 4 keeps. 1 of the keeps was a 4lb smallmouth, so that made the day better. Half of the fish were on secondary wind blown points and the other half were back in cuts. We caught them on a mix of ned, jig, spinnerbait and a-rig. The smallmouth was the only fish I caught on a jig. Okeechobee color with green pumpkin speed craw trailer in about 5 fow. The spinnerbait fish were on isolated cedars in about 25 fow. Those came on a mouse spinnerbait slow rolled on the down wind side. The last part of the day my partner picked up the a-rig and caught a couple of spots on it. Threw a wiggle wart, rock crawler, jerkbait, wobble head and a grub with out a sniff. One thing I noticed, especially in Cow Creek, was that in the longer cuts there were a lot of fish sitting right down the middle towards the back of the cut. They were in the back 3rd of the cut usually in 20-25 fow. They were sitting 5 ft or so from the bottom. We threw several different things at them, but, couldn't get them interested. We found several different locations with this exact same scenario. It was a little cooler than expected, but, was still a great day to be out on the water enjoying God's beautiful creation.

Launched the boat this morning around 7 from moonshine. Brian Snowden's truck was there in the lot when we arrived. It was still there when we left at 245 as well. The storm must not have bothered him. Fished several different spot with the same results. Water temps were 53ish pretty much everywhere. Ended the day with 11 total and 6 keeps. Best five went 16 lbs. The biggest was a 4.25 lb lm. Also had a very nice spot that was just over 3 lbs. Had several smallies but none with too much size, biggest was right at 15". Every single bite today came on the A-rig. Threw wobble head, jig, spinner, crank, and jerkbait with out a sniff. We actually probably could have caught a few more had we not been so stubborn trying to get bit on spinners and cranks. Every fish also came from the exact same type bank and similar locations. (My partner is fishing the derby this weekend so I will withhold that for now) We actually tried bearing through the storm (spent about 30 minutes in a dock during the first wave) At about 2 or so after the first front went through and before the 2nd one moved in they appeared to be possibly turning on. We pulled in on a spot and pulled 3 short fish on 5 casts. All had mouthfuls of small shad. But that's when the lightening started in and you could hear the static in our line so we called it good. Pics are of the biggest 3.

Just so everyone knows, I agree with everything you are saying about the fish being out of the water, laying on the carpet, and all of that. These were not my fish. If I am not keeping a fish its back in the water as quickly as I can get it there. I will snap a photo as soon as I get it free of the hooks. I personally don't like it when bass are kept, but that's my opinion, but for those who catch them and want to keep them, that's your call. All I know about these fish are what he told me. I can also say that I know this guy eats a lot of fish, but, I have never known him to keep a bass for eating unless it was not going to make it anyways. Didn't mean to stir up an argument either way. I have plenty of friends who feel that a fish is a fish and if they catch it they are eating it and making any statement otherwise gets an argument started that never ends.

I did find out that these were all jerkbait fish. He also said that they are all back in the water and seemed just fine. They found several schools of fish deep, but, were only able to catch one short with a spoon.

This is a second-hand report from a friend. Dont have all the details yet, but, they had a very good day yesterday around Big M. They had solid fish all day. His plan was jerkbaits and jigs, have not confirmed if thats what these were on. Will fill in details later.

We were in Little Indian most of the day. Then ran down to Wolf Pen for the last couple hours. (Which is where the 2 fish came from) Came across maybe 6 other boats all day.

Launched at about 8:30 and got loaded at about 4:30. It was a tough go for us to say the least. Fished everything from the Ned to the A-rig. Ended up boating 2 fish. 1 good largemouth and 1 keeper kentucky. Largemouth on war eagle spinnerbait out of a flooded bush and the kentucky on the Ned in about 20 ft of water off a bluff end. Found several schools of fish deep but never could get bit. Tried both spoons and drop shots. Water was 44-47 degrees and pretty dirty.

I am going to be giving it a go Saturday as well. Have pretty much the same game plan in mind. Hopefully we can find something. What part of the lake are you going to be fishing? We are launching from Big Indian. Going to start there around Baxter and work our way back towards Kimberling. This will be our first time out since back in November so, pretty anxious to get on the water.

Fished from 6:30 til about 9:30 or so in Big Clifty arm both mornings and had a great time. Had a 7 year old with us each morning and it worked out great for catching some fish. The backs of the creeks are filled with balls of bait fish and the small spots and smallmouth are all over them. Was throwing topwaters and swimbaits. I was throwing a pro blue colored Bass Pro Speed shad alternated with a spook and my cousin and his boy were throwing some Pop-R's. I would say we caught close to 25 fish each morning, the biggest maybe going 12 inches, but was still a lot of fun. The 7 year olds new favorite way to fish is with topwater. We did see several good fish busting the schools but never got hooked up with any of them. It was definitely a perfect setup for taking the little man out and getting him on some fish. Before we found the fish in the back of the creeks we had caught a few spots on some main and secondary points using the Ned rig. It was pretty slow though. Tried dragging a jig and using a drop shot as well and never had any luck with those.

Put in right at 7 at Ruark and ran up to Googer to start the day. The water had good color and was not brown at all. Temp was 51-53 while we were there. Fished the south bank and got nothing until we got all the way to the split at the back. Caught 3 in a row on pb&j jig with pumpkin trailer. 2 of the 3 were keepers that were right at 15". After that flurry it slowed for a bit and then was able to catch another keeper on shakey head with watermelon red trick worm and then another short on square bill. After that we ran up to Birch Branch and never got bit on anything. The water here and on up the Sac river was still very brown. The temp was 54 when we started and was 58 when we left. The rest of the day the wind really picked up and we bounced around hitting bluffs in the Sac river arm that had a manageable amount of wind. Doing this we caught 4 on spinnerbaits, another 4 pitching a wobble head with a black and blue sweet beaver right up against the bluff and letting it fall. The fish we caught with the wobble head were right against the bluff, they had it on the initial fall or the first hop. Ended the day around 3 pm with 15 largemouth, 7 of which were keepers, one big female white and one drum. All of the keeper largemouth were just barely keepers right at 15", nothing with any size. All the fish we caught were in little flurries as well. If we caught one we would generally catch another one or two immediately. There were pretty big gaps between these flurries of fish. All in all, a good day on the water.

Got on the water around 7:30 last Friday morning at the Shell Knob bridge. Ran down to Mill creek and started fishing in Mill creek. Spent the first couple of hours between the first bend and the power lines. The shad were there sitting about 25 ft deep in 50-60 foot of water, and so were the bass. There wasn't a lot of surface activity so we went with the drop shot and spoons. Could not buy a bite on the spoon, but, they were all over the watermelon dream shot. With the overcast skies I had to try a topwater. Started with a spook and not much luck. Switched over to a Strike King Sexy Dawg Jr. and that was the ticket. My guess is that it was the rattles that made the difference. I was throwing it in 60 foot of water over the schools of shad. My partner stuck with the drop shot and was hooking up fairly consistently, but no where near what the topwater was doing. It was a mix of both Kentucky's and LM. Had to keep the boat out in around 60 ft of water and just make some long casts. Even though there wasn't much surface activity they were still coming up and killing it. We also fished in the mouth of Big Creek and the same pattern with the same results. In between the first couple secondary points they were all over. You just had to be out quite a ways to be on them. We saw countless boats fishing right up on the shoreline and never get a bite. We were a good 50-60 yards off the point and consistently catching fish. We had 3 fish in the 4 lb range that we didn't quite get into the boat. We only had 3 keeps that we landed. On the day we had around 50 fish and I would say 40 were on topwater. Most of the fish we caught were right in the 13-14 inch range and very very fat. Just an interesting tid bit, this was the first trip in a while that we did not catch a single smallie. Water temp was 82 and shad were pretty much all around 25-30 ft in both Big Creek and Mill Creek.

That definitely sounds like the same scenario that we fished last week. Pretty much all of the baitfish we saw were small threadfin shad and they were all on or within 10' of the surface. The surface bite was also on when we were on them. We are going to head back out this Friday and see if we cant track them down again. Hopefully we can find them and get a good one to latch on.