Browning Guy

The James from Buttermilk up to Wooley was as nasty green (prior to this last flood) as I've seen it in a long time. To the point I won't let my kids swim at the dock. Right now, it's almost chocolate milk. Some big floaters making their way to Piney right now. Still seeing wake board/tuna rigs (not as many this past week).

Said it a hundred times.............. pack a cooler, lawn chair, sun screen and head to the ramps for pure entertainment. I asked a guy if he wanted some help loading at Mill one time and he looked at me like I insulted him. Meanwhile, we waited another 20 minutes for him to get his wife, kid and little lap dog onto the water as he waded out nipple high trying to rock the boat off the trailer. I suspect the guy with the $150,000 cruiser makes more money than I can imagine, but has little in the way of common sense or courtesy. Welcome to LOZ, uh, I mean TR.

The James between Cool Water and Buttermilk was out of control with goof balls running every direction this past weekend. Someone is going to get hurt because of the ignorance/arrogance of many of these "boaters". The water patrol blew through about 10:00 a.m. on Saturday while numerous people followed skiers, wake boarders and tubers less than 50-60 yards behind them. Wild, wild west of 30' - 40' cruisers. Meanwhile, LOZ shutdown boaters to idle speed to protect docks and shoreline. Think the Corp will protect TR? Not a chance, too much money affecting their decision.

Often said...... If you want to have a great day of laughs, pack a cooler, comfortable lawn chair and go to a busy boat ramp in the summer, sit your chair in 2-3 ft of water. Sit back, relax and enjoy the comedy. The sad part of it is these are the same folks out on the lake driving around like they own the lake. No respect, no clue, no courtesy. Check your latest bassmaster. Can't remember the fisherman, but there's a picture of a wakeboarder within 35 feet of his boat going down the bank on plane. Wouldn't want to see the guy get hurt, but a face plant after hitting a stump would have been karma. Tablerock is/has turned into Lake of the Ozarks. When gas was $4.35 a gallon, we didn't see the 30-50 footer ocean going running as much. The Corp of Engineers are more worried about having a 3' x 3' piece of foam on top of your dock or weed eating close to Corp land than 50 footers washing your dock up on the bank. (Yes, I have a story on that one).

That area, Piney, schoolhouse, cool water, wooley, buttermilk etc. has been difficult fishing for us the past two - three years. Not sure why. Numbers have been down and size down also. Water color prior to the flooding had been nasty bright green. Not sure if an algae bloom was taking place or not, but the color was just plain nasty looking. The upper river gets hammered. I've been taking my 9 year old down past Kimberling and doing much better on both numbers and size. Depending on the weather, shakey head, topwater and grubs. The nightcrawler/dropshot is an excellent recommendation, but bend the barbs down and/or cut the hooks off to help the fish out as the kids aren't always quick with a hook set. Keep taking those kids! A great way to grow and learn.

It's official - Highest crest of the James River since 1909 breaking the record. Gonna be a busy few days moving the dock at the lake. Will see if I can get a few pix of the 60/65 interchange when I pass through.

Look at the third picture under Mill Creek 5-26 by "HammerTime". The rear dorsal has the goo I mentioned to start this thread. Not bad compared to the fish I was catching up the mid James Point 11 + 12. They had the goo, but half of the fin was gone and bones sticking out. Not just one or two fins but every fin on some. Pre-spawn and not fanning yet in mid April. I haven't heard back from the Conservation Department. May need to resend the e-mail. Would love to know what's causing it. I haven't swam in the James for several years now. It used to be almost as clear as the water at the dam 25-30 years ago.

@ rps. Nice..... around your neck of the woods? Did you know J.D.? Spent many days with him and my dad back in the 70's & 80's growing up. Great memories. If you knew J.D. send me a private message and we can swap some stories. www.BrowningCollector.com

10 fish per boat??????

@arseanal1477. Yes, but the fish we had actually had the bones of the fins (all of them) sticking out 1/16th up to a 1/4" from the skin and all were very red. They were well nourished just looked nasty. I saw the same photo you reference and it looks like that fish maybe getting better. I sent an e-mail to MO Conservation and will relay the info if and when they respond. Not sure what the fish looked like years ago during the fish kill on TR. Hope we aren't looking at a repeat.

Anyone notice the fins on a few of the fish you are catching on TR? Three weeks ago I caught several in the mid James that had a fungus looking growth on their fins. A few were so bad that the end of the fins (all) were showing 1/4" of bone throughout the end of the fins with significant redness on the skin. At first thought it was due to spawning until further investigation and discovered a yellow/white fungus looking goo . Largemouths and Kents only haven't seen any on the small mouth. Fished a tournament this past Saturday and caught 2 keeper kents around KC and they had the same yuck. I put some keep alive in the live well hoping it would kill what ever they had or at least protect the other fish. Culled them out fairly quickly, but still didn't like putting them in the live well. Wonder what's causing it and if anyone else has seen the same? Took a picture of one and will try to download later.

Not sure if anyone ever does this, but if I gill hook a fish (not often), I keep 4 oz cans (kid size) of 7-up in the boat. If the fish is bleeding, simply pour the 7 Up over the wound and it immediately stops the bleeding. Not sure it has to be 7 Up, but that's what I had heard about over the years. Probably not a pleasant experience for the fish, but better than bleeding. As a test, after gill hooking a keeper with a stickbait, it was bleeding pretty good. I opened the can of 7 up and treated the wound then placed the fish in the live well in case it died (not wanting to go to waste). The end result with the post 7 up treatment....... released the fish after an hour or so and it swam away like nothing was wrong and the water in the live well was blood free. Has anyone used this or have information on the 7 Up treatment? I agree with bending the barb down when fun fishing. BEND THEM DOWN AND PROTECT OUR FISHERY so what if they get off every once in awhile. If played correctly, you don't loose as many fish as you might think. Great job bringing up deep hooking fish Jim. A powerful reminder that we need to take good care of the fish.

Nice work taking your dad out. I'm in the same boat so speak. Fished TR since I was 4, dad lives on the lake, boat on a lift, but seldom if ever goes out by himself as a 73 year old. I used to fish a lot of tournaments and enjoyed them, but nothing like taking dad and my kids out now. Glad you had a great day. Sometimes you just need to tell the boss you aren't coming in and take a mental health day. No regrets. I bet we live longer if we take the time. Nicely done. FYI, I've been doing better on bigger fish with a scrounger head in 15'-20'.

The Kings just above Viola yesterday. Waiting on more rain tonight (Thursday) and tomorrow. Calling for up to 3". Couldn't even get into our favorite pockets because the debris filled nearly all of them. Couldn't get to deer bluff because of all of the trash. A lot of large floaters just under the surface. Going to fish between Kimberling and the dam tomorrow and Saturday. The mid James and Big M was just to inconsistent for us the last few days. I like off color water, but the mud coming out of the James and Kings is way too much for me.

Put in at Shell Knob bridge on Tuesday (3/31) and ran up the kings. Fished for 4-5 hours and caught 8-10 fish. No specific pattern just hit and miss. As we went up further the water turned from good color to complete mud/red mud and massive amounts of debris floating everywhere. The main lake pockets were so full of debris you couldn't get in them to fish. The debris was so bad that we decided it wasn't worth the risk of destroying a lower unit and turned around (before deer bluff) and went up the white to Big M area. Caught a few shorts and 3 keepers (just). No pattern there either. The Corps was running four generators and the water had strong current (visible). On Wednesday (4/1) we put in below Kimberling City and caught a lot of shorts and 6-7 keepers with the largest at 3.5. Most were on the bluff ends or just inside the main lake pockets. Had to have deep water nearby. We caught a few on swing head, wiggle wart and even spinnerbait. Tried the ned thing but couldn't fish it because of the current and gave up on it. Where would I go if I were fishing again today? Kimberling to the Dam and concentrate on the bluff ends and main lake pockets. Clouds and wind? wiggle wart and spinner bait. No wind or clouds? swing head out deeper. I wouldn't venture up the kings as it is a mess (and I like dirty water) and dangerous. I wouldn't go back to the white as it was just too inconsistent. A buddy said he fished the James from Hideaway to Cape Fair and he was disappointed as there was no consistency and no size. The water dropping is probably causing a lot of the problem, and strong storms are being forecast for Thursday and Friday. This after Springfield got hammered on Wednesday. Another inconsistent spring. I will try to post some photos of the debris just up from Viola on the kings.

Very muddy and lots of debris floating from Buzzard to Flat creek. As the corp continues to pull water and get past the incoming a lot of this stuff will move to the mid james. It will take a week or two for it to be fishable. Surface temp cooled off with the cold snap. Would love to know what the water temp is 10' to 25' deep if the surface temp is now 49° to 52°.

Having a dock on TR I can tell you just when you think there is no hope, mother nature and the Corps of Engineers may eventually help remedy some of the problem. During 2011 we had close to a 1/3 of a mile by 100 ft of debris, massive logs, limbs, leaves, trash, etc. that had floated into the upriver side of the dock. My initial reaction was pure panic. When the corp opened the gates and mother nature changed the wind direction a massive amount of debris left the bank pulled to main channel and went down stream. A number of factors will determine the outcome as HI is a fairly deep and narrow pocket filled with a large dock. This won't help the situation. 2011 was one of the best years I've ever had fishing Tablerock and I've spent many days on the lake (since 1974). Some of the craziest patterns emerged from 2011 that you can ever imagine. My hopes are that they won't drop the lake out from under the bedding fish next month. We are reaping the rewards of the last two floods in numbers of fish right now. I would suggest staying out of the upper white, kings and James for a couple weeks as the debris coming downstream naturally is one thing, but as more and more weekenders who own cabins and homes on the lake get to the lake for spring...... they will begin the ritual of pushing debris from their docks and lake front. There will be an ample supply of debris to dodge . From the lower mid lake area down I don't generally notice seeing a lot of stuff floating when the floods hit.

Hello all, I have two fishing boats. I've come to the conclusion I don't need two and must admit my wife was right. With that said......... Lowe Stinger 175, Upgraded Mercury Optimax 75 HP, Upgraded 75 lb thrust Motorguide foot, Lowrance Pro X at console, Upgraded stainless steel mercury prop, swing away trailer tongue, BPS cover, two seat pegs up front so you can have your son or daughter beside you to fish. Onboard three bank battery charger. Just plug it in and forget it. Has been kept in the garage when not in use and it has been used very, very, very little. I'm guessing less than 30 hours on the engine. Broke it in properly. You WON'T find a cleaner "used" Lowe Stinger. Drafts shallow so it works well on Taneycomo. Still under warranty, in fact, I may have bought the extended (need to check). The photos attached are not the actual boat, but it looks identical without the blond haired lady. Call Jim at 417-830-5588 or send me a text. Paid $18,000 and asking $14,500.