jimithyashford

Last time I tried fishing fellows, kayaks weren't allowed. I think? It was several years ago and a park ranger ran me off the water. I've tried bank fishing all up and down near the fishing dock and never had any luck. But I guess the lake is kayak friendly now? So that's great news. Is there actually decent fishing out there, or is it the kind of thing where you might as well drive 30 more minutes and go somewhere else? The bank fishing left me with the impression that the lake has hardly anything in it. I am mostly interested in bass and crappie.

Hey howdy. In this context, what does "midway down from the dam" mean? Like midway between the dam and that little low water bridge that's like half a mile down?

Howdy all. Resurrecting this dead post. It was interesting reading through where I was 5 years ago and the advice I was getting. I feel like I am a pretty successful angler now, at least for bass. I very rarely get skunked, and pretty reliably have good trips. The kind of fishing I have gotten decent at is bass fishing in streams. Whether wading or kayaking, 90% of the time when I get out on the water I'll catch a decent number of fish, maybe not all giants, but good numbers, and occasionally a good sized fish as well. I almost never tie on a crankbait or rooster tail anymore. I use finesse techniques 90% of the time. Wacky Rig and Ned Rig are my go tos, a jig with a craw plastic on it also works well. I also throw a hellgrammite on a light jig head and let it float down current and settle into pools, smallies seem to like that. I do still sometimes throw a crankbait or rooster tail or occasionally a spinner and retrieve past cover that I'm trying to lure something out of, or if the bite is just on really hard. My favorite bass fishing lure is actually a micro ned plastic on a little jig head. I like it cause small fish will bite it, so at least you're having fun and frequently catching, but big fish will bite it too. The two largest bass I've ever caught were on it. 20 and 22 incher. So not giants compared to what you lake fishermen catch no doubt, but for river fish I was quite pleased. Also, while I feel like I can catch Largies more reliably, and they get bigger, I have WAY more fun catching Smallies. So, I'm very happy about that. I am, however, trying to expand my species a bit this summer, now that I feel I can reliably get on the bass. Here are the other species I am thinking about expanding my repertoire to, if you have any advice: Trout: I gave trout fishing a few tries last summer. I put in on the Niangua just below Bennet Springs. I started pre-dawn, tossed little power egg things on a bobber with a small weight, targeting areas where current dumps out into a pool to create and eddy, or passes by cover, and I got a few bites, but didn't land anything. It seems like retrieving the trout through the strong current, the hook tore out each time. Very soft mouths? I dunno. But I didn't manage to land any, and by about 9am I was run off the river by the ceaseless parade of bank to bank recreational floaters. Crappie: I honestly have no idea how to fish for crappie. I know they like structure, and they tend to school up. People tell me to fish "off the points" but I honestly have no idea what that means. I mean I know what a point is, but I have no clue what "off the point" means. I've tried a little bit, like banking my kayak right on a point and casting strait out off the point with some small minnow bait or crappie powerbait hanging like 5 feet below a bobber and just let it sit there for a while. Tried the same thing a bit to the left, bit to the right, bit further out, bit closer in, and after about and hour figured I was missing the trick and just went back to bass fishing so I didn't waste my outing. Catfish: I am still utterly vexed by catfishing. Of course I've only tried a handful of times in the past few years, but I have put every bait known to man on a treble hook and tossed it out into a river channel or off the bank at a lake, and I dunno, I just never get bit. Shrimp and cut bait and liver and soap and catfish dough so on so forth. And nothing ever takes. So I dunno. Of course I'm not super patient. If something hasn't bitten in about 20 minutes I'm probably moving on.

Got a friend who wants to go out fishing, but they can't kayak or wade or hike, at least not very far. We used to fish at the Mutton Creek Marina back in the day, they had a fishing dock that was pretty incredible. It was covered and had a big cut out in the center, so you could fish off the outside or the inside. Go there with a bucket of minnows and you could catch crappie all day long. But since that place closed, We've struggled to find anything like that. I transitioned to doing much more mobile fishing, wading/hiking/kayaking, and I have a lot of fun with it, but he can't do that, and so we haven't fished together in years. So, does anyone know any good spots where a couple of guys can plop down with some beer and tackle and stay pretty much in one spot and have a good afternoon fishing? I almost don't even care about the species. I've tried several of the fishing docks around Stockton and at fellows and valley water mill and popular bank angling spots around Springfield like Peckers beach, but I feel like they all kinda stink. Hours and hours of sitting for little to no bite.

I've rented kayak from a lot of outfitters in the area over the years, but none of them seem to have angling kayaks. Really all I need is rod holders, but a larger cargo area, higher seat, rails, etc would be nice. Does anyone know of any outfitters that can outfit a fishing trip, and have angling kayaks?

A kayak is my only boat, its gotta be better than bank fishing right? And yeah yeah, i knew as soon as i tied it on i was gonna get crap for the rooster tail, but i only had rooster tails and crankbaits to fish near the top. What would you recomend tossing at schools of baitfish when you start to see surface strikes? Or is that not worth casting at?

So I went back out to Stockton last night after work, equipped with all I have learned in the last week or so and the confidence of success on the Piney over the weekend. And I got skunked. Let me tell you all what I did, and if you could tell me if I did anything wrong, or did everything by the book but they just weren't biting? So attached is a picture of the route I took, it is just south east of the Ruark campground. I headed strait for the closest point and fished all over the point and slightly down both sides. At first a used a Ned Rig with the zman plastic that mimics a shad. I cast near the shore and retrieved out to where the water gets to be about 15 feet deep. No bites. I moved to the next point, did the same. Eventually I got snagged on the bottom and swapped out for a ned rig with the hula plastic that kinda mimics a crawfish. Same tactic on the next point. No bites. I moved out to where my fishing map shows a submerged attractor and used the Ned all around that. At this point I started to notice a surface bite picking up, it was maybe 7:15pm or so, so I switched to rooster tails and shallow diving crank baits just to try and get in on some of that action near the surface, but nothing bit. I worked my way back to where I launched, casting into bait balls as I saw them. Now with the ned, I am still a little unclear on how to properly retrieve the Ned. Some folks are saying to basically not move it, or move it very little, others are saying that just letting it sit there and soak is a waste of time, cause if there is a fish near it'll get it within about 30 seconds or its not going to.

Thanks, I appreciate the spots. That Creighton Access to 65 float, about how long does that take? It doesn't look that long, but James River flows pretty slow. I've wade-fished a few holes down from the Kinser Bridge, only caught greedy panfish, but I didn't go down that far.

So I went down and floated the Big Piney this weekend, just to restore a bit of confidence and remind myself that I can actually catch a fish. There was a lot of action, nothing that big, but still a lot of bites. I landed 3 Smallies, largest 13 inches, and 10 or so Rock Bass. That was all in about the first 2 hours, so a really good pace. After that it got really hot, the bite died down, and I was eager to get off the water cause I was roasting. But still a good trip. Now I was practicing some of the advice I've been given here. See I've always used "cast and retrieve" bass lures, crankbaits, spinners, rooster tails, things like that where you toss it at a likely spot and reel it right in. But on this trip I only used a flipping jig (when fishing around fallen trees and stuff with lots of snags) and a ned rig around the rocks with more slow hop and wait or slow drag type retrieval. Seemed to work pretty well until it got really hot.

I am familiar with that area. That big weird C in the field is an old horse racing track. There used to be a livestock auction and horse racing operation on that land a long time ago. A few summers ago i bank fished and wade fished all through there. Caught a number of little guys and in a hole near the rivercut golf course parking lot i caught the biggest smallie ive ever caught.

I dont mind if the advice comes with a side of salt and pepper, ya know, that's fine, just some seem to be pure mockery, which i guess i also dont mind, no skin off my back, just the assumption that i am joking/trolling? That's weird. But I have already gotten some good advice here and put some of it into practice this afternoon. I didnt get anything, but i did try three new techniques and fished vegetation beds for the first time ever. I am trying. Now hiring a guide is something ive been thinking about doing. But they dont have guides for, ya know, lake springfield or rhe random pond or creek or river i might find myself at who knows when. I feel like my basic bottom layer of fishing skills and knowkedge is so lacking that a guide would be a waste right now. I dunno.

BS? I mean most people always ask me "when are you fishing, what are you using, what how are you retriving" etc, So I just got all that out of the way right off the bat. Its not BS, it's just preemptive. And I don't want a fish with a hook already in it's mount waiting for me to paddle up and reel it in. I just want more than an average of one fish per 4 or 5 hours on the water. I don't think that's crazy.

I have a hard time catching fish in the Ozarks and came to the Ozark Anglers forum for advice and guidance. I dunno what part of that seems like trolling to you, but I assure you it's not.

I dont really fish at night, since my kayak is not equipped with lights or anything, but i do often fish until dark. I might try tablerock. Ive just heard Stockton was great fishing and figured if i keep gettinf skunked there, no other lake is really gonna be much better.

Ive never heard that wind advice before, ill havs to keep that in mind. In a kayak you are very much at the mercy of the wind and current, so i suspect if i fished a windy bank i would wuickly be blown up on the bank and essentially be bank fishing, but the kayak is less about mobility and more about accessibility anyway. Now maybe you can give me some Ned Rig advice. I fished with one for three hours today from about 6pm to just before dark. About 8:45, and didnt get one bite. I tried every retrieval i could think of, Nothing bit. I tried up in a plant choked inlet, casting from the middle towards the shore, from the shore toward the middle, all in amd around sumberhed trees and flooded bushes, then on the rip rap near a bridge, pilings under a bridge. Nothing happening at all.