nhornback

It's rare that I find a consistent, repeatable pattern on TR 😂 so I thought I should share our findings. Hadn't been on the lake in way too long. launched to dense fog about 6:30 out of cape yesterday. Motored slowly to a couple main lake pockets and points while we waited out the fog and couldn't find a bite. Once the fog lifted we ran away from all the boats to Piney creek and finally got on a bite. Found lots of spots, a couple LM and a bonus smallie positioned on each south facing bank between all the small pockets that run straight north in Piney. If we worked into those north pockets we stopped getting bit, so we skipped the pockets and and caught fish consistently from 5-15ft before calling it a day. Shaky head and wobble head did most the work. My assumption was all those fish moved to those banks to get out of the 20-30mph north winds from Saturday and decided to stay the weekend. Boated Maybe 20, nothing huge but mainly 13-16 inch butterball spots with a 3lb smallie being the best. Fun day, especially considering post front and blue skies. NH

Every time I go north i leave thinking, "shoulda went South" and vice versa... 😂 NH

We also had a rough day looking for bass. Both of us were skunked in 4 hours Sunday morning. Marked lots of fish off swings in 30-40ft but they wanted no part of what we were selling. Couldn't even pick up a fish on shaky heads and jigs on main points and swings. Never saw temp above 40.5 up river from mutton. NH

Thank you!

Planning to get out on the water tomorrow, wondering if anyone has been in the mutton area the last couple days and could tell me the water temp/how much visibility there is. Thanks! NH

Go pack go!

Delayed on the post, but not much to report anyways. Too hot to do too much fishing last week so I only spent a few hours fishing total over a couple different mornings. Wasn't able to find much of anything, just can't figure this lake out. Threw swimbaits any time I saw fish on the graph, but no takers. Fished worms, ned around timber and points, threw topwater when i saw surface activity and just didn't get anything going. Better days ahead hopefully Nick

Thanks for the advice, guys. We actually won't get down there until Monday afternoon so we're hopeful its not super busy on the lake. We will do most of our fishing early and late, and a topwater/worm bite would be ideal as my wife likes to fish that way or ned. I'll give a report of my findings (or lack thereof) when we get back! Nick

Spending the week on the rock next week around kimberling city area with the wife. Wont be a full blown fishing trip as its more about the week away with wife but we will do some fishing and i was hoping to get some advice from you all on what to expect from the fish in that area. Haven't been on TR much and sont fish that area much at all so I'll be starting from scratch. Thanks!

After a few failed attempts to get out on the water over the last couple months i finally got out last night. Fished from 630-12 when we saw some lightening moving in. Ran a couple main lake points and swings early with a couple dinks to show for it, then found a bunch of shad stacked up near the mouth of Birch branch a little before dark and found some LM. Caught them on a spook, shaky head and texas rigged worm pretty good up through dark. Got bit from the bushes out to about 15 feet. Nothing huge but a steady bite kept it interesting. Pics of a couple better ones, both about 3lb.

Thank you Hunter75 that helps a lot!

Wanting to go out Friday night to fish with a buddy but want to avoid any tourney crowds since we won't be entering them. Can anyone tell me where any tourneys might be Friday night? Or where to find a list? Thanks NH

Signs up stating no public access/no ttrsspassing and rope across all pull off spots. I get not wanting people trashing your land but what a major bummer for us who respect it and even clean up when we see trash.

Hadnt had a chance to float yet this year but finally went yesterday. Planned to launch from hooten and take out at Mudbank (aka marbleground or extension of V) but was surprised to find mudbank is no longer a public access point as apparently someone bought the land and isn't allowing people on it any longer. Ended up having hootentown rental bring us our vehicle at McCall bridge. Really bummed about this! That has been my favorite stretch of the river to day float but now its not possible without hiring an outfitter. Wish it could have been grandfathered in as a public access but i guess its HL kerr to Galena or further up river. Outside of that unexpected annoyance the float was great. Even with swift water the bite up in the bushes was good on a ned and shaky head, and could get bit swimming paddletails through current too.

No specific area of the lake in mind, we will look on vrbo and others. Thanks guys

Wife and i are looking for a cabin/lake house to rent for our anniversary week around Sept 1. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good place to stay? Would love it if a dock slip was included, and easy access to the water would be great as we both enjoy sitting in a lawn chair ankle deep. Thanks for any info NH

Well done. Main lake or in a creek? What was the water temp in that area? Thanks!

You all did better than us. We launched about 730, off the water by 1230. Fished main points and swings with different dragging baits, a rig and jerk baits. Caught a couple on main swings around some timber in 16-18ft as it fell off into the main river channel but we struggled to find much. Id guess 1ft or so water clarity down river from CC launch and warmest we saw was 43.5 or so.

I am anticipating very stained relative to the norm

Thanks guys. Wasn't sure how a max depth of only 25-30 would change how they relate to swings and points. Looking forward to it, I'll let you all know how it goes

Planning to hit the lake Saturday (like most everybody probably is with the forecasted temps for the weekend) and thought about launching from CC. Never fished that area of Stockton so i was hopeful someone could shed some light on how bass relate in that area in these water temp/conditions? Thanks for any input! NH

Thanks for the report champ, that sums up at least part of why we struggled. Couldnt get many bites on moving baits but literally said to ourselves, "today is not the day to drag something, just wouldn't make sense."

Champ, As someone who doesn't tournament fish, I don't worry as much about giving away my 'spots.' Surely anyone who comes to this site for info knows fishing wind blown main lake points is a good starting point. I get the vultures that don't contribute could be frustrating to you guys who tourney fish, but if those vultures are following my lead they're of no threat to win! ☺ The thing i hoped for after posting a detailed outing is getting detailed responses from someone else who had more luck. We struggled yesterday and we frankly don't know what else to do for more success.

Not too much to report but for what it's worth - Put in about 7 to calmer than expected conditions and ran down river. Decided to focus on a small area since we hadn't been on the water in months. Started on main lake points on the east side of the pictured map. Fished both points and inside the cove with jerkbait, spinnerbait, wart and a shaky head with one dink to show for it on a wart. Left to shoot across to the SE facing point of Wooley creek but it had a boat on it so we fished a couple wind blown swings inside the creek with no luck. Water temp was cooler as we moved into the creek (50.9down to 50 even in the back 3rd) so we worked back to the mouth of wooley. Caught a few a piece with only one picture worthy LM that went 3.7. Caught them just inside the point in about 8ft. Hit the next similar facing point to the north with one more dink and called it a day by 1130. Felt like it should have been better but there's some piece of the puzzle we missed on. NH This post has been promoted to an article