Sam

"Hmmmm do you keep crappie that are full of eggs?" ------------------- You bet'cha. There's not much C & R in crappie fishing, and there are exactly two reasons I throw a crappie back. (1) If it's under 10", and (2) if I've already got a limit of 15. Why? Because if I throw a keeper back, that guy following the bank 30 yards behind me will keep it - and so would the guy after him, and the guy after him. Throw keeper crappie back? C'mon - there wouldn't be anything on the plate next to the 'taters and onions. lol

I've been releasing big white bass sows for years, even before bringing the good white bass runs back was an issue. I guess I've been spoiled by too many good crappie filets. I'll keep white bass up to about 14", but over that they're pretty strong-tasting to me, even if you "trim the red off", soak them in salt water, etc. The big ones are sure fun to catch, though.

We put in at the ramp by the old bridge in Galena today, 4/6, and fished about a mile upstream. I always wondered why they put a ramp in there where the water is usually only a foot deep - for canoes, I guess. Well, it's not a foot deep now - the current hit my boat sideways and moved boat and trailer crossways to the ramp while we were trying to launch. To take the boat out, my partner had to drive the truck and trailer across the bridge and we took out in a sheltered spot on the mud bank on the other side. We got pretty stuck in the mud in 4wd doing it, too. My trolling motor wouldn't hold the boat against the current, so I had to fight it with the main motor almost the whole time. The water is clear, but we couldn't get a bite. I talked to several other fishermen and no one had even one white bass. If you're going to try this, wear your life vest - it's a lot more dangerous right now than I expected. If you hit a rock or a log and get crossways to that current, the boat's going over and you're going swimming.

Because of partying, drugs, drinking, and littering, Christian County has made it very hard to access the Finley. Access at Riverdale Bridge has been restricted for years, and you'll get a ticket for even parking there. The landowner at Riverdale won't let anyone cross his land. It's true that if you stay on or in the water, you have the right to fish a public stream - but it's hard to get to it now. About a mile above Riverdale, Junior Rainey used to have a can on the fence by his gate. Put $2 in the can, drive across his pasture, and you could fish or launch a small boat to get down to Riverdale. That's all gone - Junior died and I don't know who owns that now. You're right though - fishing was good above the Riverdale dam, big bluegill mostly. The only legal way I know of to get there now would be tough. It's probably OK to park at the new walking path in Ozark by the Jeep dealership and carry a small boat to the water. That's a good 3 miles or more above Riverdale, though. It's legal to put in at Ozark Park and there's a boat ramp - but the mill dam keeps you from going downstream. It ain't easy - and the other thing is that I wouldn't eat fish out of the Finley anymore. Too many people, septic tanks, and sewage plants. It's a shame.

Where did you put in? I imagine Bridgeport is under water.

Help me out, please, trout fishermen. The spring crappie, white bass, bass, and walleye fishing I look forward to all winter is ruined by high water. I'm thinking about going fishing on Taneycomo just to get out and catch something. It's been years since I've even bought a trout stamp, but I'll do it. I don't want to break any laws, and I know they've changed. The limit's just 4 fish now, right? I may avoid the upper part of the lake because I don't understand the "slot limit". No, I wouldn't use bait anyway so that's not an issue - but maybe someone here can explain the rules to me so I'll feel comfortable fishing. The length limit on brown trout is different too, right? Also, I've only put a boat on Taneycomo from three ramps. Forsyth Park, just above the dam (probably underwater now?), Rockaway Beach, and the old city park in Branson (probably gone now because of Branson Landing?). I have no idea where to launch anywhere upstream from there. Do you think I could still launch at Rockaway? If so, that might give me a chance to check Bull Creek for suckers and bass as well as doing some trout fishing. That depends on how bad Bull Creek looks right now. Thanks fellers.

The last time that happened to me while trolling for walleyes, it was on Bull Shoals a couple of years ago. I spent 20 minutes chasing the fish with the trolling motor and just trying to hang on. I knew it had to be my all-time biggest walleye. When I got it in, it turned out to be the biggest flathead catfish I've ever caught - not foul-hooked, it bit the plug. If you had a scale on your hook it wasn't a catfish - but when you're trolling you just never know what you'll get ahold of.

My partner and I went out of Buttermilk Springs Thursday at 6 p.m. and fished until 11:30 p.m. We fished mostly toward Joe Bald and had a real good trip. At first we scoped lots of fish on the bottom deep off points and rocky banks in 60-70 feet of water. We tried to get down that deep, but didn't get bites even when we did. Then, about 8 p.m., some of the bass moved closer to the banks in 30-35 feet of water, and we started catching some. That bite continued until we quit. We couldn't do any good on a mud bottom or off the bluffs, all fish were caught off rocky banks and points with a rock bottom. We were using big Texas-rigged plastic worms. We ended up catching and releasing 22 bass, including 7 keepers. We didn't catch any real big ones, the biggest was 18 3/4" - but the short ones weren't too short either. The smallest bass we caught was 14" and a lot of them were 14 3/4". The fish were scattered and not bunched up. We'd get a bite every 50 yards or so, and location didn't seem to matter as long as it was a rocky bank and bottom. All bass caught were largemouths, no Kentuckies or smallmouths. This trip was a lot different from the reports I've been reading here, and I think the weather accounts for the good fishing. There was a cold front and thunderstorms moving in from the north, and it wasn't near us but we could see clouds with constant lightning approaching in the far distance.

Thanks for the information, fellers. It helps to know what we'd be getting into. My friend like to drown minners, mostly - he's a minnow fisherman. I'll fish any which way and for anything, and tend mostly toward artificials - but if I'm with him I don't care how we fish. He just enjoys catching something and doesn't even care about keeping fish. We've both got boats but I don't know how well that would work for him anymore. He needs a big battery-powered oxygen generator now, not just bottles. We're in the Springfield area.

I've never fished the tailrace below Truman Dam, it's about 100 miles from me. I've heard good things about it for years though, especially when they're running lots of water. I've heard that there's a big dock there for handicapped fishermen, and that it gives an advantage because it runs 'way out in the current. Is that right? I have a friend who loves to fish, but he's in pretty bad shape. He has to be on oxygen 100% of the time now, and he has a handicapped license plate on his car. He's also a retired, disabled U.S. Marine with a retired military ID card. Would he be allowed to fish on that dock, or is some other permit needed? Also, he wouldn't be able to fish and transport his oxygen equipment by himself. Would I be allowed to go out there to help and fish with him? I'm hoping someone here who knows can give us that information - we wouldn't want to make the long drive for nothing. Thanks.

Back when the spring white bass run in the James River arm was good, 10 years or so ago - there'd be a few hybrids mixed with the white bass every year. The biggest one I caught near Galena back then was about 6 lbs., and the stripe pattern showed it was a hybrid. I don't know how the stripers or hybrids got into Tablerock to cause that, but there's obviously a few in there.

I'm thinking that nature will always fill a vacuum. A certain cubic volume of lake water, depending on its nutrient content, will support a certain weight of living things - always. Those nutrients and the water's ability to support life will be utilized by something at all times. Now, that same amount of living things in a given volume of lake water is the total of algae, mud turtles, shad, trash fish, game fish - everything. If a lake is "in balance" from our point of view, it's supporting mostly the species we want there. If the lake gets "out of kilter" from our point of view, it's supporting mostly species that we don't want - and upper Bull Shoals is certainly doing that for some reason.

Aw, I know. I don't mean to knock your sport. Carp are trash fish to me because I like to put filets in the freezer. It's pretty frustrating to see upper Bull Shoals full of carp and gar now, but carp do put up a good fight and I'm glad to see someone getting some fun out of the situation. Enjoy. I just wish you all could catch so many you'd exterminate the things.

Might as well fish for carp. That's about all Upper Bull Shoals amounts to this year.

I was out of Mill Creek a couple days ago, catching mostly white bass. For the big whites, I was just trolling a 1/4 oz. Roostertail over shad in deep water, about 174 feet deep. That rig only runs 7 or 8 feet deep, but ever so often a 2-to-4 lb. white bass would come up and hit it. They're fun to get in on medium/light spinning tackle. I got ahold of one, killed the motor, and was working him in. A big strong fish, you've just got to tire them out. Finally, he was straight under the boat but I couldn't bring him up so I just kept the tension on for a while. All at once, he started coming straight up like he was going to jump - and white bass don't do that! I couldn't reel in fast enough to keep the line from going slack, and the fish jumped right beside the boat and threw the roostertail. It was a black bass, about 5 lbs. Now, who would have thought about that when fishing shallow in such deep water? From the location it should have been a Kentucky, not a largemouth, but if it was a Kentucky it was awfully BIG. It wasn't a smallmouth, for sure - I saw the stripe down the side (as well as a big, bucket mouth). That fish surprised me.

Naw, I'd taken my camera along 3 trips in a row but didn't have it that day. My partner saw the fish though, we carefully measured it together. That's the second largest smallmouth I've caught out of Tablerock. The biggest one was 23 1/4" six years ago in the same general area but more up toward Indian Point. That one was post-spawn and the tail was worn 'way down, so it could have measured a full 24" before nesting. There's some big ones in there. You're right - they're beeyootiful fish!

Gee, Bill B. - I may have to put a grill right on the back deck of my boat. That way, I can get out there in my TRACKER - frying Smallmouth filets and Smallmouth eggs, cutting people off, smoking cigars, drinking beer, leering at the ladies, and scratchin' myself immodestly. I'll be just a general, all-around pain in the butt. Naw, I don't keep bass. I wouldn't kill a smallmouth for anything, and the only time I keep any legal black bass is if I (very) rarely mess up and gut-hook one bad with a Carolina or Texas-rigged worm. That doesn't happen often because I don't fish that way often. I have scooped a limit of big bass off the lake after "catch and release" bass tournaments, the ones that are still a little alive. That's probably illegal, but I hate waste - and I've seen 200 lbs. of bass floating belly up. They shouldn't have those tournaments when the water temp's in the 80's - they kill more bass than a whole bunch of guys like me. Bass aren't very good eating anyway, they're important to the economy around the lakes, and a lot of people are obsessed with them. That's fine with me - I prefer other kinds of fishing. I've had a lot of fun with bass, but I'd rather catch crappie, walleyes, white bass, goggleyes, big perch - even catfish. Believe me, I'm just as serious about my fishing as the bass guys are about their sport. My enthusiasm just doesn't show as much - no aviator sunglasses, no patches all over my shirt, no glitter boat so I can blow past folks at 70 mph on a narrow lake. I know a lot of bass fishermen aren't that way, but a lot of them are. Anyway, you've got those 14 1/2" Spots on Tablerock trained to get caught and released over and over again. Every time I catch one that's dumb enough to bite on a crappie jig, the poor thing's lips look like a teenager's ears with all the piercings. According to all the hook-holes, I think you've got your clients catching the same fish every day - no wonder you don't want anybody keeping any. BTW, I caught a 22 1/2" Smallmouth the other day on a grub, near the island by State Park. That's the best SM I've caught for years, a beautiful fish, and I'm sure she was full of eggs. Don't worry, she's alive and healthy and probably on the nest by now. Fish on!

I went out of K Dock on Monday, and had a tough time. Crappie aren't by the banks, in the coves, or on the brush - they're suspended in the deep main lake channels. Fishing the banks, brush, coves, and points with jigs in my usual way got me only a whole bunch of short Kentucky bass and one good crappie. I couldn't get any bites on jigs in deep water. But I found out good fish are being caught, slowly, in the channels by drift-fishing with live minnows. The guys I talked to said they're using crappie jigs "tipped with minnows", setting a couple of poles each, and just drifting. I haven't fished with minnows for years, but I guess I'll try it. I'm wondering how to rig them, though. Should I just lip-hook a live minnow on a gold minnow hook with a split shot about 18" above? I've fished that way, but if the minnow isn't too lively it tends to spin round-and-round when drifting. Not good. I always cast a bunch of lead-heads on Eagle Claw #1 and #1/0 gold jig hooks in 1/16th, 1/8th, and 1/4" weights - that's what I fish plastic "swimming minnows" on. Should I just lip-hook the minnow on one of those bare weighted hooks? That wouldn't spin. Or, should I put the minnow on the end of something like a maribou crappie jig or even a Roadrunner? Is that what "a crappie jig tipped with a minnow" means? This is something I'm not too experienced at, and I'd like advice from some good minner-fishermen here. Thanks.

A friend keeps telling me I need to get a lock to lock my boat trailer to the hitch on my truck. He says boat trailers get stolen a lot at Lake of the Ozarks while people are out fishing. I haven't heard of that happening around here yet. Boy, wouldn't that be something? Imagine getting back to the ramp and finding that you can't get your boat home because you've got no trailer. I've seen those trailer locks at Lowe's for about 30 bucks, or I guess a length of chain and a padlock would do it. Still, I hate to think that locking my trailer to the truck may become necessary. On the other hand, I always leave an empty ice chest in the back of my parked truck when I'm out fishing. If I get fish, I'll drain my boat's livewell at the ramp, put the fish in the ice chest, and get a bag of ice on the way home. That way the fish stay fresh and I don't have to clean them 'til the next morning. So far, no one has taken the ice chest.

Birds - they're smarter than you think. One of the things I enjoy most about fishing the Ozarks lakes is just getting out there and enjoying the beautiful scenery and wildlife you encounter while fishing. So far this year, I've seen eagles, turkeys, deer, a mink, a gray fox, beavers, etc. - all while fishing. A wildlife incident last year sure gave me a chuckle. I was in the middle of the James River arm near Virgin Bluff, trolling upstream for white bass. No other boats around, I was all by myself. There was a group of about 6 Canada geese sitting on the water up ahead, directly in the path where I was trolling to. I just kept trolling slow, knowing that they would move. The boat finally got close and they all took off, honking. They stayed together in the air and went maybe 500 yards upstream. Then they all turned together, increased speed, and headed directly over my boat about 40 feet above the water. As they went over my boat, they all POOPED - every single one of them. Then they kept going, honking their heads off. A couple of splatters hit the boat, and it hit the water all around me too. Heck, they even allowed for their air speed and cut loose early for accurate bombing. I'd bothered those geese and they got back at me. They were LAUGHING - and so was I.

So - your fish was 16" longer than this one???????? http://www.arkansasstripers.com/arkansas_record_stripers.htm

Uh, I don't know what to say. The world record striped bass was caught out of the ocean at Atlantic City, NJ in 1982. Biologists estimated it to be 36 years old, and it weighed 78 lbs. 8 oz., and measured 53 inches long and 34 1/2" in girth. That's 14" shorter than your Bull Shoals fish that got away. The Missouri state record striper weighed 51 lbs., but I don't know the length. So, I guess you missed a chance to break both records and be famous. Hmmmmm.

Bill - It was just exceptionally tough at that place and time. That happens in fishing, and I tore up both the bass and crappie there just before the cold spell. We fished lots of shallow points just as you describe, and some of my retrieves were so slow that occasionally I'd just let the grub rest on the bottom a little. My partner threw a jerkbait a lot, and worked it real slow. I know your reports are good, and don't doubt the accuracy. Part of the problem was time of day - we didn't get there until about 9:30 and left about 4:30 so we missed both the early and late bites on a real sunny day. As far as catching goggleyes to know we were in the right spots for bass, hah. I'd have kissed a goggleye, or anything else that decided to bite that day. Next time'll be different.

Well, I'm struck by how different the different areas of the lake can be. My partner and I went out of Gage's the same day, Monday. We've never fished so hard and with so little result in our lives. We fished north of the 86 bridge, Brushy Creek, and all the coves and points down to Arkansas. Then we went on the Arkansas side and did the same there. We fished crappie jigs in different weights and colors, up by the banks, in deep water, and around brush. For bass, we swam smoke-colored grubs and worked grubs on the bottom, tried jig-and-pig, Senko worms, several different crankbaits, and we even trolled some. We tried deep water, in-between water, and shallow water. We hit every pea gravel bank, major lake point, spawning cove, and pre-spawn staging area we could find. We fished in the wind, and we fished where it was calm. I caught ONE 11" Kentucky on a crappie jig, the only bite I got. My partner had two light taps, one on a crappie jig and one on jig-and-pig, and got skunked. We scoped lots of fish, some obviously crappie and some obviously bass, all day long. NO bites, no matter what we did. Water temp was 56 and it was a bluebird day, and it was just beyond tough. We spoke with guys in about 5 other boats. No one had a single fish to report, not one. Now, my partner and I aren't fishing guides (I think we'd have been giving the client's money back yesterday if we were), but we're not inexperienced fishermen either. I've seldom seen a lake turn off to that extent - to where you just can't buy a bite of any kind, even from short fish. I don't know what to think about that. Even with good reports, and when you think you know what's going on - that lake can still fool you.

Forsythian - That's interesting. It's good (I think) that the water is getting "cleaner" in upper Bull Shoals. But since you're only testing for fertilizers, maybe that's not so good. As you said, those tests wouldn't show any hazardous pollutants - motor oil, chemicals, insecticides, whatever - that would really hurt the fishing if they're present. And you've got me wondering if the reduction in water fertility you report isn't a big part of the problem in itself. As you mentioned, algae is at the bottom of the food chain that supports everything else that lives in a lake. We had a new pond dug on our place here a few years ago, and I went to MFA on their "fish day" to get some baby bluegills, bass, and channel cats to put in it. Our local MFA has a fish truck come by from an Arkansas fish farm once every couple of months for that purpose. When I told the man from the fish farm I was stocking a new pond, he said I shouldn't put fish in it right away because they'd starve. He told me that keeping a pond balanced is like growing a good garden - you can't do it without nutrients. He said to spread about 10 pounds of 13-13-13 fertilizer on the water to get a good algae bloom going, then to put some minnows into it. Then, when the truck came back in two months I could introduce game fish. That's what I did, and within 2 weeks of adding the fertilizer the pond had a lot of algae. I didn't want to introduce unknown species of fish from a creek, so I went to a tackle shop and bought 5 dozen shiner minnows. Boy, did they reproduce. Within a few weeks the pond was just full of minnows - and I actually should have kept it that way and raised my own bait. But I didn't, I added hybrid bluegills, largemouth bass, and channel catfish - and the minnows didn't disappear completely but they sure got thinned out. The game fish are doing fine in the pond, and through every spring and summer I add more fertilizer. Anyway - our Ozarks lakes, like my pond, are on very infertile soil. They're sitting on limestone and they won't even grow water weeds. While it's nice to talk about the water in Bull Shoals being "cleaner", reducing nitrates and phosphates may be a lot of what's hurting the fishing. From what you say, that's a real change in the water composition during the same time the fishing has gone downhill. I sure didn't know those fertilizers are on the decline in Bull Shoals, and I think that may be an interesting part of the puzzle.