JUNGLE JIM 1

Those are some big gills, I fish for them but don't think I even caught one 9 inches this year. Once they get that size they have little to fear. Super fun on ultralight gear. Deep water gills love small jigs tipped with a cricket or waxworm.

They do have water, electric sites and two decent restrooms with showers at one of them. I camp at one of the primitive camp sites almost every year for the past 20 years or so.

It's a lot more fun when you see them take your jig. Is camping allowed at the park now? I like camping there at one of the primitive sites for a day or two during the week.

I guess someone must have dumped their shiners after fishing there. I catch one occasionally but never three or more in a day. I love fishing for redear , once they hit 9 inches they are a ton of fun on ultralight tackle. Not catching as many like past couple of years probably due to more people fishing and keeping them due to Covid. You're catching some fun size ones. One of those c&r lakes at Busch has some nice crappie up to 15 inches but haven't fished it in a few years.

For Longear I would pick any public access on the Meramec or Big River. Micro jigs will catch you some. Not very big but they are colorful. I think the state record was caught recently and weighed 4 oz., so a state record is possible.

I don't fish Table Rock but have had my best luck for big bass while night fishing. Of the six bass over 8 lbs. that I've caught in my life four were caught at night between 10-11 pm. They were caught on soft plastics dragged really slow on the bottom. Never had much luck with topwaters at night but think a Whopper Plopper or Jitterbug would certainly be worth trying and I really want to try a chatterbait at night as well. Lakes I fish get a lot of pressure and I think the bigger bass might let their guard down at night.

I think some fish species like the green sunfish eggs survive at a much higher rate. One city park lake that I've fished for over 50 years suffered two fish kills and wiped out the entire fish population. The conservation department only stocked it with redear sunfish in the fall and nothing since due to Covid 19. I fished it once this year and their are thousands of green sunfish and some bluegill in it even though they weren't stocked. The lake needs some predators like bass or catfish in it to start eating some or the lake will be full of them. Great lake for catfish bait right now.

Two years ago I had one take a Whopper plopper while fishing Big River just at daybreak. It was super strong, especially in the current and I had to follow it downstream a ways before finally landing it after about 15 minutes. Remember thinking that's a weird looking carp. Ran back to get my gear bag to get a picture and on the way back I watched it flop a couple times and back in the water it went. Probably was in the 20 lb. range. After seeing these pictures of grass carp I know that's what it was, the one and only grass carp I've ever caught.

I recently started tying in rattles to my chatterbait style of baits for even more noise.

Those certainly look bigger than what I catch here, really nice variety of colors. There are more hybrids now than there was 20 years and will probably have more different crosses in the future.

The main ingredients in the pictured baits feature a possum tail and bunny body. Going to start putting rattles in some, in particular the chatter style baits.

I usually sell on ebay but wanted to offer some to members here. I make custom jigs, shakee blade baits and underspins mostly now. Pictures are just a portion of what I make. Gives me something to do when it gets to hot or cold to fish. I didn't join OA a few years ago to sell jigs, this is the first time I am making this offer but a few have inquired about me selling jigs and a few have some. If you have an idea on a particular bait message me and I will let you know if I can do it. Prices run $3- $7 per bait.

Just seen this and would have wanted it just to use at a certain lake but it's cool giving it away to your young friend that will use it more than me. Lucky day for him, very nice gesture.

And the little box turtle.

Snake was close to 4 foot long, bigger than I thought when I was taking photos.

Crappie have finished spawning finally. Girls don't have their bellies anymore. Did catch one big colored up male yesterday but wanted to get him back on it's bed quickly so no photo. Biggest crappie was a 14.5 inch female and an 18" Largemouth was the highlight for the day. As I was leaving I spotted this Black snake stretched out across the trail. I thought it was dead so I poked it with my rod and it moved a little. Got a few pics since it was in no hurry to leave. It coiled up in a strike pose and let me take it's picture. As I was leaving I spotted a small box turtle sunning itself on the road so snapped a picture before moving it to a safer place.

With the warmer temps I've been seeing some starting to bed. They are super spooky once they start bedding so I leave them alone and try to find the one's who haven't moved up yet since they are more willing to bite. I use tiny jigs less than an inch long on #10 or #12 hooks. I've been catching mostly gills but manage to catch several redear each trip with the biggest so far being 10.5 inches.

Not really fishing for bass but about every trip I have a couple join the party and get the blood pumping, especially when I'm wading belly deep fishing brush piles and flooded trees with my 9 foot Loomis steelhead rod, lucky I've been using 6 lb test or I might not have gotten them out. Biggest this year has been 19 inches.

This is the latest in my memory that crappie have spawned here in our area. Males are finally getting dark but the girls are still full of eggs. Lake was flooded but has been dropping and for the last few trips I have been able to reach some pre-spawn fish in the brushpiles by wading with 9 and 10 foot rods. Blade baits and duck feather jigs are both working for me, the crappie have been really thumping the baits leaving no doubt when they hit. I don't know where the bigger 14 - 15 + inch females went, haven't gotten one of those in over a week but 11-13 inchers are fun too.

Baits that survived the snagfest and a bunch more that I made today. Prop baits and Tailgunners were used the majority of the time.

A few more pics.

Got out yesterday for round 3 with my son. Weather conditions changed from windy to no wind at all to start. Let him have the first shot and he got on the board on his third cast with a nice slab. I snagged up on my first cast and had to break off. A pattern developed, seemed like if you didn't snag up you caught a crappie. I lost at least a dozen baits and my son lost even more. I did have a couple stretches where I would catch 4-5 in a row. My biggest was 14" and my son got his PB crappie, 14.75 ". He also got the only male crappie, just starting to darken up. Overall it was a good day, not as good as day 2 but he was happy. Everything caught on blade baits I made.

They reopened this lake on Tuesday, I've been fishing it since the 80's.

A few more pics from yesterday.

Went crappie fishing again today, very windy but the sun was shining. I had the whole lake to myself again. Started slow because I couldn't get the feel of the 1/16 blade bait I was throwing. Tied on a 1/8 oz. propeller bait and started fishing deeper water letting it hit bottom before starting my retrieve. Couple of turns of the handle and thump,fish on. First fish was a slab crappie, 15 1/4 inches. Took a picture or three and after a quick measurement let her go. From there the action was non stop until about 10. Tried another spot, one fish in an hour. Tied on my last 1/8 since I lost the other three. Caught 7 more with 8 casts. Total for the morning was 40-50 crappie, at least a dozen were over 14 inches with three topping the 15. Only three crappie were under 10 inches, caught some nice bass and a few white bass as well. My best day size wise ever at this lake.Not a single male, all girls and all caught in deeper water. Everything was released. Going back tomorrow for round 3, taking my son this time with more of the same baits since I tied more when I got home this afternoon. I have a lot more pictures but they must be too big to download, sorry.