misfitfishingco

Sorry don't get on here that often. Hope you were able to get out. I haven't been up to Cape since all the flooding. Been down around Aunt's myself fishing down to Kim City and up the White. Hope you were able to get on some fish.

Go to the Rock. Jig bite is prime.

Aarchdale is right and his comment ties into what I was alluding to with all my rhetoric which is TRL is not short on fish but rather just over-pressured in general I think. If one were to get on the Missouri water patrol regatta list and look, there is 69 (if i counted correctly) tournaments scheduled for the month of June. 69!?!?!?! Think these fish may be a tad pressured? They are in the lake but easy for them to get tight lipped on us when they get hammered week after week. https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/WP04Web/app/searchRegattaWeb?action=Search+Again

Except that they are quite poisonous! Better just stick with crappie, whites, walleye, and cats to be safe.

Bass are friends, not food.

Flysmallie, Just playing devils advocate here. To what benefit would closing off particular sections of the lake from year to year be for the overall success of the fishery? As noted in that article, among many others, biologists from Florida to the UP in Michigan have instituted this idea only to find no benefit whatsoever to the recruitment of progeny in that area closed during the spawn as opposed to those areas that are open across the lake. There are just too many more important factors than the numbers that influence the recruitment for that season (available food, cover, stable water temps, the first winter, predation by other species, genetics etc.) I was reading an interesting study in Michigan where they actually closed a whole lake off to fishing (i believe it was <150 acres) and after the 5 year experiment they found the bass population actually dropped by 45% and furthermore the quality of size also dropped substantially. Very interesting to the recreational biologist in all of us!

Many better eating fish out there IMO!

Bass are friends, not food.

All our fish came on points and mouths of spawning coves. 8-12 FOW. Misfit Fishing Co. Spinnerbait 1/2oz

Mike, We were running a small buddy tournament with two other boats (friends) for fun, making the livewell a necessary component. Using best management practices when handling fish is imperative to the mortality rate which is truly the larger issue, however by utilizing these practices to insure the health and well-being of the fish, this tends to not be as much of an issue. All fish were released and immediately swam off without a hitch. If you are truly interested in these effects from more recent articles, let me know as I have numerous articles that support the findings from the 2004 article mentioned previously. Here is a quote from 2014 from Florida biologist Bob Wattendorf: "Because bass drop so many eggs, it's only necessary for a few fish in any lake to successfully spawn. If each parent pair have only two offspring that survive to spawning age, only once in their lifetime, the lake population remains stable--but a big female may drop over 40,000 eggs each year over spawns a few different times and different areas. And since the fish spawn over an 8 to 10 year life span, having enough young fish is rarely a problem--that's why it's not usually possible to greatly improve fishing by stocking fingerling bass. Unless there's lots of habitat not being used by other fish, the extra fish won't do well." Understand I am not trying to be argumentative, but rather am using professional research to further my understanding and wanting to share that with this community. If people deny the research, then they need to move forward and make a motion for closing bass fishing during the spawn.

Champ, I appreciate your concern for the conservation issue this seemingly presents; however, I feel without knowing the full context, you may be overreaching in your assumptions. http://www.greatlakesbass.com/fishing/NewYorkBlackBassWhitePaper.pdf this article is one of the more in depth articles I've read on this subject and I would encourage everyone to read it as it is chock full of information from studies conducted across the country. Basically the article begs the question of the actual impacts and implications of fisheries that have closed seasons (particularly during the spawn) and the effects on the recruitment of progeny for that year. What they have essentially found is that in smaller fisheries there is a higher likelihood of impact as Champ mentioned, however, in larger bodies of water there is no definitive evidence of this claim. Here is an excerpt from Jackson and Brooking,2004, "...there is a relationship between the number of nests and year class strength, in other words that a stock-recruitment relationship exists. Reynolds and Babb (1978) reported a correlation between the number of spawning adults and recruitment in small impoundments. However, no evidence of a stock-recruitment relationship for black basses in larger systems has been found for northern or southern populations (Minnesota: Kramer and Smith 1960; Oklahoma: Summerfelt 1975; North Carolina: Jackson and Noble 2000). These findings have led to the widespread belief that there is typically a surplus production of eggs and young in black bass populations and that variability in year class success and recruitment to the fishery is controlled by ecological conditions encountered by young fish after the guarding stage, such as food availability and winter conditions (Ludsin and DeVries 1997)" As this article proves, Largemouth recruitment population success depends on a variety of other factors besides angling pressure and removal of males from nests. If what Champ said were fully true, many of the most successful fisheries in the nation would not be of the caliber that they are, Think about the number of tournaments that take place every weekend across the country. If what Champ says is fully true, many of these world-class bass fisheries should not be just that, due to angling pressure and the recruitment for that year failing and being "left to die" as he said from guarding male removal. There are many other and more important contributing factors that we need to consider and as mentioned, I would encourage everyone to read the article above and reevaluate how we look at the spawn and the success of the recruitment stock for that year. Otherwise we need to motion for closing the bass fishing season to all fishing and tournaments during the spawn, however, there is no validity to this logic and is why we do have an open season here in Missouri and the populations from year to year depend more on factors following the "swim up" stage of the fry (available food, cover, water temps influencing growth rates etc.), and less on the guarding stage. I digress, but the majority of the fish caught had not yet spawned (as far as the females) and most all of the small buck males were released where they were caught. All of these fish were released from within 1/2 mile from where they were caught which is much closer than most tournaments which take place every single weekend at every lake covered by this forum... Sorry for the word vomit. Champ, thanks for bringing this up. Hope this thread and article are helpful to all!

Fished Aunts down to the mouth of the White. Not many fish in the backs on Saturday. Overall good day. Had 10 keepers (all released) with a few nice ones and probably 30+ fish a piece.

Nice one! Ol Pinky did the trick seems like. Hoping to get out sunday in the old tin bottom.

Bite is picking up for bass. Haven't got the tin bottom out on the water yet so just bank beating along the bridge. Saw two people catch crappie about 12". Didn't see or hear of anyone else catching bass. This was the best one of the evening.

I can answer my own questions now. East of bridge water is 1.5-2ft visibility and closer to 3 west of bridge.

Anyone know the conditions on Fellows since that big rain we had last week? Is water too high to bank fish the east side of the bridge?

Where did you set up camp, and whats water clarity/temp? Have a tourney saturday...

Wrench, How many? I could get them done and sent out early next week at my earliest... without the hidden weight

Flysmallie, just let me know! The spinnerbaits are a hidden weight design similar to War Eagle but with more head detail.

Hey OAF. I've recently started a new fishing lure manufacturer here locally and thought I'd share. Specializing in jigs (finesse, flipping, casting, swimming), spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits. All products are produced by myself start to finish. Ultra tough powder coated heads, razor-sharp mustad ultra-point hooks in various sizes, premium weedguard, custom colors exclusive to Misfit Fishing Co., realistic 3D eyes for our swim jigs, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits, premium components such as the SPRO Gamakatsu Ball-bearing swivel on our spinnerbaits, and all products are wire-tied by hand making these things virtually indestructible. A lot of my colors are unique to the Ozarks specifically matching the various species of forage we have in this area from the Long-Pincered Craws native to Tablerock and its adjoining tributaries to Golden and Rusty Craws that can be found statewide. Give us a look at misfitfishingco.com we sure would appreciate it! Sorry for going heavy on pics, just excited to show you guys the stuff! Let me know if you have any questions/comments. -Robert

Oh good, some mats to punch!

Quillback, I grew up fishing the James and there's something special about getting back to where it all started!

Did a little bank beating on the James below Lake Springfield last friday after work. Caught a few good ones on Misfit Fishing Co. Pro-Finesse jigs and Swim Jigs. Always fun catching these guys in swift current.

I think this cold rain will definitely change things up from how they have been. Looks like the system is gradually shifting north too. Hoping for better weather but will be fishing regardless!

Fishing from the shore? Yak? Boat? Getting ready to head out there soon...