Bassin4fun

Looks like there is a ramp at Ahoy's...but if not, closest would be Kimberling City ramp. Attached screenshots from Google Maps. Bottom pic is Kinberling City boat ramp. Top is Ahoys.

I need to spend some time with the drop shot. I think I have thrown it maybe a handful of times. I know it is a good technique and bait to use. I bet it would have worked well on a couple of areas that morning. I didn't even bring my spinning rod or tackle to run it though. It was feast or famine with the squarebill. I fished whole stretches where I got one or maybe zero bites. These were long stretches too...I was fishing fast. Had my trolling motor on 40-50% the whole time. Other areas...I would get 4-6 bass on a stretch. I don't want to give too many specifics in this post though since my brother-in-law and I are planning to fish the Sunday Cape Fair tourney next weekend. 😁

I started out the morning launching from Cape Fair. I was on the water by 730am. I had to back up to where I stepped out of my truck into water to get the boat off the trailer. Thankfully, I was dressed for rain and had my deck boots on. I started off trying to find bass feeding on shad. I hit the point across from the launch. I landed a small spotted bass but couldn't get anything going. The shad were moving and in smaller balls. They were suspended over deep water and were down about 10-20ft. So I decided to hit the banks. I focused on banks where the river channel ran and points. I would only work the points of pockets after going back in one and not finding any activity. The gulls and pelicans were not nearly as plentiful on Table Rock as they were on Lake of the Ozarks Saturday. The water temp at Table Rock was also about 4-5 degrees warmer. It was 63-64F. I did find some colder water back up in the James 57-58F. I tried topwater early on throwing a white buzzbait with a clacker and a Grey sexy dawg walking bait. I didn't get any action on either bait. I switched up to a black and chartreuse squarebill and a white and chartreuse double willow bladed spinnerbait w/trailer. Those were the only two baits that I had bites on all day. I also threw a green pumpkin/orange football jig w/green pumpkin z craw trailer...but no bites. I covered a ton of water...I fished until 4pm. I caught over 30 nass. I had 6 keepers all day and a couple that were over 14". I caught one that was over 4lbs. It was a good day of fishing for sure...overcast with the occasional drizzle and just cold enough you needed a jacket when running up the lake.

No, I don't throw swimbaits much. I need to throw them more often.

LoL...meant pelicans. 🤣

I launched at about 7:20am this morning from. The Larry Gale ramp. Only 2 other boats launching and one rig in the lot. Water Temps were about 58 at launch and about 61 when I came off the water at about 230pm. I boated at least 12 fish...one white bass and the rest black bass (spots and largemouth). I ran the bank line adjacent to the river channel pretty much the whole day. About the only time I could get bit was if there were shad around. The exception to that was of course working docks. All my fish were caught on a chartreuse and black squarebill. I threw buzzbait, walking bait, rock crawler, spinnerbait, and jig. The squarebill was the only bait that caught fish. If I saw anything chasing the shad...I threw it past them and ran it back through them and would get bit. This was in about 20-30ft of water...maybe 10-20yds from the bank. There were threadfin and gizzard shad schooling. I found some pretty decent plumes of threadfin shad in the morning. The penguins were having a feast on them. I ran the squarebill around some docks and had the most success off a dock that was sitting out over 50ft of water...especially on the shady side. I think I caught 4 bass off that one dock. Nothing big, but was fun when I would get on a few. Pics are of the better fish.

Yeah, I think if I had been fishing from a boat, I could have done well as I would not have wasted so much time in some areas that weren't producing. Friday, I am sure I could have caught more keepers but I would move on after catching one or two fish along a stretch or switch baits. I had 10-12 in the boat that day with four of them being keepers. But, the fish had moved from some areas where I had caught em on Friday. It seemed that the chunk rock areas or ledge with chunk rock worked better than the bluff type banks. I did work a jig on a long runout point on Friday on the side that was closest to where the channel came back across and caught one. I just couldn't work a jig on Sat with all the wind. I tried and lost one jig...on e you were hung it was highly unlikely to be able to retrieve it. My boatvwould have been better at holding position to be able to work a jig...but it was a kayak tourney. 😀 Overall, I liked that area and will definitely fish it again. Another angler in the event launched from there and was in the money (3rd). He is supposed to post a YouTube video on his channel...hope to see where he had the most bites. He started out going toward main lake from ramp....the bank cut left from the point and would have been protected from the south wind we had. So there were definitely fish biting in that part of the lake over the weekend...I just didnt hit the most productive stretches for larger fish.

On Saturday, I launched from the same ramp and proceeded to fish the steeper bank across from the ramp where the channel ran. I was on fish right away but caught a lot of dinks. We needed fish that were at least 12" to count. I caught two that counted along that stretch out of probably 8 or so. I then crossed over with the channel and caught a better fish...that was about 845am. After that...I think I hung one and lost it on a squarebill. It would have been the largest I had for the day and may have been 15". I did not get another bite for 3hrs!!! I thought about running (more like crawling with a trolling motor) to another stretch that was about a half mile to mile upstream. But, the wind was horrible and by this time, there were several guys posting limits and numbers in the 70's and 80's for inches. I decided to head back toward the ramp and fish the same stretch where I started my morning. Nothing. After that, I decided to call it a day...it was about 1230pm. One of the leaders for the day was fishing the James River arm throwing squarebill and spinnerbait and posted over 80". I did not even bother going out on Sunday as it was going to be as bad or worse with the wind. Plus, I had absolutely no chance to get in the top five. We had 39 anglers and only top 5 were getting paid. The top 10 in the event absolutely hammered the fish...especially given the conditions. You can check out the inches posted and see pics of the catches here: https://tourneyx.com/leaderboard/standings/2022-missouri-kayak-championship Big bass was over 20"...probably 3-4lbs. Lots of 2-3lb fish were caught.

So this weekend was the MoYak State Kayak Bass Tournament. The event was a two-day, roadrunner start with lines in at 730am and lines out at 3pm on Saturday and Sunday. As you know, the forecast was high win both days. I had never fished this section of Table Rock but gave it a shot based on some feedback to a post I made a week or so ago. Friday, I prefished out of my boat and launched at Viola Public Use Ramp. Ther isn't a ton of parking but it is a nice ramp and courtesy dock. There weren't many rigs there either day. So I basically just wanted to scout the area and see what the bank looked like and the points. I threw a buzzbait, soinnerbait, squarebill, Rock Crawler, and jig. I caught fish on everything but the rock crawler. I really didn't thoroughly cover the area but just wanted to find fish and get an idea of what was working. I knew that fast moving baits would be my focus due to the wind this weekend. I ran pretty far up the river arm in my boat but knew I likely wouldn't go that far up in my yak using the trolling motor. Most of my attention was on the bank that was adjacent to the river channel and the main lake points. I really didn't go much further than the mouths of the pockets. I caught 4 keepers on practice day and felt pretty good about my pattern and the area.

Thank you! That saves me a trip that way for sure.

Has anyone launched recently at Eagle Rock, Holiday Island, Beaver, or Houseman Access? I am looking at launching my boat in that area to prefish on Friday before the kayak tourney. I know the lake is low and have never been that far down with my boat. It is either fish that stretch or launch from Campbell's Point and fish. Trying to stay on more protected areas or at least a stretch that runs east-west to be somewhat protected from wind coming out of the South. Supposed to be good and windy this weekend for state kayak event.

That is my strategy for next weekend. 2-day kayak tournament. First day James River and Flat Creek arms power fishing shallow. Depending in how that goes, will do main lake points and channel swings fishing shallow early morning and move out with a jig late morning thru end of the tourney on the 2nd day Will also have a jerkbait and spoon handy.

It is crazy what a difference a day can make. Sounds like you still did well. Did you mostly fish the bank? What depths seemed to do the best? I am hoping to get out Friday morning...and will definitely be on Table Rock Sunday morning.

It was tough today. Water temp was about 68°F this morning and wasnover 70°F by the time I came off the water at 3pm. I was on the water at 6:30am. I launched from Pomme de Terre State Park boat ramp as the Hermitage boat ramp was busy with a boat tourney. Turns out there were four boat tourneys plus our MoYak kayak tournament today. We had 62 anglers....roadrunner launch. I think most guys launched closer to the river/creeks. There weren't many kayaks on the main lake where I was launching from. I started out running the same pattern I ran yesterday in my boat...white buzz bait running banks and main lake points. I stayed on the northeast bank.. I threw the buzz bait for a good hour with no bites. I switched up to throwing a bluegill colored, 1.5 squarebill. Nada. I ran all the way up to a cove with several docks. I started pitching a pumpkin green/orange jig with a pumpkin green Zoom Craw trailer and finally got my first fish at 8:10am (15.25"). I didn't get another bite until 10:07am. I caught that fish (15.0") off the island on the main lake using the squarebill. I moved to the bluff end and caught another on the squarebill about 10:40am...little bitty 9.2 inches. I then ran the bluff on the shaded side that faced west. I paralleled the bank with the squarebill. I caught 2 more fish (16.5" and 15.0"). I lost three fish along this stretch...one of which would have culled for sure. I also missed one that felt good. It hit the bait hard. I ran down to the ledge rock point near the Pontiac ramp and caught my last fish (14.0") at 12:35pm. I couldn't buy a bite after that. It was tough. 4 keepers in the boat though...not too shabby. I had 75.75" with my best five. Winner had 81.5". He also caught the big bass 18.75". He was throwing a spinnerbait and squarebill. The guy who took 2nd was throwing a chatterbait and squarebill...he was deep in a creek or river arm though...not sure which end. I heard some guys were catching em on a choppo...but most were dinks. I think the cold front definitely affected the bite. Friday, I caught 5 of my 7 on a buzz bait. I caught one on a jig around the docks and one on a squarebill. I wasn't fishing hard or thorough. I was just wanting to get an idea of what they were hitting and where. I skipped around if I caught one or two in an area. That pattern would probably work tomorrow morning....just not today right after the temp drop and no wind this morning.

LoL...it is a roadrunner start so you can launch from anywhere. The tournaments at the beginning of the regular season have over 100 anglers. I think we had almost 170 for the Table Rock event in April.

I will be posting a report Saturday evening. I was out prefishing today in the boat. I caught a few...nothing big but I was just teying to locate fish and see what was working. Once I got a few bites, I switched up and moved around. WT was 68-71°F today where I was fishing. Tonight the temp is supposed to be in the 30's...as is tomorrow morning. Our launch time is 630am with lines in at 7am. Currently about 50 anglers registered. May hit 60-70 by tomorrow morning though. I think it will take 85" or better to win. I expect a lot of 5 fish limits. I had a limit this morning by 9am...started about 7am. https://tourneyx.com/leaderboard/standings/2022-moyak-pomme-de-terre

I hear ya. Heck, I even asked the guys that were in the same spot as I was before lines in what section they were gonna fish. I wanted to fish the seawall and they were wanting to fish area behind the dock. So we were all good...I asked if they minded if I flipped that seawall as they were there before me. We were both on that area 30min or more before lines in. 🤣 And I still didn't get even a strike there or in that cove. I didn't have anyone buzz me at this event...but I have had boats do it before...especially on summer weekends.

Yeah, there is definitely a lot of luck factor involved with this type of format. Glad to hear y'all were catching em though! I hear you on the idiots running full speed right by you. Even if they were trying to stay in the channel....should have slowed down to go by you. I did like that there was a lot less boat traffic up that way.

How did you end up doing? I was up way past Ivy Bend myself this morning. It was REAL shallow in areas. The best I did was on Saturday, I had a couple of small keepers that probably went 1.5lbs each. Today my best was probably 1.25lbs...fat little spot. Nothing like Friday, that's for sure.