Fishrman

I would say to take down the tag number, call the Branson office and ask for Shawn Bush, I would also mark the spot where you caught it, that should help them, but for the most part I think with the transmitters, and the gps coordinates to the structure, the U of MO will have all it needs. See you guys.

Talked to Shawn at Branson office today, he said the fish was tagged and released last Wed., said he was really surprised to have caught it so quickly. It was a quarter mile from it was tagged and released. They tagged 60 fish for the Univeristy of Missouri and equipped the fish with a radio transmitter to see if they were using the habitat that the conservation department had placed in the lake. Said if anyone caught fish with tags to give them a call. Little disappointed, was hoping that maybe it was tagged some time ago and would have grown so many inches, but that wasn't the case. Anyway made my day watching my son get so excited over it. See you guys on the water.

Yes he was released.

Just wanted to show you guys some pics from yesterday. My son caught a tagged fish on a crankbait, have called the Convservation Dept. and just waiting for them to get back to me. You can see it has a tag on its back, a transmitter I think coming out of its belly and stitches. Pretty cool I thought and my son definitely thought it was.

Fished from 7-12 in Kings, put in at Viola and never ran farther than Jakie. Had two limits today with some really nice keepers. Fish were shallow and all on cover, had been cathcing a few on deeper trees the last 3 weeks, but today they vacated those are as and moved shallow. Spawn is close. Fished everything from pockets to rock banks to gravel did not matter if there was laydowns present you could catch them. Get out there and get some supper guys they are ready to be caught. Good luck.

No,I was much further down and only caught one white. Father in law just got back and they loaded the boat with whites just below Sweetwater. They came up schooling and they went to work. He had 12 crappie also, but the wind was too much to do a lot of that.

Just wanted to add to the Kings post, did not have a chance last night, crappie was good yesterday until the wind and cold came in, after that it slowed, but they cold still be caught if you could get close to cover without getting hung up. Had 35 keeper crappie yesterday with me and the boys, plus my father in law. Caught a lot of shorts also, and probably only fished about 2 miles of river. Most fish were males and most of what we caught were 10.5 inches to 11, just a few over the 11 mark. Will be getting back after them tomorrow if weather permits.

Champ Went to Shell Knob yesterday, drove across the bridge and the entire ramp and parking lot was covered with at least 6-7 inches of snow. Lake was completely froze over from the left point just above launch to other side of the lake, first cove on right going down past bridge is frozen from the back all the way out to the main lake. That is all I saw from the truck.

Fished by myself this morning, had planned to bass fish only, but the wind was not hitting a spot where I had been catching some crappie so I stopped, told myself to catch 5 if I could and then go bass fish the rest of the day. Caught my 5, and away I went. Bass were no where to be found on my first two stops, so I prceeded to hit my other crappie places with a 1/8 oz. jig, that big due to the wind. Had my limit by 10:00 and only fished 3 spots. Went back to bass fishing and needless to say, was home by 1:00 and playing golf by 2:30 with my oldest son. Not a bad day. Sorry no pics today, did have on over 14".

I have been catching them on the main channel of the River. Not main lake, river. They are in a lot of places, just to have to be patient and try things that look good.

Trying to add some pics of what has been going home with me. The one my father in law is holding is 15".

Fished from 7:30 to 3:00 yesterday, had 26 keepers between me and my father in law. They are deep and shallow, just have to stop and fish to find out. Of course structure is key, brush or the right kind of tree, just have to look. The ones deep were a bit deeper yesterday and a little harder to catch, but still managed to have a good day. Once the wind got too bad, we bass fished for a little while on the way back to the truck. Just shorts there. Good luck.

Don Don't know about water color and temp. but crappie fishing is good in Roaring River and some fo the docks that have brush tied up to them. Went down to Kings last night after work with my son and had 18 keeper crappie out of brushpiles. So the fishing isn't too bad.

Went down again today with my youngest son, and started on main lake, caught 5 keepers on the first spot, in about 20 minutes, then they shut down, proceede up the Kings, second stop yielded 3 keepers and some small ones. Third stop no crappie, next stop one short, next yielded 6 keepers and the last spot yielded 4 keepers. 18 total. Pretty good day. Same pattern as last time, at least 15 feet of water and brushpiles. Caught a few short bass on buzzbait and spinnerbait, but nothing to write home about. Good luck when you get to go.

The keepers were a little over 10" to 12", probably caught 10-15 other sub legals. Some of the brushpiles I fished were ones I saw put in over the spring. Seemed as if you got the jig close to the brush you would get bit every time. They bit really well early in the morning and the bite faded as the sun got higher. Pretty typical I would guess. One other thing, look for a transition. If you know of a brush pile on a transition in the 15 foot depth it might be worth checking out.

Caught them on the White and up the Kings. Caught them on tube jig, blue and white. All were out of brush piles in at least 15 feet of water.

Fished all day yesterday, came across Shell Knob bridge and looked over at Pizza Hut cove and there were hundreds of them schooling. Got boat launched and went over, caught 2, one spot and one white. Same problema as I have been reading about, size of the bait matters. Left them to go and and throw spinnerbait and crank. That bite never materialized for me, so went crappie fishing. Had 8 keepers, plus the white bass. Good mess to clean. Did end up catching 3 quality blacks up river on buzzbait. That is it for now.

Well went back today, headed to Viola and the fish were still there, but much, much harder to catch. Only caught two, caught them on a grub. These fish have been around the first wave barrier as you are heading up river toward Viola. They will come up several times during the day, but today when they came up it was a much shorter period than on Wed. You can see these fish on the graph and they are not suspended very deep at all, makes the spoon bite a little harder. Well proceeded back down river got a couple of bites on fb jig, but no hook ups. Hit a flat that a couple of lay downs toward the mouth, they were in about 10 feet of water, first flip, 3lb. smallie. Through deep crank after that caught 2 shorts in about 15 feet. Flipped some docks with no takers and then decided to move out to main lake. Hit the deep end of a long dock across from Point 23, with the half ounce scrounger head and caught 3 good Kentuckies, none were keepers, but good 14 inch fish. Finally moved up to Owl Creek caught 4 on plastic worm in pocket across from Owl Creek, caught them there for years, no keeps there. Fished a bluff end transition up above that with fb jig, caught one more keeper largemouth and that was it. Hope this helps.

Fished for the first time in about 2 and half months. Launched out of Viola around 11:30 and proceeded to throw square bills in flat pockets with no results. Went up to Hickory Hollow and fished to 86 bridge with small cranks catching 7 with one keeper. Came back down to Viola and found a huge school of bass who fell for the scrounger head and fluke and a spoon caught 3 keepers and several shorts, all keepers were good ones. Am going back Friday with the wife, will see if they are still there, they showed themselves several times while I was there, if that tells you anything. After Friday, I will tell you where they are at and you can have at them if you are down that direction. Other than what I posted, if was very tough and hot. Good luck.

Buddy of mine fishes the Friday night tourney out of Campbell Pt. Last Friday, took 6 bass at 31 lbs. to win and 24 lbs. took second. So must have been a good couple of nights.

they started last Wed. night.

Muddy with current at 86 bridge.

49 degrees

Crappie were shallow, probably 7 feet. Found them in a cove in a brushpile and then found some on channel swing.

Took the 11 year old crappie fishing today, caught around 25 with only 9 keepers. Lots of little bass on the crappie jig. Did fish one bank for bass, caught 5 with 2 keepers on an Excalibur jerkbait, only made one pass, about 40 yds. long. Fished the Kings.