Martin

My old tournament pard and I hit the water at Viney about 8:00 a.m....(lol) (RPS had probably already fished for 2 1/2 hours by then). We were after those elusive walleyes. We took a ride upstream towards the state line and tried a couple of places. We were whacking the bass and big bluegills, but no eyes. FINALLY, after dinking around at every depth from 15 to 30 feet, I mentioned that the latest reports (think rps) had the walleyes feeding shallower. We reluctantly went in and fished the 9 to 12 foot depths. We banged 3 keeper walleyes in about 45 minutes after we had gone shallow. Pard had a 18 1/2 incher, then a beautiful 22 incher, and I finally stabbed a 19 1/2 incher. By then it was noon, getting hot, our crawlers were down to small, skinny rascals, so we headed in. We were using a regular old bottom bouncer sinker, and crawler harness. My harnesses had 2 hooks each and I think that's what Scott was using also. I'll try and post a photo of the rigs if anybody is interested. The main difference in my rig from rps's rig is: I use more weight, and a different configuration. I like rps' bullet weight, but I'm stubborn, and all I had handy was the bottom bouncer, so that's what I tried. We also were pulling these contraptions at .9 to 1.3 mph, which is somewhat faster then rps, but, it's a different day, with different wind. My hat is off to rps for giving us the depth to try after all our USUAL depths struck out. Great forum. Lots of info.

rps, looks like a limit of TR keeper walleyes ! Fantastic !! What size did they run ? Any in the 20 inch plus range? (can't tell from the photo)..... Bullitt & I will be out there in the a.m....Will keep an eye out for you...(pun intended)...lol

We went back up a few hundreths last night and this morning. We're at 926.01 .......Going the wrong way....lol

I hear all kinds of stuff from many different people saying "they heard" ______lake would be back to normal by ______________.......All I know is watch the COE website I have posted a link to many times. It will show you what is happening now... To about an hour before. Let me know if you can figure out when the lake will be normal...lol Our dock road is still underwater, and they've slowed the release to near nothing.. I think we FINALLY dropped to 925.98 or so today, but it is dropping painfully slow...The upside is that the fishing is great! This morning I had several nice bass of all different species. Caught everything but the walleye I was after. lol .. Bilfo, sounds like you and your dockmates need to get a small jonboat or something for times like this. Use it to get out on your dock, go fishing !

I've seen many guys go thru this....Gone Fishing hit the nail on the head, possibly...If you have a GPS or a GPS on your depthfinder, the GPS antenna will draw your battery down over a few days....IF that is a possiblility, (you do have a GPS), just wire in a switch in the powerwire on the antenna....You still have to remember to turn it off after fishing though...lol

I believe powerdive is correct... It's Missouri law....

Powerdive, I have always avoided the bluff side when walleye fishing, but I may be missing 1/2 of the good area's....? As you know, rps fishes the bluff side alot with good sucess. I hope you get many more replies.

Powerdive, who was the first to use leadcore in your boat ?? lol... Where we you ?? What was the month and temp ?

Agreed......Very good article.

This I gotta see.......lol....... (For those of you that hadn't noticed, Powerdrive, or is it Powerdive, is one of my walleye fishing buddies).....He's from up nort, and I've learned alot from him and the weirdo's he's got me rides with...(tongue in cheek firmly)... I agree fully, that Mr. Bablers reports and hints are probably the best I've ever seen on the world wide web. If the smallies and Kentuck's are out there, then the walleyes aren't too far away. Bill, thank you sincerely. mF

Lake is down APPROX 3 1/2 inches since 11:00 p.m. last night.....We are at about 933.89 now. Glad to see it going down and glad it didn't get above 934.16... Will be nice to be able to use the dock again someday....lol

I believe we hit 935.45 last month... I came across the Kim City Bridge today about 5:00 p.m...The pond is getting very, very high again....Wouldn't be surprised to hit that 935 plus tomorrow....I will depend on Tablerock dam flood gate height (open) and how much they are letting in from Beaver....White caps were splashing on highway 13 near the south end of the Kim City bridge. That has all happened before though, so....we'll see.. Check the corp link for REAL water elevation, instead of rumors..... http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/Reports/Data/Tabrock.htm We are at 934.13 when I copied this link. It's 8:54 p.m., so it should update in a few minutes..... By the way: 934.13 is almost exactly 934' - 1 1/2" ......Our record was 935.45 which was very close to 935' - 5 1/2".... So, 1'-4" higher and we'll match the record lake EL from a few weeks ago.....(well, couple of weeks ago)...seems like a long time....lol

Maybe topped the "spillway" by 1 1/2 feet, but not the top of the dam....Tablerock's flood pool El is 931.00 and we're at 932.42 and rising....A couple of weeks back we hit 935.45....I wouldn't be surprised to see that 935 plus again here at the rock, unless they hurry up and open the flood gates more...But then again, better to hold as much as possible as to flood homes and business'......It's a mess, but it's mother nature, and we get what we get. I hope Phil and everybody else downstream don't get flooded again. He's probably tired a sheetrocking and painting, laying carpet, etc...etc...I'm not worth a flip at catching fish in this high water, so I'm just waiting.....patciently as possible....lol Quillback...Have you been out ?

Lake was at about 927 thursday night and Friday. Finally got our walkway close enough to get on the dock without a boat... It was very short lived. We went over 930 this morning and every hour the lake was rising. sheesh.....Did I mention I'm tired of rain.......lol. It's been raining since mid-day today to, and the radar shows alot more coming. Glad to hear the have some flood gates open, but I hope nobody downstream gets flooded again. I realize the corp won't "open things up" until the rain has hit the ground, but it sure seems like they take their time getting it started. Then, they have to REALLY open things up, and that's when good people get flooded downstream. Or so it seems. I'll be quiet now. Can't report on the fishing. I haven't been. Mr. Babler would be the guy to ask ! I figure I'm in good shape compared to the poor people in Joplin that lost everything..

Y E S ..

Sheesh.....I don't know about the rest of you out in computer land, but, in my opinion and experience, you just don't get this quality of a fishing report ANYWHERE but here... Thanks Bill and Denjac !! And I live here. I just don't get to go too often, but with reports like this, it's almost as good as being out there. Man...........................

I think the throw cushion is a law for any boat over _______ft in length....Can't remember if it's 16, 17, or 18 feet long boat.....Throw cushion is easy for us. Somebody always has it on their seat... And yes, life jackets (PFD's) cannot be in a compartment, locked or not. We just deal wityh this as best we can. It doesn't mean we are perfect, but....not too bad....Kids ALWAYS wear life jackets in my boat.....And most of our adult PFD's are within grabbing distance, and I'm talking about warm water, summertime conditions. It is NOT that warm right now.

NICELY DONE Mrs. Magicworman !! Some people fish for YEARS without catching a 7+ ......Yeah Man ! (you had a good guide).

IF you REALLY want to learn how.....Hire Mike for a day....I've known Mike for several years, and he's almost as good as me......lol.....(Just kidding Mike). Marty

Congrats Phil !! Big Job........Obviously well done.

Some dammm goof just roared into Cow Creek in his bassboat and shut-er-down right in front of the docks. One of the neighbors ran home to get a gun...lol Why are people so blind to the damage they cause? OH well, I ought to be used to it by now.

Fozzype, I'm with you....Too many computer cowboys spewing BS about roads and bridges being closed. I can only personally say I've been on today, it's the Kimberling Bridge (Highway 13), and at 4:30 p.m. today, it was fine.......road open........water rise finally stopping.....don't know about the others, but I have friends and fishing buddy's all up and down the lake. If something had closed, I would have heard about it fairly quickly. Nothing like going to see for yourself ! By the way...I have no problem with a guy saying "I heard" something was closed, "but I cannot confirm it"....(Like glennL)... No offense meant glennL to you !

Boys, I was across the Kimberling bridge at about 4:30 p.m. TODAY, and it was NOT closed and the water level has at least stabilized....It is actually going down, but at a VERY slow pace....I'll tell you this, the highway approach to the south end of the bridge was really getting water close to the road.....REAL close. But they MoDot guys were there and since the water is FINALLY under control (don't mess with Mother Nature), the highway should be just fine... Ootsey, I don't know where you get your info, but it is bogus, for today anyway....

Check this out. We're still going UP....Glad it has slowed some though. http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/Reports/Data/Tabrock.htm (click the link)

It's gonna be a big bath tub !