mrcold

Thanks for the responses on the fins...for anyone looking for redfin info like I was: http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5942 http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7240 I guess if I would've pulled my head out, I'd have found these and wouldn't have had to ask.

Thanks for the report! I know what the lm, sm, k, and jaw are, but what's a fin? You guys and your crazy lingo have me all confused.

Thanks for the replies, guys! I'm feeling a bit better now, except now I won't be able to use the post-spawn, bad weather, pro tourney going on excuses this year...it'll just be "man, I suck at fishing".

Granted, I'm not from Missouri, and I'm a newbie on here, but I've NEVER seen a problem where there's an overabundance of big fish. Perhaps you could direct me to one of these cursed lakes that are overrun by 5 lb. bass?

Thanks for the report! We're scheduled to be there in about 2 weeks (start fishing the 13th), and will be in the dam area. I have a fear that we'll be hitting the dreaded postspawn time yet again. Do you think we will be ok then, or just a bit late and have a rough time? I've been hoping a couple storms would push the Indian Point area back about a week so we could get some numbers and maybe some decent fish. (for the record, I'm pretty militant about C&R, and have actually convinced the people I fish with that IF they have to keep a couple, make sure they're going to keep some smaller males)

Hey guys, I was just curious how the spawning habits compare between the LMB, spots, and smallies down there. Do they spawn in similar areas at similar times? Or are they vastly different as far as time and location? Thanks for any insight! Brian

You know, after I wrote this post, I went back and read the mid-May post below, and read Bill's response. After that, there was really no need for me to post all of this crap. I can just narrow it down to: Does anyone have much luck fishing frogs down there? Does anyone really try? I know they're used a lot more for slop fishing, so I don't know that a lake like TR is really the right place for hollow frogs. Does anyone know of a good writeup on shakey head fishing? Are there any tips for it that I absolutely HAVE to remember? Same for grub fishing, do you just fish them slow and let them tick the bottom, or are you trying to target a specific depth? Or both, depending on the fish? (P.S. sorry for taking up the board space with a repeat question...I went back and saw there were about 4 posts looking for May fishing advice, and figured it was a bit unnecessary to post this whole thing) (P.P.S. I guess I ended up with a novel for a response to my own thread, so this whole thing backfired...move along, nothing to see here. )

Hey all, I've been reading here off and on for a couple years leading up to my trips. We keep trying to move the trip around so we can time either pre or mid-spawn, but always seem to show up in the horrible week post-spawn. We'll see if this is the year. We'll be down May 12th through 16th this year. My plan right now is to be ready with: -split shot rig on 8-10 lb. floro, using fish doctors or gulp finesse worms. -dropshot on 8-10 lb. floro, using straight tail roboworms in various greens. -shakey head rig on 8-10 lb. floro (I'm kind of a newbie on this rig, any advice for where to read up on it?) -wiggle wart setup on 10-12 lb. floro -bronzeye frog on 20 lb. braid (I love the frogs, does anyone even use them down there?) -popper or walking bait on braid We will be fishing the dam to (edit: NORTH) Indian Creek areas. We have a tendency to end up back in coves a lot, even though our intent is usually to stay out on main lake and secondary points. Should we be looking to gravel or chunk rock around then, or both/transitions between? Coves or points? I've never used my dropshot in TRL, but I've been using it a TON up north the last couple years, and want to get into some Ks or smallies using this method. Do you just look for the standing timber or how do you target your dropshot areas? Obviously I'm asking for a lot of info that you guys (especially guides) don't necessarily want to give away, especially on this here intraweb thing. Any general advice is greatly appreciated, and any specifics area also more than welcome! Thanks, guys, and I'm sorry for the ridiculously long post! Brian (By the way, if anyone sees a blue Lund with Nebraska numbers that looks outta place and lost, stop by and say hello!) *Edit: NORTH Indian Creek area.

Thanks for the responses here, guys! I'm in the same boat, no pun intended. I'm coming down from Nebraska for the yearly trip, and will be there May 13th-17th. It seems like every year I get my butt kicked down there. One of these years I'll change that trend. So this is going to be a bit late in the year for the wiggle wart bite, is that what I'm reading? I really enjoy drop-shotting, is there a potential DS bite around that time of year? Everytime we've been down there, the owner of the place we stay says either texas or split shot with watermelon french fries...frankly I'm tired of hearing the same response and not having much success. Anyway, thanks again for the input, and any other thoughts are welcome. (hopefully I didn't hijack the thread too much) Brian

Hey guys, I just got a tackle box put together specifically for this trip. I guess I've got a bit too much time on my hands and I'm getting pretty excited. I think I have my most important item for the trip...my rainsuit. I'm gonna plan on having one light action rod with 8 lb floro and a shakey head/finess worm, one medium/light with 8 lb mono and set up with a dropshot, a MH rod with 20 lb. spiderwire and a walking bait, and a M with a DT-6 or wiggle wart. I have the TR map and since I'm in a new area this trip, marked my map up with the spots I found on this site. Per the advice I've been reading, I'll probably start out looking for transitions between gravel/chunk or bluffs/chunk, preferrably with some timber around. The plan is start the mornings on top with poppers and walking baits...then once that slows, go to either split shot or shakey, and maybe do some cranking, too. Last resort, I'm gonna be working some drop shot, hopefully building some confidence in it since I've used it a limited amount. I'd love to swim some grubs, but don't really know how to go about it or where to start, so I may skip that unless I get really desperate. And advice, criticisms from the pros? Thanks for any help, I'll try not to bring all the tornado weather we've been having down there with me.

Looks like you locals are going to have a Husker invasion on Tuesday. Thanks for this info, too. Although we're going to be mainly after the more popular bass, if they aren't willing to keep me entertained, I'll throw in the towel on the tournament and catch whites all day!

Sorry to keep bugging you guys for info, but I have another question. Do you buy swimming jigheads specifically? Or what type do you use? I've got some gammy darter heads that I was going to try, but I'm not sure how effective they'd be for swimming grubs. Any advice?

Great info, thanks!

Hey all, I wanted to say thanks for all of the valuable info thus far. I've got 6 days until I get down there, and I feel like I won't be completely lost for once. But I've got a couple questions remaining. I've basically switched over to using braid exclusively up here in Nebraska because water is always stained or murky. Obviously that isn't the case down in TR. How important do you feel using mono or floro is? My intent is to use braid on my cranks/sammys/spinnerbaits. Then I'll plan on 8 lb. floro for my drop shot and split shot setups, and possibly 10 lb. floro for an x-rap or rogue. Do these seem reasonable for that lake? Do you feel the floro sizes will be adequate or too heavy? I'm afraid to go down to 6 because I've developed a pretty vicious hookset with my braid and fishing in slop...I don't want to get overzealous and start breaking off since I'm inexperienced fishing lighter line. As far as grub fishing goes, what types of water do you target? It seems in the past I read about fishing grubs in trees in the creeks where the channel swings close to the bank. Is that accurate? Do you fish main lake points with them? Again, I'm inexperienced with swimming grubs, but it sounds like it's an effective tool down there so I wanted to give it a chance this year. Thanks in advance for any help! Brian

Thanks for the response! Although I'd love to catch some nice white bass, they just don't count in the tournament of the egos. I'm a bit more serious about fishing than the rest of the group down there, so I've got a reputation to uphold. I'd just assume it's not a reputation for not catching fish at the Rock. Anyway, thanks again for the help, and I look forward to hearing how you do Saturday. Brian

I've been going to the lake for about 5 years now with a buddy and his family, and we usually get smacked down pretty hard. It seems no matter when we go, it's about 2 days after the spawn ends and there's normally a cold front coming in. We always hear "you should've been here last week" or "they'll really turn on next week." I was hoping we'd actually time it right for once and have some luck. Does anyone know where the spawn stands around the Kimberling City area? We're staying at Fish Hook Resort, and I've never stayed in that part of the lake before. We're usually down right by the dam. Obviously, any fishing advice is welcome, but I know how fishermen are with their tactics. Anyway, I'm all C&R, probably the only hardcore fisherman who doesn't like to eat fish at all...so I won't be removing any of the chunky ladies that may have some eggs left. Thanks again for any help. Brian

Thanks for the welcome! Does anyone know where the lake stands on the spawn? We're going to be staying at Fish Hook Resort, I believe just down the lake from Kimberling City(I think, still a bit shakey about it's location, since I've always been at the Boomerang until this year). We always seem to hit a cold front about 3 days after the spawn, so we get 4 days of rain, cold, and no action. I was hoping for once we'd either hit the spawn or they'd have time to recover from the spawn for a couple days before we got there. I'm afraid we've timed it perfectly wrong again, though. Thanks for any help! Brian

Hello all. I live in Omaha and make a yearly trip to Table Rock, next week is the trip for this year. I was looking around for reports and discussions on the lake since I normally come home with my tail between my legs after the lake beats me up. I thought I'd try to prepare a bit more this year. Anyway, nice looking site, and hopefully I can find some useful info. Brian