SKMO

Talked with a good friend of mine who caught 14 big sow WB in mid to lower Kings last Thurs Feb 1. He is best WB fisherman I know this time of year and he always starts in Feb. He also said it was the earliest he has ever done this well, it was his first trip of the year. This cold weather may make it tough next few days but I expect as soon as some warmer weather returns things will get consistantly good with the big whites on the Kings.

For Smallmouth I would definitely fish toward Campbell point rather than the other direction, might even consider putting in at Campbell point, the boat ramp is in good shape, actually easier to launch than at normal pool. If you put in at SK check out the ramp before you back in, it's down to one lane and if you don't hit the right spot you might have real problems. I have a hard time myself catching great numbers of SM this time of year, but do catch some nice ones. I'd probably throw a stickbait on main lake and secondary points as well as 45 degree chunk rock banks. Along with it in same places throw a jig/pig or 1/2 oz Jewell type jig with twin trailer in some shade of brown or green. Fish can be about any depth but sometimes a good strategy is working the shallows looking for more active fish. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Might catch decent LM same way, especially farther back in the coves. I know this goes against some of the conventional wisdom but you might be surprised how shallow you can find fish. Otherwise play with your depthfinder and look for balls of shad in the cove mouths, cuts, and around deep trees. Wherever you can find shad is a good place to try. There will often, if not usually, be fish associated with them. Nice spots especially, plus sometimes white bass and an occasional pig SM, however I rarely catch LM this way this time of year. Problem with me this year has getting the things to bite, have not had as much luck doing this as in the past. Can find the shad and the fish and often catch one right off the bat and that’s it. May be a mistake letting them go, I think they swim back and rat me out. If you find nice bunches of shad and are sure you see large fish with them and can't get bit try the same spot in a few hours, they will probably still be there and may have changed their attitude. You will probably find this action from 30-50' deep, usually more toward the 50. Baits I use include dropshot if it's not too windy, spoon, large grubs, and 4" tubes. Tubes have been probably my best bet this winter, grey, shad or white color and this is one bait I like to soak in a good stinky shad scent. Not sure what the fish think of it but at least my hands smell fishy at the end of the day. Thats my 2 cents worth. I'm sure there are other opinions. Hopefully Babler will notice your question I think he would have some better ideas, especially on the SM.

Like Ryan said they don't run that deep 4 feet or more is usually enough. Make sure your rogues are suspending models not floaters or shallow runners, they make several different models. This is a bait for clear water and don't be afraid to throw it over and around real deep trees. Bass are always looking up and they will come up from below to get it, plus they suspend pretty shallow in the tops of these trees at times.

When searching for fish w/topwater I use "walk the dog" type hard baits like a Spook or Sammy 90% of the time, popper type baits like Spittin Image or Pop-R the rest. When they are busting shad on top they will usually hit anything you throw in front of them. Either of the above works great. Also Fluke type plastics work well when they are surfacing and you do not have to contend with trebel hooks which can be a plus at times.

In my experience decent topwater bite can start as early as early april, but it does not seem to work that way every year. There have been times that the sunrise to 8am bite on topwater has been very dependable during mid-April spawn. A very good TR fisherman showed me how to do this a few years ago, targeting isolated wood on large open gravel flats. I'm talking open flats with logs or treetops every hundred feet or more, not standing timber. When it is good early season it seems like every piece of wood in 4-8' of water has a bass parked at the base waiting for a topwater. Also in my experience and my opinion the best, most dependable topwater bite (at least on the west half of TR) is post spawn, whole month of May to mid-June. Get out before sunrise and park at the mouth of a spawning cove, preferably a gravelly flat with a roll off to deep water. You should experience 45 minutes to 2 hours of very good if not tremendous topwater action, but it can shut off quick on clear days when the sun hits the water. Expect to catch LM, spots, and white bass all mixed together. In late May when the threadfin make their spawning runs on the shoreline and all the planets line up 2 guys can boat 50 fish in a morning. Granted the majority will be short fish but tons of fun nonetheless. (PS largest topwater LM I ever caught was at high noon. Was running down the lake May 19 and saw whites blowing up on a well known hump. Blew in and cut the motor and caught the fish of the day while my partner boated a couple whites). Doesn't matter what conventional wisdom says, if you fell like throwing it do so on and off during the day, mixing it up with your other presentations. May not catch great numbers but a great way to meet up with a toad.

Fished out of Shell Knob about 3.5 hours this afternoon. Final tally: 5 LM all legal, none you would have to measure but none over about 17.5. All these fish were real healthy and absolutely beautiful in color, plus one SM short (but barely), plus one crappie 14", plus the walleye whose mug shot is attached, 21" pretty plump probably a bit over 4#. Plus one real nice fish that pulled off and I had two good flashes from nice LM that sniffed the pointer, shot me the bird and disappeared. All in all a good 3 and a half hours, not another boat out that I saw which was kind of surprising. Thought it kind of funny that someone was asking me today what color stickbait I was throwing. I said a Pointer 100, I was not sure what the color was called, but it was the color of a honey brown walleye. Appearantly they eat their babies. In any case that's the only stick I thew all day. It's been a good one for me last few weeks.

Kurt - Hickory Hollow is way up the river and for bass I personally would like to be near some deeper water that time of year. I was by Hickory Hollow a couple days ago and there was less than 10' of water in the channel down that by the resort. Would only hope that lake would be back to a more normal level by June. Nice flatheads are taken in the upper Kings all summer long. Try live bait (bluegill, goldfish or crawdads) on limblines or short trotlines along the bluffs between Hickory Hollow and Viola. Bass fishing (especially spotted bass) is probably going to be better closer to Viola and beyond to the White River channel, and in the main lake channel such as the Shell Knob-Campbell point area you mentioned. Lots of different things might work. Topwater at sunrise, later in the morning if the sun was shining I'd probably switch to 20-30' depths and drag plastic, a big jig and trailer, do a dropshot, or even spoon. I think year round there is always some type of "deep" bite going on if you can figure it out. If you like to night fish for bass I think you could have good luck within boating distance of your resort. I've had good luck throwing black spinnerbaits with big colorado blades in the upper Kings (and everywhere else) at night. In addition to trailering to Viola or the Shell Knob bridge you might also consider putting in at Big Indian. This would be a couple miles less than driving to the SK bridge. To get to it turn east on H hwy (about 3/4 mile S of where you would turn off 39 to go to Viola ramp). This will put you in Indian Creek arm which has deep clear water and less large boat traffic if that is something that concerns you in the Shell Knob/Campbell point area. I bet if you keep your eye on this forum the weeks prior to your trip you will have a pretty good idea what is working best.

Yep, they are very strange looking. Not sure about the bubbles Bass Magnet is seeing, perhaps decaying organic matter. More than likely fish f*rts. At least that is what I told my kids and they believed it. (Cast just ahead of the bubbles son .....)

Phil - I think MDC has identified some trophy smallmouth (and bass in general) streams. Not fun or easy reading but go to page 7 of: http://www.sos.mo.gov/adrules/csr/current/3csr/3c10-6.pdf and read the Black Bass section, bearing in mind that Black implies LM, SM & spotted unless exceptions are noted. If memory serves me correct I think Big River was the first river in MO to have modifications of the "6 bass & 12" regulation, maybe as long as 10 years ago. Since then they have added several rivers where there are longer length limits and reduced bag limits. As I understand it there are 2 rivers in SW MO where there are more stringent regs: 1) James as noted in the link provided, and 2) Elk in McDonald County. The Elk River reg was just put into effect a couple years ago. I think they are identifying the best trophy rivers and implementing regs slowly as to not cause too much public outcry from those whose fishing experience has a lot to do with the frying pan. I am not putting down those who keep and eat fish cause I do so myself. There are just certain species and waters that need more protection. I think in years to come we will see more streams added. There will be "consumer waters" and "trophy waters", and both serve a great purpose because there are an infinite number of fisherpeople out there all going to the water with different goals in mind. As far as making gigging illegal on trophy waters I have to respectfully disagree. To make such a reg would imply that all giggers are slobs and violators and are cleaning out the rivers. We know this is not true. Wouldn't that imply that where there is not a gigging ban, that MDC does not really care and it doesn't matter what giggers do and it is expected that giggers will kill gamefish and that's just the way it is? Hard for me to live with that reasoning. There are a few slobs left on the riverbank, in the boat, in the deer stand, and in the duck blind. Probably always will be. The rest of us know better and together I think we are getting the upper hand. Thanks for a great forum!!

Sam - I think maybe the wierd looking round things you might have seen are "Bryozoan" colonies. Here are a couple pictures: http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/bryozoa.html I see them in Table Rock from time to time usually in warmer weather. Some years they are real common and other years I don't see any. I usually see them in the upper rivers where the water is dingy and not too often in clearer water. Sometimes they are attached to something in the water and sometimes they break off and float around. Pretty wierd looking, like a big blob of jelly some are almost as large as basketballs but usually smaller.

I have caught pickeral in Duck Creek as well, most were "master angler" size. Another place they catch them is in the Eleven Point River. When I lived over there there were some folks that went after them specifically.

there are 2 strains of walleyes in Missouri--a river strain that is native and gets much much larger--ther state record and world record where undoubtly this souther river strain and a northern lake spawning (generally) strain that usally max out in the very low teens in size if they stocked some of the lake strain they would probably be migrated to the main lake as far as interest--few folks know how to fish for walleyes in TR to catch on a regular basis ----------------------- This sounds like what the Biologist told me a while back. If I remember correctly the original walleye stocking came from a lake source in Nebraska or SD. They are now well established in the Kings and run into AR in mid-March to spawn. They can be caught from now until mid-March in the extreme upper Kings. I don't think they have actually stocked fish in the Kings for several years, was more like in the 80's. I fish the west end of the lake a lot and usually catch 2-4/year accidently. Catch them on crankbait as dusk, deep spooning for bass, and occaisionally dragging plastic on Carolina rig. They are almost always 20"+ fish. There is one fellow in the Shell Knob area that I know who actually targets and catches them with fairly good success. One of his main technigues is casting large white crankbaits into the standing timber along bluffs. The last few years the Biologists have captured brood fish in the kings, hatched out the eggs and have realeased the fry and fingerlings in the James in hopes of getting a self-sustaining run going on that river. I don't think they plan on continuing the stocking indefinitely, just seeing if the fish can "do it on their own" as in the Kings. The fish are "marked" with some type of a chemical before they are released so biologists can take a tissue sample from caught fish and determine if the recently caught fish are resultant from the stocking and to see how they are growing and reproducing. I think they must be doing OK because last couple years lots of smallish walleye have been caught in the James. There is also somewhat of a walleye run that goes up roaring river. I met some guys coming off the Lake at Eagle Rock at sunrise a few years ago with some nice ones. They had fished all night.

Your fishing reports from the areas you fish will be greatly appreciated by many. My question is how often do you encounter Hybrid Stripers when fishing for Whites up in the White River arm? It is known that some Hybrids slip through Beaver Dam when they are very small, but of course grow just as well in Table Rock. Last fall, I heard that the AR Fish & Game even shocked up quite a few large Hybrids (10-15# class), in the upper river that is mostly trout fishing, and gave them to some fishermen. I have to wonder how often they do that. I also understand the Kings River has an excellent run of Whites. I've accessed it from the mouth in a boat, but don't know any lower river public access points. Can you offer any advice? -------------- I think I can help more here…. The Kings has an Excellent run of large white bass. The state record used to be from here back in the 70’s, I know the guy whose wife actually caught it. I think the last few records were set and broken in the James but I think the Kings is a very similar fishery and has the potential to reclaim the record should the current 5-06 record white pig from the James ever be surpassed. Geographics: At NORMAL 915 pool the Kings can be ran in a bass boat to within sight of the AR line. At normal SPRING levels you can get into AR a bit in a glass boat. At current levels I think you can get within eyesight of the 86 bridge but will hit a shoal about 1/3 mile downstream. The Kings is normally about 19 miles long from the mouth at Shell Knob to the state line. The accesses for the Kings are: 1) Shell Knob Bridge – Does not require Corps permit, I think it is actually deeded to Barry county. Busy spot that can hold maybe 25-30 rigs when it overflows. Currently 1 good ramp lane. This is technically not in Kings but about a mile from mouth and good spot to launch for very upper Kings. Good dock. 2) Viola Boat Dock – A Corps ramp about 5 mile up the river accessed from Hwy 39. Good ramp but currently no dock due to low lake level. This is most busy and popular ramp on the Kings. 3) Sweetwater – On the west side of the Kings river. An old Corps campground that they decided to close but still has ramp. 7 miles up river, needs to be accessed from community of Golden off 86 hwy. Not sure how the ramp is, seems last time I noticed it was good 4WD launching on gravel, ramp was high and dry. 4) Hickory Hollow Resort (the old Akin’ Back Resort). About 14 miles from the Kings/White confluence and 9 mile from Viola. You can find them on Google easy enough and they are very nice people, $2 to launch and well worth it WHEN the lake is at more normal pool. I have heard it is dicey for larger boats right now, but this is definitely the best (only) place to put in for fishing the upper Kings if you want to avoid the 9+ mile run from Viola. Call before trying to launch there at today’s lake level. White Bass Fishing: I have tried everything and my most consistant success for big whites has always been in the mid arm area, Sweetwater to Jakie branch. Trolling shad raps, back when I had a boat I could troll with. Current 225 Yamaha does not work so well. I can offer very specific locations if anyone wants to PM me, but I have caught a ton of hogs trolling within sight of Sweetwater. Now if you are a white bass guru and want to give me a lesson on how to park on them in midarm in Spring and cast and catch them I am up for that but have not had much luck, even when I have them pinpointed. The mid-arm Kings bite usually starts in Mid Feb so with the weather this year this action could be going at any time. I have caught nice fish in the deeper holes in the very upper arm on occasion, Blue Hole, Dollar Hole, Big Dog, etc. Seems like every year gets a little harder. I have also gone way up the river to Hwy 86 and beyond and caught lots of fish, just usually not the pigs but instead fish up to 1.5#. I know guys who consistantly caught larger fish up the river several years ago, but not anymore with any consistency. The exception to this “smaller fish up the river” observation is if you are willing to stay till dark and beyond, you (or at least ME) will catch some nicer fish (around 2-3#) if you are far enough upriver to be in the current. Normally this is into AR but with the current lake levels this will probably be in MO this year. Currently good bank fishing in Dollar Hole for Crappie, Walleye, and probably very soon for whites. Anyone interested I can give directions to this remote access. All 4 now, tight lines.

My question is how often do you encounter Hybrid Stripers when fishing for Whites up in the White River arm? It is known that some Hybrids slip through Beaver Dam when they are very small, but of course grow just as well in Table Rock. Last fall, I heard that the AR Fish & Game even shocked up quite a few large Hybrids (10-15# class), in the upper river that is mostly trout fishing, and gave them to some fishermen. I have to wonder how often they do that. ----------------------- Bill - I'll try to do my best answering you questions and will split them into 2 posts (hybrids in White & Kings Access) First the hybrids in the upper white: I only get up there and chase the whites 2-3 times/year. I go there after the Kings run starts to fizzle in late April. Seems they hang in there a bit longer (week or 2) than the Kings, my theory being the upper White is usually a few degrees colder than Kings due to tailwater discharge and perhaps the colder water has them a bit delayed. Who knows. To answer your question about the hybrids I have never encounterd one, have not spoken to anyone personally who has, yet have heard the same rumor. My guess is that it is a very limited fishery with just a few fish getting through the turbines without becoming chum, or over the spillway. That said it is a FACT that the current AR STRIPER record comes from below Beaver dam in the White River, weighing in at 64# 8oz. As I remember it, guide Jeff Fletcher was out with some white bass clients and saw the fish in a river pool somewhere in the White River between the dam and MO state line. Had a bass rod in the boat and finally caught it on a rogue if I remember correctly. This was April 2000. Interesting to think that technically this fish could have swam to the dam at Branson and become the MO record in a lake "without" stripers. I have heard of two bona fide reports of medium sized stripers caught in TR in the Eagle Rock/Big M Marina area, but these were definitely flukes. Obviously there are a few that get past the dam and reside in TR but I would guess very few. All that said, the VERY best source of info to answer your question would be the Fletchers at Devil's Dive. Google on "Devils Dive Resort Table Rock" and you will find their contact information. I think J.D. Fletcher opened the resort soon after TR became a lake. It is located near the MO/AR line near the community of Holiday Island AR on the White. He and his son Jeff have been tourney fisherman and guides for many years. They wrote the book on fishing the extreme upper end of TR on the White and are well thought of in the area. My knowledge of Hybrids is therefore Zero but these guys would know. I can tell you from personal experience that the white fishing can be very good in the Holiday Island area. Leatherwood Creek and Butler Hollow Creek can both draw a run when there is a flow from these drainages, and the main stem river channel will have a lot of fish hugging the undercut banks.

Hey everyone. Just registered about a week ago. Great forum. I am sure this place will be rockin' during the coming months. I live near Shell Knob on the Kings River arm of Table Rock. Been fishing this part of the lake since 1989 and know it pretty intimately from the Baxter area and on west including all of Kings River, and White River around Campbell Point area, Big M, Eagle Rock and Holiday Island. I usually only fish the east part of the lake in the Winter or when I have a hot SM tip. Also fish some in the James. I probably get on the Rock at least 75 times/year. In the last couple weeks I've made a couple trips up Long Creek after the crappie. Drive a 20' Skeeter and usually chase bass but am an opportunist and also pursue crappie, white bass, walleye, bluegill or whatever I think may be cooperating that day. In any case glad I found the website and forum and I'll try to help anyone with "West End" questions should they arise.

It is hard to do a lot of enforcment with only one or two Agents/county. I do know for a fact that three guys got caught and ticketed on Flat Creek in Barry County about 10 days ago: had 3 smallmouth among the suckers they had gigged. Best enforcement tool out there is us as sportsman. I know several agents and they all appreciate the help/tips. If you see a violation call your county agent. If you can't get in touch with them you can always call the Operation Game Thief Hotline 1-800-392-1111, manned 24/7 and they will get in touch with the agent or one from an adjoining county if necessary. Of course it helps to get a license number or boat registration and a good description of the violators. If you have a cell phone put the numbers in it. They are spread thin but in this age of cell phones someone may get there quicker than you think if you make the call.