SKMO

Seems to be .75 to 1.25 in south Barry County, most effect on Kings will come from Berryville and south in the watershed. Just checked Corps website and the Berryville guage went from about 60 CFS to 190 CFS coming up about 0.6 foot so far and rising, but probably not much more, most will soak in. I can guarentee that this rain will improve fishing conditions, unless they deterioriate, but I think they might remain the same, and I will stand behind this prediction. Guess I got a mean streak in me this afternoon.

Hickory Hollow built a brand new ramp about 5 weeks ago and although I have not launched at it, I know people who have, plus I called them and they said nobody is having any problems so must be a nice ramp. (Too bad the Corps does not take advantage of the low water levels and do some rock or concrete work at some of their problem areas). UNFORTUNATELY for you, they have told me that no citizens of Forsyth and about half the people they meet from Taney County, are being turned around at the gate of the premises until y'all improve your attitude. There is a rather nasty gatekeeper at Hickory checking ID's and turning you guys away and sending them to some withered up hole of mud they call "The Pothole". Sorry, come back for the gar run in July. Just jesting of course. Come on over there are a couple crappie left. SKMO

Hey Don - Thanks for the report, it was a good one. Just curious why you think a double jig works better than a single in certain situations. I have fished doubles at times, and I am positive I am twice as likely to get hung up, and I am sure I lose twice as many jigs, but was never sure it was worth it, (although I still do it if not too brushy). Please fill me in and what do you thiink is going on here and why does it work ? Thanks

No kidding PTL, I thought it would never rain! Fire danger should subside for a few days.

My opinion - Peak of spawn will probably be in first half of April as usual. Different parts of the lake have different timing. Crappie are very good now and will continue to be so for several weeks. The spawn is a fairly minor factor this year as far as good fishing, with this warm weather lots of catchable fish are hanging near the banks in the upper arms of the lake. good fishing has been going on for several weeks and will continue.

No Change. Way too ambiguous an interpretation of behavior and unenforceable.

Not trying to dispute the geography but it is 9+ miles from Sweetwater to 86. I imagine they did well a couple miles from 86 and quite a distance, not just above, Sweetwater. I guess it depends on your definition of just above, but I would go at least 3 miles above Sweetwater to find the colored and warmer water. Water around Sweetwater is colder and very clear, more toward 86 it is colored and much warmer. I have been seeing a 8 degree temp difference on certain days through this streatch. Hot bite the farther you go upstream as long as the water is warming or stable. If temp is dropping head back toward deeper water but do not get in the clear stuff. Just my opinion and what I see working. Another way to say this is that the colored water starts around Deer Bluff and continues upstream. If it's stable or warming go as far upstream as you can stand and until you get tired of bouncing off trees and think you may punch a hole in the hull. If weather is destabilizing and water is cooling fish back towards Jakie/Deer Bluff.

Phil, since you asked so nicely I guess I can break the ice and answer publicly. As SKMO I am not an Eskimo as some have asked but live in Shell Knob MO on the Kings River between Viola dock thd the island. I have fished literally all my life and have photos of myself at age 3 holding a stringer of fish in MN, so I was raised right in a fishing family. Now at an age where the first number is a 4 but will be a 5 fairly soon, I have lived and fished around Table Rock since 1989. Love fishing for anything but spend 75% of my time after bass, remainder on whatever might be hot, even if it is bluegill in midsummer. On a crappie blast right now. 95% of my time on TR. I launch maybe up towards 100 times/year on the Rock even if it for just a couple hours. I generally fish from Baxter upstream and know the upper White and Kings pretty intimately, and am still challenged as to how to catch them most of the time. I make one "big trip" a year somewhere else which is generally Canada or MN for smallmouth but swung a 3-week trip of a lifetime to Alaska in 05. Float a 20' Skeeter and love to fish with old buddies and new friends as well. I try to learn something new EVERY time I am on the water so really like fishing with experienced people, but what gets me off is taking out folks who are a bit inexperienced, especially younger folks, who ask good questions. Just love to fish and the bug seems like is not going away which is fine by me. OK I have bared my soul, are you all satisfied?

According to The Fishes of Missouri the spawn can begin as early as late Feb and last as late as early April with "the peak generally in March". I had a fisheries biologist tell me they made the biggest river run about March 15 every year and water temp did not matter as much as photoperiod (length of daylight). For most other species listed the book does give temps that trigger spawn but not walleye, however it did say eggs hatch in 7 days in 57 degree water, and the Kings has already had water temps of 60 degrees. The walleye are definitely in the upper Kings arm right now, as well at upper white near Holiday Island. In Kings it does not seem that many get caught during the day other than incidently by guys after some other species. The guys who fish the upper holes at night with big chubs do best, and that action starts in early Feb.

I can confirm Phil's info as I have been up the Kings 3 times since last Thursday and Crappie fishing is as good as it gets, or at least as good as I have experienced on TR. Not sure about the whites, I caught a couple sows crappie fishing, saw some guys trolling between Sweetwater and Jakie and hanging in there so they must have been doing some good. As far as big whites they do run large in the Kings, probably similar to James, you don't catch many small ones if you are fishing right for them. Trolling is real big on the Kings. This year with the low water everything is going to be different in my opinion. The "river" WB fishing is going to happen in MO, not AR. Back to the crappie they are Very Good. Notice the capitalization. I am a mediocre and fair weather crappie fisherman and am holding my own. Lots of limits being taken on the upper Kings. Nice sized fish as well. Believe it or not I measured 60 degree water under the 86 bridge last Friday before the cold front. This was with a lab thermometer so it is pretty accurate. I walked down from truck and took reading, cannot boat there at this level. With the weather forecast this week, fishing in this upper arm should remain as good or improve if the nightime temps hold up. Anyone who is boating up there from Viola needs to be very careful once they round the bend past Jakie. It is a difficult journey at best even if you THINK you know where the channel is. It gets real goofy up there, lots of wood in the water in some surprising places. Plenty of fun to be had in the Kings right now.

First week of April the entire lake is a good fishing area! For "best" for multi-species I would tend to head toward the mid-upper major rivers such as Long Ck like Phil mentioned, other good locations would be Cape Fair Campground in upper James, Viola Campground in Kings River, or Big M/Eagle Rock campground on upper White. All these spots have boat slips and gas available as well. Kind of depends on what you mean by "long runs" and what species you are after but all these areas should put you in the middle of good bass, white bass and crapppie fishing in early April.

Yes, both are open and in good shape. I have noticed that most folks are launching at the Corps ramp at Eagle Rock, not the private ramp at the Eagle Rock Marina so I am not sure what shape that one is in.

I don't think they have a courtesy dock next to the ramp, just the large covered dock downlake a couple hundred feet. I have not launched there for a couple years but I go by there all the time and have not noticed a boarding dock. Reason I know the ramp was improved is a buddy of mine bought a used pontoon recently and hauled it off the water there. I don't think you can get to 86 bridge at all. When you cross Kings on 86 you can see a real shallow shoal a couple hundred yards downstream, looks to be only a foot deep, might get through it in a flatbottom but I would not count on it. I have been as far as Dollar hole recently which is about 1.5 miles from the bridge. I imagine you could get within sight of the bridge but not to it. I was up to within 1/2 mile of Hickory today and it's pretty hazardous boating even the last couple miles BEFORE you get to Hickory Hollow. Most amazingly the water temp was 56 degrees where I stopped just before Hickory. It was 49 at Viola and got warmer the farther I went uptream.

Not sure if anyone is interested but Hickory Hollow Resort (the old Ackin Back resort) has taken advantage of the low water and improved their slab ramp. This is located way up the Kings approximately 3 miles from the 86 bridge. If you are wanting to fish in this area it will save you about 9 miles of boat driving from the Viola ramp. They charge 2 or 3 dollars to use their ramp, with the water low and gas high it is worth considering if you want to fish this part of the lake.

I put this on a couple days ago but for some reason it disappeared, in any case a couple people PM'd me and wondered what the story was so here is is again: This is the type of story that must introduced with some background information. #1 it's a wife story, #2 my wife is not much of a fisherperson, however she is a great sport, and #3 she is very much a corporate executive and the language they speak is unique. We were fishing for and catching some nice white bass up the Kings river in late March. On this particular trip my wife caught a "double": a WB and a spotted bass on the same cast of a rattle trap. To this day she reminds me that she "caught 2 different species" on one cast. Currently her great claim to fame as far as fishing goes. But that's not the funny part. Later in the afternoon as she was wearing down and I was just getting started she asked "what is the QUOTA on these white bass" anyway. "Well sweetheart our qouta is 15 apiece and until we meet that quota they won't let us off the lake". We had a discussion on quotas versus limits and I am never sure she got it. Does not matter she still goes with me and is as confused (blonde) as ever.

Gavin - How can you complain about the "ramp building binge" when providing public access and building ramps was a major component of the 1976 "Design For Conservation" initiative under which MDC still operates? http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2002/03/30.htm This webpage gives a good overview of what the DFC was and is. In it you will find a specific section regarding stream access, with specific and measurable statewide objectives. I for one appreciate all the accesses since I use them a great deal, so I guess I am part of the problem you envision. Seems to me that if MDC did not build stream accesses then we would have something to complain about. As I see it they are doing exactly what they promised to do: provide public access to public waters. It's a two edged sword for managers: providing access and encouraging use of our natural resources while at the same time managing and protecting those same resources. On top of that you have a wide variety of users all competing for the same resource and space. Often the presence of one group infringes on another group's enjoyment of the resource and maybe lessens the quality of their outdoor experience, even when everyone is abiding by the rules and regs. Quite a balancing act for managers. In the end I think we have to realize we can't all have our way all the time and some of us are probably going to be miffed occasionally when things don't turn out our way.

Cave was found in 2001, all the info here: http://www.riverbluffcave.com/

Some of you might be interested in this: I saw a small fleet of real high-tech boats launching at sunrise at the SK bridge about a month ago. After calling the Corps I found out it was Bottoms Up Inc remapping the lake for Navionics. Called Navionics and this is what I found out: They will be releasing a chip on or about Jan 31 '07 for this region which will have TR mapped at 1' countour intervals. This is their "Premium" chip and will not work in all units, but will work in most. Go to the Navionics website and look under Hotmaps products and then choose your brand of electronics at the bottom of the page. It will tell you if your unit will run the premium chip with the more accurate mapping. If not, you are limited to their "Classic" chart chip which has less detail/resolution. Also of interest is that they are going to produce a new paper map for sale for TR. They told me they have never sold paper maps but they now had the best data and were going to get into the paper map business on certain lakes, TR is one of them.

It has certain advantages as far as sinking or floating and it has it's own degree of abrasion resistance. I guess it all goes back to personal preference. I really prefer the clear floro in the white river channel, however I use Maxima if the water has color. On the other hand I know guys who fish florescent mono and superbraid lines and catch a lot of fish in the clear water. Personally I think the more invisible to ME the better, but the proof is in the pudding on what works for you. Mono vs Floro will be debated forever, just spool up with some good stuff that you like, much more important to find the right spot and the right time and the right fish. When you do that you can catch them on a chunk of shoe leather and a catfish hook. Point is don't get hung up on your line. In my opinion it's a pretty minor part of the equation.

LWW - Agree with you that buying bulk is only way to go. Keep it in a cool dark place. I fish a lot too and don't have any hard and fast rules but some of my thoughts include: Really good line is expensive so I almost run my reels with some "backing line" i.e. you can put several yards of subgrade line on the spool first and keep the last 50-60% of spooled line with good fresh stuff. Kind of a cheapo way to do it but I never fish with the line on the inner spool anyway. When my breakoffs get me down to where I see my connection knot it is obviously time to respool. For sure the smaller the diameter (#test) the more you should change it. I might change 2/4/6# line on crappie rods every 2-3 trips. The larger the line the longer it should hold up. So I change 15/17 once or twice a year as needed, 10/12 every few months and smaller stuff more frequently. Also has a lot to do with how much use the line gets, and how often you are fishing itand how: cranks and jigs in rocks wear out line fast. Shiney and slick is good, cloudy or rough is bad. I always put the type of line, and date of the line change on each reel cause it can get kind of confusing. If you can see/feel nicks or abrasions break off the last few feet, if it continues up the line replace the whole line. Like Wayne said sun and heat is BAD. Nicks/abrasions are worse. Since you have bulk reels to campare with, do a pull test comparing the line on your reels versus the fresh stuff. If your reeled lined seems weaker than the spools replace it. Finally, as you are fishing if the line is stiff or kinky causing problems change it. However even good line can develop memory and be kind of funky on the first cast of the day, especially larger lines and colder temps. Just make a couple casts to get it wet and make a long cast hooking the closest tree or rock, back off about a cast and a half and stretch it real good for several seconds and you will see a great improvement. All this said tourney fisherman are different from me and probably do need to change line daily so they can sleep at night. Personally I struggle to draw the line between my anal fishing obsessions and the desire to keep an enjoyable hobby fun, so you might want to factor this in as well. If you took that last sentence seriously and reflected upon it, you have a serious fishing habit and should seek counseling.

He is still swimming around so you can catch him next time!

Ryan - I usually see 8-12 walleye a year caught out of my boat, all accidently. Also the majority are real nice size, I am not sure I have ever caught a sublegal except up the James from the recent stockings. Most are this size or larger. Also kind of interesting is the fact that I have never caught one in the Kings, where I fish quite a bit and where there is a substantial spawning run. Not sure what to make of this myself. I catch them in the White River channel from Big M to the mouth of the James which is not really great info because that's where I fish most of the time, along with the Kings. Have caught them about every which way but I would say most are in pretty shallow water, shoreline to 8' deep, although I have caught some deep spooning. The Biggest one caught though was 27.5" caught on carolina rigged brush hog about a mile up the James on a big gravel flat in June. There are a few locals that fish for them specifically this time of year way up the Kings, mostly at night and mostly with bait, and mostly from the bank. They are pretty tight lipped about it but I think I get the idea. This year with the water low I think some different locations are being fished. If you are interested in more info about this let me know.

Hi Martin - Don't apologize for the questions, that's what forems are for. I always use baitcasters for stickbaits. In fact about the only time I use a spinning rod anymore is when I am swimming a 1/8 or 3/16 oz gub on a jighead. (or using ultralight for crappie of course) Anything heavier than that I use a baitcast rig. I even use a baitcast for dropshotting, a 6' med light stick with a bantam curado and 8# floro. Spinning reels and I have "issues". Throwing a stickbait often involves a great deal of accuracy as I am usually threading it amongst trees and I have very little (zero) accuracy with a spinning reel. I thow stickbaits with a 6 and a 6-6 medium rod with 10 or 12# test. Either Seaguar florocarbon or Maxima, the 2 lines I have settled on. There are a lot of good lines out there, I don't think there is anything magic about these two. I never use superline on TR unless we get a big muddy rise and I am flipping jigs in real heavy brush and muddy water. I don't even have a rod with any spooled up now, I take it off and store it for use a couple weeks every other year or so. It's great stuff but you can function quite well on TR without it. Short rods are good for me with a stickbait because I retrieve them with the rod tip pointed amost straight down at the water. I generally like shorter rods, can cast a 6" more accurate than anything, if I would have to choose I would go for the 6 personally. If I need great distance in casts or leverage I'll use a longer rod but for accurate casts short is best for me. Maybe more info than you wanted but any other questions fire away.

Have you seen this site: http://maproom.missouri.edu/ I use ArcView and ArcMap at work and still think this is an impressive map site for Missouri. Pretty powerful, can choose several layers and data sources and it will print very nice maps.

Not sure water level has much of anything to do with it but it might. This is several miles from the "river" section, much closer to the junction with the White, deep water. Might also have something to do with water temp which is 47-50, maybe 10 degrees over most years, which led him to go over and try it earlier than normal. He's a WB predator and real good at it and I always rely on him as a barometer of when the action begins.