MOBass

I like the zip tie idea. I can give each person 4 ties and when they are out they are done fishing. Call me detail oriented, but I am going to have each guy put one on a belt loop so it is crystal clear to the CO who has which fish.

First question...I have a divided livewell, but will have three guys in the boat. If we are each keeping fish and use clearly marked stringers to indicate who's is who's will this keep us on the up and up with the conservation agents? This was about the best I could come up with and would seem to be in line with what I could find in the regs. I'll break down and call before our trip, but wanted to throw this out while fresh on the mind. Second...How are the trout magnets fished? Indicator and drift? Any trick to setting the depth?

The wind is going to be hammering out of the south for the next few days. Thursday winds up to 30 MPH are being called for. The banks with the wind piling on should have a ton of shad and everything else pushing up on them. I am looking at going down Saturday at o'dark o'clock and fish until the lake lice start showing. From here on out that will be about the only way to fish without getting ran over until cooler weather rolls in this Fall.

Early....as in dark o'clock early topwater should be epic. Check the weather report for the prevailing wind over the past couple days. It stacked the shad really good on Saturday. The areas where the wind was not blowing in on it were barren of life.

4# big head, 3# smallie. I had a SOW big head crush the square bill in the stirred up water near the bank. That fish came out of the water like a trident missle, flashed me her big white belly, and tossed the square bill right back at me. Shad were getting hammered into the bank by the wind and the bass were cleaning their clock. I talked to a couple of guys trying the main lake points and they reported no love, but didn't disclose what they were throwing.

Creeks. Kimbering area and Baxter. Never had to stray from there. I gave the main lake a shot and it just wasn't fishy.

What worked: Top water-Early AM until almost 8. Spook, but I am sure a fin would have done better if I could get one to swim right. Grub-Follow up to the top water. Fish missing the top water liked the grub. Squarbill and Spinnerbait-Plenty of wind, fish in water just deep enough to cover their back on out. Best bite was very shallow. What didn't work: Drop shot-got bit, but couldn't get one to stick. Me thinks they were gills. Split shot and shakey head-I didn't give them much time so this is not a good indication on whether they would have worked. A rig-I would have put money on this thing working with all the shad around. Slow, fast, shallow, deep. No love at all. Things I didn't try, but probably should have: Football jig

It looks to be a 50 boat tournament and there might be another small tournament of 10 boats according to the water patrol regatta permit info. I plan to be down there plenty early and hope to avoid too much chaos in the morning.

I am fishing a tournmant out of Baxter on May19th and haven't been down there before. Is it a Corps ramp? Is there only one ramp there? I am a bit OCD about knowing where I am going and get a little antsy on tourmanent morning when I don't have things dialed in. I plan on doing a recon trip next week, but any advance information would be appreciated.

It was a most excellent get together. I am glad I finally made it to one. The goose poppers were oh so good, Lenoard would you care to share the secret on those? Sea horses were awesome, there was a little spice too them I wasn't expecting. And the jambalya and meatballs.....mmmmmm. I need to hit the gym hard now. I brought muffins this time, but will be sure to have something more substantial next time around. I am leaning towards chocolate cake. Fishing was excellent. It was all I wanted on the spinning gear throwing a 1/6 oz Bass Pro XPS spinner. The hook seems a little on the large side, but made it very easy to grab at the bend and turn the hook out. The 1/12 oz Kastmaster in gold worked well also. I only managed three on the fly rod on a scud before throwing in. The upper end is a lot different than it was a year ago.

It looks like it will be a Merry one and a fishy one for me. Heading down to wet a line in a bit.

I was down a few weeks ago and they had Taneycomo drawn down to work on Powersite Dam. Has the work been completed? If not what ramps are useable? Thanks!

I don't fish the parks much but will be taking the kids down Sunday. Are Gulp and Powerbaits classified as a soft plastic or are they considered a food type bait? Trying to figure out what can be used in Zone 1. I tried to find the regs on this, but my internet mojo is not working.

Different people will have different reasons for going braid to fluoro. I like the castability of the braid over mono or flouro, braid has longer life so I have to spool less line, less stretch/more sensitive. I can also change out the fluoro leaders pretty fast so I can start with a heavier leader and adjust to conditions if I need to. There are a number of knots to use. I like the uni to uni with a couple of half hitches on the tag end of the braid. I have yet to have this connection fail.

You're killing me here. I hope you're out there today. It was all I could do to muster going to work and not hook up the boat. With the front coming in I figure they will be on the feed big time again today. I won't get out until Sunday. It will be interesting to see if the front kills the bite. Any day on the water though is a good one.

Put in at the Branson campground around 9:30 and ran up to the island for nothing but a bunch of leaves. Moved down towards the landing and caught our first fish just below Scotty's. Picked another just before the Bass Pro dock. Made another pass through the area with the fast drift for nothing. Broke for lunch and started to figure it out. Pretty well finished the day between Scotty's and the new bridge that's going in. Gulp eggs, gulp egg with a gulp worm trailer, and power eggs worked the best. Missed a bunch of fish trolling. All cookie cutter stockers with one micro trout that shook off. Probably hit them again this weekend.

Guys you're depressing me. I was going to come down tomorrow with my ankle biter and try to catch a few. Looks like we'll hop over to Taney and stir up the trout.

Found a page with not much info on it about kids fishing day on 8/21. Does anyone have a link or specifics about this? Debating about coming down with the rugrat.

Good info. I had taken to a lot of it already. Traded in my short sleeve cotton shirts and shorts for long sleeve "tech" shirts and even went to pants. I am more comfortable in the sleeve and pants than I ever was in short sleeves because I don't have to slather on sunscreen. Next move is to trade in my cap for a booney style hat and pick up one of those buff things to cover my neck. Also need to add sun gloves. I've done enough damage to my skin, no sense in letting it get worse. I carry as much water and electrolyte drink as I can fit in the cooler and carry a spare cooler in the dry box if I am brining company. My rule is to drink before becoming thirsty, eat before I get hungry, and make sure that when I answer the call of nature everything is running clear. If it gets too hot I'll hole up under a tree for awhile and slide into a dock to get some shade. If aint worth dying out there.

Thanks for the report. The fishing sounds good but the boat traffic not so much. Was thinking about coming down tomorrow and may bail to Taney. Not in the mood for combat fishing or boating.

Drop shot a crawler near the bridge pillings. Plenty of shorts and gill around them most of the time to keep the rod bent. There will be the occasional keeper in the mix to keep things interesting. Boat traffice becomes an issue on weekends after mid morning.

UPDATE Curados sold 6/8 I wanted to give folks here an oppurtunity at these. I have the following and would prefer to arrange a pick up in the Branson, Ozark/Nixa, or Springfield area: Curado reels::sold:: Stradic 2000 Spinning Reel $20 needs a good clean and lube, but could be fished as it is right now.::sale pending:: Calcutta 200 $30 rough shape, frame and side plate both have scratches. Needs a good clean, lube, and possibly new drags.::sale pending:: G.Loomis SBR 751 6'3" 8-12lb line rating $150 fished 3 times cork is like new PM me if you have questions or have interest in purchasing any or all of these.

I love the battleship and carrier activity line. Glad some fish was to be had. With the nice weather it's time to start fishing from pre dawn to Ski Doo o'clock. The last time I fished Table Rock on Memorial Day Weekend was about 8 years ago. Put in at Cape Fair at dark o'clock and ran up the James. Caught the fire out of fish and decided to head home about 3pm. It looked like the Spanish Armada was on the lake. Craft of every size and shape you could imagine. After a very bumpy ride I was glad to put it on the trailer and see nothing was broken. Never again.

Not a waste of time. Generally I fish Taney in the summer and the lower end can be good for bass. My best results have come from fishing boat docks with a jig, TX rigged 7" worm, jerkbait, or senko. I have also caught a number of fish around the vegetation that comes up in a couple of areas. Mostly throwing a buzzbait or other topwater in the open lanes through the veg.

I got up Saturday at 4AM and checked the radar and forecast. Really wanted to go so I gave it an hour and checked again. The yellow and red splotches moving in was all I needed to turn off the alarm clock and go back to sleep. Looks like I made the right call as I was going to have my daughter with me. Very glad to hear that there were no injuries or worse. I didn't realize until reading these reports how bad it actually was.