MOBass

I ended up leaving the swim bait in the rod box yesterday. I just plain forgot about getting it out. With the color of the water I am not sure how well it would have done. I'll try to get it out this weekend and try to catch one.

I just spit coffee all over the monitor and out my nose. I am glad it wasn't too hot! Major props for being able to get that fish in the boat. I'll add "make sure the boater is between cast before answering the call" to my tourament check list.

I got a late start yesterday and ended up at State Park well after prime time. It was a little more crowded than a "normal" day but still not bad at all considering there are very few options. Putting in was easy, getting out a little slower. Lots of people getting off the water about 3-4 and the Ducks were using the ramp also. Note to self....fish longer and wait for the crowd to thin out. Fishing was decent. Water temp was 55-57. Nice off color water with 2-4' visibility. I fished from 10-3 for 4 bites, 3 of which made it to the boat. No love on a spinner bait. I slow rolled, burned, waked, cranked and paused and managed 1 short bite. I made sure to make multiple cast to each piece of cover and still no love. No wind to speak of, sun, and my lack of skill were all contributing factors. Other stuff that didn't work for me yesterday....scrubbing a grub, stick o, wiggle wart. I finally tied on a lizard and slowed down a little. First fish to the boat was a mean mouth off of a bush on a secondary point in 12' of water. Second fish was a black off the base of a cedar in 6' of water about 20 yards down the bank from the first fish. I only had an hour left and wanted to fish a different area closer to state park. I ended up fishing the back side of bushes in about 6' of water and got a nice 5# black. Her belly was full of eggs and she had just started rubbing her fins a little. I did the one hand cel phone camera thing and got her right back home. I like to leave on a high note so I called it a day after that. Nothing broke, boat didn't sink, and I didn't go to jail so it was a good day.

I bit on some Bass Magic and will be fishing them Sunday. I fished them a bit on Taney before the great flood and got short bit a few times. I was throwing one of the smaller sizes and it swims great. The tail has a good thump to it and I'll be using it in addition to the spinnerbait this weekend. I'll post my results or lack of.

BFL and Anglers in Action are both on Saturday from what I can find. Anglers in Action out of Mill Creek and I believe BFL is out of Ahoy's. I'm glad I decided to fish on Sunday.

I'll be down Sunday adding to the crowd at State Park. Someone save me a spot. Any report on the jet ski/water ski crowd? Hopefully the highwater will keep them home for awhile.

First off a long overdue THANK YOU to Phil for this wonderful site and Bill for sharing so much information. This is by far the best site I have found for fishing information in our area. I can not fathom someone calling and asking for FREE information beyond what is posted on this site. I have found Bill's post very informative and there is more than enough information for me to go out there and have a starting point. I hope that everyone will be respectful Bill and the other guieds that provide information so that those resources do not go away.

I heard third or fourth hand that they are going to hold Table Rock for the time being. That is subject to change with more rain. Someone stated in another thread the COE does things based on what happens and not anticipation of events. It looks like this might be the case.

There'll be a lot better days so I'll hit the honey dos and bank a kitchen pass for next weekend. I was down at Silver Dollar City last weekend and drove down to Indian Point and it was dicey. Hopefully conditions improve and those that make their living on the water can get back to it.

I saw photos of all 10 open and heard on the news that the anticipated crest is 933.

With Table Rock moving up past 931 are there any ramps that are still useable or should I take a pass and do honeydos this weekend? The cold front doesn't have me too excitied either.

Don Excellent info. you need to teach a class on this stuff. One last questions on fishing docks. Are you getting the jig to the bottom and working it or are you letting is swing like a pendulum? Any thoughts about what the cold front will do this weekend?

I'll be down this Sunday. Anything in particular that worked for you?

Don Can you give some tips on fishing the jig on points and docks? I had limited success last year fishing the jig and hope to improve this year. When fishing docks I would fish the stalls and throw to the walk way and strip line to get the jig to the bottom. This accounted for all of my jig fish last year and all of them were decent fish. I have tried casting to the walkway and letting it swing back on semi slack line and had no love. I tried dragging and hopping the jig on points and again no love. Any insight would be appreciated.

I'll be down Sunday and plan to start a little deeper and scrub a grub in the morning in the dam area. If the wind blows a little I'll knock the dust off of my spinner baits and give it a shot shallower. I haven't been on the lake since October so I am not expecting much other than figuring out what isn't working.

I was down at Indian Point on Saturday and you could just get by and put a boat in. The courtesy dock is pulled up enough to be useable. Parking might be a little scarce though and it looks like the Cafe and gas dock won't be useable for awhile as there walk ramps were underwater. State Park looks to be a good bet for a ramp and I'll be down there Sunday. I heard that the marina has the same issues as Indian Point with the walk ramps under water.

I've been using a baitcast reel, 65# braided line, and a flippin' stick. I have seen everything from big surf rods to pool cues with some guides tied on. Just make sure whatever you use has a good solid drag and the rod has some back bone. I've been using a 1 oz sinker and 6/0 bronze treble hook.

I managed some carp scales yesterday afternoon and that was about it. It looked pretty good Sunday and I would have stayed with it for awhile but I ended up with waders full of water. The small leak I had in the waders turned into a big one fast. Hopefully the rain will slack off this afternoon and I can give it another try.

I stopped by on Tuesday and the water was up a lot from last week. With the rain it will probalby keep going and be close to the parking lot below the darn again. I'll make another pass Sunday afternoon and probably give the snagging thing a try.

I have a tournament the same day. I heard rumor that the Corp. is going to drop Table Rock to 920 and hold it through the spawn. I like floro for sensitivity as well as the low visibility so I would say yes to using floro. Spinnerbait, jig, split shot, fluke, and maybe a grub. I'll probably have a topwater tied on also. I'll fish a more agressive bait and my partner will follow up with something more subtle. If I get a chance I'll take a day or two to pre fish and try to find something stable.

I stopped by to check out the snaggin' action and saw a big fish caught be someone wading about 30 yards from the center of the dam. One smaller fish came from someone casting to the side with the stairs. I made another pass in the evening and saw a couple more fish landed. Looks like fun.

Good info. I fished Saturday and the green wollie was hot. Adding a small shot was necessary to get it down in the swift water. My dad did well with a spinning rod and 1/8 oz. jig in the same green color. Decent size fish compared to my last trip a couple of years ago.

That is a nice fish there. Can I ask how many bushes you had to flip to coax that one out? I want to put my dad on some numbers (even if they are trout) so I'll be fishing Taney later in the week. After that I need to get up on Table Rock and get humble.

Too bad they didn't take high water events into account when they put the ramps in. Have you checked the ramp at the campground? The dock there looks useable at least. I'll be down again sometime between Thurs. and Saturday. I want to hit the creeks and see if I can stir up some bass around Branson. If not I'll probably run to Rockaway or further. At least the trout are still biting so I can at least feel something on the line. If nothing else this will be an intersting year.

Got a late start because of some boat issues. Put in at Cooper and ran to the Dam. It was my first time up the lake past Fall Creek and it was interesting just to see something different. Pulled up short of the cable and made a drift with mixed color glo balls and a 3/16 oz bell sinker. In the shallower water it held bottom most of the time. I found out that I needed to upsize my glo balls. We had several fish pull off the small hooks. Bottom fish took a few so we hung it up and moved towards Branson. Across from Scotty's we picked up a couple of rainbows and power bait and lost one. Moved down a little further for nothing. Ended up at the mouth of Roark and caught a couple more in short order. That covered the meat fishing. Found bass holding shallow in a couple of areas on the main lake but out of the current. Most were in 2-4 foot of water with some fish holding close by in 6-8 foot. For being 46-48 degrees they bit pretty good on a stick 0 and bass magic. Looks like I may give it a try again late in the week. I will try putting in at the Branson campground ramp though. Cooper was a little dicey with the current.