Tom Spence

You're going to personally call the man? "You're gonna kill somebody." (That was your quote). Gunner, you've taken what whackem said and blown it completely out of proportion. With the personally calling the man comment I'm guessing you are either in law enforcement or under the assumption that you have the power and influence to have a cop at your beck and call anytime anywhere. If you are in law enforcement I hope you are not so "hollier than thou" in your job. Sir, you need to come down off of your high horse and mingle with us mere mortals a while.

Had the tournament for the Outdoors in the Ozarks class yesterday out of Ahoys. For those of you that don't know what it is...its a 3 week summer class for junior high and high school kids held at Republic High School every June. This was its' 9th year I believe and the 4th year I've participated. It ends with a buddy tournament with the kids getting paired up with local guys. Don Berry brought his tourney trailer down and ran the weigh in for us. We had 16 or 17 boats this year and all the kids had a blast. My young partner and I ran to the James after an hour of delay for a storm. Don't know if it was a great decision on my part since we weighed in at 1PM, but oh well. I knew we'd hero or zero up there. Dragged a rig with a brush hog and lizard and threw a Bomber fat free shad. We only had two keepers, both over 2 pounds but we caught between 20-25 fish. All were caught on pea gravel points. The early fish were no deeper than 10 feet with some being caught in as little as 5 in front of bushes. As the sun got higher we followed the fish further out to 15-20 feet. The winners had over 15 pounds. Monday I practiced around Kimberling City and tried to drop shot and spoon all day. It didn't work out so good for me with only 2 keepers but I'm not real good at drop shotting. Though there were 10 and 11 pound sacks caught on the drop shot in the tourney. If anybody is going out to Grand anytime soon, I fished the Heartland Pro Am out there on Sunday. Lots of limits weighed in dragging rigs or flipping docks and bushes. I caught alot of fish in the 3 days I was out there with 2 over 5, 3 that went 4, and several 2 and 3 pounders. Couldn't get those fish in the tournament...go figure. I had a small limit throwing a medium depth crank on windy shallow points and throwing a square bill on shallow docks and brush up the Elk River. 16 pounds won it on a 4 fish limit.

Well said.

I can understand their position too. But you're right. Now I'm about as far as one can be from being a tree hugging hippie (no offense to any hippies out there) but all the development has killed the natural beauty of the lake and will eventually pollute the lake to the point that fishing is bad too. I grew up fishing that lake in the 70's with my dad. We used to catfish off the bank at Big Island. All the spots we used to go to are covered in houses now. And as far as the zebra mussels go....I've read that although they are an invasive species, they are also a natural water filter. I hate to see them spread to lakes that aren't spoiled though. The only way to reverse all the development is for the lake to be so polluted that nobody wants to be around it. But then you got people like you who depend on that lake for jobs. My dad has worked construction around LOZ for 30+ years and all that development kept food on our table. Its still a spectacular fishery and I hope it is for as long as its around. Bottom line is we need the area to prosper but it seems that its getting to the point that progress is hurting the source of the progress...if that makes sense.

Hey Troy if you're gonna be out there holler at me at the meeting or weigh in.

Hey Troy, Yeah I'll be at Grand this weekend. I've been too busy to get out there. Leaving early Friday morning to practice Friday and Saturday. Hopefully I can put something together. According to the GRDA website they are pulling water like crazy. I'm in 15th in points right now and need a good finish to maintain. Aside from the heat I look forward to it though. I like Grand, especially in the summer.

Sorry its a little late. Got out on the 18th out of Cape Fair. Did pretty well staying within 5 miles either way of Cape Fair. Water was 83 for the most part with a nice green stain. My son, the neighbor kid, and I all caught several fish on Fat Free Shad cranks. Most of our fish were still no deeper than 12 feet until the sun got pretty high. After that started dredging the bottom of points in 15-18 feet with the DD22 and Fat Free Shad. For me, I had to be hitting brush, rocks, or some kind of cover with the crank. When I bumped something I killed the bait and often the bites came then. Caught several from 7 to noon with 4-5 keepers mixed in. Caught several with a C-rigged lizard and baby brush hog. Best bite was dragging it off points with a pretty sudden depth change into the channel. The river fish are moving out into their summer haunts, so those of you that like the football jig, C-rig, and deep cranks are gonna start having some fun.

Did you read the comments from the people defending the lake....saying nothing is in that water. BS! That lake has been a giant septic tank for the 25+ years I've been using it. There is no way for it not to be with that much development right on the shoreline. I'm sure all those big ocean boat owners follow the law to the letter and use shore stations to pump there tanks out..yeah right! I would bet that on any given summer weekend in a "party cove" theres more bodily fluids than water!

I was at Cape Fair yesterday and saw one of the BIG cruisers down there yesterday. First time I'd seen a boat that big down there. Fat boy is right. With the new marina there will be more of them down there. We all wish the lawmakers would do something about this like make a size restriction for these area lakes. However, I don't know that it will ever happen. Unfortunately it usually takes blood and or tons of property damage to get things like that done. I have no doupt there is property damage and every year there are some crashes and mishaps with the big boats, just not to the degree to grab lawmakers attention. Another thing is money. We all know it talks and those vessels made for oceans and brought to our lakes bring in the bucks. The big marina owners love renting a slip to one of those monters and love it even more when they get to pump 500 gallons of gas into one. I hate everything about them and wish they were gone. I grew up skiing and using the water for recreation, so I don't mind sharing the water with recreational boaters (even jet skiers most of the time). A vessel made for coastal and bigger waters has no place on an inland lake like the rock. They are a hazard to everyone around them. I just really don't know what can be done. Maybe we could hire some pirates from Somalia to come hijack a few.

I'm with Fat Boy. For me August has always been tough on the rock. However, heres my input. Drop shot, drop shot, drop shot, and spoons deep. That time of year you can find me over very deep water looking for shad and schools of fish with electronics, then dropping baits to them. With the spoon I like deep trees, dock ends, and bluff ends on or in the channels. However, I'm also a believer in river fish and the fact that there is always a population of bass in those areas that don't go deep (or they go to what they consider deep for the area they are in). If you're that kind of guy you can run up rivers as far as you can go and throw square bills at visible cover. Good luck and have fun.

My son and I fished the KAST kids tourney out of Ahoys. Took off at 630 and worked points with a spook down lake toward the dam. Had two keepers in the boat by 715 then it slacked off. For you white bass types...saw several schools of whites just inside pockets off points tearing up schools of shad. Threw the spook to them and had no trouble catching several very nice ones. Caught several more shorts on the spook then started working out on the points as the sun got higher. Caught several fish the rest of the day dragging a split shot and throwing a grub but no more keepers. Tried drop shotting with no luck. Found several fish but they ddin't care for my offerings. Gonna take my little girl out tomorrow morning. Think I'll put a night crawler on a drop shot for her and see what happens.

Yup, no doupt dissapointing. But its gone par for the course with the last week I've had. Went to Bull Shoals for the Heartland Pro Am. Spent 4 days down there and had 6 keepers for all foour days. On tourney day I managed to get 2 and scraped out a 15th place finish but it was 3/10 of a pound short of the money. Starting to feel like Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls the football away!

Put in at 9:30 so the topwater bite was over. Threw grubs and split shot rigs and managed a couple short smallies and three keeper spots with the biggest being 3 pounds in about 5 hours. All the fish came off pea gravel in 18-21 feet of water on main lake points. They seemed to be pretty close to the bottom cause I didn't get bit unless the grub was touching rocks. Didn't try 2ndary points and didn't go more than 50 yards back in pockets from the points. A word of caution to anyone who has not used the Indian Point Corps of Engineers ramp yet. There is a dock anchor (the big concrete cubes) nestled right beside the courtesy dock on the right side of the dock as you look at the shore from the water. Its not anchoring anything, just sitting about 5 feet to the right of the dock with about a foot and a half of water over it. I'm a short fellow and could not see it. There was a guy waiting to unload after me so I wanted to clear the ramp so he could back in. I drove my boat over to the other side of the dock and....scraaaaaaaape. Put some really nice scratches and gouges in my hull. I know I probably should have seen the thing but we pay money in taxes and passes to have usable ramps and facilities. Not to have our boats damaged by obstacles left where they should not be.

Fished Lead Hill area Thursday and Friday then the Theo arm on Saturday trying to put something together for the Heartland. Man was it tough. Had pretty good topwater bites all four days but very few keepers. Tried to flip on the flooded bushes but they are all full of green vegetation and when I wasn't losing a jig or shakey head on a vine it was getting pounded by blue gill. Finally Sunday rolled around and we had blue bird skies, wind out of the northeast, and again, tough conditions. I decided not to make a long run and stayed within 12 miles of the take off to try and maximize the topwater bite. Got my first keeper largemouth at 6:45 on a spook over flooded bushes on a 2ndary point. Several shorts followed the rest of the morning. As the sun got higher I tried shakey heads and split shot rigs outside the brush line. Caught two smallies that I swore were gonna keep when I was fighting them but when I got 'em in the boat they were each 1/4 inch short. Finally got another keeper largemouth at 12:30 over flooded bushes again on a point with a spook. This one went about 3 pounds and was the last keeper of the day. I beleive the LM were buried in the green bushes and just had to be coaxed out with alot of work. Had a real hard time finding spotted bass. Turns out pretty much everybody had it rough. 1/3 of the field blanked and there were only 3 limits weighed in. My 4.63 pounds was good enough for 15th place. Couldn't believe that. I've never fished that end of the lake and was amazed at the water clarity. I've heard people talk about it before but to see rocks on the bottom in 20 feet of water was a little mind boggling to me. Absolutly beautiful lake though.

Got out for 3 hours Saturday morning at the Purple Heart veterans' tourney out of Moonshine Beach. Had a good turnout and a great bunch of guys. I got paired with a local Marine Corps vet and really enjoyed fishing with him. The tourney was only 3 hours long with a 3 fish limit so it was pretty tough for me since I hadn't been on Table Rock in a couple of weeks. I fished main lake and 2ndary points going into spawning pockets right around Indian Point. Water temps were anywhere from 57 to 60 depending on how far back I went. Water was pretty clear and there is still alot of slimey stuff in that area. Saw several beds including some pretty shallow, but only saw a very few males on them. The ones I bothered to pitch something to just swam off the bed and showed no interest so I didn't mess with bed fishing too much. I threw a grub in the wind scrubbing it off the bottom and had several hits. Pulled back tailless grubs four times. Dragged the split shot around the points and again several hits. Most were short strikes and for me, I had to let them chew on it quite a whole to hook up. Caught a 2.85 smallie (that had not been to the bed yet) pretty quick then lost another that I never saw. Stayed on that bank way too long and beat it to pieces with no more takers. My partner caught a short smallie dragging a green pumpkin gitzit in that same area. Winner had a LM pushing 4 pounds on a spinner (yup one fish won it). Eric Prey took 2nd with a 3.05 pound smallie and I took 3rd with the one I caught. Would have gone back out but the wife was sick so I went home. Plus I figured I needed to get some family time in since I spent four days on Lake of the Ozarks last weekend for the Heartland. The fish were in the areas I was at, just needed a couple more hours to figure 'em out.

Not sure who it was but I heard 24 pounds took it. Heard it took 17 to get a check.

Sorry you had that kind of experience. I hope you know the vast majority of guys on this forum and many other guys on the rock who aren't on this forum are great guys (and gals). If you ever see me flag me down and say hi. Gray, black, and white Champion 198 with a Merc. An like JE, I have sponsors, a big depth finder, and a big boat, but I ain't cool. Just ask my kids!

Right after spawning they'll move to the first break out from the spawning area. By break I mean the first change in depth to deeper water. It does not have to be much of a change. Remember they are tired from the spawn and need to feed up and recover, so they are not going far. But following them out as they go to different depths on the points is the idea. As far as the thermocline thing goes, I don't personally pay much attention to it. It doesn't form until the water gets alot warmer anyway.

Allright..if everybody else is going to swallow the pill of humility so will I. Last Spring I was fishing as a coangler in a BASS weekend series. Gary McCormick was my boater. Anyway we're back in the bushes when the water was high on Table Rock and I had a topwater rod laying on the back deck with a spook hanging on about 10 inches of line from the tip. I was flipping a shakey head at bushes and not paying attention when I saw my topwater rod shooting off the back of Gary's boat cause the spook caught a piece of brush. I drop the rod in hand and lunge for the one going in. Next thing I know I'm underwater looking up at the transom of Gary's boat. Yup, I went in and I mean all the way in. You know, I would have thought 63 degree water would have felt much colder. I guess my embarrassment was keeping me warm. I crawled back in was able to reach down with a long rod and catch the line on the rod that went in....so I saved it...but broke the tip on the rod I used to fish it out with.

My computer was messed up all week so I couldn't post anything from the past weekend, so I'll just piggyback off Bill. Took my 12 year old son out Saturday and fished from Cape Fair to Piney. Concentrated on main lake and 2ndary points in the wind. We had a great day. I started off with the McStick and put a grub in his hands. Both of us caught several fish on every spot. He'd never thrown a grub before but caught on pretty quick to scrubbing it and keeping it low in the water column. It worked out good for him as he caught several. Later in the day I tied a LC pointer 78 in Aurora Black on a spinning rod for him and introduced him to jerkbait fishing. Again he caught on to it very quickly. I held the boat in the wind and let him cast straight back over the engine to the points. He started catching fish right away. Not much in the way of keepers but he caught fish and had a good time. Later in the day I got tired of windburn and found some sheltered water on the east side of the channel on pea gravel with isolated brush and docks. Had him throwing a power bait chigger craw on a shakey head while I threw a jig. Again we caught several including a 3 pound LM for him that we decided to end the day on. All in all about 35-40 fish with 7 keepers. Its a great time to take a kid fishing and it will only get better as we ease into Spring. Hopefully is I can get the computer fixed I can post the pics.

Great weekend for the Davis brothers. Great job guys.

Ranger I don't know about home break ins down there, maybe you could call the local pd and they might be able to give you an idea of areas and trends. Same thing goes in the big city as in a small town for crime though...an ounce of prevention goes a long way. One thing I do know, if I could help it I'd trailor the boat and try to keep it at the house. Stuff gets taken off of and from docked boats more than folks think and with summer coming it will only get more common. And welcome to the area!

dtrs, I was paired with Wayne Fowler in a pro am in Oct of 2007 on Table Rock. It was a lesson in dock spooning. I had never doen it before and watching him work it around docks was a treat. Just like you I had worked the cables and corners before but had never seen anyone flipping it back deep in stalls, under floats, and around lifts and other such obstacles like he did. He treated it like a jig in the way he got it in areas where the fish were.

Does anyone throw a rogue with suspendots/suspendstrips on them, to get them down to deeper fish? I have modified rogues to get deeper, but am not too good at it. When I want a jerkbait deep, I'll throw a LC pointer 100 DD with the big bill.

Yeah its a great tourney. My son and I had fished it the two years prior to last year and he had a ball. Hope they have it. I usually see flyers by now.