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Yes wildminnow, I gathered from Hornyhead Chub here several weeks ago that the Topwaters are valuable to the streams and lakes. Guess I'll be fishing with blackheads from Bob's from now on..... Plus he says that topwater seining is not permitted according to the MDC regulations, although haven't found 1 representative with MDC to validate that to date, but I am fishing with an MDC agent this weekend and plan on hitting him up about it. I'll let you know, who knows, maybe chubs is on to something with this topwater gig.

Well, you guys didn't miss a lot up Spring River. There were 3 of us in my boat, hit the water about 8:00 left about 5:00. Around 12 Whites between the 3 of us. We tried everything, caught most of them trolling with shad wraps.. We talked to a few who said they were just slaying them further up the creek, under the 10C Bridge. We proceeded to head that direction, but I got to the first riffle past the bridge and it was 1-2 ft deep and I decided I didn't need to tear my boat up that bad. We talked to some guys we knew at the boat launch there on 10, they claim they caught 100 up there on Friday and then another 100 on Saturday. Reliable? I don't know, I find it funny how when people are catching a bunch of fish it's always, "100" never 93 or never 106, but always "100!" And yes, it was as if there was a bass tournament going on down there Saturday, boats, boats and more boats. There were so many people you would have thought it was opening day at roaring river!

I'm going down there this weekend myself. I have an aquaintance who went down last weekend and said 3 guys in 1 boat caught around 100 whites all day. (reliable source, I'm not sure, but it's about time for them to go nuts down there) They are catching them up Spring River, you can do 1 of 2 things, take 43 south towards Seneca then take 10 west. You'll cross Spring River, depending on how big of a boat you you can launch there. A river boat is good right there, but becareful lots and lots of ROCKS! Or, you can take 10 highway to 137 and go south to Twin Bridges. Launch there and you can motor up to the mouth of Spring River and go up that way, preferred method if you have a larger boat. That's the route I'm taking Saturday. They are catching them on Rogues and swimming minnows. This warmer weather this week should help out by Saturday! Now if we can dodge a full day of rain we'll be alright!

Right at 2 hours to River Run, but I'll tell ya, Catching fish is a bonus, just being on the water down there is worth every stinking minute of the drive!!!

I heard back from the MDC agent. He said, "Top water Minnows are considered a bait fish, and the limit is 150 per person."

Hornyheadchub, looks like to me you said they didn't make good bait? In your later post you said you didn't say that????? At any rate I applaud your research, I too have looked at the online wildlife code exert you posted. I don't believe you are interpreting it correctly, but I could be wrong? I do find it funny though that I have had been checked before by MDC agents when seining and had a bucket FULL of top waters and get a, "good luck and have fun," out of the agent. Never once have I been cited or warned that it was illegal? I have asked an MDC agent stationed in the Branson/Forsyth area to interpret the code for me so we know what is legal and what is not. I'll share that information when he gets back to me.

I have to agree with you wildminnow. There are far more damaging issues to the ecosystems in our streams right now then seining topwaters. If seining the topwaters are so distructive, I would think MDC would be regulating? In fact, they do have regulations on seining certain types of minnows/fish and the topwater is not one of them to my knowledge? I'll keep seining as long as it's allowed, in fact I enjoy the hunt and seining of minnows.

Yes, Andrew Shaefer you are soooooo correct! I've seined minnows before around The Tin Horn area of Beaver Creek, and done pretty good in getting quality top waters. (assuming the water level is just right) About 2-3 years ago some guys noticed me seining and they followed behind hitting some of the shoals I had hit. They were catching baby minnows alright, but they were baby walleye. If you've never seen real small walleye there are many similarities to a top water minnow, you have to look at the mouth and fins closely. I pointed out to them that what they had were baby walleye, not top water minnows, and they eagerly got rid of them...QUICK! They had 4-5 of them in their bucket...Now that's a fine those boys didn't want to mess with, I can promise you that!

I get to Spring River about 3-4 times a year. Not as much as I would like, I live just north of Joplin, so I'm not that far. My problem has been I didn't have a boat up until about 2 weeks ago, so I was reliant upon good buddies to take me! Now that I have a boat I hope to get down there a little more. I have 2 friends that I would consider a pretty reliable source that went down yesterday. I am anxious to get their report today of what they caught, once I do I will post. Langley....Yes, I have heard all about it! Sorry to say that no I have not been there yet, key word is YET! My father used to take annual trips to Langley in May/June and I would hear all about the fish they caught. I'm partial to Bull Shoals, that's why I don't make as many trips to Grand/Spring River area. I enjoy just being on Bull Shoals, catching fish at BS is just an added bonus for me!

Let's hope. No better place to fish in this earth (in my opinion) then Bull Shoals. The past few years have been dissapointing for the White Bass. If you want to catch some white bass, my advise is head to The Spring River down in Oklahoma, just off of Grand Lake. You can bet you'll catch the white bass, no questions about that. Right now they are begining to bite pretty good, and with the predicted warmer weather next week they will go crazy. Throw a rogue out there and they go crazy! Certainly not the same atmosphere, but you will catch some fish. Let's hope the moons align and things get back to normal on Bull Shoals and up Beaver Creek this year!!!!

Has anyone heard anymore about this? Is the boat still there? That part of the lake is one that needs to be surveyed carfully before you proceed closer to the dam, especially if you are not familiar or a first time boater in that channell. I've see years where you could walk across from silver creek to the other side of the lake it was just that shallow. (some of the best years for catching White Bass as well when the water levels were that low) Other years the water level is up enough that it is of very little concern. Water levels were up enough that I even boated up silver creek and caught some fish. Between Swan and the dam is one of my favorie places to fish, but it is very important to survey the water levels along with the current. Depending on the water coming from the Dam, well that can also get tricky if you are fighting a swift current! Let's hope that no one was injured.

Well, headed down to fish this weekend. Fishing was a little dissapointing. Thursday night, went down to the barker hole, nothing. Went up a little to the small beaver dam before the Barker Hole, heard there was a some crappie in there.No crappie caught, 2 whites. Friday-Got some Top Water Minnows and fished the mouth of Swan on the river run side. My experience is if they aren't biting top waters they aren't biting anything, guess my experience doesn't always hold true. Caught 1 white in the mouth of Swan during the evening bite, while a gentleman on the bank caught 4 with a yellow rooster tail. Fished up until 9:30-10:00, nothing. Saturday-About 12:00 went up to the dam (very shallow in spots, less then a foot) and would float down past silver creek about a hundred yards then motor back up and float down. We were catching about 1-2 whites per pass, for 3-4 passes, but then they quit. Caught and released a small 16 inch walleye, that was about it. If I were going back, I would wade out by silver creek on that gravel bar. That might be as good of spot as any right now, with the water being so shallow you can get quite a ways out there with waders. Saturday night fished again until about 10:30 and nothing was caught after the evening bite. Went up to the tin horns and maiden hole on Friday to check out the action, seemed to be pretty slow up there. My advice, if you want to catch some fish then better go somewhere else! If you want to relax and take it easy then your probably fine!

Coach, I'll be down there this weekend too! Maybe we should meet up? Good Ol' Phil says its been pretty slow, if anyone would know he would. My good friend from MDC, Quenten, also says it's been a little slow as far as the whites and walleye go. Quenten said they have been catching a few crappie but didn't elaborate where. I'd say throw the waders in, currently there is a 60% chance of rain on Friday. That might help, those spotty showers sure helped up Spring River last week that is for sure! Well coach, good luck to you this weekend, give me a call if you want to meet up over the weekend and see if we can catch a few.

What is the latest update? Anything biting from the Dam down to Swan/Beaver Creek, up to the 160 bridge? Haven't seen any posts recently, are things slowing down or picking up down there? Any info is much appreciated as always...... I'll be down there for 4 days later this week, and will be glad post a summary of how I did when I get back to the PC next week.

Be cautious of the spots, if they are heaviest around the belly area that could be a sign of a type of worm that infests that particular area of the fish. It's generally best to not keep or especially eat any fish you suspect of having worms. I've seen it in whites, largemouth, Small Mouth (most frequently)and even in Walleye. It's not a huge problem, but something too keep in mind given what you described.

Coach, I've also heard the whites are beginging to bite a bit, but this cold rainy weather should put a KIBOSH on that for the weekend! Never fails, the weekend you plan a fishing trip and the weather goes south!

Should be interesteing. Does wading look more favorable at this point up towards the dam then taking a boat? Curious if water levels are low enough to find more benefit in wading right now?

That is a beautiful picture! It's amazing how the eagle population has really taken off in the Branson/Tri-Lakes area, and really in the entire Ozarks. I have some realtives that have a home off of the Long Creek branch on Table Rock, and we see several when visiting them. It hasn't been that many years ago and a photo like this would have been almost impossible to have captured!

Hunter91, Where were you fishing on Beaver Creek? How are the water levels up the creek towards the tin horns? Can you even get up that far right now?