Chunk n' Grind

OzarkFishman... Yes sir, I'm very much aware that the bass in Missouri don't get real big. That goes double for Colorado bass. Many of my monster swim baits, along with other baits and lures have gone untouched since I moved away from California. These days it's spinning rods, 4 lb. test and finesse baits. Except for the few times when I got lucky and ran across some Tiger Muskies at Vallecito and DeWeese reservoirs I never use them. There are a few lakes here in Colorado where the bass actively dine on hatchery trout. I have actually caught 10" to 18" bass on 6" trout pattern swimbaits. But that's the exception rather than the rule. I've been reading in some other posts that the water clarity at LOZ has deteriorated? Same thing happened when I was at TRL last year. Oh well... it'll be good just to get away from the rat race for a week. I read another post by a couple of guys that were doing good with Wiggle Warts off seawall points? Could these be crawdad patterns? I also heard that chartreuse lizards where working off secondary points near creek channels? I guess I'll just play it by ear once I arrive. Then again there's always Truman lake. Too bad the MO turkey season is over. If the fishing is slow I'd hunt for thunder chickens in a heartbeat. After a very tough season here in CO trying to find just one decent Merriam's gobbler I'm ready to hunt some birds that can be coaxed in with calls and decoys. It was so bad I would have done better hunting for a male Sasquatch this past season. That's how elusive these birds can be out here. I know where there's lots of birds... on private land. Very few land owners give permission to hunt anymore because of bad experiences with other hunters. Public land is about it. After going through lots of red tape I got a Fort Carson hunting pass this year. That place is loaded with birds. But once they've mated the flocks disperse... and Fort Carson is a big place. Unfortunately I didn't get my shotgun registration approval early enough. I did hunt a few times with a bow but no luck. Once I could bring in my shotgun I was only able to hunt the last two weekends of the season. The gobblers had already done their deed and had headed for the higher elevations. Other than jakes that would respond to my calls the mature toms had lock jaw. I saw lots of jakes and hens but no big boys. They are very nomadic. More than I realized. I sure got into the deer though. I know where I want to pull a deer tag from now on. Getting sidetracked now. Wrong forum for T-hunting. Thanks again for the info OzarkFishman. Good luck to you this season.

Thanks Ozark. I grew up fishing the Southern California bass lakes. Overcrowding is typical out there... especially on the weekends. Bass fishing at night wasn't legal out there. That will be a new experience for me. I fish Pueblo, Sterling, Chatfield, Cherry Creek and Blue Mesa reservoirs here in Colorado. The pleasure boater invasion here is just starting up. Yellow spinner baits... check.... and then some. In fact according to my wife I carry around half a Bass Pro shop with me when I go fishing. I try to explain "why" to her but she just doesn't get it. Do you guys throw swim baits at all? Just curious. Got into using them at the bigger So Cal bass lakes. Those years are slowly disappearing but it used to be fun to throw a 6" or 8" Castaic trout and get bit.... hard. I throw them here in Colorado for Tiger Muskies too. Loads of fun.

Coming down to Osage Beach for vacation on June 1st. I stayed at Big Cedar last year and fished TRL for a whole week. The water was real high and murky. Looking forward to some clear water and some good ol' crappie fishing. Hopefully some bass as well. I' m reading about all the pleasure boaters and speed racers at LOZ. Is it really as bad as ya'll say? I assume that fishing during the week days won't be so bad? We have a cigar boat problem on our lakes here in Colorado. You'd better be sipping coffee back at the launch ramp restaurant by 9:00 in the morning or break out the bailing bucket. I sure hope I can find some quiet water.

Well, as the old adage goes "A bad day of fishing is better than a great day at work". It's been exactly 10 days, 12 hours, 17 minutes and 23 seconds since I made my last cast... if you catch my meaning. I have sure been day dreaming a lot since I got back. I have to admit that lake has sure got into my blood. In fact I'm thinking more and more about maybe moving to MO someday. Still waiting for things to warm up a little more here in Colorado. This Memorial Day weekend I'm going to Vallecito Reservoir near Durango. Hopefully I can scare up some big Pike, Browns and Mackinaws. But if I had a choice I'd rather have one bad day on TRL than a whole week on any Colorado lake.

I was using strictly 3/8 oz. heads. I tried some 1/2 oz. ones in deeper water with no luck. I'm kind of embarassed to admit that early in the morning I wasted more than an hour of my time throwing spinner baits up in the trees before backing out and switching to jigs. Oh well, ya live and learn, right? But when it comes down to preferences I'd rather catch one blade or top water fish than two jig fish.

Motoman, Yes, I got pretty wet out there on Saturday to say the least. The wind was an issue too. But it seemed like my best grub bite occured when there was white caps rolling in and I could barely keep the boat steady while fishing off the points. One thing I can say is I caught all my LM's in much deeper water than I did last Monday and Tuesday. I was getting bit from 20 to 40 feet deep directly off the points. In some cases I was anywhere from 50 to 100 yards off the nearest visible tree. Another thing I noticed was the fish seemed very particular about line size. I could throw the same exact head and grub on a bait caster loaded with 12 pound flourocarbon and not get a single bite. Then, if I used my spinning rod with the same rig on 8 pound flourocarbon it would be like A-U-T-O-M-A-T-I-C. The water clarity seems to be getting a little better all around the dam area. I didn't venture any further than the Hwy 86 bridge to the main point across from Indian Point so I couldn't say anything about the rest of the lake. I tended to focus on smaller areas and fish them thoroughly. Funny, I'd watch numerous boats come through and fish a spot before me and not even get so much as one bite. Then I'd move in, micro-fish it and come up with a fish or two. I watched one cove in particular get pounded by four boats. When they moved on I gave the spot a little rest them moved in and instantly got 2 nice LM's on a Sexy Shad. Go figure. Good luck to you Moto. Hope you get into them.

Just a little addendum to my last post. Some last minute changes in plans allowed me to fish one more day this past Saturday. (Yea like I needed an excuse to get out one more time!) Man, what a difference from my results of last Monday and Tuesday. I fished the west shoreline across from the State Park Marina. There's a long, narrow point that sticks out that's a partially submerged park or picnic area. I caught twenty fish in that general area, five of which went 16" to 20". 2/3 LM's and 1/3 SM's. I botched at least a dozen pick ups on 4" smoke grubs. Seems like they'd hit it on the sink and quickly swim towards the boat with it or just pick it up by the tail. I lost several good fish that were barely hooked. I also picked up a few straggler LM's back in the coves on a Strike King Red Eye Sexy Shad. I also trolled a deep running Bill Norman crank bait through some suspended fish and picked up a couple more. All in all I had a great day. I'm back in my office in Colorado daydreaming about TRL. I'm also admiring my chewed up right thumb. I hope it doesn't heal too quickly! Again, thanks to everyone for the valuable information you all have posted on here. It was great to go out on an entirely new lake I've never fished before and piece it all together.

Well, I spent the last two days fishing TRL for the first time. What a beautiful lake. The fun's over and I have to head back home tomorrow to Colorado. I caught plenty of SM's and KB's, but they were all sub-legals. I caught a real nice White on Monday but didn't get into any others. Thanks to the many tips on here I got most all my fish on grubs off points in 12 - 20 foot water. Today I was seeing lots of fish on the screen suspended around 20 to 40 feet. Out of curiosity I trolled a DT Rapala through one big meatbball of fish I saw on the finder. They were suspended over 90 - 100+ feet of water. No sooner I got the lure down I got a nice, chunky 3+ LM. I released him and tried it again. Trolled back through the same spot and got another one that went 2. Tried it a third time and hooked one that pulled much harder than the 3 pounder. He shook the lure about 10 feet below the boat. Now, I don't normally "troll" for bass but I was wondering if anyone does it much here? As much as I would have liked to fish a little longer I had to get the rental boat back to Big Cedar. That last cast was tough. But I had a great time here. Hope to come back next year.

I'm originally from the Southern California, East San Diego County area. For many years us fishermen had most all the So Cal lakes to ourselves. Then they opened the door to both water and jet skiers. Fortunately that all happened the same year I moved to Colorado. Most of my friends who still live there tell me you have to get off the water by 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning on weekends. So most of them try to fish on the weekdays if possible. It took a few nasty incidents and a couple of deaths for the San Diego City lakes people to finally wise up. Now they limit the skiers to only certain parts of the lakes. Here in Colorado we have a few lakes that are pretty much ruined on summer weekends by the crazies out there. As the population here grows so do the problems. Maybe if enough fishing tackle manufacturers and fishermen banded together they could pursuade the powers that be at TRL to create bouyed skiing, speed boat and PWC lanes in the center of the lake like they did in SD. Just a thought.

What a great forum.... and a great bunch of guys. No too often that people share so much info with others. I'm really glad I found it. I'll be at TRL / Big Cedar on May 3rd and was hoping to get some info and tips before then. Definetely looking forward to fishing a legendary lake. I'm a long time So Cal bass fisherman from the San Diego area. Lots of great memories and stories from the good old glory days of the San Diego City lakes, Castaic, Casitas, Dixon... etc. Moved to Colorado in 1993. I was also involved with a few outdoor television shows back in the late 80's and early 90's. Didn't get to do too many bass shows. I shot tape mostly in Alaska and Canada. I also produced videos for Don Iovino, Dan Warme, Bob Crupi and Bill Murphy. I started producing a World Record Bass video back in 1991. It was going to be a documentary style film about the Perry fish and all the other 20 lb. plus fish that have come close to beating the record, the lakes where they were caught and the new up and coming lakes. I have tons of footage from Lake Fork, Castaic, and many other lakes. I have two fish, a 13 and 15 lb. plus fish I got on tape.... underwater footage, etc. But the project came to a grinding halt when I moved to Colorado. I've got boxes full of classic footage just sitting in the basement collecting dust. Who knows, maybe this trip to TRL will kick me into gear to pick up the project again. So long as a new "official" record hasn't been caught yet there's still a story to tell. Thanks to everyone who posts info and tips in here. Hopefully I'll be able to put together a couple days of good fishing.