Bird Watcher

Way to go Darbwa! I'm glad to hear you had some luck. I broke the pinion gear in my lower unit and hunting season is revving up. I'll see you fellas next spring.

The Conservation Dept. came and surveyed that lake 2 springs ago. I guess it's a service they offer to privately held waters? Anyway, two of the biologists bought memberships when they were finished with the survey. Apparently it was one of the top private impoundments they had seen as far as the quality and quantity of the fish population.

Here's to 10 pages...

Yep....here come the smallmnouth eating ninjas. You've really done it now, Crooked Creek.

Man!, I love that stretch of the creek. It's always got more color and more largemouth for some reason. That's my favorite part of Indian Creek. Did you know that there used to be a boomtown complete with steamboat and 4 mile long lake, and a population of 2,000 people just up from McNatt? It was a resort of sorts. People would come from all over the united States to sit in the springs which feed into the creek just up from McNatt. They had the creek dammed up and the steamboat would do laps around the lake in the evening. The town died out when most of the residents died as a result of cholera. you can still see some of the foundations if you know where to look. I'm jealous. I do miss floating that stretch of creek.

Geez o' pete. Some of you high brow stream smallie fisherman are thin skinned and long winded... You guys really need a trip to an unamed creek to catch some fish and relieve some stress.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ I'm with them. I could care less if you aren't going to tell me where you caught them and not because I want to go fish there either. It's just bragging if you aren't naming the stream. Just email them to your cronies. They are more than likely accustomed to your braggart tendecies anyway. Especially if it's just a bunch more of stream smallmouth <20". (yawn) FWIW, this is my code. I don't put up pics if I don't want to name where they come from. Maybe a seperate "stroke my ego" forum is in order for some who have low "fishing self esteem". That way other guys can comment on how pretty your fish are and tell you what a good job you did catching them. They can even playfully ask where you caught them, you can bat your eyelashes and tell them coyly, "in the mouth".

I call their cell and tell them that I am going to wait 15 minutes past the agreed upon meet time to see if I hear from them. If they call, I wait. No big deal. If they don't call, I go. No big deal. I always pad my meet time with someone new to account for this. It's not really that big of a deal to me with fishing. Putting out a 200 decoy field spread for geese and gettting 5 layout blinds grassed up in time for shooting hours? That's a different deal. I tell them up front what time I'm leaving and if they aren't there, I'll leave without them.

Awesome Darbwa! I'm glad you got into some. a six pounder!? Right on! I bet your Dad was pumped

http://www.joplinglobe.com/sports/x1836251337/Angler-goes-deep-finds-the-fish-chilling-out August 18, 2010 Angler goes deep, finds the fish chilling out By McClatchy-Tribune News Service From MCT PROTEM, Mo. — On a scorching-hot day, Fred Richardson dropped his lure into a zone where the fish were much more comfortable than he was. Sitting in his boat on Bull Shoals Lake, Richardson could feel beads of sweat rolling off his face. It was 6 p.m., and the temperature was in the mid-90s. But Richardson knew there was a way to beat that heat. Some 30 feet down, the water was much cooler than the surface reading of 91 degrees. That’s why Richardson was using a heavy jigging spoon, trying to catch fish that were oblivious to the heat wave that had the Ozarks in its clutches. “The key at this time of the year is fishing the thermocline,” Richardson said, referring to the zone that separates the water with oxygen from the layer without. “The fish will relate to that water. It is cooler, it has oxygen and it has a heavy layer of plankton, so that water is murkier. “When I used to scuba dive, I found that you can actually see that thermocline and how the fish use it. They’ll hang in that murky water and use it as cover.” The most productive water, according to fisheries biologist A.J. Pratt, can be found where the thermocline is near the bottom and intersects with good cover, such as brush, timber, dropoffs or humps. But there are places where the thermocline is suspended over much deeper water. By using his electronics, Richardson often can find that layer on his screen and fish accordingly. That’s what he did on a recent weekday. He pulled his boat up to Church Camp flat on the Arkansas side of Bull Shoals and began marking fish near the thermocline. He immediately dropped a three-quarter ounce hammered jigging spoon to the depths and began working it in an erratic motion. It wasn’t long before he was greeted with a jolting strike, and he set the hook. The fish tugged hard, trying to dive to the depths. But before long, Richardson could peer into the crystal clear water and see what he had on the end of his line — a big Kentucky bass. Moments after he landed the fish, he put it on a hand-held scale and found that it weighed 2.46 pounds. “The Kentuckies in here are like little footballs,” Richardson said as he eased his catch back into the water. “Even in the heat of summer, they’re feeding. They’re in good shape.” But that wasn’t the only fish Richardson caught. Soon, he was pulling in a keeper walleye. Then several large white bass. Then a largemouth bass. And finally, a few more Kentuckies. All of this, without another boat in sight. “A lot of people think you can’t catch fish when it gets this hot,” said Richardson, 70, who has fished Bull Shoals since the early 1980s, when he and his wife, Vera, moved to the Ozarks to run Buck Creek Boat Dock. “But you can if you’re fishing in the right place. Even in the dead of summer, you can catch fish off this main-lake structure.” Richardson keys on main-lake points and flats with fairly steep dropoffs. He fishes vertically, using heavy spoons. Instead of merely lifting the spoon and letting it drop, as many fishermen do, Richardson uses an erratic motion to attract the fish. “When I first got here, an old-timer who had been fishing the lake for years took me out and taught me how to use these spoons,” Richardson said. “He taught me how to make that spoon like a dying shad. He never used line any heavier than 8-pound test. He believed it definitely made a difference in this clear water.” That lesson definitely paid off. Using a heavy spoon to fish Bull Shoals’ depths, Richardson has caught two stripers weighing 28 pounds and a walleye that was 6 pounds, 7 ounces. “Just about every type of fish in the lake will hit these spoons,” he said. They are especially effective in the summer, when the fish retreat to the depths in the clear Ozarks lakes. But Richardson uses them almost year-round to catch fish. In fact, some of his biggest fish have come in late fall and early winter. “I’ve caught fish as deep as 55 feet in the winter,” Richardson said. “Once the lake turns over (and there is oxygen throughout the lake), the fishing will really turn on. “You can catch big white bass like crazy on these flats.” Even in the summer, there are fish to be caught in Bull Shoals’ depths. “Too many fishermen are used to casting the banks,” Richardson said. “But in the summer, that’s not where the fish are going to be in these deep, clear Ozarks reservoirs. “They’re going to be on structure, in deep water — places like points, humps and dropoffs. That’s where the bait is.” ——— FISHING THE THERMOCLINE WHAT: The thermocline is a zone that separates water that is rich in oxygen from a zone where it is depleted. DYNAMICS: In deep, clear Ozarks reservoirs such as Bull Shoals, Table Rock, Norfork and Beaver, gamefish often relate to the thermocline because the water is cool, has good oxygen and has a murky layer of plankton, which attracts baitfish and offers gamefish cover. WHEN: The thermocline usually forms in June and lasts into September and October, according to A.J. Pratt, a fisheries biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. DEPTH: A recent reading by volunteers helping the Missouri Department of Conservation showed that the thermocline at Bull Shoals was 35 to 40 feet deep and the water temperature there was 65 to 68 degrees — quite a contrast with the 87 to 90 degrees at the surface. ... AND BELOW: Just because the thermocline is at a certain depth doesn’t mean fish won’t be found below it. There is diminished oxygen below the thermocline, but species such as stripers and walleyes will still use that cooler water, Pratt said. FISHING: Fishermen use heavy slab spoons to fish the thermocline and catch a variety of fish, including bass. The best spots are the ones where the thermocline is near a bottom that has cover such as brush, boulders or timber.

Darbwa, I'll run all over that lake, but yes, I mostly fish the upper 3/4. The biggest thing that will affect the water color on Grand, IMO, is how much water the Neosho and Spring are pushing. I always check the USGS site for Spring, Neosho, Elk, and Pensacola Dam before I decide for sure what part of the lake I want to fish. That gives you a good picture of how much water is coming into the lake and how much water is being released. Any signifigant flow from the Neosho and to some degree the Spring, is going to make the entire lake dirty until you get below Duck Creek. It will even make Elk River dirty all the way up to about 3 or 4 miles from the MO line depending on lake levels. Anything above paradise point on the Grand River or Cayuga on the Elk, I fish like I am fishing a creek or river. Fish will usually be relatively shallow. Mid Lake from about Paradise point on the Grand River and from about #10 down on the Elk River to about the mouth of Duck creek is my favroite part of the lake to fish for most species of fish in Grand. There are lots of off shore humps, long run outs off of points, channel swings, coves, submerged creek channels, plenty of woody structure in the form of man made brush piles and some naturally occuring in the form of flooded willows or old willow stumps from the old power pool level in the 70s and 80s. At the same time it usually has a good compromise on water color. Dingy enough that you can usually get a bite however you feel like fishing, but clear enough that you don't have to hit them on the nose with it. The lower lake does get a lot clearer. Sometimes that visibility is a rare commodity on Grand and if you are trying to fish for a fish with a techingue that requires them to see the bait( think crappie fishing with a jig, spooning the temperate bass, flukes and senkos for pre spawn LM) you might need to fish below Duck Creek to get bit if the upper 2/3 look muddy enough to plow. The other thing you can do is run up any of the spring fed creeks on the East Side of the lake and they will usually clear up too. As far as when you should go up lake for a better bite? That's kind of hard to anwser. There is somewhere on any given part of the lake that you can catch fish at anytime. I believe that. The fall bite is really good lake wide for LM, but I love to fish up the rivers throwing small crankbaits from now into the fall. I have also caught some really nice LM over 5 lbs way up in the rivers and creeks all summer on top water. What does all this mean? I don't know. I will say this about bass fishing on Grand. No matter where you decide to fish, there are bass there. It's a great lake like that. It does get a lot of LM fishing pressure so if you can find a way to be unique about fishing for them it will help. Whether that's a presentation, a lure, a depth, a time,...etc. it will help. You probably don't need to run anywhere though. I gaurantee there are fish within sight of your dock. Anywhere I have ever decided to fish on Grand I have caught LM, just some places better than others. If you want, pm with your cove or point and I'll tell you if I have any favorite spots in your area.

2' huh? That's crystal clear for mid lake on Grand. Thanks for the report QB. I am going down to waste time on the Hybrids this weekend. If I come across anything of interest I will post it up for you and Darbwa.

How was the water color QB?

Good luck and please do Darbwa.

Man, I don't know where to start. I think what you are missing is the deep structure. Deep on Grand is 15'-25' deep. There is structure there, but you have to find it. The easiest way to find it is with a side scan graph. I know that is a little impractical, but it is a completely different ball game when it comes to finding submerged structure on Grand. If you don't have a side scan available, start concentrating on the boat docks that are on points. Find the ones with the brush hanging on the cables and start there. Watch your TM graph while you are fishing and you will find other brush not suspended on cables. The docks themselves are structure so be sure to fish their shadow even if there is limited brush during the day. If I was only fishing mornings, I would key on the shallow end of the slips and behind the docks in 8-12', but would work out as the sun comes up. I love to fish plastics, jigs and shakey head finesse worms behing the docks early and then move deeper with swimming jigs and crankbaits as the sun comes up. I have never thrown a flutter spoon in the stalls like they do on TR, but I bet that would work great too. if there is brush suspended under the dock, try to just "tick" the jig or crankbait through the top of it. I love to swim a jig in these situations becuase I have fun pitching a jig, but either will catch fish. The LM are usually sitting beside or on top of the brushpile, under the shade of the dock, waiting for the easy threadfin to swim by and will nail the lure when it comes though the top. If you aren't getting bit on top the trees, start working deeper. All points are not created equal though and I look for ones on the outside of the channel bend this time of year. If you can find a well brushed crappie dock on a point, outside channel bend, 10' under the walkway and 25' under the outside of the dock, I guarantee you there is a large mouth there. I would also suggest getting up a little earlier and the fish will be shallower after feeding all night. You can catch fish in 5' of water at 4 am but that same stretch of bank will be a dead sea by day. I don't know if any of this helps and I'm not an expert. I'm just a redneck who has spent too much time goofing off on Grand Lake over the last 32 years.

ha ha! Photoshop does wonders for removing objects of interest in the back ground..I'm too lazy so I don't post them if you can recognize the background. nice fish, Dr. I still haven't caught any on the manic minnow you told me about but I have given it a boy scout try. .. Those fish are addictive. I fish for hybrids 95% of the time I go fishing. The key part being "fishing" and not "catchting". I probably catch them 10-20% percent of the time, but that runs in streaks. I may catch them three days in a row, but it will take me another week or two to catch back up with them. Sound familiar?

...so was my belly after I ate as many of them as I could. We grabbed them in order to spare the little froggies the pain of gigging, but we couldn't do anything about cruelty they endured when we cleaned them. Not to worry though, I brined them in the silent tears I wept while preparing them.

I was curious so I googled and found this: http://www.arkstriper.com/ When: Second Tuesday of Each Month, at 6:30 p.m. Where: Beaver Lake Aviation Bldg Rogers Airport Dues: $25 For More Information Contact: Hal Johnson (785) 633-1468 Mike Bailey (479) 366-8664 Purpose: To ensure continued stocking of striped bass in Beaver Lake. To be a voice for this effort by promoting the economic value of the striper fishery. To share knowledge of the striped bass including habits, fishing techniques, fishing reports, stocking reports, etc., among the membership and our local community.

nice fish. she looks like she might have some of the Florida strain in her ancestry.

My buddies and I fished for them regularly when we were younger at the spillway in Riverton, KS. It was automatic. Every time we went, you could count on catching 5-10 of them. We would either use moss, balled up on a small treble under a bobbler, or we would use flies tied up to look like a ball of moss. They are a lot of fun. They definitley make my short list for awesome fish to catch.

Couldn't agree more. I thought circle hooks were a scam until I "re-learned" how to set a hook. I put the rod at 10 and just start reeling briskly. get's them every time in the corner of the mouth.

I've caught 4 largemouths over 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks on Grand. 2 were on top water, 2 were on live shad. I caught all of these while I was fishing for other fish. They were either really shallow, less than 2fow, or really deep-20'+. The deep ones were on main lake primary points.-Outside channel swings. I have actually been catching more nice largmeouth than anything as of lately, but I only have incidental largemout catches to report as I don't fish for them anymore. I have also been catching quite a few whites up the tributaries. spook jrs, white maribous, in line spinners, etc.-the usual suspects. It's a weird bite up the tributaries. They will be on fire one day, off the next, back on, then off. I've heard of guys catching them main lake on the humps from Gov. island to Sailboat, but until school starts I hide out in other parts of the lake. That mid lake bite should just get better this month unless we have some cold fronts slam through, but that doesn't look like it will happen at this point. Finding the whites on mid lake humps when they are not surfacing is a good way to practice using your electronics too. They are usually big enough schools that most any graph will show them and active ones will be bouncing up off the bottom so quickly that they are easily recognizable. I also don't fish for whites, but I seem to catch them about every night I go out. I haven't fished for crappie since spring, but we always did well this time of year graphing them on the roll-offs and humps around Patricia Island and dropping slab spoons and jigs with minnows on them. Look for isolated stumps and stick ups in about 15-25 with fish stuck to the side of it or just look for them suspended on the roll off. I have also been catching quite a few nice catfish on live shad. A mostly mixed bag of blues and channels, but a nice average size with the biggest being a 15#. Here are a couple pictures of the smallest one. Look closely at the lure...new top secret catfish pattern? I caught this fish in 2' and saw him come waking after it from about 10 feet away. He attacked it at the speed of molasses. Maybe this will help you two out, maybe not, but it's all the info I have.

Nope. You are what you eat. They taste like trophy smallmouth, trophy largemouth, trophy trout. Roll em in corn meal and fry em' up!

before you write your book, would you please complete the spot by spot breakdown of every hump and ledge in every ozark lake that you were going to complete this summer? I was really looking forward to that..this Zagat's guide to fishing guides that you are compiling doesn't do us locals any good. Stay focused Trav... Don't worry about finding publishers for all of these books. Printed books are passe anyway. Be green and just upload it all here on OA so we can all start benefitting from it.

Also remember that in this economy, it's a buyers market for luxury toys like boats. They are a dime a dozen right now. I personally wouldn't buy one right now if the seller won't neogtiate to less than NADA. There are too many sellers out there that will.