Don House

SMJ, Yes I feel it has to do with Shade and Schools of Bait fish... You put the two together and it is a fish factory! Good Fishing Don

Fishing is still very good in and around the DAM area, Fish are still holding between 30 - 45 feet of water with the better fish coming out of the 35 - 45 feet of water. Fish are really starting to school up now also, on one spot today we found a really nice large school of K's right at 30 Feet hanging out with the bait fish on cables, one drop down and the school really fired up. Did not last long but it went on strong for about 20 mins. Crawlers is still the best bite, just Like Bill said they were eating it like it was food, when they are on they really eat it good. Bite can be strange at times, had days where is it was very light, like today but still there once you get it figured out. Nothing new as to locations, deep water trees and deep water docks are the best for me. I have about 10 - 15 sets or groups trees that I visit during my 7 day week and I try to mix them up, not to over fish the schools, but right now I'm finding there are only certain trees in these groups that really hold the good fish. The Deep Water Dock's well there are only so many of these guys, but they are really paying off right now. Most fish are holding right on the cables, just have to follow the cable down to the magic 30 foot range and bang there they are. Also found some really good fish hanging on the main lake flat points on the bottom or really close to the bottom in the late morning and afternoon time frame. Have to hang on for dear life out there but they are there! Tried to give these guys the F/B Jig but nothing there, went back over to dragging the drop shot with crawlers just off the bottom and we started catching the nicer fish. Also just now starting to look for big water docks that sit on deep water points to start holding fish inside the dock stalls on bright sunny days. These deep water stalls will hold really good schools of spotted bass just under the docks floats and the inside walkways floats really good, all white 1/2 ounce spoons are the ticket when this gets started and it is really close, have a had a few really nice fish this way last week, but can only do it when I get clients that can flip. I'm flipping these spoons into the docks stalls on the deep water docks, trying to hit the corners on the inside walkways and all of the support bars back out to the boat. We are counting down 15 - 20 sec count then light jerks back to the boat. Watch for your spoon to just stop falling or you will feel the tick as it is on the fall. Repeat as fast as you can you can flat catch these fish one after another. Warning this pattern is still in development mode it is an on and off thing right now, but still thought it was worth bring up, you might fish 5 docks and nothing, but when you find that right one have some fun! Now I have covered my rear, I'm out of here!! Good Fishing Everyone Don

Eric that is why I LOVE my Big Blue Tanker in the Summer Months! Atleast the boats that went by us so close I could read the tags on their clothes, did wave and it looked like they were having a really good time.... As you say Nice! See you in the Office Don

George, here is the best I can tell you stay out on the points within the Big and Little Indian areas. Fish seem to be holding from 25 - 30 feet in the early AM and then moving out to 45 to 50 feet in the afternoon. Look for structure along channel breaks, roll offs and creek swings to hold better fish. Night Crawlers at this time is your best bet on a Drop Shot Rig.. There are some Whites bitting on the spoon as well, need to see them breaking and cast to them on these same points... Good Fishing and Good Luck! Don

Just south of Big Cedar Lodge before the Hwy 86 Bridge... Just one tree on a little island.. Don

Last I heard they had their GPS on but they missed the Big Cedar Island on the south side and then ran across and into One Tree Island.. Very sad time indeed, I'm sure he will be missed, Prayers will be said tonight for the family and the rider with him, I know he is having a very hard time as well... Now hope that some of you will think of this the next time out at night or anytime as a matter of fact, wear your life jacket, please we don't need to loose any life! Good Fishing Everyone Don

mclothier, I don't think it was your hook set, it was your drag! First step is to loosen your drag!! I mean loose!!! Should be able to pull out line with easy but still takes a light tug to release line. That stops those last ditch digs!!! Happens to me all of the time, this stopped it.. Good Fishing Don

Mr. P on the humminbird units it is built into the SI screen shot you are looking at.. Not only does the humminbird unit at the same time look to left and right it also is looking down as well and displays it on your screen. Do you understand the centerline on your SI screen? That centerline you see is the center of the boat as you are moving forward, anything really close to that line on your screen is right under the boat or down looking. Or look at it this way if you go over a tree and your boat drives right over it you will see that tree on both sides of the center line on the SI screen, but right on the line on both sides, which is right under your boat. Then I can use my cursor on the SI screen move over to it and hit the zoom buttom, that will zoom into what ever you have selected in detail and can be zoomed in two more time for an even better view, Like fish in a tree top.. One of those things you have to play with to understand but it works very well, if you have more questions drop me a email and we can discuss more.. Good Fishing Don

Jason there is only three that I know of.. First one is at Kimberling City and it is called Ahoy's.. You can dock and walk up the hill to eat and have a cold one, been there and done that!! Next there is another called Captain Hooks in Little Aunts Creek, never been there but have not heard anything bad, so you are on your own with that one and last there is a great one just past the marina at Cambell Point, this place is great really good food, sorry don't know the name but I'm sure Bill or someone will speak up, they spend alot of time over that way.. Maybe there are some other ones and these guys will speak up as well.. Good Fishing Don

The Biggest crawlers you can find!!! My favorite is the Canadian Nightcrawlers. It really does matter!! These guys in the water will grow to over 5 inches and these fish just love them, kinda like us eating a really good T Bone Steak.. Good Fishing Don

Hope it works better than the units themself (as long as you don't fish in the rain!).. If it does you guys are going to love it, The downscan feature is old news Humminbird had this 3 years ago it's built into the SI modules and is standard with all of the Humminbird Si Units. Not really impressed with all of the hardware you have to mount in your boat now, but that is what they have to do.. Glad to see them get this out . Joe when you get it lets play and compare notes, love to see how they compare! Want to see if you will have the same problems like we had yesterday with two of the same units to close to each other and bleeding over to each other, the Humminbird is a 455 MHZ and a 800 MHZ SI unit, did not see what freq they are going to be... Joe we will let you buy it first and then you can report back and tell how it works and if any bugs just like the main units water troubles... Should be really cool for you Lowarnce guys... Good Fishing Don

Here is something to add... You will have three types of bites with plastic or crawlers.. 1) Tap Tap When you feels this one just slowly raise your rod tip to see if you feel the fish on then set the hook straight up and start to reel.. 2) Pull Down This is an easy one, fish will just start to pull hard downwards, once again set the hook straight up and reel.. 3) Slack Line Remember when you are fishing in over 80 plus feet of water your line should allways be perfect and straight. If for any reason there is slack in your line, the fish has it and is swimming up fast ( to get away from other fish in the school) (Next tip, if you do get this type of bite, stay there you have a pretty good school of fish below you!). Reel up the slack to the fish and set the hook once again straight up and start reeling.. Warning this is just about always the bigger fish make sure you have your drag set light, once they see the boat down they go fast!! Once you get these three bites down your catches will go up alot!! Then once you get that one figured out it will be time for the spoon season, then that is a whole nother thing!! Good Luck and Good Fishing Don

Rain, Well here it comes again... Anyway what fussing, No fussing here... See you in the office!! Don

So Eric what are trying to say? Now see if you were much more clear in your post everyone would understand, let's get it together you are a pro-fess-ional.. By the way the SHAD bite was good today, I just had a hard time keeping the bass away! Good Fishing Don

Still really great fish in and around the deep water trees, from Big Cedar to Schooner Creek in Kimberling City. I have watched these fish move from depths of 20 - 25 feet all the way down to 40 - 50 feet now and with more HOT weather on it's way it will really move these fish into the trees. Good fish are starting to bite on the outsides of the trees, look for large groups of shad right on the outside of these trees, bass are right under them. Still spending alot of time looking for trees that the tops of them come right up to the 35 - 45 foot range the larger fish are right in the middle and just a few feet down in the tree top. That is my really big fish bites, today we had 3 fish over 4.5 pounds and lot's of 3 pounders.. Drop Shot and 1/2 ounce white Spoons are really working the best in these areas, even if you are just dragging the main lake points with crawlers, the fish are there. My Plastic bite is good if you understand the three bites and Nightcrawlers are just unreal for the clients! Sorry no pictures we are really on a catch and get these guys fissed and back in ASAP. This hot weather and being dragged up from 50 foot just hurts them bad. Get out early hop points and trees, just be ready for the tubers and boogy boards to come running by, It's summer time on the Rock! Good Fishing and Enjoy Don House

South of the Dam on Hwy 86 and UU... Happy Hollow Resort www.happyhollowresort.com dhould be it.. Nice, clean and with in reason, right on the water with a dock.. Good Luck! Don

Dan, yes anytime you get a good flow of water through the DAM, it does place the fish on the points and seems to hold them on the bottom! My guess is that when there is flow over these long main lake points it places the shad groups and the fish right in the flow or just right to the sides of it. When there is no flow from the DAM it seems the fish will then move out and chase the shad groups out in the deeper water and suspened... But understand it takes days of water flow to really make a change, just like last year when we were flooded, they corp ran water for 3 months and the smallies were just everywhere on the main lake points. I will allways check with the DAM for flow before each day of fishing, gives me a little help as to where to start. Hope that helps some, GOOD FISHING EVERYONE Don

Fishrman, yes any of the larger creek arms on Table Rock.. Mill Creek, Whites Branch, Schooner Creek, Cow Creek, Big and Little Indian, Aunts Creek, just to name a few... Look for points that have deep water hot spots like channel swings, humps and best of all clumps of trees right close by.. Another thing is the under water points loaded with trees you can't see by land.. Use your Hot Spot maps or GPS too find a few of these guys.. Good Fishing Don

Well been chasing these guys for three weeks straight now, and finally I can say they have moved to their Summer deep water hangouts. Deep water trees are really coming to life with the spotted bass. Start looking for trees that top out in the 25 - 35 feet range, just about anywhere you find them. Just about all of my trees are in the major creek arms, which is a great place to start looking. Get out on a main creek point or secondary creek point and start moving out deep, use your graph to find the tree tops and drop your drop shot or even a spoon down just above the tree top. You should be able to see the fish move up and out of the tree top to take your bait. Some days they are in the tree and some days they are on the outside of the tree suspended at that magic depth of 25 - 35 feet. Main lake Pea Gravel Points are still holding some fish but right on the bottom right at that 25 foot range. Mixed fish from Spotted Bass to Small Mouth, to a ton of Blue Gills are out on these points. Todays trip we were able to get into three large schools of Whites and Spotted Bass, spooks and chug bugs were the ticket for these guys, that lasted from 5:30am to 7:00am max, then the fish moved deep. Whites were still small but there were a few goods ones mixed in, spotted bass were mixed with shorts and some good keepers, bigger fish all came on the Super Spook Jr. On the drop shot I still have a fair plastic bite on the plum color Chompers worm and the Robo Worm MMIII colored worms. But the Crawler is really taking over in the dead heat. I also talked about the spoon, it is a all white or all chart 1/2 ounce spoon and moving these with very small jerks in and around the schools of shad, bass really hit it today on the fall. Hope this helps some of you folks out, I have talked with alot of guys that are struggling right now, it is just that time of year, move deep and start looking around, you will be surprized what you will find.. Good Fishing Don

Congrads and Welcome to the Lake!!! Not just a great place but a great place to call home.. Good Fishing Don

Find anything really good give me a holler also! I will be baking in sun all this week as well... Don

Jessary, yes they are breaking around the main lake points.. Just look for all of the boats.. Get out early look for the long tapering points, last place I seen whites was on Old 86 point and back on the flat next to it. They will come up but not for long.. Small Chug bugs and spooks was the ticket for us.. Also check out the back points in Brushey creek as well.. Good Luck and Good Fishing Don

Hey guy, fishing is good in the Indian Point and Coombs Ferry area, fish are hanging out on the main lake points and hugging the bottom in 25 - 35 feet of water.. On the same points Topwater early, I mean early and will last for an hour or so, Baby Spooks and Baby Chug Bugs are working well, color does not matter.. Once the sun gets up high and dry time to move out deeper and start to play with Drop Shot Rigs.. Allow bait to fall to bottom, once there bring it up a turn or two and hold still.. Fish are chasing shad in large groups, find the shad on the points, bass are close buy or just below.. Robo Worms in 4" OX Blood with red flake is working best for me.. Also the good old Nightcrawler is getting alot of bite as well. Stay on the pea gravel main lake points and just keep moving around... Yesterday I hit 5 points until I found the motherload of bass. Good Fishing Don House

Ouch!!! That really bites!!! Sorry to hear about those scraches I know been there done that! Lucky I have a Alum tanker, last year it was a underwater concrete picnic table.. Hit it pretty hard and a nice dent in the hull! Be safe and Good Fishing Don

Things have been really strange in the last few days for me as well.. As Bill Posted Topwater was very early and only lasted for less than an hour. Once the Sun hit the water it was over, with only a few blowups to boot. Sunday Afternoon was a totaly wild, Phil Stone and I had a corp trip Sunday Afternoon out of Old 86 Hwy Ramp. Great group of Business folks and man the small jaws were on, we found one spot still in sight of the ramp and never left it for well over 3 hours, burned more gas putting the boats on and off the trailers then on the whole trip! Lots of really good small jaws with two over 4 and alot of good strong 3 pounders, dragging the rig with a fish doctor. Clients just had a ball and all fish were released safe and sound after pictures and right back in the same spot we caught them... Monday was a total different day, fished the same areas for over 8 hours. We had only 3 keepers and two shorts.. Fish were still there just not turned on at all.. Talked to 4 or 5 other guides on the lake and the same results were talked about.. Fish started to turn on around 1:00pm with only a few good keepers for the last few hours of the trip all on dragging the split shot.. Strange days indeed! So fish really early or really late, mid day is truly a tuff bite! Good Fishing Everyone.. Don