DADAKOTA

Many tourneys are won in the summer on 10 inch worms in deep brushpiles.

Did not see any surfacing whites last week when I was there. I am thinking it is a little early for that.

Seen lots of follies on the ramps across this State. Saw a feller up by twin bridges rip his trolling motor off the front deck when he left it down and put the boat up on plane. Makes a sickening sound. Still attached by the electrical connection so he fished it out of the drink.

Thanks

If I might ask, what is the slow death rig?

IS the clear water a result of lack of rain, not outflow from Truman, or Zebra mussels? FIL has a place in the mid 40 mm and I have never seen the lake this as clear as it was this spring. I personally have not seen any evidence of zebra mussels in the mid lake area.

Bandit 300 series will get you down to the 18 foot range. Trolled the bandits and some flickr shads the last couple days. Only 2 keeper walleye and 3 shorts. Crappie would not leave them alone. 22 fow at 1.7 mph.

Caught em in 10-11 feet of water off the ends of the docks on Saturday morning. By late afternoon they were in 2 foot. Some spawned out and some still packing. Caught shallow fish 4/11 and 4/18. I'd guess that most have spawned and some are still waiting. Not near the number of shallow fis that there was in mid April.

I don't fish dock where folks are fishing. Some however encourage ya to go ahead and fish. Had an old feller we called Catfish Charlie that had some awesome brush between his dock and the one next to it. He'd climb down the seawall on a metal ladder and throw is jig and cork out. He caught lots of fish. When he wasn't fishing we'd roll in and fish that area. Pulled in one day and he came flying out of his house and went ballistic. I guess we were about the 10th boat to stop and catch fish and he was livid. Said he was gonna get his tractor and pull all the brush out of there. We left him to his rant. Went back the next day and had my wife's step dad with me. He and Charlie were about the same age and Charlie was just a talking away. The old guy had built his house himself, was a WWII vet, and on and on. Bet we sat there an hour while the two of them visited. Never had another issue with him after that. Now he has passed and a family owns the place. Nowhere near as much brush anymore.

Lots of structure in that lake from brush piles to stake beds to PVC structures, old boat lifts, bed springs, appliances, barrels, and on and on. Lots brush around my FILs dock. He does not swim anymore but likes to catch crappie. Only the area by the ladder is brush free.

Be interesting to hear a fisheries biologist take on many of the unsupported opinions in this thread. I bass fish all the time and release them all. My choice. I will tell you that I have filleted many a bass earlier in my life and released them to grease. Now I keep crappie, walleye, and big gills because to me they taste better than the bass did. The feller that caught the bass for Grandma should be applauded for a nice catch and making Grandma's day. It was his choice to keep them and he was within the law.

Megabass cast much better and can be thrown farther than a rogue. No stickbait universally suspends. In colder water it takes more weight to get them to suspend. As the water warms it takes less. The bills on megabass are pretty weak. I sent my broken ones off and had the bills replaced. Going to send some more off. The baits are expensive and even moreso when you send them for a custom paint job. I have lots of discontinued rogues I'd be happy to sell if someone wants them.

All watercraft on the Jackson County lakes need a sticker. It is the law. Hopefully it keeps some of the traffic down. I think the gripe with the tickets is you got caught. The Rangers don't enforce a lot of things, but they do sticker check all the time. You can't legally swim at Jacomo unless it is from a boat.

I realize that the habitat will change. Some brush and laydowns gone and new ones deposited. Figure it may create some new holes and fill in others. Be like floating a new river.

What is all this flooding going to do to the smallie fishing?

Hey Dutch - Where on that site tells you they will have the gates open? Looked around and didn't see it.

How much rain ya'll get down there? they gonna open the gates up again?

Any Senko type bait cut in half works great. You can also employ a split shot rig with fish doctors or french fry worms.

Have they shut the flood gates on Stockton yet? When will the turbine work be completed and when will they start generating again?

Appreciate the info... Floated a lot from where the little Piney dumps in down to Jerome when I was living in St. James. Lots of smallies and lots of goggle eyes. Looking forward to floating way up river. Thanks again.

I am floating/fishing the Gasconade from Hwy 133 to just below HWY 7 in a couple weeks. It will be about a 9 mile float. I have never floated the gasconade this far up. Any idea as to how long this float will take? Is this an area of canoe/tube flotillas? Anything else I should know? THanks

My wifes grandpa used to guide on James River before Tablerock was impounded. He and his wife owned the drug store in Galena and outfitted overnight float trips. He always liked a Lucky 13. He also said they sold a lure call a Peck's Bait at the store.

Used to flat wear them out on floating #9 jointed rapalas in Chart back and white sides. Then they quit making it for awhile and I started throwing flukes/sluggos. Haven't thrown the j-9 in years.

I should have said river/stream/creek.

If you were limited to 5 lures to catch smallmouth what would they be? 1. Jig and trailer 2. Buzzbait 3. Senko 4. Rebel Craw 5. Baby brush hawg