OzarkFishman

When I try to few old posts that had pictures, I cannot see the pictures. Also, I can't post pictures now (I have tried 2 different computers). Let me know if it is just my mistake or if it is a bigger problem. OzarkFishman

I had a few hours to burn while my wife was shopping at the outlets in Osage Beach. I went to a friends dock and got 2 hours of good fishing in. I ended with 6 crappie, 2 bass and 1 bluegill. Everything was caught (and released) on a 1/16 oz jig (red hook), 2 inch Zoom shad (green/silver) on 4# P-Line Floroclear. One bass was 14" the other was 7" (so small it was funny). The crappie were all decent and the slab below was a nice surprise. I plan on fishing this coming weekend near the Hurricane Deck Bridge. Does anyone have any tips? Are the bass still spawning or will they be into postspawn? I won't have a depth or fish finder. But, a boat is a boat. Any advice is greatly appreciated. OzarkFishman

I know I am bringing up an old topic here, but I think 4# P-Line Floroclear is the best small line. It has a little stretch with the copolymer core, but also has the abrasion resistance with the fluorocarbon coating. Just my 2 cents. These 2 were caught with P-Line. OzarkFishman

I've just been swimming soft plastics on a 1/16 oz jighead. Same as on any body of water, vary the speed until you find what works. As for frogs, I would say they would definately work. I plan on trying them out there this summer. The lily pads should make it a perfect scenario for frogs. Sometimes, you even get into some nice crappie on Finley. PLEASE PRACTICE CATCH AND RELEASE!! OzarkFishman

With the water being up a couple feet yesterday, I took my lure and swam it over vegetation that I had seen a couple days earlier when the water was down. Only one taker, but my biggest yet at Finley Park. The fish had some good fight and took my 4# P-Line Floroclear into some brush, but the flourocarbon coating held up like a champ. OzarkFishman

I hit the park yesterday (4/29) and today. Only for a total of 1.5 hours over the 2 days. I caught 4 largemouth, none with great size, but still fun. All caught on a 1/16 ounce jig with natural colors (smoke, green, and black/silver). Missed a few bites, but a good time none the less. Water looks good above the spillway, but is up below. OzarkFishman

I fished Swan tonight with a buddy. We wade fished a stretch with swimmin minnows (smoke for me, he switched) on 1/16 jig. I tried a 1/8, but it dragged the bottom too much. I caught 7 fish (4 smallmouth, 1 largemouth, 1 goggle eye, 1 bluegill). He caught 5 or 6 (1 stout male white, 1 dink white, 2 smallmouth, 1 largemouth). There was not much white bass activity. A little jumping here and there, but not the chasing we were hoping for. Anyone still having luck hooking up with whites? OzarkFishman

Water is still up around a foot. With the rain this weekend it will be up well into next week. Makes it a little tough to wade fish, but that is part of the fun. OzarkFishman

I caught 8 bluegills and 2 chubs this evening. Just on worm and bobber (size 6, thin wire). I think I will try to float some tubes and hair jigs next time. The gills were holding VERY close to cover. I knew I was going to get a bite if I got the cast perfect (I was wade fishing). Needless to say, I had only 8 - 10 perfect casts (I missed a few bites). Here is a picture of the best gill.

I haven't checked the bluegill population yet, but I have a two day trip planned in June. One of those days will be for bluegill and crappie and the other day will be for bass (there also may be sunfish). I also haven't had a chance to get a grip on the catfish population in the pit. This pit isn't like most 3-fish ponds (bass, bluegill, channel cat). I do plan on talking to MDC, but I want to wait until I have a better grip of the fish population on hand. It would be nice to have them come out and electrofish the thing, but the banks a too steep to get that heavy of a boat to the pit. Thanks for the replies. OzarkFishman

Thanks for your insight taxidermist. Bass, like every living species, grow faster if they have to burn less energy to get food. If we do add bait fish, I would rather add something a little bigger than fathead minnows (this would increase the calorie intake compared to calories burned). I have been reading a lot about stocking bait fish and I am thinking about threadfin shad. They don't grow as big as gizzard shad, but are bigger than minnows. If anyone has any experience with stocking shad, please let me know. If 5 acres is too small to add shad, tell me I need to adjust my plans. Even though I have questions about stocking bait fish, I wouldn't stock for a few years. My plan now is to take out 10 to 15 pounds of bass per acre and 10 to 15 pounds of bream/crappie per acre. Since the fish population is not balanced (bass heavy), I will not follow the 5:1 ratio until I feel the population is balanced. If there is anyone out there with experience with bass management that would like to offer insight, I would greatly appreciate it. OzarkFishman

May 15, 2009

My friend and I are in the process of trying to get his 3 pits to produce some 8 to 10 pound bass. Our budget isn’t high, but I have a few questions for anyone that is willing to answer. There are 3 pits ranging from 5 to 10 acres and up to 30 feet (this depth is based on knowledge from the previous owner). These pits were built in the 70’s and have had no management program. The ground contour is good, but cover may be needed for the main pit. The main pit has already produced many 3 and 4 pounders and a 5 pound 15 ounce and 6 pound 2 ounce bass. This main pit is what we are focusing on. Crappie are known to be unwanted in a trophy bass pond. I don’t think they are a problem here since 2 of the bigger bass caught had a crappie tail sticking out of their throat. Should I catch and keep crappie to help reduce the population and allow more prey/forage fish for the bass? The bass population seems to be in good shape. The pit holds a lot of healthy small guys; with a fair amount of big bass and a few “trophies”. MDC says a trophy in Missouri is a bass over 6 pounds or 22 inches, but we want to try for more. There may already be an eight pounder in there, but probably not a 10 pounder. The bass seem full and healthy, not skinny or showing signs of being stunted. My plan is to harvest twenty 8 – 12 inch bass (~15 pounds) per surface acre. Should I harvest any bigger bass, maybe a few between 12 and 15 inches to allow bigger fish to grow faster? Much of the literature has said to harvest bream at a 5:1 ratio. That would mean I would need to harvest 75 pounds of bream/crappie per acre. Does this sound about right? A couple positives about the pits are that they already sit on a nice watershed, have a slight greenish tint and clarity to about 3 feet. All of this is within the limits that I have read about. There are also aquatics plants, but not too much. There is also another pit that I have caught 3 pounders in. Would it be smart to take out three 1-pound bass from the main pit and release a 3 pounder from the other pit back into the main pit? It is said that a body of water has a carrying capacity related to total pounds of life. At this point our only avenues are harvest, catch and release (unless harvest is needed), and added cover. Later, we may move to investing in stocking bait fish or moving to supplemental feeding of the prey fish. I have heard positives and negatives of stocking gizzard shad. It sounds like a good idea, the shad are actually easier for bass to eat when compared to bluegill, therefore the bass uses less energy and grows quicker. On a negative note, shad can overpopulate and beat out bream for food and since shad are omnivorous they can also compete with crappie. Are shad a good investment for LONG TERM trophy bass fishing? I have heard that shad can sometimes be a short-term benefit and long-term hindrance. Golden shiners also seem like a good possibility. Does anyone have any experience stocking these little guys (they actually can grow fairly big)? (It just so happens that all of the big fish I have gotten out of these pits were on a golden shiner swimbait, even though shiners are not present). Would it be more cost effective to stock bait fish or to feed the existing bream? Anyone have any experience stocking Florida/Northern Hybrid Bass? They say it is too cold for 100% Florida bass (also the southern subspecies is a little more lure shy). Again, thanks in advance for any advice. Research only gets me so far, then I turn to people that have personal experience. There are a lot of products that have been “scientifically” proven to work, to turn out a crap product. The pictures attached are of fish from the main pit (pictures without trees) and one of the other pits (pictures with trees). Hopefully this gives you an idea of where we are starting (We are lucky to be starting at this point). Good fishing to all, OzarkFishman

RSBreth, Don't be sorry, after taking a second look at a few of those pictures ... all I can say is those fish aren't comfortable. The only positive is that all fish were out and back in the water within 30 seconds and all were CR, CPR, or CPMR. I am going to start a new topic about the management under general fishing topics. I have done quite a bit of research over the last few months and those sources are good ones, but now I am looking for people with personal experience with everything from stocking (bass, bluegill, even golden shiners or other bait fish) to harvesting and everything in between. OzarkFishman

My friend has put me in charge of managing his 3 pits/ponds (I am NOT the best fisherman, it just fell in to my lap.) He calls them pits, since two of them are up to 30 feet deep. I mainly focused on one of them, but also got some action on another one. A little history: They were dug in the 1970's, before his family took over ownership of the land. They do not get much pressure, but they do get fished every year multiple times. ONE BIG POSITIVE: I have talked him into making it catch and release, unless we deem it necessary to harvest in order to make the pits more suitible for trophy bass. ONE BIG NEGATIVE: It is private land, SORRY. Now to the good stuff. 3/24 Fished 3 - 7:30 pm 10 bass (mostly small, but a few between 1 and 1.5 pounds) 3/25 Fished 8 am - 7 pm (obviously there were a few breaks) 70 fish (65 bass and 5 decent crappie) Of the bass: (1) 6 lbs 2 oz and 23 inches (11:15 am) (1) 5 lbs 15 oz and 21.5 inches (10 am) (3) 3 to 3.5 pounds (5) 2 to 3 pounds (~20) 1 to 2 pounds (~35) less than a pound I LOST MY TAPE MEASURE ABOUT MID-DAY, SO ALL I HAVE IS WEIGHTS. 3/26 Fished 8 - 10:30 at a different pit. 15 bass (1) 2.5 pounds (10:30 am) (1) 2.2 pounds (8:45 am) (6) 1 - 2 pounds (7) less than a pound Fished 11 - 5:30 back at the first pit. 41 fish (38 bass and 3 crappie) (5) 2 to 3 pounds (13) 1 to 2 pounds (20) less than a pound ___________________________________________________________ If anyone would like to offer advice on making these pits better fisheries that would be wonderful. I have been studying as much as possible, but multiple brains are better than 1.

I had a little over an hour to fish tonight, so I threw on my waders and hit finley. I only brought 2 bobbers, some hooks, and nightcrawlers (basic, but it works when short on time). I caught 15 small fish. 5 different species and there was one point that I had three straight hook ups with three different species. Here are some pictures of the little guys.

I agree in getting along. If you look at the original posts it was 20 yards = 60 feet. I really was just trying to get other access points and thanks to some kind people I have. I am a pretty easy going guy, and really don't mind people fishing semi-close or really close if they ask. It was the person that came up and threw a line in 5 feet away that got on my nerve. Just look at our government and you will realize that everyone has a different opinion. OzarkFishman

I was deleting pictures from my phone and found these two pictures from last summer. A goggle eye and a logperch. OzarkFishman

Tightline, Thank you for your insight, I am a math teacher myself, so I understand that the fact that there is any water to fish is great. My problem isn't that these waters are busy ... the problem is that people believe it is ok to fish 5 feet away. Restraint is what I showed when I didn't say anything and just left. I understand that the warm water outlet will always be busy (except when it is cold, which is why I am going tomorrow morning), but when there is plenty of room further down the bank I don't understand why someone would decide to fish within spittin distance. If I go to a trout park, then I know it will be shoulder to shoulder. But that is a different story all together. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy having conversations with fellow fisherman, but not everyone that fishes is a fisherman (or fisherwoman for those ladies out there). I guess I will just have to continue learning the waters in the Ozarks. Thank you smallmouthjoe for the other access points. OzarkFishman

I live in Ozark, so during the summer I fish the Finley. But, during the winter (being that I have no boat) I am forced to fish at Springfield Lake. The warm water outlet is fine when it is really cold, because most people don't like fishing when it is below 35 - 40 degrees. Yesterday was nice, so I decided to go fishing. When I showed up, it was a zoo ... I still managed to find 20 yards of shore not being fished. Within 2 minutes someone started fishing 20 feet down, and within another 5 minutes (no joke) someone started fishing 5 feet down from me. There is no point in saying anything to these morons. I did not grow up in this area, so could someone inform me of different access points to Springfield Lake? I go below the dam sometimes with limited success. OzarkFishman PS - if you don't want to share your spot with the whole world, then a PM would be nice

I had to go try out the new set-up again. I fished for an hour. I only caught one, but it was my first small mouth ever!! It was the biggest bass I have caught out of the warm water outlet ... probably 1.5 to 2 pounds. It was nice and had some good fight to it. I always heard that small mouths had the most fight in them pound for pound, and I must agree. It fought harder than some 3 and 4 pound large mouths that I have caught. No picture (it was getting dark and I take my pictures with my phone) OzarkFishman

I fished the warm water outlet from 7:30 - 9:30 this morning. Started out with a suspending jerkbait, had no luck. Switched to a crankbait (6ft dive), still nothing. Tried out a spinner ... nothing. I then tried out a new method (for me at least) that I saw on the Outdoor channel last night. I attached a swivel and then tied on an egg shaped weight with 30 inches of line. Then I tied on 12 inches of line to my hook and attached it to the swivel. I wacky worm rigged my finesse worm (think natural when it comes to color). This set-up allowed the worm to stay close to the bottom, but not hit the bottom on a slow retrieve. I caught 5 bass from 8:45 to 9:30. Some hit on a pause, other while slowly cranking. Good thing I saw this method last night, or I may have been skunked. The fish weren't big, but catching is fun none the less. Good fishing to all, OzarkFishman

Thanks for all the help. I ordered the Cabela's waders last night and some jigs from LilleysTackleStore.com at only $1 a piece. Once I get the waders, it will be time to put all of the help I have received to use. Good fishing to all. OzarkFishman

Alright, I have my ultra light spinning rod and reel spooled up with 4 lb test. I have some 1/8 oz roostertails (black, white, black/purple), a few Rapalas (some suspending, some floater/jointed, some big, some small), and one Little Cleo (silver/orange). I plan on buying some small jigs (white, pink, black, and olive) and may buy some streamers. With all of the help I am getting from this website, I am close to being ready to hit the water. I still have a few questions. I will probably buy the Bass Pro breathable waders (since I am from Ozark and Cabela’s is not close). Are the Cabela’s really that much better than the Bass Pro? I am spooled up with 4 lb clear mono. Should I tie a small swivel on and attach 2 lb green line? Or is the 4 lb good to go just to get some experience? Now the most important question, since I live in Ozark it seems that Taney is the closest place to fish for trout. I found the great maps of Lake Taneycomo on this website, but I would like to know the quickest way to get to Pointe Royale and the TR dam (if there are better places, then I welcome your suggestions). It seems that I would have to take 76 to 165 to get to Pointe Royale. Is there no way to get there without driving through the busy traffic on the strip? Honestly, I wouldn’t even think about trout fishing if it wasn’t for this site. Thank you to everyone for your help. Once I become a little more seasoned in the art of trout fishing, I look forward to passing along information to you all. OzarkFishman

I've started reading about regulations and have quickly realized there are more when it comes to trout. To trout fish, I need the following: 1) Fishing license 2) Trout stamp 3) Do I need anything else I will be going to Taney more than likely once I get everything bought and set-up. Which is better, Upper or Lower?