et84

Agreed. Last time I was down there I left with an empty handle of Jack Daniels (thankfully it hadn't broken yet) and a grocery bag half full of bobbers, line, cans, etc. No one has ever said anything to me about fishing down there, and I too want to keep it that way.

Sure does. I remember when my friends and I were younger, about 13 or 14, we would always be walking around the lake. Most all of my friends lived within 1/4 mile of the water, so it made it easy. One day my buddy Joel and I decided to take some snorkeling goggles with us. Below the dam in particular, we used to just stand in chest-deep water and look under the surface. As usual, we'd shad and bluegill pecking at our legs, but every now and then a HUGE gar would swim by. They are EVERYWHERE below the dam.

Good report, Amp. I fish Fellows a lot and I really appreciate (and use) your continuous reports.

Nice fish!!!!

Sounds like a plan. I don't want to talk bad about Springfield Lake, but it's my last choice for a reason. If you're willing to drive more than 15 mins., go somewhere else.

I'm assuming you were below the dam, at the spillover. You're right- the look (and smell) of the water can be very offputting, but CU manages and tests the water down there all the time. I think the biggest problem is low oxygen levels which I THINK is caused by the power plant using the lake as a cooling source, making the water MUCH warmer below the dam. I could be wrong, though. The lake is pretty close to the city, which points to tons of other pollutants. Despite all this I have caught lots of fish down there, more at night than in the morning. Below the dam holds a little bit of everything, but gar are very plentiful, as they require MUCH LESS oxygen than other fish. Check out this article from MDC on making a lure for these prehistoric beasts. Gar Article

Gotta say, mine's the James. Grew up fishing it with my dad, still fish it regularly.

10" Power Worm- Plum color, 5/0 gamakatsu EWG hook, rigged weightless texas-style. Largemouth out of a private farm pond. Don't know how much he weighed, but not over 4 lbs. Right before the big one I pulled out a 9" largemouth on the same rig!! Never thought I'd catch a 9" bass on a 10" worm!! They sure can be greedy sometimes.

Agreed. Check out Joe Chrighton access on the james, near Battlefield and 65. I've grown up calling it "Pecker's Beach". Not many people fish there, but it's close and it's LOADED with cats. One problem we run into are monster crawdads taking our bait. if you see a bobber go under slowly, you've got a 'dad. Sometimes you can reel them all the way up onto shore with them just hangin' on to your hook, being stubborn. My buddy caught one as long as his shoe (sz. 10) earlier this summer. We always fish with livers, and hot summer nights are the best.

I have recently gotten into fishing wacky style and I wanted to get everyone's input on the senko worm- favorite brands, colors, sizes, fishing methods, etc. I mainly fish with 4" yamamotos, but I use chompers in 5". Green pumpkin, rootbeer green, black, cinnamon brown, pb&j, plum and chartreuse are my favorite colors. Also, I picked up one of those "O Wacky Tools" the other day, and they are money savers. They cost less than 1 pack of worms, and make them last 10x longer!!- and no, I'm not getting paid for mentioning their product or anything like that. Maybe everyone has already heard of this tool, especially people who fish wacky a lot, but I thought it might be worth mentioning for those of us who don't like to shell out $7 a bag for worms every couple of weeks. I've included pics showing how the tool works.

Good looking fish, especially considering all the commotion.

My brother and I fished rivercut last weekend. He pulled out a pretty good smallie right by the parking lot on a phantom brown wiggle wart. I like fishing that area, but there is a lot of current, especially when it rains.

I've never had much luck around Ozark Park with big bass, but I have caught lots of panfish/ smallmouth. There's a little pool directly behind Riverside Inn that you're GUARANTEED to catch bluegill in. I have always parked in the side lot of the restaurant (where its gravel), and I park FAR AWAY from customers' parking. No one has ever given me grief for parking and fishing there, but I can't say with 100% certainty that it is legal. Same goes for the Jeep dealership. No one has ever run me off. I know you said you're a bank fisherman, but fishing the finley is much better from a canoe/ yak. The James has better access from the shore- I agree with RSBreath- fish lindenlure. I own a boat, but I am ALWAYS looking for good bank fishing spots. You should check out a post stared by Amp under General Angling Discussion>Did you know?, for the bank fishers out there. It's on pg. 2 right now. Hope this helps!!

That's one sweet cover- I'll definitely know who's coming if I see that on the water!! Keep up the good work, I'd like to see a pic when it's done.

I fish the lake sometimes- only because I live on the south side of Springfield and it is close. There are ALWAYS people there. It's last on my list of fishing places around town- but there are fish in the water. I have caught plenty of them, just no trophies. Since you pass over the lake on 65, you should try taking the Evans Road exit- it makes a big circle around the lake if you turn on Southwood st. Also, if you just take Evans west of the highway, you'll see access on both sides of the dam. I'v always caught something with livers below the dam, mostly cats. I fish the lake just like I would any other- use worms and craws (for bass), and pick your colors accordingly. Green pumpkin has always produced for me. I've heard dragging white spinnerbaits through the weed beds might catch you some lunkers, but never tried it myself. Good luck!!

I heard they [MO Conservation Dept??] knew there was a problem, but purposely held back the findings until AFTER Memorial Day weekend so it wouldn't keep people from hittin' the lake. Anyone know if this is true? If it is, that's pretty disturbing. Also heard that the e-coli counts were 10x too high for swimming.

We went down last week and fished off a private dock, for bass. My brother caught a MONSTER gill, a little over 1 lb.- on a wiggle wart. Yep, a 3/8 oz. wiggle wart- and this gill liked craws, too. We filleted him up and found a 4 1/2" craw in its belly.

Great info, Al- makes a lot of sense. Whenever I've tried fishing with chigger craws they HAVE produced fish, but not nearly as many as some of the other styles with smaller pinchers.

Wow. I don't think there's anything in that post that you didn't cover. I like the point you make about wading in gravel-bottom streams spooking fish. Makes sense- reminds me of wading Crane Creek. Now I guess I know why I get skunked sometimes!!! The only thing I would like to add is..... USE CRAWS!! I'm not partial to any brand/ color/ style or anything like that, but for me craws are my go-to bait for stream smallies around here. We just catch a couple craws as we fish so we can see what color/ size is most plentiful. Then we buy our plastics to match.... not rocket science, just my take on the subject.

My family and I yak/ canoe fish a lot. One of my brother's friends just bought the 12' Vapor angler edition from Pro Bass a couple of months ago. For the difference in price, don't think its worth the extra $$$ for the angler edition. That being said, it is a NICE yak. It was purchased specifically for fishing, and that's exactly what it's been used for. I like the bigger cockpit mostly (I think it's the same on the regular Vapor). The owner isn't a big guy, but he's tall- maybe 6'2" or 6'3" and he gets in and out of it with ease. My brother along with several of my friends own Rushs. They are nice, and cheap, although I believe they just got discontinued this year. One HUGE difference is the cockpit size. My suggestion- get a Vapor, and install an anchor and rod holders yourself (real ones, not just holes in the yak), then put the extra $100 into a new rod/reel!! Hope you get your hands on something you're satisfied with, regardless of what you decide. Good luck!!!

I've never heard of a glass covered wood boat, but that thing is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I wonder how long it takes him to build a boat from start to finish?

Great looking fish! I've never seen a smallie that big pulled out of the James- good to know they're in there somewhere.

Great pictures, and a nice fish to boot!!

Sounds good. I appreciate the offer, and I'll let you know if I need anything. Thanks, Bill.

Great idea. I'm an Electronic Arts Audio major at MSU. I use very high end editing software (Pro Tools, Audition, etc.) but Audacity is ALWAYS installed on all my machines. Like Luke said, it's FREE, and I can tell you that it is by far the best freeware out there for audio editing. .wav will give you the best audio quality because it's lossless (not compressed), but a 90 min. file would be HUGE!!! Either .mp3 or .aac would suit your needs perfectly. Export them @128 kbps, and you'll be good to go. Good luck to you, and I hope this has helped.