405z06

No kidding. I can't believe it's June and I have only done 1 float so far this year...

Wow, that's sad. I am not one to look for someone to blame for this type of thing. Sometimes these things happen and there is nothing you can do. It's part of the risk when dealing with Mother Nature. Terribly sad, though.

Edited: Poor attempt at humor The fish we caught on Sunday were shallow on main lake points that had seawalls. We caught them on bright-colored Wiggle Warts.

We fished most of the day Friday and caught mostly male dinks, with the exception of a big, spawned-out female (4lbs) caught at the end of the day. Saturday we didn't fish much, but in the few hours we did, we caught 1 small fish between the 2 of us. Ugh! Then something strange happened on Sunday: we were having another tough day, fishing 12-15 ft of water off a main lake point (gutsy on the holiday weekend, I know!). This point is a traditionally strong post-spawn spot. Nothing. As we pulled up the trolling motor, my fishing partner started digging around for a jig to put on. While he was finding what he wanted the waves pushed us up shallow on the point, close to the seawall. I decided to throw out my wiggle wart parallel to the wall and BAM!, 1st cast, caught a nice big female. We kind of looked at each other, like "what is this?". The wiggle wart bite was about 4 weeks ago according to conventional wisdom. We decided to give the points a try up shallow w/ crankbaits. The rest of the day we only threw Wiggle Warts. We had the best luck on main lake points that had seawalls. Some secondary points produced, too. There were still a lot of small males being caught with this pattern, and quite a few Kentucky's that seemed to be spawning, too, but we were also able to catch many nice females that been elusive up to that point. The small, male largemouth and the kentuckys seemed to be very shallow, in 1-2 ft of water, and the females seemed to be a bit deeper at 3-4 ft. It saved what would have been a disappointing fishing trip. We were fishing in between the 25MM and 31MM.

We used to stay at Robin's every spring. It's in the heart of Osage Beach, in the Glaize near the main lake, within site of the Grand Galize/54 birdge, right by PB2. Lot's of great fishing in the immediate area. They have cabins that have been there for decades on the cheap, and they also have newer condo's to rent, too. And boat slips, of course. Robin's Resort Webpage

I fished Friday after the storm blew through, all day Saturday, and until about Noon on Sunday. We fished the coves off the main lake, primarily around the 25 MM (near Tan-Tar-A). I fished with my step father who has fished the lake his entire life and we could not buy a keeper-sized fish. All we could catch were 14 inch male bass. It just goes to show that on a big lake, the (bigger) fish are biting somewhere. The locals in the area we were at told us that it peaked about 2 weeks ago. And I'm not sure that the spotted bass is much of a threat to largemouth on a large reservoir as they are in streams in rivers.

I decided at the last minute last nite to drive down this morning to Leasburg and float for smallies. This was my first float of the year. I did the Bluffs to Ozark Outdoors float which I think is about 9 miles? I floated this section several times last fall and had much success. Today? Not so much...3 smallies, 2 largemouth, and 5 goggle eye. All on 1/4 oz tandem spinnerbait. And all 3 smallies came in a 25 yard stretch in the middle of the float within minutes of each other. Water was up, swift, and muddy - at least compared to Fall 2008 levels. And the wind was not kind to a solo fisherman in a canoe. Kind of a bummer day for my first float. But it will get better. On a positive note, I got back in town on Sunday after spending 3 days near Harrisburg PA fishing the Susquehanna and caught more 3-4 lb smallmouth than I thought was possible. It blew my mind.

It's a largemouth. The markings are just dark as he probably came form clear water.

Yeah, some of the best points in the lake are in the Glaize right there by PB2. And they all get a ton of pressure, but they produce year after year. And there are a couple of points that you will overlook without a topo map (Robin's point and the one directly across from it). The Glaize right there at the 54 bridge/PB2 area is one of my favorites at the lake.

it's a really big lake..where will you be at? My first trip each Spring at LOZ always includes Wiggle Warts on main lake and secondary points. Not all points are equal, so don't give up if you get skunked on the first one.

Like, how far south? 100 miles? Seriously?

What have you seen? what have you heard? Wild-a*s guesses are welcome, too.

I live in Fenton and, to be honest, I have never heard of it. I found a couple of MDC pages that suggest that there are bass there, but nothing to be found of any substance while "googling". It's close enough that I will probably run out there on a warm day in the next couple of weeks out of curiosity. I will update then.

Agreed. I have been familiar with Al's art for years and years, but I had no idea he lived in my own backyard and fished many of the same waters. His posts on here are really, really good, too.

Thanks for the info, Al. Perhaps I will give them another try in the spring then. I started really getting into the smallmouth floating right after Labor Day this year, so next spring will be my 1st spring targeting these smallie waters. Not that this is on topic, but I wanted to throw it out there for whatever it is worth. I have been primarily a reservoir fisherman my entire life and almost exclusively a largemouth angler. In the past 15 years you could count on one hand the number of times that I have caught a bass on a spinnerbait. I just never used them a lot, I had little confidence in them, and I got better results with other baits (wiggle warts, soft plastics, etc) But my smallmouth fishing improved dramatically once I starting throwing a spinnerbait on these creeks and rivers. It was on a Devil's Back float on the Bourbeuse, and I had had almost no action on my then-go-to bait, the 1/8 oz texas-rigged Senko. I tied on a 1/4 oz double-willow chartreuse and white spinner and I have thrown that 95% of the time on all the rivers I have fished since. I still have a lot of confindence in the Senko and other soft plastics, but in a canoe, especially floating by yourself as I usually do, there just isn't time to fish that slow. The other thing is, and I think it was a post that you made, Al, that got this in my head, but I exclusively use a baitcaster now for my smallmouth fishing. When I first started, based on what I had read, my instinct was to downsize the baits and use a spinning road. But the level of accuracy with a heavy bait (spinner) on a spinning reel leaves a lot to be desired and the trajectory needed for distance created too much noise and commotion on impact. With a baitcaster, I can just flip that bait right on the bank without so much as a splash and not spook fish. My last trip on the Meramec I was with a buddy and we were both throwing primarily the same spinners. He was using a spinning reel, and I my baitcaster. Now, I am by far a more experienced angler, so that wasn't the only variable, but I literally out caught him by a 5/1 ratio. And he was really unahppy about it A lot of that was due to the accuracy and stealth water entry of the baitcaster vs spinning reel, imo.

The Devil's Back float down to Noser Mill. My last float of the season was a float a couple of weekends back. I started at Butts on the Courtois and ended on the Meramec at Ozark Outdoors. It's about a 10 mile float. Now, I had fished the Courtois a couple of times from Blunts to Butts before, and had some success both times. But this stretch of the Courtois was very similar to my Huzzah float, and not in a good way. There was lots of skinny, shallow, and basically unfishable water. I didn't catch a fish until I hit the Meramec. I had specifically chosen this trip for a few reasons: 1) I had never floated this section, 2) I figured the water would be better, deeper and more fishable than the upstream section where I had some success (wrong!), and 3) The Meramec float that I like (Bluffs to Ozark) can be busy and full of jet boats on the weekend, so I thought it best to stay away. I've sampled a lot of floats this year, and by far the best from a smallmouth fishing perspective (and not even really close) is the Bluffs to Ozark float at Ozark Outdoors. Beautiful water and scenery, very nice average fish with some toads mixed in. I am glad that I sampled the Huzzah and Courtois, but I have no desire to fish those ever again, at least the sections mentioned. I may hit Blunts to Bass again, but those other floats just seem to have very few fishable pockets, and although I like the scenery and solitude, when it comes down to it, I am there because I love fishing. Next year I want to fish downstream of Onondaga, which I have yet to do. Blue Springs, perhaps.

I've been doing quite a few single-day solo floats over the last couple of months. A few weeks ago I did the Harper's Slab to Huzzah Valley Resort float. Of all the floats I have done, this is the only one where I got skunked, shut-out, no bass. (As a way of background, the other floats I have done lately are: 2x on the Bourbeuse, 3x on 2 different Meramec floats, 2x Courtois, 1x on the Big Piney, plus the Huzzah float mentioned here) The water was gin clear. Seriously, the tap water in my sink is cloudier than the water in this creek. I don't think that was a problem in terms of fishing, though. Everything was shallow and skinny. That was the problem. I don't recall too many places that seemed like obvious spots to slow down and fish. I really enjoyed the scenery,however. Very pretty creek. I know there is a creek that comes into the Huzzah right there at Huzzah Valley where I took out, so maybe there is more substance to the creek at that point? How is the fishing from that point until it reaches the Meramec? I doubt that I get there this year, but it's never too early too early to plan my spring, right?

I don't know if I would call it "stretch" of water. I can deal with a "stretch". This is more like the entire last half of the float. I was looking at a map of the area and, with the way the river bends and swings, it may be possible to take out and skip much of the dead-water section. It is pretty much an empty field in that area. I will talk with the owner/operators next time I have the itch to hit the Bourbeuse again and see if it's possible.

Anyone fish this float? Peter's Ford to the Noser Mill? I have done this float 2x in the past couple of weeks. The first 1/2 of it I like a lot. Fairly scenic and interesting. The water is nowhere near the clarity of the Huzzah or Courtois, but I knew that going in. Fishing has been pretty good both times that I have been, both with smallies and some nice sized spots and an occasional largemouth. About 1/2 way through the float, however, the water starts backing up a bit from the mill, the current seemingly disappears, and the bass disappear with it. A lot of it looks really nice, but it seemed to hold no bass (I realize the small sample size, let me know if your experience has been different). And with the lack of current, there is no real "floating": you have to really work to go anywhere and it's a long haul back to your vehicle. If if your timing is bad, like it was for me this weekend, you could run into some wind to really make things miserable. It's just a shame...for St Louis area folks it's about 45 minutes away, the fishing seems to be pretty good, but the last 1/2 of the float is so brutal, I don't think I can bring myself to do that float again. Until next year when I forgot how bad it is Anyone else have experience with this float that they would like to share?