Quillback

View attachment: HPIM0833.JPG Launched at 0700 into a world of cold and fog, air temp was 34 warming to 74 by the time I pulled out at 3:00 PM. Fishing was off and on depending where I was, almost all the fish I caught were very shallow, either on gravel or in front of the buck brush. Pea green water was the best, could not get them in the brown water. Caught close to 20, 7-8 keepers, no bigguns, biggest was a mean just short of 3 lbs. Caught a half dozen smallies which is unusual for me on that part of the lake. Maybe 2 or 3 LM's, the rest were spots. Water temps were 52-56. Saw 58 in the back of a cove. Lots of bassers out there today. View attachment: HPIM0832.JPG

Water color is looking good, somewhat stained, but very fishable. Courtesy dock is setup just right for this level. View attachment: DSC_0013_037.JPG View attachment: DSC_0015_038.JPG View attachment: DSC_0020_043.JPG Redbuds are close to blooming. View attachment: DSC_0017_040.JPG

Drove around some today, visited the Big M launch. Dock walkway is set up just right and the courtesy dock is fully useable. Didn't see any significant debris out in the lake and the water is stained green (looks really good). Saw some unidentifiable minnows up shallow in the back of a cove, first shallow bait I have seen this year. Things are looking very fishy. Water up in the buck brush. View attachment: DSC_0009_035.JPG Looking out towards Viney View attachment: DSC_0010_036.JPG Scenery shot off HWY 112 in the Mark Twain forest. View attachment: DSC_0002_029.JPG

Malta Bend man lands record 120-pound blue catfish with trotline Burr Edde III breaks 50-year Missouri record for blue catfish caught using alternative method. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Burr Edde III of Malta Bend became Missouri’s most recent record-breaking angler when he landed a giant blue catfish on a stretch of the Missouri River in Saline County using a trotline. The new “alternative method” record blue catfish caught by Edde on March 21 weighed 120 pounds, 8 ounces, with a length of 55 and 1/8 inches and a girth of 45 inches. Edde used cut Asian carp as bait. The new giant broke the previous alternative-method state-record blue catfish of 117 pounds caught more than 50 years ago on the Osage River in 1964. Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) staff verified the record-weight fish on March 25 using a certified scale at Bass Pro corporate headquarters in Springfield. The fish was preserved on ice for official weighing. “Oh my goodness! That’s a big fish,” Edde recalled when he first saw the giant. “How am I going to get this one into the boat?! It was definitely an experience of a lifetime to catch one that big. I was blessed. And there are still lots of them out there!” The longtime angler said he would have liked to release the record fish back to the river or donate it to the fish tanks at Bass Pro, but it didn’t survive long enough. “It’s too big to actually have mounted, but I’m getting a replica made.” Missouri record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Trotlines are considered an alternative method in Missouri and consist of a length of heavy fishing line stretched across a section of water and secured at both ends. A series of shorter drop lines are attached to it every several feet with baited hooks at the free ends. Other alternative methods include: throwlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, archery, and atlatl.