kenjenmo

I'll be bank fishing the area about 3 miles up from K Bridge this coming weekend. I have not been down there in about a year but I have heard that the fishing is much better this year than last. Last year, we caught fish but they were all small, but I hear the bigger sized fish are back. I am a novice when it comes to river fishing, last year we caught ours on 4 inch curly tail grubs on jig heads and soft plastic crawdads. Any other suggestions? I'd really like to get my kids on some fish this year. I understand if you don't want to give away your secrets. Can't wait to get out there!

I too find that a good jerk once it hits the water helps. But it seems like once you catch a fish on 'em or hit a rock, stump, or both, they don't quite run true very easily any more. Also make sure the lure is lined up right. The slightest bend in the main wire will cause them to stop spinning.

I was there this weekend as well and did not do as well as I normally do, although others in my party did catch lots of fish. White seemed to be the color that was working well for most. It almost seemed to me that there were not as many fish stocked but who knows. Also noticed that not many lunkers have been caught recently. Still a fun weekend once the multitudes left Sunday morning. Even had the kids out with us fishing the whistle Monday morning for the first time.

Deja vu....

I was down there last week and was forced to stay an extra night at the park because we couldn't get out. I guess there are worse places to be stuck;-). Took lots of pictures of the flood water, fishing was great on Monday and a couple were caught Tuesday. By the time, we had our cars halfway packed up, it was too late. The water came up 4-5 feet in the matter of an hour.

I fished the lake at January Wabash Park in Ferguson a lot last year and caught some rainbows there, mostly used powerbait. Now I live in Lake Saint Louis so Busch Wildlife will be the closest trout lakes for me. I called the hotline and they said that they are in Lakes 21-24 this year. I hope to get out there soon!

Looks like bass heaven right there...Thanks for sharing.

Nice fish Don. Never seen one of those smallie/spot mixes that big before! Thanks for sharing.

Great pic. Thanks for sharing!

Here is mine that I inherited with my property. Takes on a little water but thats OK. Pretty beat up but my family and I have caught a lot of fish out of it.

Great story...I had to take my 8 year old in last summer to get a small treble hook from a Uncle Buck crawdad crank removed from the back of his neck. Imagine my surprise when I notice the doctor that is doing the "removing" is missing his index finger on the hand that is doing the "removing". He was a great doc though and did a great job!

Thanks gonefishin. Yeah, he is really starting to "get it" when it comes to fishing. He outfishes me most every time out and that is fine with me. My home water is a small 50 acre lake in a private community in New Haven that we have a couple campers on. The fishing there is amazing. We have caught a wide variety of fish - Largemouth and spotted bass, all of the bluegill and sunfish varieties it seems, channel catfish, and black crappie. We have also seen huge grass carp patroling in there too. Last weekend we were chasing White bass all over the lake as they were busting baitfish on top of the water. Everytime we saw the water boil we would troll on over and cast to it and hook up almost every time. We are truly having an amazing spring/early summer so far on the lake.

Thanks for the link Terry, that was really helpful. All of the info was helpful. Just looking at the pics on the link that Terry provided and I think we have caught most of the bluegill/sunfish listed there. Gonna try and post some links to pics of my oldest and some of his catches... And another...

I have a question for the experts...We catch a lot of bluegill on our home lake of various sizes and color. Some have beautiful bright yellow underbellies with the blue gill and blue color through-out. I was under the impression that the bluegills that have the vibrant colors are females and the ones that have more of a dark striped pattern were the males. Would the ones that are yellow be considered sunfish or do they have to have the 'redear'. Can someone set me straight? Thanks. I can provide pics if needed.

I have never targeted gar before but any type of topwater bait that causes a racket should do the trick. You might want to beef up on your line a bit as well. Good Luck.

The last time I was there was early summer a couple years ago and the gar were almost jumping in my boat they were so active on topwater. Didn't get to fish as long as I would have liked because of electrical problems with my boat. Bass fishing is good around the Northwest part of the lake where the standing timber is. I would be wary of eating anything out of there because of things I have heard, but a lot of people do so I guess it's up to you. Let us know how it goes if you go out there.

Just curious...Which hole is considered the "powerbait" hole?

My 8 year old son kept asking me why I wasn't going to join the tournament. I told him that if I did, it would not be relaxing for me. I go down there to relax. I get up to fish the whistle, because thats just what you do. If I catch fish, great. If I don't, no big deal. I have no problem with Montauk putting on a tournament, I am sure it brings a ton of business to the park and allows them to keep up a great state park and trout park. Conservation needs to be first and foremost on the minds of the anglers down there regardless of what you are down there for.

Yep, guess I am the same kenjenmo from Pop-the-top. Have not been there in a long time seeing that I sold my pop-up. Spend most of my time at a private lake with 2 nice travel trailers now.

I too was down there this weekend with my family for fun, not competition. I did not witness any of the above mentioned activity but it did seem that there were more fish floating around on their last leg than I had ever seen before. I didn't enjoy being down there with the crowd for the tournament. I will leave it at that.

I was there on Saturday and did OK despite the crowd and the snow. Spent most of the afternoon trying to get the kids on some fish but the weather was too much for them.

There are some lakes at Busch Wildlife that have Crappie beds near the bank for bank fisherman. You might want to check at the office there for which lakes would be your best bet. If I remember correctly, it is most of the larger lakes in the back. You can rent boats there also for cheap, I believe they come with paddles but you can bring your own trolling motor and battery to use if you have them available. Good luck, let us know how you do if you decide to go out there.

Nice pics guys. I plan on heading out and catching nothing this weekend myself!

Fished Montauk yesteday. Started with the siren at 7:00am and caught my limit by 10:00am. 3 fish caught under the bridge and 1 on the White Oak side of the low water bridge. All fish caught with small brown rooster tail on 4# test. My brother did well with a red/white wiggle worm in the afternoon upstream of the bridge. Good time had by all...

I watched a show on ESPN2 that actually had a bass fisherman sight fishing for bedding bass, they had a camera above water and below water. They only showed this one time but he did catch a bass off of the bed, released the fish and the fish went right back down to the bed again. I cannot remember the exact percentage but it was pretty high that the bass would go back almost every time. I typically do not target bass on the bed but have done it in the past. IMHO, As long as you are releasing the fish right away, I do not see the problem.