Seth

We seen a couple small spoons at Helds island last time we went gigging this year. Years ago we used to do pretty well snagging them at Gasconade City where the Gasconade meets the Missouri River. Haven't tried it down there in several years though. I'd say it probably was a paddlefish. There's been a number of times that those things will run along side the boat at night when your motoring down river. It's startling when your going down the river and one flops right besides you and sprays water on you!

DJ's and the gas station right before you head out of town towards the park has trout tackle I know. I'm not sure how big of a supply they keep during the off season but I'm sure they have enough to atleast get you by.

My buddy has a 150 etec on his rig and that puppy fires up first crank no matter how cold it is. That's a sweet motor! His is a 2006 model.

Oneshot, I snagged at the Roadhouse which is right below the 65 bridge. You can pay $5 for the day and snag off there dock. I'm not sure if they are still open though as that was a few years ago when I went and it was for sale at the time.

Fished for 3-4 hours. Only managed two bass and also snagged two asian carp in first few hours. Finally found a pocket of fish and caught about a dozen between me and my buddy. Biggest was about a 4lbs largemouth. I was using crankbaits and caught more fish than my buddy but he was using a jig and crawfish and got bigger fish.

Fished from 10-2pm and caught about 20 fish with biggest being about 3 pounds. Caught fish on crankbaits. We were the only boat on the river. 1 hybrid 1 white 4 or 5 smallies rest were for kentuckies and largemouth

Always heard of guys catching lots of big crappie in the winter time on the Bourbeuse. Any truth to this? I know gigging it we see a few, but usually they are nice ones. I've got four deer down this year so I'm getting the itch to go fishing again.

I'm ready for the weather to go off really cold and for the whites/hybrids to move in there at 50. It was this day last year that we went up there and it was like 20 degrees and we caught fish almost every cast.

I was going to try hunting there last year and the mosquitoes were so insanely bad that I said to heck with that. Never did make it down after it froze to try it again.

I can't seem to catch walleye on purpose either. Sometimes I luck into one while fishing for hybrids/whites and that's it. We've seen several nice walleye in the shallow gravel bars down by Camp Bagnell or lazy K, whichever one it is, a few miles down river from the 54 bridge.

Just curious since gigging season opens up this coming Tuesday. Looks like Bagnell has been turning the water on up to 20k CFS lately and wondered if that keeps the water cleaned out or dirtied up after they shut it off at night.

I'm supposed to meet up with some friends and family for a gigging trip this coming weekend around that area. I was curious if anybody on here has been to the Bourbeuse in there lately to know how clear the water is. Thanks, Seth

Congrats on the big hybrid. I love eating those things, but usually don't fish for them until the dead of winter and at the MariOsa access since it's only 30 minutes away and Bagnell is 1.5 hours away. That makes me want to come up and try it out though.

Hope you guys catch something. I'm heading to St. Elizabeth with a guy early Saturday morning. We are gonna try for some bass.

Well the catfishing was pretty slow as far as catching. I think we caught 6 channels...biggest was 5.5 lbs. We also caught two drum about 4 pounds and I landed a really long and snaky spoonbill on 14lbs test. That was fun! Somebody broke him off during snagging season and my line got caught on the 14/0 treble that was sticking in his side. Another guy I know was up there and we watched his wife land about a 20 asian carp from the bank that bit a jigging spoon. I might be back up there tomorrow too. I'm trying to talk dad into letting me take him up there fishing for the day as a fathers day gift since we don't spend much time fishing together anymore.

Well you can't get through it if you have a prop. I've seen guys with big inboards fly over it when the water was up. Crazy I tell ya!

He's going in the a boat.....my boat. We should be up there between 9:30 and 10:00 am tomorrow. If anybody is up there, look for a 1648 f&f with a 50 hp Yamaha jet drive on the back with two guys in it. Probably going to be drifting shad for catfish or anchor and fish for them if the drift bite isn't happening.

I fished St. Elizabeth with a buddy this past winter and caught several nice kentuckies there. We fished Tuscumbia a day this winter and my buddy caught a 4 pound smally there. He's said that's one of the biggest smallies he's seen come from the Osage. Also got a nice 18" largemouth that same day. If there's running water, you can take your SeaArk anywhere on the Osage. If the water is off, then you might be a bit more careful. I'm not real familiar with the waters 5 miles below Bagnell on down to the MariOsa. Wardsville has a really deep hole by the sand plant and has plenty of water for you to run also.

When were you up there Saturday night? I fished around outlet 2 for about an hour before dark and 45 minutes after dark. Seen a couple head lights up stream in the fog but that was about it. Rebar hole had people all over it while it was still light out.

I was curious if the fish made it up that far this year. The reports I heard were that there was a few trapped at the beginning of season due to the floods last year, but nothing later in the year due the water not getting near as high. Walnut Springs and McCords Bend were killer this year though since the water wasn't so high. I meant to say I won't EAT paddlefish from down there any longer. I'll still fish for them a bunch, but won't keep them unless somebody else just really wants some. There's plenty of the smaller, tastier spoons about 40 minutes from my house I can stock the freezer with.

Just got back from our annual trip to Taneycomo. Fishing was awesome off the dock on night crawlers. Everybody who fished off the docks caught there limits easily. Didn't matter much what time of day you fished. Three nice fish were caught off the dock also. Two were browns of 17 and 18" and my girlfriend got her biggest trout, a 19" rainbow. Funny part about her rainbow was her and I were getting ready to go out in the boat and my uncle had just came back to the room for something to drink and we noticed the line on one of his rods was swimming down stream so I told her to go reel that fish in. I'm not sure if his feet hit the steps on his way back down there when he seen us net that fish LOL. I took my boat down and my girlfriend and I fished up around Short Creek mostly. Trout bit well on orange powerbait and a pink jig under an indicator about 6 foot. The bite was best right at dark. I wanted to get away and night fish up around the hatchery more, but only made it for a little bit last night. Before dark, I caught two fish on a grey scud and after dark I stripped an black woolly bugger and had three strikes and landed two bows about 14". Not sure if anybody else was down there but I was fishing right by outlet two for about an hour and a half right at dark. This year was awesome down there. Last year I couldn't catch a fish for the life of me due to the water being up and rolling so hard. I was glad it was back to "old" Taneycomo for us. Here's a pic of my girlfriends rainbow.

I didn't make it down that night. We were worn out from fishing out in the boat and running around Branson and went to bed nice and early.

Nightcrawlers! We've hooked a number of dandy trout over the years off the dock by fishing a worm with air injected in it. You'll usually catch some nice browns doing this also. Good luck!

I'm heading down there tomorrow and will be there till Sunday. I'll try and make an appearance up there a couple nights and see who else is out. My vehicle is a black extended cab silverade 1500 with chrome trim.

I won't paddlefish from the James River anymore. They always have a funky taste to me so I just give them away or release them back into the river. I'll eat all the paddlefish I can get from LoZ and the lower Osage though because they are delicious! The crappie and bass from the James always tasted fine though.