mrgungho

Ah....that makes sense. Thanks for the info

We put in @ Pontiac on Saturday morning around 9:30 and headed South. We never even made it past Oakland. We basically stopped at the first main point we came to and it was on. I caught an 18.5 on my second cast with a DD22 "Blue Gill" and shortly after, my buddy caught a 23" walleye on a DD22 in "Root Beer". Continued on to some secondary points and switched over to a Deep Lil N "Apocalypse" and just started slaying the Smallmouth and also caught several Walleye on this bait too. (basically all of these fish were caught in about 14' to 20' of water) My buddy started throwing a Deep Lil N "Black Spat" and he was just hooking up with keeper Walleye back to back to back. I had a Rogue tied on so I figured what the heck and started throwing it around a bit in some 6' to 10' water and caught several Smallmouth and a few Walleye on that too. Then we got into a cove with big slab rock and started throwing a Chompers Double Tail Hula Grub in "Watermelon Candy" and caught another 18.5 keeper on the first cast. Caught a couple more, then lost my grub so I just switched back to the Deep Lil N Apocalypse and kept it going. All in all we probably caught 15 or 18 keeper Walleye and 20 or more Walleye shorts. I caught about 15 Smallmouth but all were just short, around 13.5 or 14" (still great fun of course) Caught the 2 18.5 Largies and about 10 other Large shorts. The last fish of the day was a 13" Kentucky. By that time we were so worn out from fishing those cranks all day and catching so many fish that we called it a day with 1.5 hours of daylight still left!! (we normally ALWAYS stay out until dark!) Anyways, I have never caught so many Walleye in one day. The only baits we tried that didn't work were a Spinnerbait for a few casts and an 8" worm and a pearl white fluke. (and we only threw these a handful of time each) It was truly an awesome day on the water. GungHo

Probably a Cornback Rattler

Fished a decent work sponsored tourney this past Sat. About 50 boats. We fished all day Friday for practice and then the tourney Sat. from 7am to 3pm. We threw Spooks and Flukes mainly the whole time and caught a bunch of fish. The 1st place boat said they fished the same exact thing and they had 6 keepers with a 17.78 winning weight. Not sure why we had the 6 keeper limit but oh well. We were throwing a standard size Spook in Bone and throwing Pearl White Super Flukes. (although I heard the Bubble gum color was tearing it up as well) Kept the boat in 7' to 14' of water and threw to the banks. Had a crimp-on 1/16oz bullet weight on the Fluke about a foot above the 3/0 hook and they just tore it up. Stopped counting after about 20. Lot's of Kentucy keepers on the Fluke and a couple smallies. The Spook was bringing in the largest fish, mainly Largemouth. I also caught a couple good Smallies on Kalins Lunker Grub in Clear Salt and Pepper on a 1/4 oz jig head. Hooked in to something huge on the grub..fishing it like a jig. Never saw the fish but I had 10lb test on my baitcaster and after I got it directly below the boat in about 10' of water I couldn't budge it up at all. After about a 5 minute fight right there under the boat the grub just popped out or through it's mouth. We think it was either a Walleye or a Drum perhaps...any ideas? It was defintely the biggest fish I've ever had on the end of my pole and I have caught a few 10 pound channel cats. Anyways, we normally fish Bull Shoals so we were kind of leary of the switch to Table Rock because we hadn't fished there since Jan., but once we located the bite it was ON! Had a great day out there and I fell in love with the Fluke. Such a fun bait to fish. Well, hope this helps.. GungHo

Went down Saturday and fished noon till dark around the Buck creek area. Fished up creek arms and coves. The rockier the bottom the better. From about 8 foot of water down to 1 ft. We were fishing with Gene Larew 8" Hooktail worm in "Red Silver" and we tore it up. We rigged the worms up with a 3/16 bullet weight and 3/0 or 4/0 worm hook. Throw it out and let it sink all the way down..super slow retrieve with a hop here and there. Most of the hits we got came on the initial sink. We caught a bunch of black bass as well as several smallies and spotties. Of course this style of fishing is slow and kinda hard to get in to, but I promise if you get up in the type of water I mentioned and you stick with it for a bit you will catch fish!!! My buddy caught a 4.5 pouder in about 6 foot of water...and we caught several other keepers as well. I will post a pic or two as soon as I get them off my camera.

Good deal..thanks for the info..I have a lot of crawdad cranks in my box so I should be covered there. We are going to try to trap some live crawdads as well, they always work, and then of course the old standard tube jig! Anyways, it will be fun to catch a bunch of fish even if they are small...I am taking several friends that don't really go too often, so they will get a kick out of it.

This defintely helped out alot. Thanks again. Gung

It's very high and running fast. Keep an eye on the guages. I have looked at that gauge before but to be honest with you, I really don't know how to read it. Best I can tell I am looking for about a 6 reading for a few days in a row right? This way the river should be settled in a bit after any rain? I am really ignorant to this type of info but I want to learn.

I am planning a trip to the river for next week and just wondered if anyone has been around Buffalo Point or Rush Landing area doing any fishing recently? Any word on baits that are working..water temperature etc... We are planning on staying @ Rush Landing Campground for a few days and any info would be great. Thanks!

Oh wow...Man, even on a good day @ Stockton I would personally not take out into the main lake in a 14" Jon boat. Well, thanks for the info, this is such an unfortunate accident.

My thoughts exactly. 8 years old. One of the most windy lakes around...I mean, it is horrible that this happened but it was definitely avoidable. What kind of boat were they in? It just says utility boat...are there anymore specifics about it? 16ft? V Hull? Just curious.

Got on the water around 8:30AM on Saturday and fished till just after the rain started about 6PM or so. The water was crazy on the main lake..whitecaps and some 3 or 4 foot waves. Worst I've ever seen on Bull Shoals...maybe the worst I've fished anywhere. Anyways, made our way up and down a couple times and hit the coves. Had lots of success back in the "buck brush" as we call it from about 9' down to 2' feet of water. Caught 7 keepers including a 3.5 and a 3lb largemouth, a couple 14" Kentuckys too. We were both using white spinnerbaits, double willow, 1/2 oz. I was Sloooowww rolling and my buddy was fishing medium speed and we both caught the same amount of fish but mine were all bigger. Water made it up to 53 degrees in some of the more stained areas. We caught a few bass out of water that we would normally not even try in because it was so stained. Every cove or small creek arm we went in to was the same story..shut down the motor at about 14 feet, fish/troll in to the back of the cove and fish the brushy cover. I caught the biggest one in about 8' of water. We would catch one or two at each hole and then move on down to the next place and do it again. I can't wait for this week full of 70 plus degree days. I wish I could fish during the week, but it'll be this Saturday before I can get out there again. Seems like the white spinner with maybe a hair of chartruese in it is working at several different lakes right now. On a side note I caught about a 2.5 pound white bass in a lake cove on that big ole spinnerbait...that was a first. Well good luck if you get out there....try slow rolling a spinner in some places like I just described and you'll be sure to catch a few. (I'll try to post some pics as soon as I get them out of the camera!)

Yes!! Bring on the warmth! Hopefully this rain they are talking about mid week will be nice and warm..the faster we get to 60 degree surface temp the better!

Fisrt of all, I thought this was the Stockton Lake fishing report. If we could get some info up here on how the Blacks and Smalls are biting, that would be great. I am wanting to try to get a good idea how it's going this week so I can decide between Table Rock and Stockton. I work 8 to 5 Monday-Friday and I am going this weekend no matter what. Let me know if you have any news on how the fish are biting. As far as I see the whole keep or release issue...Game and Fish factor in the "poachers" and they assume every fisher is going to be keeping their limits as well. Also, they consider all the other factors that are out of their control when deciding on limits and sizes etc...I think we're going to be ok here even if a few folks may not be the most ethical fishers. I personally catch and release everything unless it's going on the wall. Anyways, let me know what's going on up Stockton way because I'd love to come up there Saturday and do some fishing.

I was on up Beaver Creek a bit by Whistle Pipes, just bank fishing. Caught about a 12" Kentucky and then caught a huge perch on an artificial sculpin. Then I hooked up with about a 3.5 or 4 lb Largemouth on a 4" motor oil and chartruese tail grub..he shook off about 10 foot from the bank!! I was crushed. I was fishing the grub on an 1/8oz round jighead. Just throwing it out, letting it sink to the bottom, then begining a slow retrive. I have caught several fish this year and this big boy fought really hard so they are defintely getting more aggressive. Can't wait to hit up Table Rock this weekend! Hope the forecast is correct...it's time to blast some Largies!!!

They are defintely quite weird..they start sucking on your hands and stuff and you got to pop them of to bait them.

Hey there, I was wondering if anyone knows where to get some leeches around the Branson/Forsyth area? I have used leeches before in Minnesota with great results and so far I have been suprised that I haven't found any around these parts. Thanks!

It's all about water temp for sure! I honestly think until we are looking at a good solid week worth of 55 degree surface temperatures...there really is not a reason for ME to be on the water for Largemouth Bass. Now, if you're talking about Walleye and Whites then right now is a good time, but for Largemouth, in order to have a really good trip and be happy with your results were....I'd say you probably need to wait a few more weeks before they REALLY start turning on.

I found it. Very cool. I will be going there all next week after work because of the time change it should be perfect to get down there from Springfield and get settled in for the sunset/early night bite. Can't wait. On a different spot...I went out to Slough Hollow past Whistle Pipes last Sat. and had no luck at all until about 20 minutes after sunset and then caught 2 Walleys..one was about 17" and the other around 15" .. I was disappointed to say the least. Not a single white. I was using purple sparkle swimming minnows on 1/8oz jughead and white 1/4oz rooster tail. I caught the Walleye using the 1/4 oz white rooster tail and actually caught the other one on a Norman Deep Little N in Splaterbass. Super slow retrieve on both. Nice little place down there. Anyways, thanks!!

I'm new to the area and I am trying to find Blunk Hole on a map somewhere but I can't see it..can you give me any info on where this is/how to access it please? I see Cox Memorial Access and Kerr...is this it?

I really like the Diawa Megaforce outfit...decent price for a great product. I personally opt for a 7' MH rod because I find it more versatile. The Bass Pro Shops Extreme Baitcast combos are also really nice as well. I just think with the Diawa you get the same performance for $30 less. The weight of your bait is definitely one of the most important factors in setting your reel up...the rule of thumb I have always used is this: Hold your rod straight out in front of you level to the ground and press your spool release button. The bait/plug should fall about 1.5 feet per second or so...I use the Cast Control Knob to get into the general neighboorhood and then really fine tune it to my liking with the magnetic control knob. As a beginner there is no way that you can have either the cast control knob or the magnetic control knob too tight. Your cast's won't go very far but you won't have to deal with any backlash either. You can slowly loosen up these settings as you begin to feel more and more comfortable with your reel. Have fun and don't get frustrated..I have been throwing a baitcaster for nearly 20 years and I still get a backlash or two everytime out. By the way, getting a backlash cleaned out is a whole other art all in itself!

to answer your question yes there are indeed plenty of smallmouth all throughout the river and lake. I have the best luck in the river with a tube jig with a 1/2 oz weedless head. throw it and let it sink then slowly pick it up off the bottom then let it sink again. reel in the slack and repeat. fish em anyway you can really. I have had luck from a small boat or just hiking down the bank fishing the deep holes in the bends or any bluffs you run across...

Hey all, Just wanted to stop by and say hello. New to the site and looking forward to gaining and sharing information on fishing tips and trick in the greater Springfield area waterways.