Dutch

What about you? After all you live right on the lake.

I want to go down to Stockton but it looks like the lake will be lousy with boats both Saturday and Sunday so I think I might go up the White to Big M or Eagle Rock.

Get you one of those electric gizmos that I see people riding around on in Springfield.

Fishing was tough for me. I fished 5 hours and caught 14 bass 1 crappie and 1 flathead. Most of the bass were largemouth with 4 spawned out keepers. I tried several different baits but they seemed to like the little guy best. Black blue, Alabama craw and new money all caught some. Top water, spinner baits, jerks got no attention. With all of the debris I probably should have used a frog.

I was down there yesterday. I went as far up as Bearden and as far down as Piney. There is still a lot of debris floating around. Clarity is maybe 2’.

We used to catch a lot from the bank next to the Power Site dam.

I used to find them in the backs of my young bulls. We would hold a coke bottle over the hole then hit it with the palm of the off hand. The “worble worm” would pop out of the bull into the bottle.

I heard several down in the Shell Knob area today.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I haven’t actually been on that part of Crane Creek since Ruth Hudson owned the land.

Is that the old store that is falling in on itself? I used to stop there but never knew his name.

It’s 4 above pool. I’m heading to Hartley in the am.

Yes some people still call it that. It’s like some people call Cedar Ridge Bonna.

It isn’t a corp ramp. It is a DNR ramp in Hartley Branch. It is where the state park marina was located before the tornado. It is just south and east of the 215 (mile long) bridge. It is an easy boat ride to any part of the Big Sac arm just like State Park is for the Little Sac. We plan to go back Friday and see if they are still around. With the lake continuing to rise, I expect many of them to be in the bushes.

Call Marine Repair Center 417-833-9191 and see if they have one.

I’ve only been in the mid region of the Big Sac. The water color is good. I am sure there is color up the creeks and river.

So do you make a plan and decide how much running you will do that day? If that is the case then you are a better planner than I am. I don’t even have a plan for the day except the launch site. I may go from Cape Fair up to Walnut Springs then decide to try School House. If that doesn’t work I have been known to head back to the river. A lot of the time service stations are not even open when I pull out. I actually feel uncomfortable any time I have less than a 1/2 tank.

You are correct. I’m lucky I got the year correct.

Since the latest report from Cape was 8” of visibility and still floating debris, I offered to bring my rig and meet Jeff at Big M. The weather guessers were wrong again. We had no fog and almost no wind. Fishing was sporadic with a few on top and a few on Ned. We never could get a consistent pattern; some were on points, some were just inside coves, some were back in the coves, some were on steep bluffy banks, some were in shallow gravely coves and some were in flat windy areas. The water temp ranged from 70-71°. The air was from 64-77°. It was cloudy all morning. Baits which produced were top waters, swim baits and Ned with Ned leading the way. We didn’t measure very many so I don’t know how many keepers we had. We did wind up with 32 counters. By my standards it was a good day.

Can you go into detail about this? Several thoughts are bouncing around in my head.

We were all over the Big M area today and I never heard any. We don’t have any here in Republic either.

Back in 2002 when I had an opportunity to sell my Merc 225 EFI and get a below wholesale DFI Optimax from Charlie Luna I asked the boss what he thought about it. His response was to use Merc Quickleen in every fill up. I followed the advice and got 14 trouble free years out of that motor. When I bought my 250 Verado the recommendation was to use Quickleen as well as Qiuckcare. We are into 8 trouble free years and going strong with never even a hint of failure to start or run smooth. Do you guys use additives?

My neighbor and I went there today because of the mud at Cape. The lot was mostly full when we got there which is unusual. But there are 2 derbies there tomorrow and I think many were pre fishing. We saw a lot of boats in a lot of places several were walleye fishing. The water was a lot clearer than I expected it to be. The temp ranged from 65-69°. We tried spinner baits, jigs, swim baits and shaky. None of them produced. Ned was the ticket with Yoga Pants leading the way. We caught 39 bass and one keeper walleye. 12 of the bass were keepers with 2 over 4#. All in all I am glad that I went north today.

Just so you know Quillback is a Beaver Lake smallmouth guru. He can catch them anywhere in the water column especially when he is throwing a Keitech.

I don’t plan to be there for at least a week or maybe two.

My wife wanted to get out in the boat. With the wind prediction I decided to have a look at Cape. Wow cheesemaster was right. It is nasty muddy. I went as far as Butter Milk Springs. It is still muddy down there. There is a lot of debris between Cape and Wolly. It may take a while for it to clear up.