WHARFRAT

Good to get the stink off! My day wasn't as memorable. I probably didn't catch 15 fish. I fished the same docks that I was nailin them on the morning before, and never caught a one. What I did catch was the same pattern as the day before. Did catch one fish that was 13". Haven't seen too many crappie 13 and over in the last month and a half. Glad to see that big bass for you.

It was a very good morning for crappie fishing. Got to my spot about 6:30, fished to 8:30. Got really windy. Made it hard to position boat. Kept 4 between 11-12". Caught numerous fish in the 10" range. Shooting about as far back as I could shoot and letting it fall almost to the bottom. Sometime a very hard bite, and sometime very subtle. Probably caught 50-60 fish in that time span. Loved the black/chart. Slab busters. I broke off one and tried a bone/chart color, not a nibble. Also tried ice blue with no luck. Docks were in 18-25'. The only negative was the fish were pretty lean. You could read a newspaper through the filets. So I'm glad I was only keeping 11's and better.

Medium Lite is the Ticket for that rod and shooting docks!

I've been messing around with a Pop-r around our docks. Getting a few to keep me interested. Nothing of any size. Last year, late Aug, one of the guys said he throws a Pop R with a jig trailer about 12" behind. I think he was targeting white bass. Two weekends ago, another guy was throwing a white buzz bait from Dock1 to Dock3 and said he caught some pretty nice ones in the morning and early evening. I didn't see any of his catches, just going by what he said. Just keep after them.

I agree with the cherrywood rods, for casting, but they want to wiggle on me when I load them up when shooting. I also have the same problem with the Lews rod that was designed for shooting docks. I went with this MicroLite and it has enough backbone when loading it up, that it doesn't wiggle from side to side. Has anyone tried the Ugly stick GX2 rods. I got one this winter to try out. it's a 6 ft model, lite action.. When the mircrolite tip broke, I tried to shoot with this rod, didn't like it. Might have been because it was a foot shorter than what I'm used to. Seems like a nice rod. It was normally 39.95 on sale for 34.95, and with BPS classic promo going on I got if for 24.95 or 29.95 don't remember. Seems like a really nice rod. Just didn't care for it for dock shooting, but I don't think it was really intended for that.

yeah for under 50 bucks, it's a nice rod. One guy that sort of taught me hands on about dock shooting had a cabela's 7 footer. And it was really nice. Felt good, performed good. I checked the price on it, and it was right at 200 bucks!!!!! Hard for me to justify.

I had bought a 7' Bass Pro Micro lite rod for shooting docks back during the Spring Fishing Classic. I use the rod quite a bit, and does a pretty decent job shooting docks. It's light enough, but seems to have enough backbone to assist in shooting exactly where you aim. Anyway, a week ago, while shooting, it snapped off about 8" from the end. Bummer! Went to Bass Pro in St. Charles last night, and they exchanged it, no questions asked.

I've been hearing they've been poppin the shad. I heard it was better just before dark. Was it just mornings or did you get into them in the evenings too?

This is always my least favorite time of the year to fish. Not that one can't catch them, but for fishermen, you have to get out extra early and get off the lake mid to late morning. Also, I don't handle the heat and the sun very well. I'd much rather be fishing in 40 degree temps than upper 80's low 90's. Cloudy days make is more tolerable for me. Anyway, fishing was fairly tough this weekend. Trolled with the wife for a few hrs on Saturday morning, caught a few, not a whole lot. Decent size channel cat, and a couple of 10" crappie. Started getting a bit busy, with the big rigs and jet skis. Fished a little bit off our dock, wasn't too bad, could have been better. Went out with my son-in-law on Sunday for a couple of hrs in the morning. Probably caught a dozen crappie. They seemed like they were inches from the bottom next to brush. No real size, all were near or a little over 9". Another nice eater size channel cat. Seemed like the bass were biting pretty good. Picked up a few of them while crappie fishing. If you got a bite a couple foot down, it was usually going to be a bass. Crappie were much deeper. Been hearing reports of white bass surfacing at dusk and dawn near where the little niagua comes in. Went up there Saturday night and early Sunday, but didn't observe anything. I am seeing a lot of shad though. Messed around at night with a Pop-R around the shore by our place. The little bass kept me interested. Nothing over 12". Good Luck Everyone, Stay Cool!

About a week ago a friend said the big gills were active. He had a pic on his phone of one OVER 13". She was a fatty! I don't think it was any of the ponds in Busch. But it was somewhere in Weldon Springs. But he did say that he and is nephew were catching som nice ones in Busch. All were caught on curly tail grubs.

Soft plastics are the way to go. Most companies that produce them, all make fairly similar products. I'd start looking at Bobby Garland, then check out the other companies. Charlie Brewer, Southern Pro, Strike King Mr. Crappie., I'm sure I'm missing some. For LOZ, I also recommend Hi-Vis line. (but I'm a line watcher) I prefer 6 lb. Check out Viscious, or Suffix brands. I generally just use a ball head jig, I do like a large hook (ex 1/16oz head with a #2 hook). I'd buy him a variety of 32nd oz, 16th oz and 8th oz jigheads. I probably use a 16oz head about 50-60% of the time, followed by a 32nd oz, when I see they are wanting a slow drop. 8th oz for really windy days or I want to go deep (20-30') Bass Pro or Cabelas have real good prices on soft plastics. Lead jigs you can do a lot better by going on-line. I usually buy them in bulk. Probably save 50% + or -

Love that electric chicken last fall/early winter. I had to go out and buy a bunch of that. It was on fire there for a while. Has been so-so this spring for me. Red/chart was also pretty hot during the prespawn time.

I forgot to ask, How's the water level?

Oh yeah, Welcome to the site!

I have always used black/chartreuse. But lately since the water has been so clear, I"ve been using bone/chartreuse, ice blue, blue/chartreuse. I think anything as long as it's got some chartreuse in it. If I'm casting, I like soft plastics, like Bobby Garland Slab Slayers, BG Baby Shad, or something similar. if I'm dipping straight down, I like hair jigs. don't forget the Berkley Crappie Nibs!

nice job! About the time you don't expect much, then WAM! You'll tie into a nice one. Keep ya going back for more. Kind of like Golf. Shoot horrible 95% of the time, but you'll always have a couple of remarkable shots, that keeps you coming back!

Hadn't caught one in that lake in over 20 yrs. I don't think they stock them anymore. What ever is left must be reproducing. My wife had caught one around 19 inches. That was the biggest we had ever taken from there. And I haven't heard anybody catching any since that time.

I know when I first started, I thought I had to be close to the dock, but it's best if you back off about 10-15 yds. Love doing it. I think there is a lake in So. IL, Lake of Egypt that has regs that you can't cast within a certain amt of yards to a dock. I'm sure there are others. Can't imagine they would do this on this lake. Docks are an important structure. But anything can happen. You just need to respect people's docks. Jigs are cheap, if you think you might cause damage, break it off!

Son got married this weekend, it was really nice. So with all the festivities on fir, sat and sun, decided to spend Monday at the lake before going home. We fished a little off the dock on Sunday night, not much action. Monday morning, it was raining, but got out anyway after it let up a bit. Went to some of my deep brush, not much action. Noticed that the lake wasn't as clear as the past month, but still clearer than it normally has been. Switched to my reliable blk/chartreuse big muddy baits, and started catching crappie deep under wells and swim docks. Most were dinks, but probably caught 4 over the limit. One really nice white crappie. Only stayed out about 2 hrs. Wife called up and wanted something to eat. Ted After an early lunch at the Fish Co. We went back out. Still was catching fish shooting docks, but all but two were dinks. Before we went back in, wifey wanted to troll some crankbaits. She owned me on this. Caught a nice 13" crappie, and a 28" blue cat. I think that was here biggest fish since our pike fishing trips. My cheap little spring scale said it was around 7 1/2 lbs. Does that sound about right?

Haven't noticed any large snails K

Worst I've seen was around Alton on the Might Miss. If you got a fish, you had to make sure you kept him away from the dock structure. Seemed like we were always having to re-tie. A lot of frayed line. Keep them suckers away!

I've heard others talk about a lot of zebras in the lake, but I've never encountered any. You would think you'd see them attached to the docks and such. I really don't know much about their habitat. People that I've talked to said they were closer to the dam area and not by me on the Big Niangua. Don't really know.

ohhh, so you're going after the great white shark, are ya?

I personally like the stained water, but thats me.

The lower end of the Big Niangua was rockin! I stayed between the 10-13mm and was tossed around pretty good. I thought I'd be able to get out on Monday from about 2:30 on, but it was still pretty crazy! Finally the rain hit about 4:30 and everyone pretty much got off the lake. Don't know why it's so clear. Everybody is saying the same thing, that they've never seen it this clear. But I can see tops of brush piles that come up to about 6 foot and can't say that I ever have before. The jet ski's were out in full force. Don't think I've ever seen so many on the lake at one time. And it didn't matter what time it was. I'd get out at daylight and there would be 3 or 4 of them out trying to jump my wake. Saw two of them almost collide in midair on Sunday morning while going back in. And this to fishermen! You should wear your lifejacket anyway, but especially THIS weekend!!!! Now that is Crazy!