WHARFRAT

Didn't pay attention. Didn't clean any fish. The crappie that came from the deep water were dinks, and I don't think there were any eggs. The big ones under docks, all but one looked egg-free. There was one white crappie that was pretty fat. Clear water!!!!! This is the clearest I've seen the Big Niangua. I've gone from my normal black/chartuese to bone-white/chartuese. Gotta have a little chartreuse!!!!!!!!

Yeah, this is really the toughest time of the year for me. If you can find some around docks, they seem more active than the ones in open water. I caught my better ones shooting, but didn't catch a whole lot. I did mark some on ledges in about 17-18 fow, but they were inactive for the most part. Did pull a couple of dinks jigging straight down with my jig pole. I guess I should be bass fishing. They seemed pretty active most of the weekend.

Crazy weekend coming to a close. It was tough to fish, way too many boats. Was only able to get out between daylight and around 9 am. The evenings were a bit busy too. Might get out now and fish before I leave, looks like most are going home now. I probably won't leave until 7 or 8. Fishing report, just fair. Yesterday, didn't catch very many crappie, but the quality was there. I only caught about 10 crappie total, but half of those were real good ones. Two accidental bass that were of legal size. My best ones were from way under docks. Found a real nice bait for shooting docks. I think they are called Big Muddy baits. They are similar to a slabslayer or slab buster, but a bit more solid. They really skip a long ways. Just a tip for you dock shooters. Today's fishing wasn't the best. Started out with two nice crappie and one bass. Then the rest were dinks. Google Eye stopped by for a meet and greet! Nice to meet him out there. Good luck chasing the bass! Going out to try my luck one last time today.

Nice Job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And you are sure it is a Garcia reel?

I'm by no means an expert, but I looked at some of my old Abu Garcia baitcasters. Mine were from the early 70's, and they were putting a crest on the side. So I assume yours is an older model. I'll do a bit of checking and see if I can figure it out.

Pontoons can run 300-400/ day. Bass boats not much less.

I'd bring my own boat!

Yeah I never understood why they don't have some sort of slot limit on some of the lakes @ Busch.

A few years back, I witnessed a nice lunker taken out of lake 3 or 4. While all of us were catfishing, this guy was casting topwater, and caught the fish.

Stayed in town this weekend, so decided to do a little pond fishing. Started out at a little pond in the woods between Fire Lake and Prairie Lake. Not a whole lot of luck. Managed a couple of really small bass. Drought of 2012 really seemed to do a number on this little pond. Went back and stopped at a decent size pond just down the path from Fire Lake. Not sure if they stock that lake, and after about 20 minutes there, still not sure if they stock that lake. Walked back down to Fire Lake. Enough activity to keep me interested. Was throwing a blk buzzbait on my bass rod, and a little 2 inch curlytail grub on the ultra lite. Quite a few small 9-11" bass were interested. Nothing on the buzzbait, except I did have a nice one boil at the lure about 15 feet from where I was casting. Kind of took me by suprise. But no hook-up. All the bass were caught on the little grub. Caught very few bluegill, but did manage 2 that were in the 9" range. Went to another pond down 94 down a mile or so past the high school. Not a whole lot of luck there, little bass and little bluegill. Oh well, had a good walk anyway!

Nice fish! That was bigger than 20" wasn't it?

If i wanted to eat it or have it mounted, I wouldn't have a problem keeping any trophy fish. Of course now a days, if you wanted a mount, they can make a replication with pictures and a few measurements. But keeping fish and letting it go to waste.......... Not Good.

In my younger years, I would have had fun with a couple of these dock owners, but now, it's not worth it. Plus, 99% of the owners that I encounter, want to ask me how I'm doing and what and how am I catching them. Some have pointed me to places around their docks, or given me some places they've had success. Last month, I was talking to some people that were having a good time on their dock, watching the ballgame and bbq-ing, they even asked me to come on up and join them. I had never met them before. It just shows, there's a lot of nice people out there. So anymore, I just avoid the small minority.

What's the life expectancy of a 6/7/8 lb bass?

I personally like the new electronics, it has helped my "lazy a$$" eliminate certain areas. I really love my new down-imaging I have on the trolling motor. Still learning the side-imaging. I haven't got it tuned in like some others that I've seen. I'm still a little old school. I don't have any gps waypoints marked. I still get in the general area by marking a tree and lining up with some other point. One of these days maybe I'll get to it. I do agree with what everyone says. You do have to respect the dock owners. I know of a couple owners that don't like you fishing anywhere near their docks, so I usually skip them. There are a lot of other docks out there. Sometimes their comments are humorous and off the mark, but they probably have a good reason, and like I said, there are numerous other spots out there. I can say I rarely ever jump on someones dock to retreive my jig, unless it looks like someone might get hurt by stepping on it or brushing up against it. The other thing, I don't agree with someone booby-trapping their dock. I understand it, but don't agree.

I used to enjoy fishing lake 38 for bass. Also lake 37 used to produce some real nice ones. I've also seen some real decent size bass come out of the small catfish lakes

I haven't fished that area in quite some time, but you will have a fair share of big boats plowing thru the water during the weekend. But from Sunday evening until you leave, you will be fine. Even in the summertime the traffic won't be too bad at all during the week. As far as docks go, fish all around them, just be respectful. You might encounter a couple of owners who think they own everything within a 100' radius of their dock, but that's not the case. Most that you meet are nice and friendly, and may give you some tips. I don't bass fish very often, but most people I know, do good with jig/some sort of crawdad trailer. If you want to crappie fish, contact me, and I can tell you the pattern. I'll be down there that weekend. Not on that end of the lake, but they all should be in some sort of early summer pattern by then. Have fun!

Could be! I just hope nobody gets a suprise the first time they dive in.

Lake is within a foot or so of full pool. I think the Google Earth shot is from March 2012. You'll be fine.

I started fishing LOZ back in the early 80's. I remember the first time after I had a boat going out there with a veteran of the lake. He was showing me some of his patterns on catching LM and Crappie. Of course there were more open water and less docks at the time, but he did take me by quite a few docks. He said to observe the docks, one side is someones fishing side, the other side has ladders, diving boards and slides. Told me not to spend a lot of effort on that side, because its generally void of structure. Move up to the present. Now with my side and down imaging, I can really tell what is under and around these docks. I was amazed at all the structure people have put in, and it's helped me trememdously find fish. What I found odd was, I can take you to 3 docks where there are brush piles, and large brush piles, only 4-8 ft under the surface, directly under diving boards. Really??!! Who would do this?

sorry

I heard muskies taste good

Nice catch!

Was down for the last couple days, not much different than last weekend. Cleaned a nice limit of 10"+ crappie. A mix of blacks and whites. Did catch a spawned out 15 inch female. Still the 16 incher eludes me. But this I'd the biggest one I've brought to the boat in a while. Saturday, found the fish early in 12-15 fow, about 6-8 ft down. Even as clear as the big niangua has been, they seemed to prefer blk/chartreuse. Tried ice blue and electric chicken, but not a lot of interest. Fish seemed to be relating to deep brush. Wife and I went back out later in the evening, couldn't find them where I had earlier that morning. They seemed to be scattered, some deep, some shallow. Caught more dinks than anything. Could have probably cleaned a half dozen 10's and over. Today started out slow, caught about 3 dinks off of deep brush, then began shooting docks. And fish were stacking up under the deep shade. Caught some real nice ones. Most were pretty deep. Seemed better on docks in 20-25 fow. Haven't had much lunch shooting since early April. It's good to get back at that. But this darn wind makes it tough to control the boat. If today is any indication, they seem to be going back to the docks. Good fishing everyone!