WHARFRAT

Try just coming out of HydAWay cove or the old cove where Adams Ale resort is,. I accidentally caught 3 nice large whites or hybrids late this afternoon. I was just dragging my jig behind the boat while going from dock to dock, shooting for crappie. As far as crappie go, it was slow and spotty all day until bout an hour before dark. Then they seemed to turn on.

Where I'm at they are relating to the deep cover of docks more so than brush piles. I've always heard match the hatch, so with all the small shad running around, I'm shooting 2" slab busters (pumpkin seed/chartruse) towards the rear and as far underneath as I'm able. Seems to be working better than verticle jigging right now. I would think as the water cools off in the next few weeks, they'll move out on brush piles around the docks, then I can feel the "thump". Last Saturday, caught some decent size fish shooting docks. The strike was really lite, so you have to pay close attention to your line. I always sweeten the jig with a crappie nibble. Sunday started out pretty good, but as soon as the sun hit the lake, the bite went away. I fished for a while afterwords with nothing but a few dinks. Don't know if it was the high pressure after the rains or what, but it was night and day different from Saturday to Sunday. One person I talked to Saturday, said on Friday they went out and was throwing minnows back in the wells of docks using a slipcork and fishing about 5-6' down and caught quite a few. They had one 14"er and almost 2 limits of 10+" fish. Personally, I don't have the patience to fish with minnows, I wish I did though. I don't know if anyone has paid any attention to the avg size of keeper crappie, but this year has been great for LOZ. I know, the past few years, you had to measure most of you fish, because most keepers were 9-9.5". This year, you don't even need a ruler. Now, that being said 13+" fish are still extremely rare. Most of the time, I'll toss those back anyway, but I haven't had to toss but a couple back this year. Since we just bought down there, I'm really looking forward to Nov fishing. So, I'll be looking for some tips when it gets that time of the year. Adios

I can give you crappie reports, not much on targeting bass. Not to say that I never do, but not that often. Now I did talk to quite a few bass fishermen this weekend, and they were all not too happy. Everyone was fishing jig and crawdad or something like that. But one guy said he was throwing a white tandem blade spinnerbait and did pretty good before the sun came up. Don't know what "pretty good" meant as far as size and numbers. This was on the Big Niangua down a round Larry Gale. So let me know if you need a crappie report, I'm there just about every weekend. Plus I get reports from others not on the forums.

Went out yesterday around 10mm of big niangua. Shooting docks and right off the bat caught two fish, around 11". I actually tossed them back b/c that has been the only dock in the last month that consistently produced anything over 10". But in the next hour and a half I kept 6 more that we're that size. Did catch around 10 others but didn't measure them or there were no need to measure. It wasn't on fire but it's been better than the past month or so. Wife and I ran some errands, then went out about 1:30 and fished about an hour and a half until the rains came. Caught a few dinks shooting, I could tell she was getting bored with that, so I know of a couple of deep brush piles off a point. We casted a couple of slab busters and found some more nice ones in the 11" range. Came back in and baked some fresh crappie filets and watched Wano get win# 19. Not a bad day. Getting ready to try it again in a few minutes.

didn't know crappie had red meat

I do troll, especially when the ol back gets tired. My wife loves to troll, but I wouldn't think twice about getting pissed at someone who was casting near the area I was working. I just go around them or go somewhere else. Nor do I get pissed if someone comes in the back of a cove where I'm casting and casts near me. Its a big lake and there's lots of fish in there, chances are they aren't affecting my presentation, plus, it gives me someone to chat with for a couple of minutes and see how their luck is and what they are doing. But it is pretty cool when you catch a nice one in front of someone! lol

Hey Fly, Would like to take you up on that one day !!!!!

not to change the subject of the original question, but, does anybody really like to eat these fish? I have a great time catching these fighters, but, I have not put one in the livewell in over 20 years. I think they are too strong tasting. I've done all kinds of different recipes, cut all the red meat out, and still, its really not worth the trouble. BUT, I still like fishing for them. It's just C&R for me.

Normally they try to find an all you can eat buffet of shad. Gorge themselves and hang out until its time to eat again. I would look for high concentrations of baitfish. Either on the service or on your sonar. I've witnessed this going on @ LOZ until start of winter.

With the weather breaking at the end of last week, I had high expectations for a productive weekend. WOW, what a disappointment! Got down Friday night, got me an adult beverage and went down to my dock. Lots of big splashes along the bank, saw a couple of guys throwing topwater, with no luck. I got the ol trusty B&M 10 footer and started dipping in the brush around our docks. Not even a nib-stealer. NADA! Next morning, I had something I needed to do around 8am, so I just fished around the complex. Saw the same guys fishing buzzbaits and said they were catching a few. So, even though I don't normally target the ol green carps, I figured, what the heck! Not too bad, in about 45 min I caught a couple of 15 inchers, an 18 inch, and about 5 shorts. All largemouth. After lunch, went out to find some of my deep brushpiles. Fished them, not a nibble. Thought I'd pull some cranks later on, did that for a couple of hrs.... NADA! Sunday morning, got up, figured if I wanted to catch anything, might as well put on a buzzbait and target ol' LB. Caught one short fish. So after an hour I went to some of my crappie spots, nothing. Then started Shooting way deep in the back ends of docks, finally something. Wound up with 6 unders and 2 decent keepers. Not a good weekend for catchin. Back at it again next weekend.

Just bought down at LOZ on the Big Niangua, so since I dock my boat there, I guess I can now consider it my home waters. Still no opposed to other bodies of water, whether by bank or boat! Still will fish around StL every chance I get. But it is really nice not to have to trailer the boat everywhere I go. And if I want to, I'm less than an hour away from Pomme, Truman, and probably Stockton isn't much further. Might have to learn a little troutin' since Bennett is a short drive.

35 should turn back on pretty soon, especially if we get nightly temps in the 50's. By Busch's standards I've caught my better quality fish this time of year compared to the spring. Maybe more numbers in the spring, but the ratio of fish caught to >9" fish caught seems to be much better. Normally middle of lake straight out from the boats and to the right until it gets real shallow. if anyone gets out there, let us know!

This year seems to been a good year for avg size crappie. 10" and better crappies were quite abundant. Don't think I harvested but a few under 10". That being said, I didn't catch but a few over 13" and my partner boated just one fish that didn't quite squeeze out to 15". All of my fishing comes from the Niangua arm, and even in this heat, they are starting to bite pretty fair. You have to work hard, but you can catch them. Last weekend, I couldn't find anything on my usual brush piles, and I heard someone say they were catching them on the humps out in the middle of the lake. So started doing that and caught some pretty nice ones, plus a few whites, channel cats and walleyes. A lady at our complex, caught some real nice crappie in the boat wells. Fishing jigs about 4-6' down. I saw her cleaning the last few, and she said they were all nice. No dinks. She said she cleaned 10 in a little over an hours fishing. So they are starting to show up. You just have to search a bit.

hey, we're neighbors. Can't help you much on bassin', love the crappie fishin, a little white bassin' too. in fact the white bass have been showing up under the 54 bridge. I do know some people who do nothing but bass fish and they love fishing from the end of sept right up until thanksgiving. I always hear them talking about throwing spinnerbaits and run them right next to docks. I'll fish docks that time of the year, but only for crappie, and I do manage a few LM and spots accidentally.

Don't just think that the Targa is a cheaper price point than say a Crestliner or Alumacraft. Last winter I was pricing boats basically for the same reason as you. BPS was pretty firm on their pricing. But the Crestliner dealer gave me a price that was more than competitive, for basically the same style boat,(I got $ on fishhawk 17.5 and an 18.5) with the exact same outboard. I really liked the features on the Crestliner a little bit better, plus, from what I've researched and heard from others, the construction is a bit better. So do talk with one of the other dealers, they seem to have a bit more leeway on price points. And as two old poops talked about his Lund ProV, that's like the boat I've ridden in. That would be the boat of my choice. It's pretty high dollar, but it would probably last me forever.

Just my two cents, If you get a deep V, and fishing is your main interest, I wouldn't go with a Walk-thru windshield. You'll hate it. It's inconvenient, and it takes away from the front. My wife liked it, b/c she could ride w/o wind in her face. Also, if you like to get into tight places, I wouldn't go much bigger than 17.5'. I had a 19.5' and I like to fish docks down at LOZ, That extra 2' made a big difference. I don't have a deepV anymore, but went down to a 17.5' and can maneuver anywhere. If you plan to keep the boat for a while, please consider the construction. Its really makes a difference down the road in a few years. Like KJ said earlier, Lund, Crestliner and Alumacraft are great boats. I've ridden in Lunds and they are the Cadillac of aluminum boats, I'd love to have one, it's the price point that stops me. I've ridden also in a Crestliner Fishhawk 18 footer, and it compares to the Lunds, for ride and the price is more in my range. I think Alumacraft is in that same class. Good Luck with your purchase.

Water is not bad on the Big Niangua, Just a lot of floating sticks, logs and other depris. Can't help much on bass fishing. But have been catching a few crappie by shooting the deep shade of docks. Fish don't seem to be that deep right now. Seems like I was catching them about 4-5 ft down.. Occasional walleye too. Now that being said, temp is going to be 10-15 degrees warmer than last week, so this may drive them down a little more. Normally I catch a few bass doing this around the docks, but not a one this time. White bass were busting some shad in the coves, managed a few, nothing big, but fun anyway.

There are areas of LOZ that are not that bad even in the summer weekends. Through the week is great, and if you are down there all the time, then why go out on the weekends, save your boating time during the week if you think its that bad. I have a place on the lake in Camdenton, and all I have is a basstracker style 17.5' boat, and I have no problems what so ever. I get up early on the weekends, fish until 9 or 10 at the latest, then usually don't go back out until the evening. If I don't feel like going out on the lake, I can fish right off the dock. Now before Memorial day and after Labor day, you can usually stay out all day if you want to. And during the week, it's like you have your own private lake. I would definitely consider LOZ, especially if you want to be on the water. It makes is so convenient. Plus, there are plenty of stores real close and St. Louis or Kansas City are within 2.5 hrs away. As far as fishing goes, LOZ has been on fire during the fall/winter/early spring months. Crappie, Bass, White Bass and if you know where to target them, Walleye fishing has been picking up. This has been one of the best years for Crappie size. They have a 9" limit, and we've been blowing that away. I mainly fish for crappie. We catch a lot of bass while crappie fishing, and friends of mine that does Bass fish, have been doing quite well. Hope that helps.

as far as the boat goes, you'll be fine in that area. fishing will be good, crappie cats and bass. Ocassional walleye. I'm based out of the Camdenton area on the big Niangua. I have a 17.5' aluminum bass boat, and rarely have any problems. I've been as far as the 67MM on the osage on busy weekends and have never had a problem either. You might see a few big boats, but nothing like the main lake area. So don't fret. You are only a hop skip and a jump from Truman Lake, so take big advantage of that too! Good Luck.

Went out early yesterday, went to lake 35. It was tough for us jig fishermen. Caught on little dink verticle jigging about 12' down, And caught about a 10" fish casting in bout 6' of water. Caught about a half dozen little bass. Did see some minnow fishermen catching a few crappie, but they seemed pretty small. By 10 am, the lake was getting pretty crowded. I called it a day by then. Oh well, luckily I've got enough in the freezer.

Went out early yesterday, went to lake 35. It was tough for us jig fishermen. Caught on little dink verticle jigging about 12' down, And caught about a 10" fish casting in bout 6' of water. Caught about a half dozen little bass. Did see some minnow fishermen catching a few crappie, but they seemed pretty small. By 10 am, the lake was getting pretty crowded. I called it a day by then. Oh well, luckily I've got enough in the freezer.

I had a premier ultralite rod for a couple of years, but unfortunately got stepped last fall, so this year I bought a 5'6" Falcon ultralite rod. Made in the ol USA (or so it says). Combined that with pwr pro braid, and I really couldn't tell much difference. Plus it was better than half the price of the St Croix. So far just as happy with it. I own a few St. Croix rods, and I think they are great, especially if you can get them on sale. It's really tough for me to shell out over $130 for a rod. But when I find them and Falcon rods on sale, I'll usually jump on them. I bought the Falcon ultra light at Dunn's in Pevely I think it was under $60. Not sure which ultralite model it is.

Nope! All mine!

I agree with you. My vacation finally fell in "the week". Doesn't happen that often, especially when you have to give the dates you want so early in the year. That being said, you still should find really good action, you just might have to fish a little deeper and slower. But, if you are going after bass, I think it should really be good. Also, when I was down there, I had to get a part for my trolling motor, and the tech there said he had been catching walleye on crankbaits in HaHa Tonka Cove, just before sundown. I didn't try, so I'm just going off what he said.