straw hat

Started out near twin bridges. fished 1 1/2 hours and only managed one little walleye. Water temp was 45. Made a couple other stops, both places too windy for me to handle. Finally Stopped at the CC boat launch. I think half of the free world was there. I finally found a spot to fish a fair distance from the rest. Nailed 3 crappie in short order. All were keepers and about 6 to 7 ft deep. Water temp was 43. A guy came over and asked if he could fish next to me. I put on my smiley face and said sure. He then asked if I could move my lines so he could have more room to cast. Now he sat down just 5 feet from me and he thinks I am crowding him? I just said sure I will move my lines. Time to move, so I picked up my gear and started to move down the bank and the guy accuses me of being unfreindly. I planted myself down about 100 feet away. I nailed 3 more crappie in about 45 minutes. You got it. Here comes another guy and says he saw me catch those crappie and was going to fish beside me. He didn't ask, he told me! Well, time to move again. Down another 100 feet. By this time I am well past the rest of the bank fisherman. At last peace. I caught a couple small crappie and several bass and here comes a bass boat. Three guys in it crappie fishing. Now I am fishing about 7' deep right off the bank. The boat comes trolling right down past me and missed my bobbers by about 2 feet. Now to give you some idea how close he came I probably could have reached out and touched his boat with my 12 foot rod!! When he gets past me he turns around and says he is looking for a big rock in the water. He slowly trolls toward me right nest to the bank. When he gets to my first line I had to real it in before he ran it over. He kept coming. when he got to my second line (which is right in front of me) I reeled it in and dropped hint. I asked him if I was in his way. To my suprise he said no it was OK for me to keep fishing there as he was sure that they had a lot more fish than me. At that time everyone in the boat started laughing. What an arrogant jerk. I would never make a comment to anyone like that to anyone. I looked around and there wasn't anyone within 200 ft in any direction at that time but he just had to fish right were I was. As I was gathering my tackle to move he took off. Someone tell me I did the right thing by being polite to these people and not throwing large rocks and vulgar obsenities at them!! I am still mad. I did wind up the day with 10 crappie and a 4 lb channel. A note to the bass guys. I must have caught at least 25 bass today. Most 12 to 14 inces. They were really nailing hte minnows. One of them was a 14" smallmouth.

The bite was strong iin the morning but much lighter after the heavier clouds moved in. It was really cold and raw. You need to get out and get some of these fish before it gets real cold. I was tinking of you walleye guys last week walleyedmike. I saw a guy with a 8 1/2 lber!! He caught it 18' deep on a steep rocky bank. What a hog!!

What a miserable day on the lake. Where was the sunshine the weatherman promised? Not where I was, that is for sure. High of 52? Not even. Anyway, now that I have that out of my system I did manage a limit of crappie. They were still 18' deep on bluffs. Limited out by noon so I tried for a few bass with my remaining minnows. Manage to come up with 2 (one was 14 1/2" and the other 16"). Both were about 14' deep near points on the same bluff and were released. Water temp was 46. Just as I got home it started snowing. Winter sucks. How long til April? Tooooo long. lol

This was an almost vertical bluff. I can give you an idea about how straight up and down it was... I caught two of the crappie just leaning over the bluff and vertical jigging the minnow. They were laying right flat against the bluff. There is no brush in the the area just a section of shear bluff. When you fish a bluff like this the fish will tend to lay against the sections of the bluff that are the darkest (they absorb heat more during the day). Unluckily you can't look down in the water and see the darkness of the rock down were the fish are so you have to work area until you find were they are stacked. Start where the exposed rock on the bluff is the darkest and work out from there. Good luck.

Minnows all the way all the time. You know with all the catfishing I do I never thought about the scrap from cleaning crappie but this cat has got me thinking I should try some. I know it is illegal to use game fish for bait but I don't know if that includes the scrap from cleaning fish, I will have to check on that. nxs, get up man and catch some of these fish before the water gets too cold. Next Wed is going to be cold, they should be holding tight to the bluffs. If you can get away and stand the cold you should do well.

Now that was some wind today! It blew hard enough to peel the skin off a frog!! The wife and I went to a bluff near twin bridges. We had 23 keeper crappie by noon but it took until 3 to limit out. They were really hammering it in the AM. A lot of dropped baits and missed bites in the afternoon. Today they were running 21 to 26' deep. The wife also caught a 3 3/4 lb channel. I don't know where he had been feeding but his stomach was full of crappie trimmings, the skin and rib cages from where someone had filleted them at the lake. It looks like the weather will still be decent next week so I will see you all on the lake.

No, I usually put a couple of other rods out near me when I am crappie fishing. Even so they were still a hoot!!!

nxs, the water is still a little dingier than I like. That rain only added about 3" to the lake. With the water temps dropping like they are you would think the water would be really clear. The spot I fished yesterday was out of the wind (thank God) and I think that helped me. I have seen several walleye caught the last 2 weeks off of humps near the main channel. Most of the keepers I saw were 15 to 19", no huge but they will eat.

Fished a bluff about 2 miles from Ruark today. Water temp was 49. Crappie were 18' deep and very picky. Did manage to come up with my 15 keepers and 3 kittys. The cats were caught fishing 24 feet deep. They were decent size... 2 1/2, 3 1/2 and 5 1/2.

Whew!!! Did somebody say windy?? Fished the same area near Springfield Landing. This time it was windy and rough fishing. The wife and I managed to come up with just 15 keepers. They were a little deeper today than the ones I caught on the 1st. They were running 10 to 13' deep. Still holding tight to the rocks on those steep rocky banks. The water temp had dropped 3 degrees to 52. Sounds like we are suppose to get a lot of rain the next few days. That will probably change things considerable.

By water, Springfield Landing is a small cove about 2 miles north of the CC boat launch. You can recognize it by the 4 or 5 small docks in the cove. There is access to it off of highway H north of Greenfield. A lot of people launch smaller boats there. The launch is just a rough rock and gravel bank but it is no problem if your boat isn't too big.

Good luck minnowhooker. They are already on the steeper banks and feeding lightly. With a high around 48 on Thursday you may have to fish those minnows really slow and right on the bottom. The south facing banks may be a little warmer, you might try them. Good luck.

Limited out on crappie today about a mile from Springfield Landing. They were biting very light. They were running about 10' deep right on the bottom of rocky banks. It took me nearly all day to get the limit. That 15 was nearly all the bites I had. The water was 55 degrees and fairly dingy. See you all on the water!

I noticed that 123 bridge was on the list for the MODOT repair but they said it would only be closed on Saturday the 29th.

I noticed the Y bridge over by Ruark is still closed. I checked the MoDOT site but I noticed it is not listed any more. The last time I saw an estimated completion date it was Dec. 22. Anyone heard anything recently? That bridge being closed sure makes travel a pain sometimes.

I see that that the USGS site is off on lake level again. The corp site is still right. http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/st/daily.cfm

I figured reddog was talking about either the 215 bridge over maze creek just west of Bona or the 215 bridge over Turkey Creek just east of Bona. Either way there isn;t much water there now.

I am a curious person myself so I called teh Corp and was told that the lowest on record was 851.81 (16' below power pool) in 1977. The next lowest reading happened several times between 2005 and 2007 where the lake bounce between 858.61 and 861.44 (which is just below where we are now. They also said that they can generate power down to around 855. They said at at that point it usually isn't an issue of lake level but that they start sucking debri into the turbines and also that at that level water quality isn't very good as well. looks like we have a ways to go before we set a new record. I remember those days around 2006 and 07. I sure put out a lot of brush piles in those winters. I also took a lot of pictures of good-looking exposed structure so I would have a better idea how to fish some areas when the lake came back up. Those pictures have really helped me since. It is easier to locate structures and easier to fish them. I sure plan on putting out some more brush this winter a swell. Good fishing Time Killer!!

I know that I don't know. (huh?) lol I do remember that a few years back it got down to around 859 or 858. Around 8 or 9 ft below power pool. I am sure it has probably been lower than that before though.

I just noticed that the USGS website has been corrected.

Nice stringer of fish reddog! Congrats. I bet there isn't much water under that bridge right now. That first frost is suppose to be here soon....like tonight! Keep your stringer full.

Just a note that it looks like teh USGS is having problems with their lake level readings.It showes that Stockton went up 8" in 45 minutes on Monday. The Stockton home page for the Sorp still has the correct lake level at; http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/st/daily.cfm

I would suggest you go to Walmarts and pick up a Hot Spot map of Stockton. That will give you an idea were there is access to rock riprap, parks/camp grounds ans other areas. You can also go to the USGS website and look at their maps for more info. http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/(ctype=areaDetails&xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&carea=%24ROOT&layout=6_1_61_48&uiarea=2)/.do Good luck.

200 loons? That must have been some site. As loud as they are when they call that must of sounded like a rock and roll band that was drunk!! lol

I like to think of myself a a dedicated fisherman. I fished in snow, sleet and rain as well as btiter cold temps BUT I draw the line at sticking my hand in a deep dark hole for a catfish. I had an uncle who lost 3 fingers that way to a large Mississippi snapper. Just can't bring myself too go that far. Have you ever seen that show Hillbilly Handfishing on Animal Planet? These two noodlers take 6 city slickers hand fishing each week and teach them the ropes. It sure is a hoot to watch.It would probably bring back some great memories.