straw hat

That drop in temps will probably make some of the spawners drop back to deeper water near the beds, say 14 to 20 ft deep. The sunny south facing pea gravel banks will be affected less. As far as a place to go... well good luck. The wife and I went last Saturday and spent 3 hours driving around to different places we often fish (checked out 8 locations). There were people on everyone of them so we wound up going home, $20 less gas money in the wallet as well. Good luck.

As usual... zarraspook is right on!!

Thanks for the info. My wife and I were looking forward to using it this winter. I will be giving them a call for sure.

Culling is when you remove a smaller fish from your livewell or stringer and replace it with a larger fish. I have been told that it is illegal in the state of Missouri. I would also like to remind everyone that cleaning fish at the lake is illegal also. As you guys know, my wife and I bank fish a lot. We usually see several people a year get tickets for this. Say one boat get a ticket just 2 weeks ago at the launch. The idea is that once a fish is cleaned it is hard to check the length of the fish.

Good going Travis. Were they shallow or were they still deep? I am starting to get the "catfish itch" now!!!

Great to have you back. Your postings have been a big help to me over the years. I lost my brother to melanoma so I know what your family are going throgh. My prayers to all of you. Good fishing and see you on the lake!!!

Pretty tough day for me on the lake near CC. Started off early on a south facing pea gravel bank where I can usually pick up some early spawners. The only problem was that the crappie didn't know it. lol After an hour and a half with no hits I moved to a steep rocky bank. After another 5 hours I had only had 10 or twelve bites. Wound up with 2 keepers (one was 14" though). No real pattern to the bite. It was a beautiful day with every thing turning green and a lot of wild flowers starting to bloom so I can't complain. See you all out there Saturday!!

Yes on the fresh cut bluegill. The cats right now should be 15 to 25 feet deep where the channels approach a good gravel point. Good luck.

Boy I hear that MissedAnother. My wife will go in conditions that would make a marine cringe.

My wife and I fished that area too on Saturday and also caught most of ours on or near the bottom (what few we caught in the AM). Sounds like we left too early (3 PM0. Thanks for the report, especially the jig colors.

The wife and I fished a rocky drop off not too far from CC. Tough Bite. Found a few crappie finally at around 18 to 20'. Water was dingy. I am afraid I can't tell you the water temp because my NEW water thermometer quite working!! The water sure felt a lot cooler than a week ago. We came home with 5 keeper crappie, luckily they were all females full of eggs and around 12" long. Thats not many for all day of fishing. I also caught one 16" walleye and my wife caught a 24" - 6 lb walleye!! Fat sucker (the walleye not my wife) lol Both of the walleye were post spawn females also around 18' deep. The eggs were pretty well developed in the crappie so I would expect them on the bank in just a few days with this kind of weather. Stopped by the CC boat launch on the way home. WILD!!! The parking was full as was the over flow parking at the top of the hill. Boats all over the place today, Also, there must have been 20 bank fishermen in sight from the bridge. What a zoo. Good luck everyone and we will see you next time on the lake.

Welcome to our family. Appreciate the info and look forward to see more reports in the future!

Its me again!! This is the link; http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/(xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&layout=6_1_61_48&uiarea=2&ctype=areaDetails&carea=%24ROOT)/.do On the US map click on "topo" and then just click on the area you are interested in. Each time you click on the map it will enlarge and give you more detail. I noticed that the detail and clarity of the map on the websitew isn't near as good as the paper copies I have.

Just a quick afterthought. Sprinfield Blueprint down by the square in Springfield sells most of the state quadranglemaps of Missouri. They should have one for that area. Those maps usually show evry little side road and might help you locate some places. These maps are also on the web so later this evening when I get a chance I will send you the web address and you can download them for free.

Hate to tell you this but I have never fished that area. I have fished a lot around Indian Point and the dam but not there. I am sorry I can't tell you about any bank fishing spots down there. Good luck though.

CC is probably as good as anything. With the drop in temps, cold rain and snow, etc.. it will probably be tough anywhere you go. On the other hand the fish have had a few days of this kind of weather so maybe teh shock has worn off some. I would almost bet they will have dropped back a little deeper though. Good luck I wish I could help more.

I just talked to MoDOT. The highway 123 bridge at Aldrich will close on April 18th and is scheduled to reopen July 13th. The highway 245 bridge just east of Greenfield is scheduked to close tomorrow and is scheduked for completion on May 13th. Thought I would pass that along.

Welcrabass, you are a better man then I. I just couldn't bring myself to battle the elements.

I would think you should be able to catch some around the either Son's Creek or the old state park. The water temp has probably dropped with this change back to colder weather so they may have went a little deeper (20 to 30'?). A few of the guys on the site can probably give you better info though. Good Luck on both your tourney and the fishing!!!

I keep records of water temp and such on all my trips. I definitely think that CC warms faster. Typically around 2 to 3 degrees higher temp than say the area between Aldrich and High Point. I usually fish the CC area until about 1 or 2 weeks into the spawn. By that time there are so many fisherman there that I give up and move towards the Ruark and High Point areas. After that I move up to Hawker/Hartley region and then a little later toward the dam. Basically I just follow the spawn north. The fish I have caught around CC in the last week all showed signs of good egg development but they are still around 1 to 2 weeks til they spawn depending on the weather. I have fished the Little Sac area from Aldrich to Maze Creek. I have had good luck all along there but I especially like Maze Creek. There is a lot of good crappie in that area. I think I prefer the CC area mostly because it is just closer for me. With the way the price of gas is going that is important. They are talking about $5 gas by fall. That hurts.

Well the weatherman said sunny and 50 today. Boy did he blow that!! It was 37 when I left for the lake and 39 when I got home. On top of that I never even saw a glimpse of the sun. The spot I wanted to fish had two boats on it so I wound up fishing CC. I caught only one crappie all day. I did manage to freeze to death though. lol There was only 5 boats at the CC launch so apparently most Stockton fisherman are a lot nore intelligent than me and stayed home where it is warm. I noticed that the DOC striped the parking lot at CC. They set up two handycap parking spot. Even though there was only 5 rigs parked there I was suprised to see that two of them were parked in the handycapped spots. They didn't have handycap tags either. It looks like I am not going to get to go fishing again for a while so you guys have a good time on the lake for me and catch plenty of fish.

During that early spawn season I would use river worms (not store nightcrawlers) or minnows. In the summer you could use any of the items you mentioned. I especially like fresh cut shad. Sonny's Stink bait (from Bass Pro) works well at this time also. I find you catch more fish on the Sunny's but they tend to be smaller.

As far as the catfish are concerned I would have two recommendations. From mid-April through June-any rock-riprap. From July to November any deep chunk rock bank on or near the main channel, especially if it has some timber. At night the flats near these same chunk rock banks are usually good. Good Luck.

I believe that "hooked on crappie" is talking about where highway CC crosses the alke just east of Greenfield.

My freinds tell me that "eloquently" is another word for talking too much. lol If they are right then I sure can be eloquent a lot. HAHA. I look forward to your fishing reports, good luck on your next trip.