straw hat

I always use minnows. Yes to the standing timer and a definite no to the brush piles. It won't be long until that changes though.

The wife and I have been doing fairly well until the cool weather hit. Last two trips no crappie, not even a small one. I wish I had the answer. Lately though they have been mostly around standing timber. Good Luck.

Rootman, minnows only. By the way my dear wife "reminded" me to edit my report to include her 8 lb flathead she caught. Oooopps Went today too and never caught a crappie. Man did we get rained on. Oh well, that is fishing.

Crappie bite seems to be heating up for us. We caught 12 keepers on the 19th and 19 keepers on the 21st. Water temp 80 to 82, 3' visibility and all fish were 1 to 5 ft deep and in heavy cover.

Sexed many walleyes over the years and that is true. With experience a good biologist can hit around 95% accuracy. I wouldn't used the term key shaped though More like an elongated tear drop.

Launched at CC yesterday morning. Spent a lot of time scanning and really marked only a few fish until I got to within a half mile of Shaw's Bluff. Water was slightly green and stained with around 3 ft visibility. Water temp was 82F, higher than I expected. Caught 8 crappie, 4 keeps but most of them were 11 to 13" long. Tons and tons of shad everywhere. No signs of any surface activity though. And just how many drum are in Stockton right now? WAY TO MANY!!! Also thousands of 3 to 4 " largemouth everywhere. It must have been a very successful spawn this spring with the high water. I saw packs of 25 to 30 of those small bass prowling near the surface looking for food.

Funny, I have been using this one from the MDC and it does not list any new brush piles for 2019. https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/where-fish/fish-attractor-pdf-maps I am familiar with your link as well but it used to list the brush piles in order by number with details including date if you clicked on legend. Now clicking on legend doesn't do anything.

A conceal and carry permit is not required but they carry a lot of weight if you ever go to court. Besides firearm safety the conceal and carry classes include an extensive review on how and when you can legally use a firearm for protection of you, others and property. My wife and I are working with the local police department and following their suggestions closely.

You are correct in what you say and I would not use a gun in anything but extreme situations but having been on situations where threats were eminent to me and mine there are time I wish I would have had one just in case. Ina drive by situation it would indeed be of very little use. But when attacked at home, on the lake or in public it may save your life or serious injury.

So sorry to hear of your situation bassfisher. May you heal fast and well. I too live in Willard and my wife and I have received several threatening comments while driving around town in Springfield. We are in the process of getting a conceal and carry permit for both of us. One of these idiots even screamed at me to go back where I came from. I thought these jerks only picked on immigrants. I am as white as it comes and of German descent. lol Live is too short for that kind of attitude.

I just checked the water levels at Caplinger Mill and it seems like they started running some water out of Stockton yesterday. I figured if they drop the lake 1" a day it will take them 7 months to get back to power pool level IF it doesn't rain any more. I then looked at the long range rain forcast and cried. Ugghhh

Posted May 24 Stockton record level 885.94, it's at 882.99 now. What's your guess? Posted by Richocet 15 (I hope I spelled that right, lol)

Someone called the Corp office and got the information. They posted it on an earlier thread but I haven't been able to find it.

Man, you know how to give a fishing report. Love reading them. Thank you.

Freefallin commented on the acres and acres of new flooded cover. Ph how true but also think about how much food washed in. Tons of minnows from the rivers, tons and tons of worms, insects, etc. After a buffet like that it is no wonder fishing is tough.

It looks like they have started running water heavily. I checked the Capplinger data and it is way up in the last 24 hours or so. https://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/uv/?site_no=06919900&amp

I have got to agree with flysmallie on that.

"The few females we caught looked to be assimilating their eggs. " I have been sort of expecting this. I have seen it a few times in past years when temps vary a lot and water roses rapidly. I remember back in April and very early May the temps would be in the 50s a couple of days and then the 70s for a couple days over and over. That can certainly cause then to reabsorb their eggs.

Now that is a fishing report. I appreciate all the details. Great job Old dog.

Ditto. Focus on rocky areas or chunk rock and shallow.

I hear maybe 2" of rain this weekend and maybe some more heavy rain around Wed.

I just noticed that the Corp have started running water out of Stockton. Started yesterday. O thought you all might want to know. It may pull the fish a little deeper.

FYI - They have not been pulling water out of Stockton for around 2 weeks.

Actually a foam filled bass boat with 900 lbs of positive floatation will sink. Mine did. I had a long talk to the Coast Guard office and they explained it this way. The 900 pounds of positive flotation is a rating for the boat and its recommended motor. If you install more than 900 lbs in the boat (batteries, gear, people, trolling motor, etc the edge of the boat will drop below water line and the boat will sink. Of course the batteries. outboard, and many mechanical items are in the back of the boat and pull the rear down first. It will sink like a huge bobber going down. lol I talked to Ranger and they said if loaded to heavy they certainly will sink and it happens a lot of times when people use two outboards, 3 or 4 batteries as well. The Coast Guard directed me to a website database with their records of boat sinking. You would not believe how many bass boats sink on LOZ and other local lakes.

I had a bass boat of mine sink on me about 20 years ago. All my friends and workers said I was crazy because bass boats don't sink. I had a picture of it but many still wouldn't believe me. Either that boat partly sunk or it is the biggest bobber I have ever seen. lol