Skeeter ZX190

I put in at Orleans Trail today. Some serious damage to a lot of the docks. I should have taken pictures.

Bottom of the ninth. Nobody on. 2 outs. 0-2 count. You snatched victory from the jaws of defeat!

Awesome day! The only thing I can figure is that really warm weather moved them up shallow.

Missouri Water Patrol shows it at the Mutton Creek Ramp. Two tournaments out of that ramp that day.

One other thing. There were shad flipping on the surface WAY back in Orleans Trail cove in water that was only 2 to 3 feet deep.

Also saw 2 turtles. One sunning itself on a log, and the other poked its head out of the water.

Put in at 7:30 am at Orleans Trail. Got off the water at 3:30 pm. Because of the fog, we stayed in Orleans Trail for quite awhile. After the fog broke, we headed out from there. Did really well in Hawker. Water temps were 48.5 to 50.5. It was a great day fishing and there was a lot of catching. 42 total bass. 11 were keepers. The two biggest were 18 1/2 inches. Both came on a Megabass 110 +1 in Pro Blue. The other color we used was a Megabass 110 in triple illusion. Most of the fish came on the stickbait, but several came on a Spro rock crawler in phantom green. 3 fish came on the ned and one of those was a 16 1/4 inch smallmouth. When it was foggy or overcast, the rock crawler performed the best. After the sun came out, the stickball bite turned on. Secondary points with wind blowing on them was the key. Surprised at how few boats were out for such a lovely day.

I was thinking the RB ramp was the one right out of the town of Stockton. My bad.

Did you stay in the dam area and what were the water temps?

I do wish I lived closer.

I noticed that too.

Got on the water about 8:30 am. Put in at Orleans trail and found water 43.4 degrees. Warmest I found toward the end of the day was 45.8. Water is really clear. 5 to 8 foot clarity around Orleans. Fished for the first time with an Alabama rig. Caught 1 (a 15 1/2 inch largemouth) and missed 1. Caught 20 fish total. 3 were keepers. Also caught an 18 1/2 walleye on a Megabass 100+1 in Pro Blue. Caught a keeper smallmouth on a rock crawler in phantom green. Caught the biggest largemouth on the Megabass. It went 16 1/4 inches. Ran into btlifes2short and we talked for a little bit. The weather was absolutely lovely except the wind blew harder than the forecast. NOAA said 8 to 10 mph winds, but they were gusting higher than that. I should have used some sunscreen because my face got sunburned pretty good. Got off the water at 5:00 pm.

Robinhood, check your PM's.

What were the water temps?

If that video doesn't convince you to wear your life jacket and kill switch, I don't know what will.

Lifes2short: When are you turning pro? You have had one whale of a start to 2017!

Fished from noon until 5:15 pm. Water temps ranged fro 43.7 to 44.6. Caught a total of 14 with all of them being largemouths and short. 3 came on a Megabass 110+1. The rest on a ned rig. 2 of the jerkbait fish came off of brush piles in 10 to 15 feet of water. All of the ned fish came in 8 to 18 feet of water. Weather was beautiful and there seemed to be a lot of fishermen enjoying it.

I saw more bald eagles today than I have in a long time. Had 3 immatures in one tree. I am always amazed to see one of those majestic birds. I'm old enough to remember when you never saw one in the wild around here.

Started fishing around 8:00 am. Put in at Orleans Trail and headed toward the dam. Fished from there to State Park Marina and also Hawker. Caught a total of 18 bass with 4 being keepers. Nothing big, all just over 15 inches. Caught 6 of them on a Megabass 110+1 and the rest on the ned rig. Tried a rock crawler a lot but couldn't buy a bite on it. Water temps were 42.5 to 43.7. Got off the water at 3:30. Really thought that with the cloud cover that the jerk bait would be the ticket but it was slow. A fish here, and a fish there. Didn't seemed to be ganged up.

I also come from Kansas City and almost always put in at Orleans Trail marina. They usually have ample parking but the boat parking lot can be filled up with sail boats that are dry docked for the winter or maintenance. I hardly ever venture as far south as State Park on the Little Sac side, or Old State Park on the Big Sac. There is a variety of water to fish within a few miles of Orleans Trail. The weather and wind will play a big factor where you might want to launch though. March can be very windy and it doesn't take much wind for white caps on Stockton.

I took a friend fishing a while back and we were mainly using rock crawlers and wigglewarts. He was new to fishing. He was setting the hook mistaking rocks for bites. How would you describe what a bite feels like when fishing that type of bait? My hands just know it, but I can't really describe it.

That is one tremendous sack of fish. Good job!

I had a fish fool me on the rock crawler. I had just started retrieving it when it stopped vibrating. It didn't get heavier, and it didn't get lighter. I figured I had hooked a leaf or a little moss which killed the action. I then felt a thump. I set the hook but nothing was there. I assume a fish grabbed the lure and was swimming toward the boat. That's what stopped the vibration. The thump was the fish spitting it out. I'm going to store that one away in the old memory banks so it doesn't happen again. I've had them swim with the bait toward the boat to where it feels like the lure came off, but this one was different.

Put in at Orleans Trail at 8:00 am. Water temps all day were a little over 45. Fished with a Megabass 110 +1 in Pro Blue, Rock Crawler in Phantom Green, and a Ned rig in green pumpkin. Ended up with 26 and 5 were keepers. 4 of the 5 came on the rock crawler and the other on the Megabass. One went 17 inches, 3 16 inches, and the other 15 1/2. I was surprised at how shallow some of them were. The Ned fish all came in 8 to 12 feet of water, but the rock crawler fish were not far off the bank, way back in one of the bigger creek arms. I was surprised that there were not more boats out. It was really a pretty nice day out. Pretty chilly to start but it got up into the low 50's by the afternoon. I got off the water at 3:00.

I might give it a go tomorrow.