Skeeter ZX190

I especially liked your hat! EMAW!

Lifes2short, which boat were you in? I was in the white and red Skeeter.

Found some crappie in State Park marina cove. They were on the bottom in about 20 to 22 feet of water. I brought 11 home for a hot oil bath.

The National Weather Service is saying 50's by the weekend. T-shirt and flip flop weather!

Billy Bob and Schlem were from Arkansas and had never been ice fishing so they planned a trip to Minnesota. Schlem was an early riser so he got out there at first light. He would stand on the ice and cast his lure out on the ice and retrieve it. He did this for an hour and then Billy Bob pulled up on a snow mobile. He asked Schlem how it was going. Schlem said "not good. I've been fishing an hour and haven't gotten a bite. Billy Bob says "get on the back and lets try trolling".

I've ice fished several times in Kansas. Mostly at Council Grove. Next to the outlet structure along the dam. It is where the channel intersects with the dam. Crappie would stack up there about 17 feet deep. The water was actually 40 feet deep but the graph say 17 because the sonar beam couldn't get past the crappie.

We fished down by the dam from 9:30 am until 4:30 pm. Ended up catching at least 25 but only 2 were keepers. Two long flat points saved our bacon. They produced the majority of the fish. Caught them on a variety of baits. Pop R, shakey head rigged with a senko, jig, crankbait, etc. It was a beautiful day and had a couple of rain showers. Not much wind. Main lake produced better than back in the coves.

I've got to work Saturday, but the forecast is rainy and windy. Sounds like a really good day to throw a spinner bait. That would be my plan A. My plan B would be to throw a spinner bait. Ok, I like to throw a spinner bait.

Smallywally; My experience has been that October into November has been some of the finest fishing of the year. My profile picture is a 5 lb 3 oz smallmouth I caught the first part of November about 3 years ago. I caught it on a pop-r. Last year we had a really good day fishing in mid-November using a shakey head and senko in green pumpkin. 10 keepers for the day. Nothing huge but mainly 15 to 17 inchers. I mostly fish the main lake around the dam area. Green pumpkin is a must on Stockton. Earlier that year in mid-September was also a really good day. It was cloudy and had just finished raining. The fish were up shallow and aggressive.

You can go to the Missouri Water Patrol regatta page and search Stockton Lake and it will show you the upcoming tournaments. I belive it shows who is holding the tournament, projected number of boats, and a contact phone number.

Two funny stories involving snakes. We were crappie fishing from the bank out at Council Grove Reservoir in Kansas. There was a small 12 inch garter snake that was hanging around the rocks where we were fishing. I went to move locations and as I started to step to a new rock, I looked down to where I was about to step with my right foot and there was the snake. My right foot never touched the ground but my left foot made it to the next rock. I defied gravity! Second story. There were 3 of us fishing in a boat. The guy in the back was VERY large. A small rattlesnake swam up to the boat and seemed intent on climbing aboard. The guy in the front was using his rod to try and shoe it away. The guy in the back said in a slow, matter-of-fact way, "if that snake comes in the boat, you are going to see a fat man walk on water".

I'm no expert, but good electronics is a must. The sooner you can get one mounted on the bow, the better. I don't fish the Rock much, (I live in the KC area and $3.50 a gallon gas is a killer to get down there) but when I have in the summer, my eyes are always on my graph. The way the bass like to suspend in tree tops and in the channels, it lets me know I am fishing where there are fish. I use to have a PinPoint 7820 mounted on the bow and that thing was amazing. I don't want to hijack this thread, but am curious if anyone has recommendations on a good graph. With the PinPoint I could easy drop a spoon or drop shot down and watch it fall. The cone seemed to be pretty big and I didn't have to be precise where I dropped it, it just needed to be close to the trolling motor. I've had both a Humminbird and Lowrance on the front of my new boat, but neither come close to that PinPoint.

According to my calculations, Stockton has risen about 4 inches from 3:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Truman 6 inches in the same tome period.

I confess. I was skeptical that the crappie would be shallow with 55 degree water. We put in at Brown Bend about 8 am and fished till 12:30. We caught around 40 crappie but only 16 were keepers. Caught them all in about 2 to 5 feet of water. The rain finally started to soak through and we were damp and cold so we called it a day. We caught them on a 1/16 oz white or chartreuse & purple grub. I'm not skeptical now.

What kind of water temps were you seeing?

I googled it and found the page. http://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/nwk/lakepool.txt

There is a Corps of Engineers Kansas City office web page that shows the 3 day forecast for all of the Kansas City lakes (Truman, Stockton, Perry, Milford, etc.) I have the link on my work computer but I don't have it here at home. I know on Friday they were forecasting the lake to be slowly falling, but who knows if we get any significant rain over the next day or two. I will try to remember to get that link posted tomorrow.

I was there on April 5 with a friend. It was a really beautiful day and it had all the ingredients for a great day of fishing except one. FISH! We fished about 7 hours and had 5 bites, and only 1 fish. 15 inch largemouth. The water temps were 48 to 50. We put in at Long Shoals and went up the Big Tebo to start. We tried everything and all different kinds of banks. Not sure what we were doing wrong. The bites came on a jig and jerkbaits. We also fished the Grand arm south of Long Shoals. The water was much clearer than I expected. In areas it was a good 2 1/2 to 3 feet. After a tough day like that, it made me think that maybe I should take up golf.

I haven't been on the water in over a week but I would think the temps have dropped with all of this cod rain and snow. Wasn't the water temperatures in the 60's last year at this time? I was thinking the crappie were spawning in late March. What a difference a year makes.

I met a friend at Orleans Trail and we put in a hard day fishing and fighting the wind. We only caught 8 bass total and 5 were keepers. Everything came on a jig. We tried jerkbaits, but no luck. Seemed like the best combination was shallow in very close proximity to deep water. Find steep drops and they were hanging on the shallow side. Attached is one of the keepers, a 6 3/4 beauty.

Thanks Justin. I didn't know if Key Largo, Islamarado, or Marathon would be the best but was leaning toward Marathon. Your advice has sealed the deal. I want so bad to catch a decent sized shark or a barracuda.

I know this is a Table Rock forum, but I am thinking about taking a trip to the Florida Keys and do some fishing in May. Has anybody had any experience down there and recommendations they would be willing to share? Thanks in advance.

There are probably better people to answer this question, but I will give it a try. The dirtier water warms first. My problem is that when I fish Truman I generally stick to a certain part of the lake. I normally put in at Long Shoals or Truman State Park and I like to fish the Grand arm from Long Shoals going toward the dam and then up the Big Tebo. The water there tends to be clearer than other parts except maybe the Pomme arm. I've never fished the Pomme arm but that is what I hear. The water temps at Truman tend to be a few degrees cooler than Stockton in the early spring. On this forum, Truman Lake doesn't get a lot of reports. We will need several good warm days to really get the water warming in Truman. Late March is when I will go down and give it a try but only if we have some warm days. I like the water temp to be in the low fifties before I start slingin a spinnerbait. When I go up the Big Tebo there are several coves on the south side that I like to work with a spinnerbait. There have been years where the temp on the east side of the cove is a degree or 2 colder than the west side. I assume that has to do with the amount of sun the water gets during the warmer part of the day. That degree or 2 makes a difference. I catch them on the west side but not on the east. A couple of weeks ago when we had a 70 degree day, it really made me itchin to go!

Btlifes2short: Yes that was me in the red & white skeeter. I caught 5 of the 7 in one spot in Orleans Trail cove. The other 2 cameon a step banked point close to the mouth of Price Branch.

I got on the water at noon and fished until 5. Put in at Orleans Trail. Caught 7. 6 were keepers and one was just over 4 pounds. Caught them all on a 1/2 oz. green pumpkin jig with a Paca Chunk in green pumpkin red. Caught them on channel banks.