Crowed Lake High Sky

[Bill Babler]

Talking to some of the guides that helped on today Corp. Trip, none of us could really remember the lake being fuller of fisherman.

6 guide boats started at 7 AM out of the Big Indian at Baxter and the days total was 26 fish, with 20 keepers. Not a load, but enough to keep the group of party go'ers happy.

Fish were caught on a FB Jig, a blade, and swiming a 4" grub.

I, in my over 32 years on the Rock, have never seen this kind of fishing prussure. The point that I did so well on last evening had anywhere from 6 to 12 boats on it the entire day. Most fishing so close they could have cast into the boat in front and the boat behind them. There were boats waiting in the lake for a boat to pull off the point, then they would pull in. Amazing.

Some of the other guy's said the flats across from the Baxter Marina were litterly covered to the max, and continued all day to be boat after boat after boat.

Best bite early and after the pounding, it was really tough for the most of us.

Chris Tetrick and Tim Paige seemed to be doing the best, but both reported only a fish or two after 10 AM.

Early season tournament prussure on the Rock, in my opinion, is to the point of getting out of hand. Boats are dragging these LM, spewing eggs 30 to 50 miles to a weigh-in and then dumping them out. Not a problem for the K's or the Jaw's right now, but a real shame with the LM.

There needs to be a format of weighting the fish on site and getting it back in the water as soon as possible. This may not work for the Elite or the FlW, but how big of gallery does these local tournaments have? 50 to 100 persons, at most? We are trying to go green in this country, and the small tournments are going in the oppsite direction.

We need to let these fish be during the spawn. Would not rock my boat if Table Rock was off limits, no bass fishing in April.

The biologist tell us that one spawing female will repopulate an entire section of lake. If so, think how good it would be with a thousand. We have the forage.

Just wish the locals and the everyday fisherman could get on a bank if they wanted to without, the tournament boy's Rock-in and a Roll-in on our junk.

Me Bad, I guess they have a fishing Lic, and can do what they want.

[techo]

My friend and I drove the Skeeter around most of the day. We put in at Kimberling 13 Ramp. No one else was there. We ended up on the other side of Cape Fair, and back. Caught two shorts. It was a fun and slow day for us. It was a bit windy by this afternoon.

We did bump into a fellow who offered his fishing spot to us. He asked us if we were fishing a tournament, and if so then we could have the point. We were not fishing the tournament, and thanked him anyway. He said he was having a challenging time today. Makes the day even more enjoyable to bump into folks like him.

I would highly recommend not to go where I did and throw what I threw if you want to catch fish!

[JoeSki]

Couldn't agree more about messing with spawning females. Even worse if theyre pulled off of they're taken away from their nest and the nest is left to be raided.

[Cajunangler]

Techo, is the ramp you launched at the one beside the bridge leading into Cape Fair on the southeast side of the bridge? I'm hoping to go Tuesday and wanted to find another option besides Mill Creek up the James River Arm.

And Bill, I hate to give you a real hard time about your comments concerning too many fishermen, BUT! You need to go down south to Toldeo Bend, Lake Fork, Sam Rayburn, etc and see the number of boats on any given weekend from mid-January through May. Unfortunately, bass fishing has increased in popularity so much that finding a decent body of water without crowds in the spring is nearly impossible. I am sure all of this pressure does have an impact on the fish spawn but probably no more than largely fluctuating water levels. Fortunately, there are bass in every lake that never see a fisherman's lures. And someone in your line of business wanting to shut down a lake during one of, if not your best months during the entire year sounds a little hard to believe. I know we would all like to have a lake to ourselves when we go but that usually takes fishing in horrible weather conditions to achieve, not the perfect conditions that today offerred. I do everything I can to avoid wekend fishing and simply have to grin and bear it when I do go on a Saturday or Sunday.

[Phil Lilley]

Bill, if what you say is true about one LM female repopulating an area, then it only takes one or two not taken to do their thing and the population is ok. I'd think if MDC really thought these tournaments could kill off the bass population in a significant way, they'd regulate them... but boy wouldn't the fur fly!!!

What does your biologist friend say...

[Jeremy Rasnick]

Fortunately for the fish population I caught 3 Scrawney males toping the scales,@ 6-11. Caught on a spinner bait.....if I had it to do all over again I would have threw more cranks and grubs. On a more serious note.....I think the fish have a better chance this year of making babies than they have for a while.....Many will be passed by due to the cover and water clarity, there are so many places for a bass to get that a spinner bait can't.

[Whack'emGood]

Cajunangler, did you say "perfect conditions today offered"? You must have fished a different lake than I did today. Post front-high sky conditions... Gusty, swirly, downright nasty winds (if you tried to fish the main lake at all) out of the NW and switching to the North (in the late afternoon)... and a Tourney fisherman every 100 feet of bank. We launched at 1PM, and I bet every bass that saw my spinnerbait had already saw 20 just like it by the time we got there. Those conditions aren't anywhere in the neighborhood of "perfect" in my book. Or... maybe I'm just not a very good fisherman. Seriously... I'm beginning to wonder. I hear that everybody has been slaying them, then I finally get to go and... Well, maybe next weekend I'll get'em.

[Cajunangler]

I guess I should define "perfect" in the manner I used it. It simply means that if you talk to anyone that doesn't fish a lot or ever they believe when the weather in sunny and warm it is the "PERFECT" time to go. Which is why lakes are always overloaded on those types of days. It has no reference to what true fishermen would prefer to have. Sorry. I'll try to be more descriptive in the future.

[FishnNut]

Bill, I'm honestly not smart enough about the spawn to know how much this may be hurting our fish population, but if you are right (and I have every reason to believe that you are), I'd be more than happy to join in and petition MDC to consider putting it off limits. Admittedly, I'm not a tourney fisherman, but even if I was, I'd want what was best for our fishing future. I will catch bedding fish, but immediately release them and believe that this is the very best for them, unless you completely leave them alone (which would be the very best).JMHO

[techo]

Cajunangler,

I went to Kimberling City 13 ramp. You have to pay $5.00 there now, but I didn't have to deal with the other three or four hundred boats trying to use a ramp. I also didn't have to burn gas driving around looking for a place to ramp or park. I am eagerly anticipating Aunt's Creek to open back up. It is my favorite place to launch.