Labor Day On The Upper End

[rps]

Started at 5:40 this morning out of Holiday Island. It was still dark and the fog was beginning to form. First two fish came on finesse Jewels with twin tail trailers. They were shallow on points in the dark. The first was a barely keeper largemouth. The second was a "almost" K. As it lightened I motored to the back of Leatherwood creek. Lots of baitfish in the shallow end of the creek. Fished my way out using a chug bug. Six more fish in the boat, although none would have measured. Had three or four others on, including one good fish that broke me off on the log he had been hiding under. Topwater bite went away around 8:30 when the fog was gone and the sun reached the water, even on the shady side.

Next, I trolled a wooded flat for walleye starting at 20 feet and working down. I finally took one 21" fish at 26 feet down on a white Norman Deep Little N. Two more passes cost me that bait and netted nothing so I decided to move. While looking for a second walleye, my bait, a magnum wart in firetiger, bounced some brush at 25 feet on a hump on a channel side slope. As soon as the fish hit, I knew it wasn't a walleye. The largemouth thought she was a smallmouth. She was in the air four times on the way to the boat. 20.5 inches long and the scale, which mostly tells the truth, said 5.5 pounds. She went back in the lake, and I decided that was a good point to call it a day. I cleaned the walleye and went home to finish fixing the pulled pork and horseradish cole slaw for the wife.

The lake wasn't empty by any means, but it seemed there were fewer boats and skidoos than last year. Don't know if this was a Monday hangover factor, a gas is too expensive factor, or some barometric pressure factor caused by Gustav. Whatever the cause, I liked the effect.

I'm calling this Labor Day a winner. :-)

[Champ188]

Nice largemouth, rps. And a good walleye as well. Went Sunday myself and managed to catch a mixed bag of about 15 SM, KY and LM by flipping docks with small jigs and shaky head from Baxter to Big Creek but only three keepers in the bunch. I'll take it, though, considering I had no front graph (brand new Lowrance 520c got water in it during a rainstorm last trip) and my trolling motor suddenly went berserk and would run only at high speed, sometimes coming on without me even touching the foot pedal. It's a MotorGuide Tour 82, less than a year old. Needless to say, not exactly in equipment heaven right now. And of course, all this happens a few weeks before the Central Pro-Am championship. Boat traffic was awful down Baxter way Sunday. Maybe they all ran outta gas $$$ by Monday.

[chub minnow]

Boat traffic was horrible on Sunday up the Kings. I thought I was going down when a huge yacht came by throwing the largest wake possible. This was way up the Kings, almost to the 86 bridge. What are these people thinking? I saw two lake patrol shortly after this. Maybe he achieved his goal of sinking some poor family in a little Tracker or flat bottom. The fishing was slow for me, to say the least. It's always humbling when you go out before sunrise and still get skunked.

[rps]

From your descriptions of boat traffic, guys, I guess I was very lucky Monday. Of course, I was off the water by 11:30, I never went into Missouri or anywhere near a well known public launch, and I am so far up lake that the number of private and rental slips is small. Holiday Island has only four docks and the next closest "large " marina is Eagle Rock. That is six or seven river miles away. By the time you reach Big M, from there on down lake you begin to find big boat mania.

Chub minnow: when I owned and trailered the river boat, I used to fish the upper Kings quite a lot. Sorry you got skunked up there. I usually, but not always, found the fish a little easier to talk into biting on the Kings. Of course, I did more flippin and more traditional laydown fishing up there than I do near Holiday Island.

Champ: for years I have always said, "There is always something on the boat that needs fixing." Right now I have a rear light that bends over from a close encounter with a tree limb while I was vertical spooning. To my shame, that is the second light pole I have bent this year. I haven't fixed it yet because I know, as soon as I fix it, something else will go wrong. Thankfully, it won't be near as expensive or irksome to fix as a sonar or troll motor problem. Good luck in the tournament.

[Champ188]

rps: My firm belief is that BOAT is not an actual word but an acronym that stands for Break Out Another Thousand. Oh well, warranty should cover the repairs but I hate being down in the meantime. And thanks kindly for the tournament wishes. Be nice to find a strong dock bite up there at LOZ and win the big one. CPA championship is Oct. 4-5. I'll report back regardless of the outcome.

Chub: rps is right about the upper Kings. Stay after em up there and you'll get em. Keep a buzzbait and spinnerbait handy for when the water dips a few more degrees and chunk em at every dock and piece of wood you come across. Oh, and too bad that RETARD in the big cruiser didn't punch a hole in the hull on one of the MANY deadheads up there that are just under the surface. Never hurts to have another piece of structure to fish.