2/25/09 Fishing Report

[focused fishing]

Kimberling City Area: Finding and staying with the shad is still vital to catching fish, most of the fish are being caught on Lucky Craft Pointers or Spro McSticks in Table Rock Shad and Chartreuse shad on deep chunk rock points. Wind helps this bite out quite a bit, pushing the bait and the fish shallower. You can also catch quite a few fish on an Eakins' jig fished on steeper channel swing banks in the major creek arms, brown/purple flash with a cinnamon purple Yamamoto twin tail has been the most effective bait.

James River: The James has a good stain to it right now. Fish are still moving up on sunny, deeper banks when the sun is shining. Fish with a Eakins' jig with either a Yamamoto twin tailed grub or a pork chunk for a trailer, let the water color dictate your jig color, the more stained the water is the darker your jig and trailer should be. Missouri craw and black/blue flash are your two best colors right now.

White River: Look for fish to be moving back into creeks following schools of shad. You can catch fish on both a Lucky Craft Pointer or McStick on the deeper points and on an Eakins' jig on the channel swing banks. Best color for the jerkbait has been Nishiki while PB&J is your best bet in an Eakins' jig. Closer to the Baxter area you can also catch quite a few fish on pea gravel banks with a Yamamoto salt and pepper single tail 4" grub on a 1/4 oz. head, the harder the wind is blowing the shallower the fish will be.

Dam Area: The deep bite has slowed in the dam area as the fish are starting to move up with the warmer weather. Best bite has been on a Lucky Craft Pointer fished on deeper wind blown points, best color has been chartreuse shad in the 78 size. In addition there have been several smallmouth being caught on windy pea gravel points, fish a Yamamoto 4" single tail salt and pepper grub on a 1/4 oz. head. If the wind is blowing hard enough the fish will be right on the bank chasing shad.

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[KC Trout Fan]

("In addition there have been several smallmouth being caught on windy pea gravel points, fish a Yamamoto 4" single tail salt and pepper grub on a 1/4 oz. head. If the wind is blowing hard enough the fish will be right on the bank chasing shad.")

EP,

What is the best technique to fish the grubs ? Do you bump them along the bottom, cast and reel, stop and go( giving it a little dying action) or other??

[snakem]

("In addition there have been several smallmouth being caught on windy pea gravel points, fish a Yamamoto 4" single tail salt and pepper grub on a 1/4 oz. head. If the wind is blowing hard enough the fish will be right on the bank chasing shad.")

EP,

What is the best technique to fish the grubs ? Do you bump them along the bottom, cast and reel, stop and go( giving it a little dying action) or other??

I guess as my name is,I'am snake bit. Put in at state park,not a bite till 1:00 pm tried every thing. I give up and went home. K>C> I do good swimming the grub real slow. Thought they would turn on today with the nice weather,or just in the wrong spots.allways another day good luck.

Snakem Out

[Jeremy Rasnick]

Kimberling City Area: Finding and staying with the shad is still vital to catching fish, most of the fish are being caught on Lucky Craft Pointers or Spro McSticks in Table Rock Shad and Chartreuse shad on deep chunk rock points. Wind helps this bite out quite a bit, pushing the bait and the fish shallower. You can also catch quite a few fish on an Eakins' jig fished on steeper channel swing banks in the major creek arms, brown/purple flash with a cinnamon purple Yamamoto twin tail has been the most effective bait.

James River: The James has a good stain to it right now. Fish are still moving up on sunny, deeper banks when the sun is shining. Fish with a Eakins' jig with either a Yamamoto twin tailed grub or a pork chunk for a trailer, let the water color dictate your jig color, the more stained the water is the darker your jig and trailer should be. Missouri craw and black/blue flash are your two best colors right now.

White River: Look for fish to be moving back into creeks following schools of shad. You can catch fish on both a Lucky Craft Pointer or McStick on the deeper points and on an Eakins' jig on the channel swing banks. Best color for the jerkbait has been Nishiki while PB&J is your best bet in an Eakins' jig. Closer to the Baxter area you can also catch quite a few fish on pea gravel banks with a Yamamoto salt and pepper single tail 4" grub on a 1/4 oz. head, the harder the wind is blowing the shallower the fish will be.

Dam Area: The deep bite has slowed in the dam area as the fish are starting to move up with the warmer weather. Best bite has been on a Lucky Craft Pointer fished on deeper wind blown points, best color has been chartreuse shad in the 78 size. In addition there have been several smallmouth being caught on windy pea gravel points, fish a Yamamoto 4" single tail salt and pepper grub on a 1/4 oz. head. If the wind is blowing hard enough the fish will be right on the bank chasing shad.

Don’t Miss Tournament Fishing Radio on ESPN 1400 AM Springfield

Mondays 5:30pm and Saturdays 5:00 am or on-line at www.espn1400.com

www.focusedfishing.com

Eric,

Great report. You and Bill do a great job of reporting, not just one single area that is fishing good or bad but the entire lake.

Also, I wanted to add, for those of you from around Springfield..........John at Fin and Feather has got some SPRO "McSticks" in stock. He anticipates that they will go pretty fast.

[NGAP42]

AS OF TODAY AT 5PM, AFTER I FINISHED SHOPPING, FIN AND FEATHER HAD 7 MCSTICKS LEFT

[smallmouthjoe]

Thank you for the report, It'll be a lot of help this weekend.

[Flippin]

NGAP42,

Do you know if Fin and Feather's had the Old Glory or Table Rock shad color? Also how much was he selling them for?

[focused fishing]

("In addition there have been several smallmouth being caught on windy pea gravel points, fish a Yamamoto 4" single tail salt and pepper grub on a 1/4 oz. head. If the wind is blowing hard enough the fish will be right on the bank chasing shad.")

EP,

What is the best technique to fish the grubs ? Do you bump them along the bottom, cast and reel, stop and go( giving it a little dying action) or other??

Right now the fish on gravel have been hitting the bait with a slow roll / stop and go retreive. I keep the bait on the bottom and if I loose contact I stop until it hits bottom again and restart the retrieve. Most of the bites have been on those subtle drops where the bait looses contact with the bottom. The number of fish has steadily increased on a grub in the past week, we really didn't catch to many over the weekend but Tuesday was pretty good. I was a little handcuffed on Tuesday with my clients, they weren't comfortable throwing jerkbaits so they threw grubs all morning. Did o.k. for this time a year (great compared to last Friday & Saturday), but this bite will only get better. With the warm rain tonight and Friday the bite should improve, IF the cold front Friday doesn't knock them back down.

Good Luck,

EP

[NGAP42]

FLIPPIN

AT NOON TODAY THEY HAD IN STOCK 2-SPOOKY SHAD AND 2-NORMAN FLAKE.

THEY HAVE MORE ON ORDER. A TOTAL OF EIGHT DIFFERENT COLORS INCLUDING

THE TWO YOU MENTIONED. THEY ARE NOT IN YET. THEY ARE SELLING FOR $15 EACH.

[trockbassin]

Eric,

Great report. You and Bill do a great job of reporting, not just one single area that is fishing good or bad but the entire lake.

Also, I wanted to add, for those of you from around Springfield..........John at Fin and Feather has got some SPRO "McSticks" in stock. He anticipates that they will go pretty fast.

Jerry Snider over at Ozark Bait and Tackle in Kimberling has quite a selection of SPRO McCsticks.