Long Creek

[Phil Lilley]

Vince and I ran up Long from Cricket Ramp about 6 tonight. Fished a crappie bank close to Yocum and caught one dink. Water is pretty stained- Vince showed my visibility was about 6 inches.

We ran up Long to find clearer water. Got up where there was some current and started catching some whites. Ended up with 21. Nothing bigger than a pound; most spawned out. There weren't that many up there- picked up one here and there. Water was still stained but better than the main lake. Sorry, no temp gage on the boat I took. It had a DOT on it though.

[Bill Babler]

Looking back on my records, it should be getting close to time for those crappie to be getting close to the bank. Did you try any of the deeper stuff, at the mouth of the Long Creek -Cricket split? You usually do pretty well early.

You know, I believe they are really catchin them on lake of the Ozarks up shallow. Hope this does not mean that something is missing and we will not have a good season. Hope it is just running late. Kind of worried about it though.

Sam is usually catchin them good by this time, and I believe he is still lookin hard.

The old wifes tale is when the Dogwood blooms are the size of a squirels ear the crappie are bedding. The Service Berry Trees are in full bloom ie sometimes confused with Dog Wood as they are white. Redbud are doing their thing, and the Dogwood in my front yard are now in full bloom.

How about MUSHROOMS, Kind of seems with all the rain and warm nights we should be seeing some. It is going to get really green and brushy way quick, and that may hurt us mushroom seekers. Good Luck

[T-RockJaws]

Went mushroom hunting last night and only found a few small white ones. All the signs I look for, except the trees being in bloom, point to it still being a little early for them. The May Apples are still small. Funny thing is, as wet of a winter as we had, the floor of the woods seem to be pretty dry. I guess I will just have to keep fishing for a while longer and wait another few days to try my luck again on the mushrooms!

[CollegeFish86]

A good rule of thumb is the second to third week in April is the prime time for mushrooms. Its still a little too chilly for them at night. Once the ground temps get warmed up they will be popping. I am going to stockton next weekend to start my hunt for them along with the crappie. And Bill, I think the crappie on Lake O stay shallow year round up there for some unknow reason. I cuaght them last year in the end of Feb on jerkbaits around the docks in 10' of water.

[Sam]

Sam is usually catchin them good by this time, and I believe he is still lookin hard.

That's right, but I haven't been so much looking hard for crappie as I've been sidetracked by white bass. When something's biting, I hate to leave fish to try and find fish.

I think it's getting about time for good crappie fishing in the Long Creek arm. If not up in the creeks and on the banks yet, then they oughta be in the staging areas - off rocky banks just outside coves and creek arms and suspended in the middle of cove entrances. I plan to put in at Gage's tomorrow and work my way toward Cricket and Long Creeks. Maybe I'll find crappie on the way, or maybe I'll end up pestering the white bass again. We'll see.

[Sam]

I put in at Gage's and fished toward Long Creek today. The crappie aren't biting yet. Water temp was 53 in the main lake and 59 up past the highway bridge in Long Creek. The cold wind made it pretty miserable and hard to fish - there were a lot of places I'd like to have tried but didn't because of the wind and waves.

We worked hard with a swimming minnow and got a total of two 14" bass, four crappie (only one keeper), and four good-size perch. We didn't try very hard for white bass and didn't find any. With the water temp still in the 50's, I've got to think it's still a little early for the crappie spawn.

I got home to find that my Ozark Anglers orange stickers had arrived in the mail, and I put one on each side of my outboard motor and one on the back window of my truck. I'm recognizable now!

[FRENZEL]

I went down to Bull shoals and the brushpiles we caught off of were in 20ft of water and 51 degrees. ONLY thing they would hit was a minnow on a slip bobber and 10-12 feet deep. Caught a few males a day earlier in some 12ft deep brushpiles. Just starting up I think.

[motoman]

..........I got home to find that my Ozark Anglers orange stickers had arrived in the mail, and I put one on each side of my outboard motor and one on the back window of my truck. I'm recognizable now!

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Dang Sam! I've been watching the threads intently for sticker info, and didn't see anything posted; how'd you get yours?

[Sam]

Dang Sam! I've been watching the threads intently for sticker info, and didn't see anything posted; how'd you get yours?

Well yeah, ya gotta know people and have some influence in this outfit to get stickers.

No, Phil announced somewhere around here that's he's added the orange stickers to his store inventory, and I had him send some of his Original Swimming Minnows while we were at it. I just gave Lilley's Tackle Store a call and the post office got the order to Ozark in one day. Here's the link to the stickers:

http://www.lilleystacklestore.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16939&cat=280&page=1