Baxter / Mid Lake Report

[focused fishing]

Been a while since I've posted anything, sorry been pretty covered up and just haven't had time to sit down in front of the PC.

Fished the dam, Kim City and Baxter over the last three days, Don has already shared the action at the dam so I won't waste time rehashing his report.

Kimberling City and Baxter is just as hot right now; helped KAST with their kid's derby on Saturday and after we got the dads and kids on the water went out for about three hours in the rain, hail and etc.... Had about 30 fish with 10 or 11 keepers on three baits; Spook, grub and a fluke. Just about every fish came on the flattest points we could find, if there was no wind on the point we would throw a spook (flitter shad) or super fluke (white pearl) to the bank and work it back to about 15'. Most strikes came between 4- - 8' deep. If the point had wind on it we would change up and throw a watermelon/ red 4" grub on a 3/16 oz. head and swim it above the moss back to the boat. Tim and Brandt Sainato won the KAST tournament, they caught all their fish swimming smoke grubs on 1/8 oz. heads and on a redfin, Brandt had the big fish of the day a browning that was just short of 5 pounds on a redfin.

On Sunday fished the Blue Eye Project graduation tournament with a couple of kid's from Blue Eye; same deal we fished the flattest points we could find with as much wind blowing on them as possible. Top two baits were the 4" grub and a rapala X-rap. Had our initial five keepers by 8:10 and culled three of those by 8:45, most came on the jerkbait, you have to work it as hard and fast as you can, I work the lure so hard I have blisters on my hand a very sore wrist today. This is a reaction strike, the x-rap is designed to be worked shallow and fast and is perfect for this application. Most strikes are vicious and will almost rip the rod out of your hand. We caught somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 fish and twenty keepers yesterday, to be honest I lost track once we got over 50 and needed a fish over 17" to help our limit, I just know we caught them all day.

Finished third with just under 14 lbs, Brad Butler won the derby with around 14.5 lbs. We were less than a mile from the Baxter dock all day long. Had a great day and raised some much needed cash for Blue Eye project gaduation.

O.K., I will add one thing to the Dam area report, there are a bunch of fish suspending around bigger docks right now, you will need to weed through several shorts to catch a keeper but there are several big KY's hanging in the shade of condo and community docks. I've been thrown (skipping) a white weightless fluke around docks and getting bit on almost every cast on calm sunny days. Cast or skip the fluke into the shade and allow it to sink for about 3 seconds (if it gets down that far) and work it back to the boat like a jerkbait it is a blast and really easy to do.

Have Fun,

EP

[CMAC]

Excellent report! Curious what those fish do on the flat gravel when there is no wind and clouds. Not bite?

[Jason Essary]

great question, love to hear the answer?

[bjovan]

be there starting thursday thanks for the info!

[focused fishing]

Excellent report! Curious what those fish do on the flat gravel when there is no wind and clouds. Not bite?

We caught a few without wind as well but not nearly as many. The wind changed directions overnight, Saturday it was out of the south, southeast and when the front, errr tornado... pushed through it turned around and was blowing out of the northwest. Points that had wind on Saturday but no wind Sunday still produced fish but with a slower bait, spook, grub and a fluke. The best bite was in the wind without a doubt, and points with wind blowing directly on them were better than those with wind blowing across them.

Hope this helps,

EP

[Champ188]

Methinks EP was confused as to his general location. He couldn't have caught any fish in the White River arm. To quote our guy Techo, "Nothing to see here. Move along please."

[danny Lawrence]

great report eric I plan on fishing between baxter and cambpell point tomorrow afternoon.

[focused fishing]

Methinks EP was confused as to his general location. He couldn't have caught any fish in the White River arm. To quote our guy Techo, "Nothing to see here. Move along please."

Errrrr. yea...... I meant Aunts Creek ....... yea that's the ticket ...... Aunts Creek

[techo]

Seriously, did I do something bad to you guys? You guys wouldn't;t believe how crowded Aunt's Creek is this year.

It is a good place to put in and fish. I am surprised more tournaments don't use it instead of Ahoys. It has more ramps, more parking spaces and seems to be in a better location on the lake. Guess I should be careful with what I type though!

[WAVINGSWAN]

Seriously, did I do something bad to you guys? You guys wouldn't;t believe how crowded Aunt's Creek is this year.

It is a good place to put in and fish. I am surprised more tournaments don't use it instead of Ahoys. It has more ramps, more parking spaces and seems to be in a better location on the lake. Guess I should be careful with what I type though!

Thanks for that infomation. Have a good and good fishing.