Looking For Guide

[Old plug]

How was the bite tonight?

Well I am going to tell it and before do I want to explain something. It was best evening this year. I fish alone almost all the time. I do catch my share of large bass but it s almost impossible for me to get a self picture. I do have this IPad but the pictures are hard to take with a long rod in the boat,but it looks like that is what I am going to have to do.

Ok. every time I go fishing I am always looking for that 5 lb bass( 21" long or better) I do not do catch that many but I enjoy the thrill and anticipation of hoping the next one might be a big one. I do not think of myself as a lunker hunter. In a normal year though I will catch 8 - 10 over 5lbs. This year I had caught only 4. It was a little depressing. Well this evening I was fishing in the shallow end of a large cove. I caught a couple small bass and then caught a one slightly over 22 " long on the corner of a dock. I fished a bit more then crossed the cove to a large commercial dock that was standing in shallow water. I fished around around the dock and rounded a corner and seen a large pipe sticking down on the dock that helps stabilize it. I pitched the worm over there and it never hit bottom and I caught another bass 21 1/2 inches long. One more thing is I do not put bass in a live well in warm weather. That is why no pictures and I imagine a lot of doubt about it. But the number is now 6 and not 4 I might make my average yet.

[Hang Jawl]

Why are the guides usually saying they aren't catching fish this month? Yet you go out and catch em.... And in shallow water- how shallow?

[fishinwrench]

Why are the guides usually saying they aren't catching fish this month? Yet you go out and catch em.... And in shallow water- how shallow?

I haven't heard any of the guides say that they weren't catching any, or many, but it's common for a guide to try not to get anyones expectations too high. Fact is; it takes some skill and it's not always a technique that can be learned in one outing, so while a guide will most likely put you in a position to get bit.....its just as likely that a client will blow it.

From the guides standpoint it's often hard to evaluate someones skill level and make the right decision on which bite to concentrate on. I had numerous trips when I have 'played guide' where a client claimed to be a decent and well practiced pitcher/flipper but simply couldn't cut it and couldn't grasp further "polite" instructions.

[Hang Jawl]

In a deep lake like LOZ with steep banks and quik changes in depth you would think decent bass could be in the shallow water at anytime. (3-8ft).

Yet the guides I have researched (only 2 or 3) say the fish are only in deep water now.

[fishinwrench]

Well that's just simply not true. There are bass that live their entire lives in water less than 10ft. and they probably eat more frequently than the deeper fish making them more likely to bite a lure

If that wasn't the case then there'd be no bass in many farm ponds and small streams. Look at the bayous of the South for example.

I've lived near the backends of coves and can guarantee that some bass (often big ones) will dominate a certain little area in the backend shallows of a cove...or as close to it as they feel comfortable.

I'd go as far to say that nearly every backend of every cove, in every lake that has bass in it has a few resident hawgs that make their living there, and when you remove one another will eventually take his/her place.

[Old plug]

Personally i hope they stay out there. I fished deep this evening because I had a poor evening last evening. I never got one decent hit in over 2 hrs. We are in some kind of funk here everywhere. I think it has to do with the weather. They are just not in the mood to play. They know the difference between forage and any lure you throw out there. They are playing are they are not and sometimes you can goat them into it.

If this all started because your testing what i said about the other evening. I do not really care who believes it. I enjoyed it one way ot the other. I have had evening far better evenings.

[Ed Franko]

Hey there fellow anglers! Fishing is starting to change here on Beautiful Lake of the Ozarks. I am still catching bigger fish on the main lake points fishing a worm but not as good as it was. The past few early mornings the fish have been chasing shad in the back of coves and you can catch a bunch of them if you hit it right. We have a bunch of shad this year and as the year goes on the fishing will get better and better. The size of the chasers are small but you can catch a limit of keepers pretty quick if you are lucky. No you will not win a tournament with these fish but catching fish on top water is hard to beat. Zara Spooks and Chug Bugs will show you a good time. Shad is the key and they are just about everywhere. Find the shad find the fish. The water temp this morning was just under 80. This is unheard of in mid August. Normaly it is in the low 90s.. Mornings have been the best for me with the last few daylight hours being good also. I have to admit night fishing for me has been terrible most of the time.I know some guys are sacking them up but not me.

The kids are going back to school and during the week you can fish just about anywhere you want without getting beat up. Weekends are still pretty busy but in just a few more weeks that will change also. If you can schedlue it mid week is hard to beat. i just got off the water and t saw just one boat and it was not a fisherman. By the way I have to say I caught them pretty good too.

Big Ed

[Jim Y]

Personally i hope they stay out there. I fished deep this evening because I had a poor evening last evening. I never got one decent hit in over 2 hrs. We are in some kind of funk here everywhere. I think it has to do with the weather. They are just not in the mood to play. They know the difference between forage and any lure you throw out there. They are playing are they are not and sometimes you can goat them into it.

If this all started because your testing what i said about the other evening. I do not really care who believes it. I enjoyed it one way ot the other. I have had evening far better evenings.

I'm not surprised about the slow fishing because the wind was from the East. I moved to LOZ from Truman last year. Due to weather and some other factors, I have not been fishing much this year and last fall was slow. However, I fished on Truman for 30 years and always found that an East wind meant bad bass fishing. I'm not surprised that the same is true of LOZ.

[Hang Jawl]

Is there a way for an experienced bass fisherman but non boater to fish with a bass boater that fishes alone but might welcome a partner?

I don't have a boat here to use but can get out with someone who does if I knew how to connect.

[fishinwrench]

HJ, You should consider hooking up with one of the local bass clubs. Suffering through a few monthly meetings is almost worth it for a non-boater with the passion you seem to have.

Or.... if you can scrape up 1500-2k there's some boats out there that will do the job and they are just waiting for you to take possession of them.