Dam Area Report June 21-23

[abkeenan]

Friday - Brother, Wife and I got into Blue Eye Friday afternoon and fished from 8PM-midnight. Did best right up in the flooded bushes and the big 10" worm was out fishing both the jig w/ trailer and brush hog on a jika. Best bite was in between docks right up in those bushes in 1-5ft of water.

Sat - Hit the water before 5AM and started on the pea gravel banks/points on the west side of the dam main lake across from the Branson Belle and only had 1 fish on topwater and quickly switched to jika brush hog/big 10" worm. Caught fish in about 5-15 FOW mostly SM and KY. Bounced around the area and caught a few fish here and a few there. Knew topwater wouldn't be all that great as there wasn't many if any clouds as soon as the sun was coming over the tree line. Not much of a drop shot guy and back in to the dock around 10am. Bite REALLY drops off after 9ish. GET OUT EARLY.

Sunday - Hit water around 430ish and hit the flat adjacent to old 86 to the north which usually always has topwater action early. NADA. Caught 2 KYs on jig/jika out in 30 FOW and decided to leave after about 20 min of a slow bite and not much surface activity. Moved to the bluff end point that transitions into a flat right in front of Chateau on the Lake and stayed there for 3+ hours and really just caught the fire out of them. Mix of KY, SM and LM. Fish came on the jig with brush hog trailer and 5" Dinger on a standup head. Dinger was getting more bites or maybe I am just a better fisherman than my brother who is a jig guy.

Moral of the story....big worm at night, dinger/jig/brushhog during the day and get out before 5AM. Probably best to shut it down after 9 or 10AM as the bite slows down big time plus the boats/jet ski's are coming out as well. If you are a dropshotter you can probably do pretty well for much longer out in 35ft but I hate drop shotting. Good luck out there.

[flyman]

Great report. Very helpful. Couple of nice fish too!! Good job.

[Champ188]

Thanks for the very good report. Glad you guys caught a bunch.

[Quillback]

Thanks for the report, pretty much been my experience lately, a great early bite, then things get tough until you go to the drop-shot.

[fishingaddiction]

Great report. Glad you had some good action early and late. Like the dinger on the shaky head.

[abkeenan]

Nice. I can see that point from my condo. Usually a boat or two on it. Now that the water has warmed up, I might be able to talk my wife into helping me drop the boat in at Moonshine and try it out. I have been fishing off my dock and doing OK. I have RI sweet beavers, Zoom ole Monsters, yum dingers, and a rods set up for drop shot, fin, and spook. so I should be set. How can you hate the Cubs? They have been easy prey for your darn Cardinals for years! How ' bout them Blackhawks!! (I'm originally from Chicago, had to move to St. Louis in 1983)

Jimmy,

They are the lovable losers at this point. Rivalry has for sure lost its luster for at least the last 5+ seasons as the Cubbies are just terrible. Hopefully Epstein can get them pointed in the right direction soon as it is much more fun going to Wrigley or Busch and having that animosity in the air. Now its just like watching Mike Tyson beat on a 90 year old woman in a fight. Miss the days when they had Carlos Zambrano and the two teams genuinely hated each other.

That spot right there is a good one. Love when I see people launch at Moonshine and just pass it right on by all the time. Don't know what they are missing. Its a heck of a jerkbait spot too headed north in the other direction when the time is right in the spring and late late fall. Especially if you have some wind on it.