Clearwater To Mill Spring Report 7/5-7/7

[jibro]

My wife's family has a place on the lower Black and we head down there every 4th of July with the whole family. Friday evening we got out for about an hour. River was up a little and really murky. Threw a crank, my father in law was throwing a buzz bait. Caught 2 fish. 12 inch smallie and 16 inch 'eye. Sat. evening got out again for 2 hours. 3 fish. 12 inch smallie, 11 inch spot and 17 inch eye. Smallie and the eye came on the crank, the spot hit the buzz bait. Sunday morning out for 2 hours and caught 3 spots all on the crank. 1 was 13, the other 2 were 10. The river got a little bit clearer each day not a lot but a little bit. The fish seemed to bite the slower i reeled the crank. I was throwing a 4-6 foot deep sexy shad. The eyes both came out of the middle of river. 2 of the spots hit it right when it hit the water as if i hit them in the head with it. Probably the only way they could see the bait was if it was right in front of them the water was so murky. All the bass came out of slack water right on the edge of the current. Pretty slow fishing. Father in law caught a 19 inch large mouth on a texas rigged worm the day before i got down there. If the water has been clearer im sure we would have done better. The 'eyes were the highlight. Now i usually catch one or two 'eyes while we are there but i have never caught one over 15 inches let alone 2 that were both nice thick fish. Overall it was a great weekend on the river, the whether could not have been better. we saw very little boat traffic which is strangely the norm for a section of river that has quite a few homes on it.

[Hog Wally]

Is that area jet boat worthy?

[Al Agnew]

Ah, I can see Hog Wally's eyes lighting up with the mention of walleye.

Yeah, it's pretty runnable by jetboat most of the time. Gets a little brushy and log-lined here and there. Probably as good a walleye river as you'll find in Missouri...too bad the locals pound it for walleye in the winter and keep everything they catch or the next world record could be swimming around in it.

[Hog Wally]

What a shame Knuckleheads don't get it I coming down I guess Gotta see if I've stumbled on a walleye technique that works on other rivers

[Hog Wally]

If I do I won't talk

[Hog Wally]

What a shame Knuckleheads don't get it I coming down I guess Gotta see if I've stumbled on a walleye technique that works on other rivers

[Old plug]

Yeah AL it was a terrific river for walleye 30 yrs ago. Sometimes they bunch up below the darn. I know used to know someone down there that has caught a few 10 lbs on the black in the area of the darn below Clearwater Dam. Have not been down there in over 20 yrs. I do not think I would like it now that there are jet boats. I get enough boat disruption on this circus I live on.

[Hog Wally]

I like jet boats so I will fit right in. I like to run right through the middle of my spot then turn around and fish. Seams to put the fish in a bite

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, I fished it a lot 20-30 years ago. Biggest I ever caught was 12.5 pounds, but I saw two 15 pounders and a 17.5 pounder caught, and knew a guy who had caught one that went 19 pounds. Nobody even started bragging until it was over 10 pounds.

[jibro]

Is that area jet boat worthy?

Yes. That is what we use on the river. The traffic really isn't that bad surprisingly. 4 thof July weekend and i think we saw 2 other boats the whole weekend.

Ah, I can see Hog Wally's eyes lighting up with the mention of walleye.

Yeah, it's pretty runnable by jetboat most of the time. Gets a little brushy and log-lined here and there. Probably as good a walleye river as you'll find in Missouri...too bad the locals pound it for walleye in the winter and keep everything they catch or the next world record could be swimming around in it.

There are still plenty of walleye in the river. I have never been down there and NOT caught walleye. When we find one we ususally find 5. 9 times out of 10 we catch them on crankbaits