Whites Running In Spring River Yet?

[Bird Watcher]

We fished the Spring for whites this past Sunday mainly between the Highway 10 bridge and the boat houses to the south. Really didn’t fair all that well and the groups we talked with seemed to be having only mediocre success. maybe it was the cooler weather that pushed through that night. We fished early in the AM through about 3PM mainly with 1/8 oz road runner jigs and chartreuse minnows as well as different colored grubs, and also through some spoons. Some guys back at the ramp said that they had success the day before throwing large maroon sluggos. Seeing is believing though…

Must have been the weather..I was up there Saturday afternoon until about 6pm and they were definitely biting everything being tossed in the water. I overheard so many discussions about the "secret bait", yet each boat had a different one? I'm thinking they were just biting anything being thrown if the retrieve was right.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Lol, now you are asking just a few too many questions. Yeah, they are there.

Hey, I thought you were the openness of information advocate? Only for smallmouth I suppose.

[nwaflakes]

On the retrieve we were just casting up to the bank and slowly bringing it back with the rod tips pointed down just off the water, and then giving it a jerk every now and then to hopefully make it look like they were bouncing off the bottom. If you have a better method I would be all ears.

[Bird Watcher]

Hey, I thought you were the openness of information advocate? Only for smallmouth I suppose.

I think you must have me confused with someone else Wayne. I'm more of a "loose lips sink ships" kind of guy.

Well, not entirely...only when it comes to freelance duck hunting and hybrids up tributaries. I've learned my lesson on those topics.

On the other hand, If I were to meet you on the river I'd tell you everything I know about them. Well, probably. Unless you looked or acted shifty to me:)

[Bird Watcher]

On the retrieve we were just casting up to the bank and slowly bringing it back with the rod tips pointed down just off the water, and then giving it a jerk every now and then to hopefully make it look like they were bouncing off the bottom. If you have a better method I would be all ears.

Your retrieve sounds good to me. Slow roll on the bottom. Vary your twitches between a "jerk" and just letting it fall until you figure out what they want. What you might try if you aren't finding fish by casting up towards the bank, go out in the gut of the channel and fish 16-20' deep. Throw upstream or across stream and use the same retrieve. let it go to the bottom and slow roll, twitch, pause retrieve it back.

[Phil Lilley]

My friend who lives in Neosho says he thinks there's more whites up in the Neosho than the Spring, at least right now. He's not sure why but that has been his experience so far this season. Says it's unusual.

[Bird Watcher]

A friend of mine called me earlier this evening just to brag about how many he's caught the last three days. Says every day he's caught as many as he wanted to, but he's catching them in the deeper holes. He's moving around until he finds a good school of them with his electronics and then sitting off them and wearing them out. Says he hasn't caught a fish shallower than 12'. Says if you aren't in contact with the bottom, you won't get bit. Fishing his grub real slow hopped on the bottom.

[Quillback]

I bet there's going to be a boat or two up those rivers today.

[jasperflyfisher]

I was on the spring today around noon for about an hour. Caught one catfish on a white slider. No one caught anything else. We saw only 2 boats. Whites not in our hole yet so we left.

[nwaflakes]

Hopefully with the overnight lows creeping up this week and a chance for a good, warm rain that will push more fish into the river. I think we'll try the Spring again this weekend, but if things are slow we may take your tip and flip over to the Neosho to see what damage we can do. The water level on Grand and also the Spring should start inching up in the next few weeks and hopefully the cats follow right behind it.