September Weekend Report 9-21-14

[merc1997 Bo]

It is strange as when you think of Missouri rivers and streams you think smallmouth. So one would assume that up the river arms on Table Rock you would find the smallies but that is not the case. We have them all down here by the dam where it is somewhat rare to hook into a largemouth for the most part. They are here but I would say 75% or more of my fish are combination of smallies and spots. Maybe there is more current near the dam when they pull water hence the smallies like more current and prefer to stick around the general dam vicinity????? I really have no idea. Would like to know the reasons why the demographics of fish shift to one area of the lake. I know that during the Oakley Big Bass Tournament that the OVERWHELMING majority of fish weighed in for checks come from down in Long Creek and up the James River arm. Guys are looking for the bigger largies so they run up the river arms. Would like to hear why this is from a biologist or someone in the field that could explain this phenomenon.

before the fish kill, there were loads of big largemouth on the lower end of the lake and dam area. i am starting to see a few show up, but not often yet. yes, especially now, bassers that are chasing lmg will be heading up the rivers because that is where the biggest population of lmg are. but, back before the kill, you did not have to run the rivers to catch them. back when we had them all over, i rarely ever frequented a river. plenty of lmg could be had fishing deeper in the clear water. the fish kill changed a lot of things though.

bo

[abkeenan]

before the fish kill, there were loads of big largemouth on the lower end of the lake and dam area. i am starting to see a few show up, but not often yet. yes, especially now, bassers that are chasing lmg will be heading up the rivers because that is where the biggest population of lmg are. but, back before the kill, you did not have to run the rivers to catch them. back when we had them all over, i rarely ever frequented a river. plenty of lmg could be had fishing deeper in the clear water. the fish kill changed a lot of things though.

bo

You think it will ever come back?

[Fishin Hodge]

I have to agree with Bo. Man things have changed over the past 10 years. Bull Shoals was not immuned to the issue either. The larger specimens in the deep water are getting tougher to catch every year as far as I can tell. More and more of the largest stringers are coming from the shallows. Years ago a guy could deep fish this time of year exclusively and be in contention, but anymore it seems you have to either mix it up with a handful of good shallow fish. I've only seen one, four pound black caught this year in 30 + foot of water on the bottom in my boat. Still catch some nice blacks on the main lake, but it is not from the deep water with regularity, at least for me.

I have always held onto that the good largemouths and those magnum spots would come around, but it just doesn't seem like it is happening. The days of numbers of 2 1/2 to 3 lb KY's is long gone. I attribute that at least in part to the amount of guide pressure the lake sees. There is absolutley no telling how many KY's are caught a week in a guide boat. I believe the size has decreased and the big ones that are left are sharp as tacks from dodging drop shots every day.

I do not believe the deep bite will come back to what it was, but man do I wish it would.

[balsabee]

You think it will ever come back?

We used to help the Kimberling City bass population a lot when we would catch limits out of the James River and release them in tournaments into the clear water of the midlake. I sometimes wish it was the other way around. Imagine how good the upper James would be if it constantly got all the tournament releases.

[merc1997 Bo]

You think it will ever come back?

it can with some stocking programs which the texas fish and game have proved to work. the other element that needs to happen is to spread the bigger tournaments to cover the entire lake instead of taking out of the same place all the time. this displaces bass populations, and areas that struggle to begin with can get some bass released in the area instead of them all leaving.

bo

[merc1997 Bo]

We used to help the Kimberling City bass population a lot when we would catch limits out of the James River and release them in tournaments into the clear water of the midlake. I sometimes wish it was the other way around. Imagine how good the upper James would be if it constantly got all the tournament releases.

you are exactly right about a need for the tournaments to be held on a rotational basis from one end of the lake to the other. areas of the lake that struggle have their few fish removed and weighed in in another area of the lake to never return. if the bigger tournaments were rotated to every area of the lake, then caught and released bass would be evenly spread out and not all in one area all the time.

bo

[Fish24/7]

you are exactly right about a need for the tournaments to be held on a rotational basis from one end of the lake to the other. areas of the lake that struggle have their few fish removed and weighed in in another area of the lake to never return. if the bigger tournaments were rotated to every area of the lake, then caught and released bass would be evenly spread out and not all in one area all the time.

bo

how do you get a bass to stay in any areas of the lake ?

[abkeenan]

how do you get a bass to stay in any areas of the lake ?

Another interesting question that would have to be fielded by a MDC biologist. I have no idea what a fishes "home range" is and would be interesting to see how long a fish stays in an area for the duration of its life.

[Fish24/7]

bass in our local reservoirs act more like salmon than bass,lol

would be interesting to know how far some of those brownies travel in a 24hr period, especially during seasonal migrations

[merc1997 Bo]

bass really do not go far unless the food supply disappears. some bass will migrate off the main lake and push shad up the creek arms, but will also migrate back out as the water cools.

about bass staying and not traveling, way back when we used to have a weekly tournament out of big m, leonard and i used to run downstream and catch a limit of brownies and bring them back to big m. we did this over a period of a few years. until we did that, the brownies were non-existent around big m. now, they are caught on a fairly regular basis. i feel that most of the brownies that are caught in the cape fair area are the result of fish caught downstream, but weighed and released at cape fair.

bo