Noob here

[rblackburn]

Hi everyone, just wanted to take a minute for an intro while I'm watching opening day. I fish the Big Niangua arm mostly and rarely hit the main channel. I am targeting crappie, but will catch an occasional bluegill/sunfish and black bass or largemouth. The past couple days I have been using a 1/16 jig with a 2" pink and pearl white slab slay'r. I've been vertical jigging and slow retrieving near the shore line to about 6-8 ft of water and catching in about 2-4 feet depth. I have found that the crappies are holding in or near brush piles with gravel to mud/sand transitions. The water is pretty well stained and looks nearly like chocolate milk, but when it was more clear, I had success with blue/blue tint and black and chartreuse baits.

Happy Fishing!!!

[crittermo]

thank you rblackburn,

it's always very helpful when we share with each other what techniques are working.

thank you for the post and information. i'm trying to get out this week and i'm up at the

gravois area but i'm not sure how all of this rain will affect everything, maybe it will help

[MOsmallies]

Welcome rblackburn.... I'm heading down for the first time this spring to our place in the Mid-Lake area. My father-in-law has been on the crappie so hopefully they will still be on this upcoming weekend. They have a handful of spots all less than 15 feet deep that hold pre-spawn crappie year after year. One of the most consistent spots is a dock that sits on a secondary point pretty far back in a cove. Front of the dock is probably 15-18 feet deep and the back of the dock is around 8-10 feet deep. Good spawning pockets on both sides of the secondary point. You can catch em on jigs I'm sure but the action with minnows under slip bobbers is just fast and furious.

I mostly bass fish, so if I can't figure them out I'll head for all of the likely crappie spots this weekend.

[rblackburn]

I am all for the info sharing, and by no means what is working for me is an endorsement to any product. I'm hoping the rain will help things and bring some slabs!

Sounds like great fishing at you father in law's place, good luck this weekend!

With the current draw down, it appears that the Big Niangua is clearing up a little. I am sure with the anticipated rain, that will change with the runoff. If I am able to get the boat out tomorrow, I will get temperatures from Bridal cave to Ha Ha Tonka. Not too sure if that will help anybody up in my end, but worth a shot.