Next Week

[vernon]

I've had lots of guys tell me about both of these deals but have just never been able to get my head wrapped around either one.  Maybe I'll give it a shot this time.  What the heck - all of them and you guys can't be wrong!  

How in the world do you cast a popper and a 6' leader with a jig?  Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me but we'll see!

Thanks for the tips - I'll let you know if we catch fish or both end up strangled by our own line or in the ER!

[vernon]

Well, not much to report. Got in about 300 yesterday - man it's hard to find stuff down here - like resorts. Not like that's news but dang....   Anyway, like I said, late out yesterday. A couple of keeper largemouth on windy banks on spinnerbait but the waves was rollin. 

Later on, a couple crappies and two whites but it was just hard to fish with all the boat traffic and wind.

Unfortnately, today was worse. Just couldn't safely get to the places I wanted to go. Again, a bunch of short largemouth flipping docks with Ned and jigs and a few keeper crappie on a roadrunner but not big enough for me to keep . 

I'm actually starting to really hate this lake. Haven't been here in three years or so cause I got tired of the rudeness. Well, it's gotten WAY worse. My God, I can't believe that people actually want to live down here. 

Today, had a decent sized boat (big) coming towards me while I'm IDLING along the bank maybe 100ft. from shore. I angle even more towards the bank cause if this guys goes off my port I got problems. The big wakes are already rocking me from the starboard.

 Well, of course he insists on coming inside my port - way inside of the no wake buoy that I'm hugging. As they pass I yelled, "Really?" and the woman in the front of the boat yells, "Get a bigger boat a-hole!"  

I don't think I'll be coming back here again. 

I guess we'll see how the rest of the week goes since we're already but man - not enjoyable despite the unbelievable weather. 

[fishinwrench]

Sounds like you "Lodged" a little too close to the malls and fine dining establishments.   It's a big lake.  

If you want to run up the Niangua's or the Gravois and look for bluffy hard rock banks with docks you'll find some fish behind those docks willing to eat a 1/2oz. football jig.  These are areas where the shad aren't so thick....and the bass a bit easier to trick into biting.  Banks that look like this....

Shoot it right under (or over) those cables where everyone else is scared to, and you might get ya one of these

 

The backends of coves are loaded with shad AND BASS but with all that easy food nearby they are hard to sell a phoney bait to.  

[vernon]

10 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Sounds like you "Lodged" a little too close to the malls and fine dining establishments.   It's a big lake.  

If you want to run up the Niangua's or the Gravois and look for bluffy hard rock banks with docks you'll find some fish behind those docks willing to eat a 1/2oz. football jig.  These are areas where the shad aren't so thick....and the bass a bit easier to trick into biting.  Banks that look like this....

Shoot it right under (or over) those cables where everyone else is scared to, and you might get ya one of these

 

The backends of coves are loaded with shad AND BASS but with all that easy food nearby they are hard to sell a phoney bait to.  

Thanks Wrench. I appreciate the advice. We were hoping to do just that but will probably wait until tomorrow to make the run when "hopefully" the boat traffic subsides some. 

Where we're staying is just around the corner to the south of Shawnee Bend access area.  Certainly not the best location for getting out and around under the circumstances. When we booked the place we weren't expecting the weather to be like mid June though!  In the past, normal highs in the 50's seemed to keep some of these yayhoos home or indoors and made navigation reasonable but, man, not this week. 

I'm just not willing to beat myself senseless trying to make a ten mile or more run in high seas. Wish I had had the boat I've got now when I was young and fearless!  I could/would have been able to go anywhere I wanted whenever I wanted.   Now I prefer comfortable when possible.  

Its OK though. We'll have a great time regardless and hopefully we can make it upstream a couple of times before the end of the week. Heck, we might just put the rig back on the trailer and head that way via dry land.  I guess we have options if we just use em'.  

Thanks again for the help. Those are some great (and educational) pictures!

[nomolites]

It will be fine after 3pm today; be a different lake.

sounds like you are in the Lakeview area; enjoy your week!

Mike

[vernon]

1 hour ago, nomolites said:

It will be fine after 3pm today; be a different lake.

sounds like you are in the Lakeview area; enjoy your week!

Mike

Yep. That's it. I do remember that 300 always seemed to be the magic number. Holds true on Fridays too as in when the clock hits 300 you best be ready to hang on.   

I can't believe what a whiner I've become in my old age.   

Thanks and we will do our best. 

[fishinwrench]

We flat tore 'em up this afternoon.  8 keepers along those bluffy banks but nothing over 3#,. Then ran across a giant school of Whites and filled both livewell in less than an hour.     

Only saw 3-4 other boats the whole time we were out.  Awesome day!

[96 CHAMP]

8 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

We flat tore 'em up this afternoon.  8 keepers along those bluffy banks but nothing over 3#,. Then ran across a giant school of Whites and filled both livewell in less than an hour.     

Only saw 3-4 other boats the whole time we were out.  Awesome day!

A buddy of mine got back Sunday and said they caught them also. Told me they would surface in the evening & said they would stay up for almost a hour, filled the livewell quickly, now when I say a hour he told me they would come up, feed, go back down & repeat this over & over in the same general area.

[vernon]

10 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

We flat tore 'em up this afternoon.  8 keepers along those bluffy banks but nothing over 3#,. Then ran across a giant school of Whites and filled both livewell in less than an hour.     

Only saw 3-4 other boats the whole time we were out.  Awesome day!

Good for you Wrench!  Man, that's great. We on the other hand didn't get much done at all. My brother had to run back home Saturday afternoon for a semi emergency and didn't get back until 300 Sunday. I didn't stray far as I wanted to be here to pick him up when he got back. Was just a little later than we had hoped. 

Fished docks all afternoon with similar results. A few crappie and lots of short bass (10-12" short).  This general area currently seems to be sort of a Dead Sea. Lots of shad in coves here too but scant little activity and nothing significant on the electronics either.  Have yet to see any surface activity although we have spent quite a bit of time during "prime time" both evenings idling around typically likely areas.  Don't know if all the boats tend to push them deeper and tighter to cover like docks? Heavy boat traffic is so common though I wouldn't think it would matter.  

While the boat traffic subsided significantly as y'all predicted, I've now developed a motor problem and again am reluctant to travel very far. Might revert to my previous plan of trailering elsewhere. 

Kind of aggravating though with a six month old boat!  

Again, congrats on your great day and continued thanks for trying to help out us hacks!

[Old plug]

from your pictures wrench I would say you were in Indian Creek. I have not really been out in close to 2 weeks. I had a oil slick out in the cove yeasterday afternoon about 2 acres in size. Bet it was dumped. I have a heighbor I caught draining oit out of his inboard into the lake several years back. Bet there are some of the elite cool people set that do that.