Viola Wed-Fri, Kimberling Sat

[dtrs5kprs]

Fished Wed thru Fri of last week in the Viola area. Decent rogue bite, some spinnerbait fish in the wind, lots of fish on Carolina rig on inside turn gravel areas on the Kings. Temps dropped over the week, to 52 or so Fri am (before the lightning). Best fish a LM just over 19 1/2" about 4 1/2#. Fish was back in a cut off the river, but would say she was already spawned out based on her condition. Started up there Wed just to avoid some of the rollers on the lake and was pleasantly surprised with the color and the bite.

With the BFL and a 20+ boat club tmt going out Sat near the resort I was at, I took my chances fishing around Kimberling. Proved to be a good choice given the weather, as the swim grub bite was definitely going on the gravel points and banks with wind, between 8' and 20'. Had 4 keepers Sat, best a brownie 17". Actually got on one very good bank near Hwy 13 and sat there from 9am to about 245pm catching fish throughout on a grub and pointer on alternating passes. Just flat caught an awful lot of fish on Sat.

Temp around Kimberling was in the 49 to 51 degree range. Best grub for me was a 5" smoke grub on 6# fluoro and a 5/16oz head. Also caught some fish on 8# fluoro after a reel issue, but went back to 6# and then went back to catching keepers. Best stick was a custom chartreuse foil with purple back...sort of a flashy T-Rock shad. Pointer was 100 size stock chartreuse shad, always good for me when temps are low or dropping. In both areas stick bite needed long pauses, harder jerks seemed key to trigger the bite in Kimberling, but still long pauses in between.

Hope it helps someone. Thanks for all the info I received prior to last week's trip. Will be heading down again next Tuesday, hopefully some fish will be on nests.

[Fishin' Freak]

dtsr5,

Great report. Thanks. I may have to try and put some of it to use in the Kimbering area this week!