Holiday Weekend Report NON-RESTRICTED ZONE

[Bill Babler]

Usually not a fan of fishing on the 3 bigguns as far as the Holliday weekends, but after our first August vacation ever I thought I had better get back to work.  Usually alright if you get out there early and off the water prior to the boat races.

All three days were really better than my wildest dreams as the fish numbers are fantastic in the Short Creek to Cooper Creek stretch.  It is kind of funny on the size.  They seem to really be schooled size appropriately.  If your in small fish that is the deal.  If your in nice keeper fish that is what your going to catch. 

Lot's and lots of 7 to 11 inch browns.  They are extremely aggressive and I even had them swallowing a micro jig and that just never happens.  They ate a power worm completely gone.  If your going to fish right now out of the Trophy area you are going to get bit by these browns, I was just as careful as I could be and that is all you can do because of their aggressive behavior.

Wind and clouds make all the difference.  I had my guys yesterday on a countdown, watching the clouds cover the sun.  As soon as you have the slightest cloud cover or a slight ripple it is on in a major way, just bite after bite on the  Power Worm.  When the sun comes out or the wind quits it just stops.  Lucky for me most of the weekend I had both some clouds and breeze most of the time.

Way nicer fish yesterday on my trip out of Lilleys.  We had close to 80 trout with some excellent size from 13 to 16 inches, and extremely thick.

Had a gentlemen pull up behind us yesterday to ask how we were catching them.  Said he had been watching us for 30 minutes and had never seen such a display and had fished the lake most of his life.  It was lots of doubles with both guys hooked up at least a dozen times.  He was watching about 10 AM and we had complete cloud cover and the wind was blowing 5 inch ripples.  Float would not even settle and there would be one on it.  Way better to be lucky than good.

Water temps ranged from 56 to a high of 61 degree.  Be interested to know the Ox. in the Cooper area as these fish fought like tigers and some jumped several times.  I had no trouble releasing them, they would just blister off to the bottom.  Photo's were all but impossible with the way they were struggling, so they had plenty of Air. 

They are calling for lots of rain this next 10 days, but the fishing should be outstanding and as you all know the next two weeks after a holiday are usually pretty quiet in Branson, so if you can sneak away you can have just some fantastic fishing.

Good Luck

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[Travis Swift]

we leave at noon tomorrow to head down.  We will fish all day Thursday thru Saturday.  Bringing rain jackets and the works, thinking we might be in for an epic trip hopefully.  Plan to throw a lot of jerkbaits, especially in the rain also. 

[Seth]

Sounds like I will be down the last two weekends this month. Taking a buddy who has never been down there before on the second to last weekend and then with the parents that following weekend. Hope some browns are running by then. I need to break that 20" brown curse!

[JestersHK]

8 minutes ago, Seth said:

Sounds like I will be down the last two weekends this month. Taking a buddy who has never been down there before on the second to last weekend and then with the parents that following weekend. Hope some browns are running by then. I need to break that 20" brown curse!

Give me a shout if you need a stellar( and by that I mean Sub-par) net man LOL  I too will be capitalizing on a light weekend schedule and try to squeeze in a few more trips down.

[Seth]

42 minutes ago, JestersHK said:

Give me a shout if you need a stellar( and by that I mean Sub-par) net man LOL  I too will be capitalizing on a light weekend schedule and try to squeeze in a few more trips down.

Are you going to be down either of those weekends? I think there will be three of us in the boat that second to last weekend and we plan on throwing jerkbaits strictly for big browns and fishing hard. I'll probably be playing more of a "guide" role that following weekend and putting the family on some fish. I'm going to try and get out there early and late without them and target some brownies again though.

[JestersHK]

I'll have to play it by ear... Heading down this weekend I think.  But might be able to swing back to back trips... I'll let ya know.

[Gatorjet]

Heading down in the morning. Hope to make up for a disastrous Branson Firefighters tournament. Tooth ache that turned into an infection in my jaw, and a trip to Cox Urgent Care Friday morning. No sleep other than maybe 5 or ten minutes at a time for almost four days. My partner thought I was going to fall asleep and drop my rod into the lake. Or worse yet, take a shockingly cool plunge off the front deck of the Gator. Not the best way to fish. Daughter, and Son-In-Law coming this trip. Hope we can get on some fish.

[Travis Swift]

1 hour ago, Gatorjet said:

Heading down in the morning. Hope to make up for a disastrous Branson Firefighters tournament. Tooth ache that turned into an infection in my jaw, and a trip to Cox Urgent Care Friday morning. No sleep other than maybe 5 or ten minutes at a time for almost four days. My partner thought I was going to fall asleep and drop my rod into the lake. Or worse yet, take a shockingly cool plunge off the front deck of the Gator. Not the best way to fish. Daughter, and Son-In-Law coming this trip. Hope we can get on some fish.

We are headed that way tomorrow also.  May see ya on the water. Safe travels 

[Mulnik]

Can someone tell what the set up is to fish the power worm?  I've never use slip bobbers before. What do I need?  I would like my kids to be successful on something other than powerbait.

Thanks

[snagged in outlet 3]

The guys at Lilley's will hook you up.................Pun intended.