Indian Point Crappie/White Bass

[Danager]

Our family is staying near Indian Point in mid July, visiting from NE. I’m hoping to get my young kids on some fish and hope to target crappies and white bass. I’ve found some info online including the map with cedar/rock piles. Any tips or advice on techniques or areas we should target them?

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

Whites are hard to track down this time of year.  Usually they show up randomly and are gone just as quick.  Crappie arent the best on that part of the lake either. Im sure they are around, but not in the numbers like other lakes.  Someone else may know where to find a few around there.   Throwing worms for some big gills would probably be a lot more fruitful for the youngsters

[Danager]

I should add, we'll have a boat and can move around the area some.  Are there any other species in the dam area that are better suited for us to target in addition to gills?

[Bill Babler]

Best bet for white bass is early and late.  At times you can see them surfacing chasing shad right at daylight.  Poppers  will work, but small swim baits and spoons either thrown into the schools or vertically jigged into the suspended schools works better.  There have been a few, but very few surfacing in that area.

Fishing now is pretty much over for the day at 8 AM in that area, so get out at 5 or so.  Again depending on boat traffic it may be pretty tough till right before dark.  Wait till just prior to dark to bait your catfish lines or the turtles will eat your perch.

Crappie are pretty much non-existant in that area unless you can catch them under a commercial dock and that is a tough go.   I would set a trotline or use jug lines or limb lines in some of the coves right now to catch catfish.  You can fish for bluegill and have the kids keep the smaller ones for trotline bait and eat the bigger ones.   There should be plenty of bait size ones around your resort dock.  In a boat target the gravel points and the timbered cuts in 12 to 30 feet for the big ones.  Crickets seem to work the best just fished up and down on a drop shot., 

July on Table Rock Lake at Indian Point is not the time to be fishing, expecting a fish fry, just for the most part unless its catfish.

Good Luck out there.

[Danager]

Great stuff Bill, thank you.

Is it worth me driving to the dam area or elsewhere in the boat to get on more fish (crappies/white bass)?

Also, is it worth cast netting for shad for catfish bait?

Thanks!

[Bill Babler]

Yes the cast net can work under a light around the docks.  The trouble is the shad have moved deep and are pretty much not on the surface.  Not saying it can't happen but tough right now. 

Another deal is you can have the kids turn over rocks on the shoreline just under the edge of the water and catch a bucket of crayfish.  You can also buy a cheap crayfish trap and put bluegill parts in it off the deep end of the dock or in the deeper stalls.  You should catch some Golly Whoppers that are good to eat and use the smaller ones to bait the lines.

Indian Point is the dam.  The dam area on here is classified from point 2 up Long Creek to Point 5 on the White and Indian Point is right in the middle.  I"m not trying to dissuade you but crappie fishing for anyone but the locals with a dock usually a big 20 slipper and they fish in a stall in the middle at times, is pretty much non-existant on Table Rock, especially the dam area.  They just don't live in very large quantities on the main lake.

January thru March, the Kings River, Long Creek, and the James River produce at times nice  crappie  In the Summer, just about Zero.  Be prepared for Whites if you see them but realize that it may not happen and right around Indian Point is as good as any to stumble onto them.  If I were looking and I fish most everyday, I probably could not find any unless they blew up.

If your heart is super set on crappie you might try vertical jigging some of the cedar trees along the bluff banks, you can visually see them and also see them with electronics if your baot has good graphs.  If you do find some, God Bless You and there are usually only one or two on a tree at most,  this is not a crappie lake, especially on the White River main lake section.

When you catch a catfish here and you will if you try, filet them and put the entire side on the grill on a piece of foil.  The meat is snow white.  Put some lemon pepper, old bay, and a little Lawrys salt on with a pat or two of butter and cook it till the edges start to sizzle and gets a slight crust around the edge.  You don't need to turn it with a  covered.grill.  For presentation when it comes off, put it on a plate with chopped chives, chopped dill and another dusting of old bay.  It won't disappoint.

If you want to catch fish, go to Lilleys Landing and rent a boat and go trout fishing.  The folks there are wonderful and full of information on how to fish the lake.  Lots more bites on the trout pond than  on the Rock in the Summer.

Grilled Trout Tacos are about as good as it gets this time of the year.

[mixermarkb]

I'm not a table rock guy very often, but Bill is giving you very, very, good advice with the Taneycomo idea. I love the white river chain of lakes, and spend most of my time on Bull Shoals, but they are not family fishing lakes in the summer.

Deep, clear, and hot air and warm water temps just don't add up to having a good time for the kiddos getting their poles bent. Fish can be caught, but whites are a matter of luck, crappie are no shows until fall, and the bass option is best at night.  Taney is a much better option, and one I plan on taking advantage of myself with my wife and kids in a week or two if I can get away from work and a medical issue with a family member that is taking most of my spare time. 

[Bgctrading]

I would think some bass in the 25-30.ft range could be caught. Look up Eric prey or Pete werners for their fishing reports they will get you on the path for bass.

[Bill Babler]

8 minutes ago, Bgctrading said:

I would think some bass in the 25-30.ft range could be caught. Look up Eric prey or Pete werners for their fishing reports they will get you on the path for bass.

I pretty much think he is thinking about a fish fry and on the bass deal, lets not go that way.  There are some bass out there in the 30 to 45 ft. range, but lets not be killing them.

[mixermarkb]

The deep bass bite isn't something I'd be trying to learn to do with kids, even if the need for Catch and Release wasn't such a reality on a lake with the bass fishing pressure of Table Rock. Quality electronics, plus knowing what to look for on them, isn't something that everyone has, and kids get bored quick idling up and down points. Bill offered some great ideas with the Taney trout, and the craw/catfish stuff. 

My kids absolutely love to go what they call "scooping", may be worth a try for yours as well. $7 bait dipnet at Walmart, a pair of swim goggles, floaties for the little guy, fins for the older one, and a flat gravel point with a bunch of bluegill or punkinseeds on it. Let them see if they can sneak up and scoop one up in their net! 

All scooped fish get released, but they sure have a ball swimming around and wearing themselves out in the clean, clear, waters of the Ozarks, and make a fair share of memories for the kids, which is what a trip in July should be about.

 

ps

I've caught more than a couple smallmouth wading around tossing a Ned on a light spinning rod while the kids scoop, and it's a nice way to stay cool in the hot summer playing with the family.