Advice, Springfield Area: Struggles of a Bad Angler

[Quillback]

The south end of Table Rock, the upper White river arm is within your one hour range (I think).  There's quite a few neighborhood launches where you can put a kayak in.  I know of 2 in Viney cove and a couple in Carter cove.  You can also use Eagle Rock and the Big M Corps launches but they will hit you up for a day use pass.  Do some scouting and you can find these little used places to launch in coves that work great for a kayak where you can fish and not see a lot of big boats zooming by kicking up wakes.

Summer time is tough, especially during the day.  But if you get out as soon as it is starting to get light, or fish the evening into the night you should get a shot at a fish or two.  Drag a Carolina rig or a football jig in 10-25 FOW.  Something to consider for your crankbaits is trolling them, just paddle along with your kayak with enough speed to get the crank near or touching bottom.  

Sounds like you're a night fisherman, you might get some scary fish trolling cranks at night.  I used to fish at night many years ago when I lived on the east coast, had a little 10 or 12 foot fiberglass canoe (can't remember the exact length) I used to haul around in a Chevy S-10.  Bass were stupid in back then, I used to fish a black Jitterbug, had a lot of fun.

 

[Mitch f]

Hire a guide

[Gavin]

Seriously. Hire a guide or beg someone fishy to take you fishing.

[jimithyashford]

7 hours ago, JestersHK said:

If you're not opposed to fishing for trout head to Taneycomo.  If money permits book a trip with this forums very own Duane Doty of oazarktroutrunners.  Watch Phil's one cast on his Facebook or YouTube.  Go back and watch them from a year ago as well.  From there you will be armed with the knowledge know how that if you make the 45min drive to Taneycomo there should be no reason for you to go and not catch fish.  In fact you should have a good fishing trip more likely.  Worse case hang at the outlets and throw a pellet in the kiddie pool lol.  

Bennett springs would be my other location again if you want to catch trout.  Likely easier even there if you go during the week when it's not busy.

Equipment does come into play, but man sounds like you've had some rough goes of it.  Good luck out there.  If I lived in Springfield I'd be in trouble being that close to such great water...

So I've been trout fishing 2 times in my life, both times at Montauk, both times waking up crazy early to be there when the whistle blows, and both times I got skunked. I spent the whole day staring at a stream full of trout, literally bouncing my bait off thier faces, and nothing took.

Those 10 collective hours of putting scores of casts right in the faces of score of fish that didnt seem to even notice REALLY turned me off of trout fishing. And my buddy that convinced me to try it out only caught 2 one time and 3 the other, which seemed terrible to me given that the stream was choked with fish you could almost just grab, but he seemed thrilled with that haul.

 

Now if trout fishing isnt normally like that, then no i am not opposed, i love to eat trout.

[jimithyashford]

7 hours ago, Mitch f said:

So you have to ask yourself how much your time is worth. If you think that hiring a shuttle service is too expensive then I guess your time is not worth much. 

Well Jesus dude, that seems kind of smug.

Not, I dont think that costs to much. I river float maybe 3 to 5 times a summer and hire and outfitter everytime, but when i have a free morning or a long lazy afternoon, or just a few hours after work, and feel the itch to go fishing, I'd like some advice or guidance on how to get better at doing so. 

It's not like wanting a good way to fish that is a BIT less of an investment than a weekend float trip makes me some kind of mook, espeically when we have such an abundance of fishable waters on our doorstep.

[jimithyashford]

7 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Who was it (someone important that knows the meaning of life I think) that said ...."Guys fish all their lives never realizing that it's not the fish they are after" ?

Well, then in my case i should have found what im really after by now, cause im sure as heck not finding fish.

[jimithyashford]

7 hours ago, Devan S. said:

I would almost dismiss all your cat fishing adventures. Take me to Table Rock and let me put out a trot line or jugs or limb lines and I can catch catfish. You put me on the bank soaking livers, live bait, or stink bait and I cant count on 1 hand the number of fish I have caught over 10+ years. I just cannot sit in one spot long enough and I am convinced not all bank fishing locations are really good cat fishing spots. Me and a buddy spent a whole summer bank fishing late into the night, every night when I was 18-19 for cats and outside of maybe 2 night most of the time we didn't catch a thing. 

I would also expand the time your fishing. My idea of summer is mid June to late August also the one time of the year I try to avoid fishing if at all possible. To me not much is happening that time of year except in the rivers where you have been successful. Get out in spring, fall, and even winter and I bet your luck picks up. 

"Fishing during summer just kinda sucks" seems to be what everyone is saying. Which is so weird cause growing up i always associated fishing with summer. It was always a summer activity in my family.  But how much attention do kids really pay to the big picture.

[jimithyashford]

6 hours ago, mixermarkb said:

Three thoughts-

FIrst, fish more in the spring and fall. You don't have to quit fishing in the summer, but fish in the cooler months are generally more active, and located in shallower, easier to fish places. Catching them when they want to eat, will give you more practice feeling bites and makes you a better fisherman, and that will give you more confidence to fish when they aren't biting, like now, in the heat of the summer.

Second, put the cranks and rooster tails down, and fish soft plastics and jigs a lot more, specifically the ned rig, and small paddle tail swimbaits, as well as weightless worms like the senko and zoom super fluke. Moving baits like crankbaits and rooster tails are reaction baits, and generally do better when you are fishing active fish. Soft plastics will get bites from active and passive fish, hang up less, and generally catch more fish most of the time.

Third, learn to fish the windy banks. It is harder to fish, sure, but fishing is al about the food chain. Wind blows the plankton up, and the baitfish eat the plankton, and the gamefish eat the baitfish. All of that happens the most on a bank that the wind is blowing in on. When you get to a new body of water, start on the side the wind is blowing in on. A place where the bank changes, flat to steep or vice versa, with wind blowing in on it, is a great place to start your search.

 

good luck!

Ive never heard that wind advice before, ill havs to keep that in mind. In a kayak you are very much at the mercy of the wind and current, so i suspect if i fished a windy bank i would wuickly be blown up on the bank and essentially be bank fishing, but the kayak is less about mobility and more about accessibility anyway.

 

Now maybe you can give me some Ned Rig advice. I fished with one for three hours today from about 6pm to just before dark. About 8:45, and didnt get one bite. I tried every retrieval i could think of, Nothing bit. I tried up in a plant choked inlet, casting from the middle towards the shore, from the shore toward the middle, all in amd around sumberhed trees and flooded bushes, then on the rip rap near a bridge, pilings under a bridge. Nothing happening at all.

[jimithyashford]

4 hours ago, Quillback said:

The south end of Table Rock, the upper White river arm is within your one hour range (I think).  There's quite a few neighborhood launches where you can put a kayak in.  I know of 2 in Viney cove and a couple in Carter cove.  You can also use Eagle Rock and the Big M Corps launches but they will hit you up for a day use pass.  Do some scouting and you can find these little used places to launch in coves that work great for a kayak where you can fish and not see a lot of big boats zooming by kicking up wakes.

Summer time is tough, especially during the day.  But if you get out as soon as it is starting to get light, or fish the evening into the night you should get a shot at a fish or two.  Drag a Carolina rig or a football jig in 10-25 FOW.  Something to consider for your crankbaits is trolling them, just paddle along with your kayak with enough speed to get the crank near or touching bottom.  

Sounds like you're a night fisherman, you might get some scary fish trolling cranks at night.  I used to fish at night many years ago when I lived on the east coast, had a little 10 or 12 foot fiberglass canoe (can't remember the exact length) I used to haul around in a Chevy S-10.  Bass were stupid in back then, I used to fish a black Jitterbug, had a lot of fun.

 

I dont really fish at night, since my kayak is not equipped with lights or anything, but i do often fish until dark.

 

I might try tablerock. Ive just heard Stockton was great fishing and figured if i keep gettinf skunked there,  no other lake is really gonna be much better. 

[mixermarkb]

1 hour ago, jimithyashford said:

Ive never heard that wind advice before, ill havs to keep that in mind. In a kayak you are very much at the mercy of the wind and current, so i suspect if i fished a windy bank i would wuickly be blown up on the bank and essentially be bank fishing, but the kayak is less about mobility and more about accessibility anyway.

 

Now maybe you can give me some Ned Rig advice. I fished with one for three hours today from about 6pm to just before dark. About 8:45, and didnt get one bite. I tried every retrieval i could think of, Nothing bit. I tried up in a plant choked inlet, casting from the middle towards the shore, from the shore toward the middle, all in amd around sumberhed trees and flooded bushes, then on the rip rap near a bridge, pilings under a bridge. Nothing happening at all.

I know nothing at all about fishing from a yak, but I've heard about drag chains as a form of anchor. Something like that, or some other form of anchor may help you out, because wind is really a huge key to the food chain and fish location, and fishing is about finding fish.

As far as the Ned goes, slow and simple, not much action is the key. There is a ton of info online about it, including right here on OAF. Search the archives and read up on it, but the retrieve I tell my kids and wife to use, is cast, count to ten, reel very slowly for a ten count, let it sit for a ten count, reel slowly for a ten count, rinse repeat all the way back. It will get bit, if you are around fish. 

I also agree with some other guys, try and find some fishermen to fish with, or save up and take a guide trip. 4 hours of instruction from someone like Bill Babler who has forgotten more about fishing than I've ever learned, could set you on the right path for life, and give you enough hands on time to be able to apply things you read about online.

If things you read about fishing seem like they may as well be Greek, you might have to get a couple basic lessons in Greek from someone who knows the language... Then you can keep studying and learning to be more and more fluent.