Fished All Around Florida Sunday.

[jdmidwest]

And only caught one bass.

Saturday started off as usual.  When I was getting boat ready Friday nite, I noticed some new mouse turds on the carpet.  I set a trap and sure enough, nailed one.  Hopped in truck to leave out and noticed all lights out on passenger side of trailer.  The hunt was on, killed an hour tracking down the wire, fender marker light chewed thru and killed the lights.  Patched them up and started out.

.

We took our time Saturday just seeing the sights.  Had breakfast at JR Diamonds in Troy.  Drove by and checked out Vandalia City Lake, nice little overly fertile lake nestled among farm land.  Checked out the Visitors Center at the Clarence Cannon Dam, drove to the spillway and lower dam to the river.  Both were muddy, like the lake and they were drawing alot of water out.  3 gate open and generation at main dam.  Probably good fishing when the water clears up.  Only 2 boats on it.

 

Checked into the Junction Motel at Perry after making the rounds at Samuel Clements Museum and Mark Twain State Park.  Had a nice grilled shrimp dinner at the Junction Restaurant and Bar.  Toured the Hobby Fishing Store.

Got up on Sunday Morning and had big breakfast at the Junction Restaurant.  Put in at the Hwy U boat ramp in the State Park.  Fiddled around at the ramp 45 minutes tracing down the problem of why I did not have power at the graphs.  Found a blown fuse, but have feeling the real culprit was the little rat has shorted something out somewhere.  They worked.

Hit the bluffs to the west of the ramp and worked some trees.  Motored around the Florida point to the south side and started fishing the shallow flats.  We both picked up a bass.  Boat traffic started picking up and pounding the boat.  We ran back to the ramp and headed for home.  Took a pic of a cotton mouth that had been hanging around the ramp all morning.  It shows the clarity of the water.

Everyone I talked to had fished it several years ago and liked it.  But the boat traffic was thick, lots of pleasure boats.  I will have to go back during the off season.

[snagged in outlet 3]

As advertised.  

[jdmidwest]

I think the high water was worse than the boat traffic.  I will have to go back and give it a real try.

The bare banks all around were confusing, no cover except for the trees. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

3 minutes ago, jdmidwest said:

I think the high water was worse than the boat traffic.  I will have to go back and give it a real try.

The bare banks all around were confusing, no cover except for the trees. 

Good luck.  But i think you’ll have a better time if you head west young man.  

[snagged in outlet 3]

Oh yeah.  It’s always muddy.  

[fishinwrench]

3 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

Probably good fishing when the water clears up

Um, yeah that never happens.

[jdmidwest]

It looks like it could be full of possibilities, has to be fish in there somewhere.  Something other than crappie, I did see a few of them pulled out of the trees.

Graphs showed bait clouds and suspended fish.  But, I did not have time to get to know it much.

The drive is boring, lots of grain and flat lands.  We broke it up and came back thru the north river road just to have some curves.

[fishinwrench]

It was a great flippin', spinnerbaiting, and topwater bass lake during its first 10 years. I thought it was going to be among the best bass lakes in the world....then something happened.   

I think the bottom silted over heavily and made for poor habitat.   You can hop out near a rocky gravelly bank and sink knee deep in mucky goo.   The places where a bass can fan out a clean place to nest are few and far between.  Find a few of THOSE areas and you might do ok.

[snagged in outlet 3]

Yep. when it first opened it was a dream bass lake.  Then it just seemed to turn on it's head.  Wouldn't waste anymore gas money running up there.  Too many better places around.

[jdmidwest]

There, finally drug out some technical info.

Why do the crappie thrive?  They need spawn and food source too.

I know the lake was still coming down, but the banks seemed to be pretty clear of mud.  I did notice it back in the extreme parts of the coves.  I still want to see it at normal pool.

I can live with a nice white bass spawn also.  Those are fun to catch.  And there is a mention of Walleye.

All lakes go thru a phase.  First years after a fill build up some fat bass.  Timber seems to have broken off and floated around for the most part.  That big ole point around Florida was pretty open and clear.  Looked pretty open on the side scan.

Silt on the edges was the last thing I would think about.  The banks were open rocks and gravel without any form of cover trees.  Not much mud around the edges.  But, with all of the agriculture around it and the topography, there is a good chance of runoff silt.  The local soil was unique, part of the glacial deposits that flattened out the area it drains.