Smallies in the winter

[snagged in outlet 3]

My in-laws live in KC and I’ve been in knk a few times while burning time out of the house. It was good.  

[Mitch f]

I usually use hareline  dubbin up in the northwest, good quality stuff

www.hareline.com

 

 

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

24 minutes ago, Mitch f said:

I usually use hareline  dubbin up in the northwest, good quality stuff

www.hareline.com

 

 

 

Believe it not my last material order was on amazon.  

[tjm]

I can't recall if my last material came from JoAnn or Dollar Tree. I'll never use up all the feathers, fur and yarn stuff I bought back in the '70-'80s.  Most of what I buy these days are interesting craft items or toys that I imagine turning into fish bait. I'm glad you guys are keeping the suppliers in business, I'm always looking but seldom see anything that I can use.  Getting better at not losing flies and only getting out 30-40 times a year has curtailed my need to tie as many as I once did. At the same time my flies got simpler and use fewer materials.

I never had trouble catching fish on nice days in winter, I don't like to fish a sunny day in summer though.   I think winter fishing requires the bait to be closer to the fish and easier for the fish to capture, they will work harder in warmer water. Kinda the opposite  of me.

[MoFisher22]

On 12/11/2019 at 2:10 PM, MoFisher22 said:

Good numbers of 12-16 inchers is definitely what i would consider a great day. Thanks everyone for the info. Think im going to try a few spots friday when its warm, ill update if i catch anything worth mentioning.

Update: Ended up putting in on the lower niangua at the boat ramp in the first picture. I’m sure many of you know where that’s at. Was out there from about 11-4. It was a strange day. I caught 30+ bass and every single one was a largemouth. Not one single spot or smallie. Two biggest i caught I have attached in the pics and didn’t catch any under 12 inches. Additionally, every single fish was caught in the same 50 yard span where an area of fast current dumped into a deep hole. Absolutely just stacked in there. I threw mostly jigs/ned rigs and switched colors often in hopes of finding something a smallie would like, but I eventually came to the conclusion they just weren’t there. What do you guys think? Just simply something different between the two species that made the largemouths want to stay in that hole and the smallies to find a different one? I really have no idea. I do a lot of fishing for largemouth in the lakes so when I’m on the river I really am targeting solely smallmouth, but even with that in consideration catching that many decent sized fish is always a good day. And boy I do love seeing how dark and thick their black stripes get in the winter. 

[fishinwrench]

Yeah if you never left the area of the Leadmine slough it's not surprising that Largemouth are all you caught. Frogwater slough areas are Largemouth territory in rivers.   And a spotted bass above tunnel dam is extremely rare.  

Had you made your way either upstream or downstream 1/2 to 3/4 mile you would have come across some pools with Smallies.

[MoFisher22]

Thanks for the info. That definitely makes sense. Really wanted to go up or down river but the riffles on each side of that hole just didn’t seem navigable. 

[fishinwrench]

2 minutes ago, MoFisher22 said:

Thanks for the info. That definitely makes sense. Really wanted to go up or down river but the riffles on each side of that hole just didn’t seem navigable. 

They are tight and woody for sure.  You're a smart guy......if it looks sketchy DON'T DO IT..... especially during this time of year.

[MoFisher22]

Yup learned that lesson on the little niangua this summer. A spot looked sketchy but I had never dumped before with a lot of miles logged on the river. Well before I could blink my yak was sitting in the bottom of the river filled with water and all my poles/tackle were gone. Definitely won’t make that mistake again. 

[oneshot]

You might go up to the next Conservation Area put in at the Ramp go upstream to the riffle. 
 

Colder water and pretty good hole in there with variety.

oneshot