Report 8/20

[MOBass]

I was keeping an eye on the weather and didn't want to stray too far so I put in at the leisurly hour of 9AM and ran down to Branson. Trout are still stacked in the creek mouths and a little ways back in them. There are some fat fish mixed in the standard stockers. A silver 1/12oz kastmaster would get about 5 bumps per cast with a hook up about every 6-8 cast. I need to go to a lower stretch set up. Maybe fluor or a little stiffer rod. Just too much stretch with the ultralight and 4#. I did get a nice fish jigging straight under the boat in about 12ft. of water.

Bass fishing was decent numbers. The bigger fish I have seen moved out. Buzzbait, rouge, texas rigged worm, stick o, fluke, jig, and popper all got some work today. The stick o and fluke accounted for all of the bass. Nothing else got a lick. Fish didn't seem to be keyed on any particular structure. Docks, bluffs, banks, and tress all produced.

I found some nice browns from Cooper Creek to right in front of Lilley's. They would charge the fluke or stick o and short strike. I tried a rouge and they would look at it and flair off after a couple of jerks. Anyone have ideas on getting these fish to commit? Maybe get them worked up on the stick o and throw a crawler? The other thought was a down sized jerkbait. I'll be working on this for next trip.

Weather was good and cool. Better than last weekend for sure. Time for a brake to take care of family stuff and then back at it.

[Phil Lilley]

Stop and go- and the stop being alittle more than normal-?? Might try that. They tend to swipe at it and then come back and hit it when it stops.

As for bass... Vince said he saw some bass and around our dock last evening. So you caught bass along the bluff bank or dock side up by our way? Any size? I assume all largemouth.

Cool!

[MOBass]

I tried the twitch pause thing on the browns and they got nice and agitated, but wouldn't commit. A white fluke got a few looks, but they really got turned on by a watermelon stick o. Bluff side is where I saw all the fish. No size to the bass at all. 12" average, nothing bigger or smaller. I really want to hit it again this Sunday but will be out of town the following week and need to get some work done at home and the office.