5/17 Mounts to TDL

[top_dollar]

               I fished Mounts to TDL Saturday.  I live in Saint Louis and lost power with the storms.  Fortunately, I didn't have any damage from the tornado that ripped through.  Hopefully nobody on the forum had any damage.  Anyway, I headed to the camper, which has power for the weekend.  The river was up about a foot and half and had a lot of current which made for easy floating.  Fortunately, the water was still clear down about 3 feet, but it was FREEZING. 

             That stretch has changed quite a bit since last year with the flooding, and there are some new obstacles and quite a few new large trees down.  A few miles down from mounts there is a large tree that completely covers the river from bank to bank, and the sides are steep making for a challenge.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to weave through the branches at the top of the tree.  I eventually had to get out of the boat, stand on the trunk, and slide the boat over.    

              The fishing was pretty good.  I was with the girlfriend, and didn't really even fish too much, but still caught about 15 - 20 bass and she caught several panfish on a plastic bug under a bobber.  The best bait was a jig with a Deps cover scat as a trailer.  I was having trouble keeping the jig down with flapper craw, so I put one of those on the back and it sank like a missile and worked great.  I also caught a few on a crankbait and a swimbait.  The worm and jerkbait weren't working, I had trouble keeping them down in the current.   

[top_dollar]

                     I've been on the river the last few weekends.  I wanted to go to Stockton last weekend, but my truck was having trouble and I didn't wanna endure the heat at the lake.  The river is finally down to its normal summer flow.  You can see bottom in about 3-4 FOW.  Saturday it was clear in the morning, but it stormed around lunchtime and started to get a little dingier throughout the day.  The tree that was blocking the river is now gone.

                   Fishing has been pretty typical.  Catching mostly smallmouth, with an occasional largemouth up to about 17 inches.  No spotted bass.  Best baits have been a worm, a jig and a crankbait.  Anything will probably work though.  Usually a jerkbait works well, but the crankbait has been better so far this year.  I threw a top water for a while with no luck so I stopped.  The bluegill and longears are very aggressive right now as well.  You can catch quite a few on a small jig under a float.