Kim City - Jan 23 - Deep bite

Fished this morning from 7:30 to 9:30. Was fortunate to catch some quality fish along with several other keepers. From 7:30 to 8:30 the bite was steady. The bite started to slow down at 8:30 and at 9:00 it was done. The technique that worked best was dropping an ice jig to the bottom around visible fish then slow crank thru them. The graph pics show fish above and below my bait and they would approach the ice jig from the top and bottom. And the bottom guys would be your best bet. 

Thanks, those are really nice and the pic's are great.

you never see anything like that going on up here on the upper end.  did get out a bit today and doodled fished.  almost every bite was 30 to 35 ft.  did get 4 keeps (lmgs), but just keepers.  they were right on creek points on both creek side and main lake side.  just not enough of them like there should be.

there is not doubt in my mind that there are better numbers of better size bass downstream.

it was nice to get out of the house today.

bo

Upper end is sure been fishing different this year, and that's not been just my experience.  Pre-spawn approaching, I'm interested to see what we'll have then.

There was a guy on here that had some kind of website with water clarity gages at certain Marinas...I can’t remember his name. It would be nice to see the difference in clarity and temps from up river versus down river.

I can't tell how much clearer it is on the lower end, but definitely more viz up there.  A person I talk to who is a regular has fished both ends lately, and he nailed them down on the lower end.  He also had some bad days there.  Seems to be if you can find those big schools and of course fish them the right way, you can do really well as we're seeing.  And something else, his keeper ratio to shorts was much better on the lower end.  

That whole up river/down river thing has always intrigued me at LOZ. Many tourneys are won with big bags  up river but it’s inconsistent. Having a jet prop really helps and you are definitely fishing less pressured waters.  

There is no thing as less pressured water here, the entire lake gets crushed most of the time.  There is a stretch from probably point 10 on the James to Big Creek that might get a bit less attention, but not much.  The thing that saves us here is multiple species of Black Bass that at times will occupy different water sections and depth.  On LOZ it's the structure that provides a refuse.

In my "Yikes" 50+ years on the Rock it has always seemed that the numbers have came from the White River upper part from Baxter Up and the quality from the Kimberling City, Long Creek, James River areas.  At times you will see a big bag out of the Kings,  but not nearly with the regularity as the other lake sections.

Dock has posted some fantastic fish and I will tell you few people are catching those.  I have not been out as much as I would have liked but when I have been, the size has been crazy good.  Good to the point I"m wondering where the short fish are.  Probably up the White harassing Bo.

Good to see the pictures of the stick bait fish the other day.  I have just done zero good on it but its starting.  If they will hit an A-rig, they will hit the sticker unless you are counting down the Rig.

Becky has guests at the Lodge this morning and I have been watching the lake while helping ie getting in her way, and have not seen a single boat.  Go figure, 44 degree and sunny while the other day 34 and raining and the lake was full.

Good Luck

Man that is just awesome. I wanna get down there In the winter sometime.  Seems to me like the north bluff from the bridge to schooner would hold a bunch of fish during the winter.  I'm sure it would be pretty humbling when I'm used to catching fish there in the summer but I'd love to give it a shot.