Crappie good using jigs around the brush piles

Stripers very good using live bait

Largemouth Bass fair in the morning using Carolina Rigs and at night with spinner baits or soft plastics

White Bass at night using minnows and shad

This Fishing Report Is For:

December, 2003 - updated every two weeks, or when fishing conditions change 

GENERAL CONDITIONS

Lake Level: 647, dropping slowly

Surface temperature: 50's on surface and down to 60 feet

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I have been gone for a month on my annual bow hunting trip so I haven't been around to report on the fish. I have been back a week and the following is what I have found out. The water temp is in the mid 50's, on the surface and down to the 60 foot level. Therefore most of the fish can be in this wide depth range. It seems that the largemouth are shallow as usual, the smallmouth are ranging from 10 to 30 feet, and the spotted bass are 40 to 60 feet. I went fishing on Monday and we caught 12 bass in 4 hours dragging night crawlers in 35 to 55 feet of water in the back of a creek on a flat off of a channel swing. These fish were full of crawfish. They were not schooled up chasing shad like normal. We caught mostly spotted bass with one smallmouth.

From what I am being told and have heard the best patterns have been spinner baits and crank baits for largemouth bass in shallow water. For smallmouth bass use a jig-n-grub combination, crank bait, or plastics in 10 to 300 feet of water. For spotted bass drag night crawlers or jigs in 40 to 60 feet of water. The rest of the patterns below will also work as they do every winter.

Recommended Baits 

-SPINNER BAIT- good pattern to use on a cloudy or windy day. Mostly around the brush piles or chuck rock banks, anything with cover on it.

-LIVE BAIT- Night crawlers are catching fish in the 35 to 60 foot range during the day. Main lake bluffs, bluff ends, lake flats, drop offs, timber and brush piles are the best places to look.

-DROP SHOT- This pattern is working well with night crawlers in 35 to 50 foot of water. There are several places to look- bluff ends, timber bluffs, brush piles, channel swings, and main lake flat points. I know this is a lot of places but the fish are really moving around to find the quality of water they need.

- SPOONING- This pattern is working well in 35 to 55 feet of water on the flats, drop offs and brush piles. The best thing to do is to try to locate the shad balls or bait fish and then drop your spoon around them. If there are any hungry fish around they should not be too far from the bait fish. The other thing to do is to look for bigger fish on your depth finder then entice them to bite by jigging a spoon in front of them.

-PLASTICS- The old grub, gitzit, tube jig, hula grub and any other variation of these are producing fish. Also, the lizards, french fry, salt craw and small plastic worm. Especially the bluegill or crawfish colored ones. Drag these in 10 to 60 feet of water depending on where the fish are on your depth finder. This has been the hottest pattern for smallmouth bass especially on the gravel flats and chunk rock banks on the main lake.

-JIG-N-FROG This pattern is working in the 15 to 25 foot range for smallmouth bass and 40 to 60 foot range for spotted bass

-CRANKBAITS- This pattern is producing fish esp. on cloudy windy days around the brush piles. Any perch-bluegill-sunfish color is working.

-TWIN SPIN- this pattern should also start to work on the timber bluffs any day.  

Recommendations for Specific Species 

WALLEYE - With the water temp increasing and the thermocline dropping the walleye are moving down past the thermocline. The old time fisherman will go way out on the gravel flats this time of year and look for the walleye hanging out there. They will look for shad balls and spoon around them or spoon around the blips on their fish finder screens.

1. Spooning in 35 to 55 feet of water on the main lake gravel flats.

2. Dragging a night crawler. This can be done with a basic split shot and hook rig, or with bottom bouncers. The walleye seem to be in the 35-45 foot range.

3. Trolling with chartreuse crankbaits. Flat trolling with deep divers is producing fish later in the day when the sun goes down and the walleye come up.

CRAPPIE- The crappie fishing is good. They are still coming in on small minnows, small jigs and small tube baits. Look around the sunken brush piles or standing timber in 30 to 40 foot of water.

CATFISH- The catfish are being caught on jug lines and trot lines off the main lake pockets and coves around brush piles and stumps. They are mostly feeding at night, however some day fisherman are catching them on night crawlers in 30 to 40 feet of water.

TROUT- There was a lot of trout caught on Bull Shoals Lake this last week. They are trolling spoons around the bluffs and deep water in the Bull Shoals Dam area and doing quite well. Most of the trout are in 55 to 65 feet of water.

TILL NEXT TIME- MAY YOUR FISHING LINE BE TIGHT AND YOUR FISHING ROD BE BENT!!

December 29, 2003
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our readers – we hope your holidays have been relaxing and fun. Our weather pattern has been mild this last week with temperatures in the mid-50’s. So far this winter we have been warmer than in past years. The lake temperature is still in the upper 40’s (48 to 49 degrees) and at 55 feet deep is only ½ degree cooler. With this deep temperature conversion the shad can be in 8 feet of water or 60 feet of water and guess what feeds on shad? Bass, crappie and walleye – so find the shad and you will find the game fish. Lake level this week with the rains in Missouri brought the lake up to 649.63, 4 ½ feet below normal pool. That is absolutely terrific for this time of year.

Largemouth, smallmouth and Kentucky bass are all in the their winter homes – bluff walls, channel swing ends, deep holes and suspended over deep water. Largemouth bass won’t be up on the banks now until springtime. Fish 3/4 oz jigs, drop shots or spoons at the entrance of the main lake cuts and pockets. Brush piles will hold some largemouth bass during the winter months if we have 3 or 4 days of sun in a row.

Smallmouth bass do not attack a spoon like largemouth and Kentuckys, so drop a drop shot with a grub, Swimming Minnow or meathead to trigger the bite. Jigs will still catch smallmouth bass through the winter although you need to slow down your retrieve almost to where you are dead-sticking. Crawdads slow down during the winter and do not move around much. Also the crawdads will go into hibernation if the lake temperature drops in 40 or 42 degrees. Tube baits and grubs are also key baits to fish during the winter months. Work main lake points and bluff walls until spring.

Kentucky bass are deeper than the largemouth or smallies. Most of them are schooled along the bluffs, at the end of channel swings or under shad over 50 to 80 feet of water. When they are that deep they are very hard to catch. Look for the Kentuckys that have pushed shad into a pocket or cove and are in 50 to 55 feet of water. These Kentuckys are feeding and are catchable. Best baits through the winter will be spoons, drop shots and grubs.

Walleye are also in their winter homes, suspended over flooded timber in 50 to 70 feet of water and on the drop offs along points and feeding flats. It is that time of year to put away the nightcrawlers and get out the ball jigs and spoons. Fish vertically over the structure and use bright colors with your ball jigs and tip them with 2 to 3" shiners. Down riggers will trigger a few walleye pulling spoons and small crankbaits down around 45 to 50 feet. Walleye always feed upward so mark your fish and keep your lures and baits above them, not under them.

Trout fishing on the White River has been great this past week. Best baits are Berkley Power Eggs in yellow, purple and orange. Buoyant spoons, Blue Fox and Panther Martin’s have worked the best when there is some generation. The fly fishermen have been doing well on olive or black Woolly Buggers, gray sow bugs, olive scuds and San Juan worms. Browns are being caught on Suspending Rogues, Jointed Rapala floaters, Countdowns, and nightcrawlers.