Catfish fair on fresh shad

Hybrids No Report

Bass good on jig and pig in coves.

Carp No Report

 Report by: Wilderness Trail       "Braggin Board"

ANGLER'S EDGE TEAM BASS TOURNAMENT
OCTOBER 9 AND 10, 2004
CALL FOR INFORMATION

FALL IN STORE SEMINAR - SEPTEMBER 25TH 2 TO 4 P.M.
CALL US AT 870-445-2703 TO MAKE YOUR RESERVATION
There is no charge, everyone is invited - but we are limited to 50 people

September 13, 2004
We had another gorgeous week with moderate temperatures in the mid-80’s and night time temperatures dipping into the mid-50’s. Lake temperature has dropped to 75.5 degrees, warming up to 78 degrees during the heat of the day. Dog days are still with us, light winds with lots of sun. As we move toward October, cooler weather and winds will prevail and the fall bite will start up. The thermocline moved up to 35 feet this week, which brought the bass and walleye in towards the bank a little. Pool level dropped below normal this week, it is now 653.79. We haven’t been below pool since last March. Crappie remain in the brush piles but they are tucked in so tight that you have to fish down through the brush. Take a lot of hooks, split shot, baits or minnows with you because you will lose tackle.

Largemouth bass continue to show up in the back of the creeks, cuts and coves. The morning bite is the best on buzzbaits, spinnerbaits and Pop R’s. After the sun is up the shallow water bite shuts down and the largemouth move to the first drop off where 20+ feet of water is present. Spider Jigs, football jigs and tube baits will trigger a few bites through the day.

Smallmouth bass are still deep, suspending and roaming, around points and channel swings. The smallies will bite all day but they are hard to find and to find more than one or two in any given area is almost impossible. Best baits have been Spider Jigs, football jigs, swimming a smoke grub and a drop shot rig with 4" finesse worms. Look for some top water action in the mornings and have a Zara Spook ready to cast into the smallies that are frenzy feeding. 

Kentucky bass are also pushing shad to the top during the day. Spit’N Image and Pop R’s are the best baits for feeding Kentuckys. Chunk rock banks and deep brush piles are also holding Kentuckys that are feeding on crawdads instead of shad. They are in 35 to 45 feet of water and hugging the bottom. Best baits are tubes, Carolina rigged finesse worms or brush hogs and Spider Jigs with Yamamoto trailers.

Walleye have become active in the afternoons this week. The bite starts to pick up around 3 o’clock until after dark. Bottom bouncers in 34 to 40 feet of water with nightcrawler harnesses (red or copper blades) are catching some nice walleye. Long liners are also having some success using lead core line pulling Rapala Glass Shad, Reef Runners and Bill Norman DLN’s in colors 150 or 153. Most of the trollers are pulling these baits over 40 to 48 feet of water around points that have some chunk rock on them.

Trout fishing on the White River has been good on Power Bait in yellow, chartreuse and white, and Belgian red worms. Buoyant Spoons, Mepps, Blue Fox and Rooster Tails have been working when the generation is on. The fly fishermen have done well on olive Woolly Buggers, sow bugs, and San Juan worms. Browns are being caught on Smithwick Rogues, Countdowns, Rebel Floating minnows and nightcrawlers.

Crappie- No Report

Catfish -No Report

Bass No Report

Crappie fair small minnows on main lake

Bass fair topwater in morning .

Bluegill good on crickets

Catfish good on nightcrawlers

According to AmerenUE the current lake level is 658.26 with medium generation scheduled for the next two days and light generation on Friday, September 17th. The water temperature according to AmerenUE is 78 degrees. The upper Osage River is dingy to about the 70 mile marker and then clears up appearance with visibility ranging from 2 to 6 feet. The Grand Glaize, Big and Little Niangua and the Gravois Rivers are clear with visibility ranging from 5 to 10 feet. The lake has been on slow fall the last week or so, which has not changed fishing conditions very much. It's still tough, but a limit can be caught with a lot of perseverance and concentration. Schools of shad are all over the lake, especially in the coves and pockets of the creeks, making it hard to find a consistant pattern.

LARGEMOUTH BASS - FAIR The morning bite is the best time to catch a few keepers. The bite seems to last until about noon and then slows down to hard work. Flipping or pitching around boat docks on flats with tube baits, Melton jig w/trailer and the Super Sinker (brown/red fleck, green pumpkin, brown/green pumpkin and white) have been the most consistant colors. Working shallow running crankbaits (shad colors and chartreuse) and around the dock foam is also producing. Some bass are being caught in and around brush piles on points and around boat docks anywhere from 10 to 18 feet on 7 and 10 inch plastic worms (blue fleck, June bug and Plum) and crank baits. There are some bass being caught on Pop R's and Zara Spooks off main lake bluffs and bluff points early in the morning, but stop once the sun gets up. The only good thing is the bass being caught are averaging 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds with very few non-keepers. The night bite has disappeared.

CRAPPIE - GOOD Crappie fishing has picked up some, but they are spread out just like the bass. The better crappie are suspended over brush piles 12 to 20 feet on bluffs, in the creeks and coves, but they are not in big schools. Minnows have been the best bite with Road Runners (white or chartreuse) coming in second. On cloudy days a few small crappie are being caught in 8 to 10 feet of water around docks with brush.

CATFISH - GOOD The majority of the catfish are being caught in the creeks, coves and main lake on jugs and on the bluffs and flats with limb lines baited with cut shad, gold fish, shiners and crawdads. Tight lining from the bank with stink bait, night crawlers cut shad and hot dog chunks is producing as well.

BLUEGILL - GOOD The bluegill are still hanging around the dock foam and seawalls during the morning and go deeper in the afternoon. Night crawlers, wax worms (grubs) and red wigglers are the baits to use.

Date: 9/16/04
Lake Level : 612.43
Last Weeks Lake Level: 615.17
Normal Lake Level : 606
Water Condition: Dingy to Clear.

Surface Water Temp: 73 degrees

With a rainy day yesterday the lake was on a slight rise, however that should be short lived as more water is released from the lake.

Most fishermen are reporting slow fishing for crappie. Even the smaller ones have been tougher to catch this week. We did have one good report of almost 2 limits being caught trolling along steep banks. They were caught at 12 - 18 feet deep using minnows.

Tournament fishermen last weekend enjoyed very good fishing. The big concern has been with the lake dropping so much it may change the pattern before this weekends Mark Twain Lake Chamber of Commerce Bud-Light tournament. And with the lake on a slight rise last night, it will delay the drop and fishing should continue to be very good. Grass and shad have been the key to finding and catching bass. All areas of the lake should be good, concentrating on grassy flats in shallow water. Most fishermen did best with spinnerbaits or buzzbaits.

Catfishing has been very good lately. It's still been mostly channels and blue, however flatheads are starting to pick up as well. Trotliners have reported the best fishing using shad, or turkey and cheese hot dogs. Rod and reel fishermen are doing better lately also, catching a lot of channels using nightcrawlers, crawdads, or shad pieces.

Flathead good

Largemouth Bass good on black/blue jigs and brush hogs

Stripers slow

Crappie good

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool:  Temperature:  75.8 

Catfish time is now seen some nice ones this week 

Bass fair 

Crappie fair 

Bluegill good 

Only 14 days to bow season should be a good season remember we are in antler restriction 4 on a side at least 1 inch long so lets be careful and make good shots 

Take a kid fishing or hunting they need it

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 839.0 Temperature:79

Inflow: 50 cfs Outflow: 50 cfs Level: 0.24 feet high

Black Bass fair in 3 to 12 feet of water using light colored topwater lures

White Bass slow while trolling with silver or white lures in 5 to 15 feet of water

Crappie fair using jigs and minnows in 8 to 15 feet of water

Catfish fair on trotlines and jug lines using shad and worms

Walleye fair using deep running lures in 10 to 20 feet of water

Bluegill good using jigs and crickets in 3 to 8 feet of water

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Temperature: 79 Clarity:  Level: high and dingy

Largemouth Bass slow using spinner baits

Channel Cat  fair using cut bait and nightcrawlers at night

Blue cat slow

Bluegill slow using worms

Crappie slow

Water Temp: 76

Crappie slow using jigs and minnows in the brush piles

Blue Catfish slow using night crawlers

Channel Catfish  good using night crawlers, stinkbait and liver

Largemouth Bass  fair using jig and pig 

Bluegill slow using night crawlers

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 864.2  Temperature: 

Inflow: 80 cfs Outflow: 8 cfs Level: 0.84 feet high

No Report

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 867.7 Temperature: 77

Inflow: 65 cfs Outflow: 40 cfs Level: 0.85 feet low

Black Bass fair early mornings on topwater lures, during the day on plastic baits around timber

White Bass fair trolling small crankbaits and Rooster Tails near flats

Walleye fair trolling crankbaits near flats 8-12 feet deep

Crappie fair on minnows and small grubs near tree lines

Catfish fair drifting nightcrawlers and shad

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 915.0 Temperature: 

Release Rate: 777 cfs. Level: 1.42 feet low

No Report

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Temperature:  Level:

Branson Trout Unlimited Meeting - September 28, 2004, 7:00 p.m. at the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery. Annual Trout Unlimited Dinner/Auction October 23, 2004, at Landry's Seafood. Sit down dinner, choices of entrees. E-mail us for more information, or give us a call 1-877-699-3474.

GENERAL COMMENTS

Water Conditions: Water off in the a.m. Monday and Tuesday this week. Generated one or more most of the weekend. Yesterday ran two in the a.m. then four later in the day. One on this morning.

FLY FISHING TROPHY AREA (dam to Fall Creek)-SHALLOW WATER-WADING-
Fishing continues to be good. Had a couple out yesterday for 1/2 day. She had very little experience fly fishing and she boated at least 20 fish. Her friend caught a beautiful 18 inch Rainbow and boated 20 or more fish. With two generators going, all our fish were caught on the size 16 red midge. Monday had another new fly fisher out. Sister treated him to a birthday trip. With the water off Monday, they were both catching lots of fish on the size 18 dark olive soft hackle. Around 11:00 a.m. they turned on one generator, followed shortly by one more. After that we drifted and fished the red size 16 midge. While the water was rising, fished the red San Juan worm and caught 6-8 in about 15 minutes. Once the second generator increased the water flow, the fish turned off the worm. Weekend fished well on the olive and/or black size 18 zebra midges. If the water is off for a period of time, the terrestrials should still be doing well. Actually have seen some caddis coming off the water every day this past week...probably size 12-14.

STAN'S TIP: If you are just getting starting setting up your fly boxes or if your flies are disorganized, think categorize. Dry flies in one box, midges in another, nymphs in another, etc. Otherwise, if you have lots of flies (and you will at some point in time) you will go through lots of boxes trying to locate the fly you want.

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Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 722.00 Clarity:  Level:

Temperature: 77 High and Muddy

Crappie good using minnows in the deep brush piles

Bass fair using lures

Channel cat good using prepared baits, nightcrawlers and leeches

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 706.0 Temperature:  76

Inflow: 1300 cfs Outflow: 6500 cfs Level: 0.19 feet low

Fishing Report from Sterett Creek Marina 9/15/04

Windy and warm but I guess it could be worse. With the water temp. falling a little it has got the big bass biting. Rich Riley brought in a 7.22lb. largemouth on Monday. Sunday in the Team Supreme tourn. there were several 5lb. fish. The lake is a little below normal so I would assume that the COE won't be running any water. But the lake is in good condition and very fishable.

LAKE LEVEL: 705.99
WATER TEMP: 76deg.
WATER CLARITY: Clear to lightly stained.

BASS: Like I said earlier the big fish have started it a little. The best bite is on big red shad worms in the tree rows on the edge of the flats. 15' to 20' of water and suspended at about 6'. The bluff ends are also producing fish on big worms in about 8' of water.

With the water temp cooling a little the top water bite should start picking up on the timbered flats. Buzz baits would be a good choice to start with.

CRAPPIE: These little fellows are kind of hit and miss right now. Guide Steve Blake has been doing real well on crappie on brush piles. Minnows are the best bait. The best piles are in 15' to 20' of water. Here again with the water temp. cooling these fish should start moving to the bluff points. It might not hurt to check some of the main lake points going back into the creeks.

WHITES & HYBRIDS: Here again Steve has been doing real well. These fish are on the humps at about 20'. If you have a shallower hump the fish will be off the sides or the end. If you have a 20' hump they will be right on top of it. Spoons are the best lure. These fish are laying right on the bottom so you have to watch your fish finder real close to find them.

CATFISH: Dick Caton brought in a 20lb. blue Monday caught on a jug. He was using hot dogs for bait. Fish the flats in 15' with stages set at 10'.

This weeks rankings from Sterett Creek are:

BASS: # 1

CRAPPIE: # 2

WHITES: # 3

Don't forget Sept 25th. is the Sterett Creek Buddy Bass Tourn. For info you can get us at Sterett Creek Marina

So till next week we bid you good fishing.

Tommy

Lake temp: 78

CRAPPIE: A pretty good bite going down river from Bucksaw. Around the Finey Creek area, fish are being found on flats in 11 feet of water and about 7 feet deep. The bigger hardwoods are producing the best but don't pass up any scattered cedars. Seem some good sized limits this week. You still must work for keepers, but a keeper bite seems to be paying off with better fish than earlier this summer. Jig tipped with a minnow is the preferred bait.

BASS: A tough bite right now. Jig and pig and crankbait fished in 1-4 feet of water around main lake points seems to be the only bite going right now. Down by the dam there is a fair suspended bite going on worms and jigs.

WHITES/HYBRIDS: Very sparse activity early and late on topwater. Nothing much through the day as these fish are suspended over humps. Roadrunners, 1/4oz pepper spoons and rooster tails have been working best.

CATFISH: Good bite on trotlines and jugs. Seem some real nice fish in the last week. Most being caught in 6 feet of water on main lake flats near creek channel swings with drops set at 18". Cut shad and leeches seem to work best.

Crappie fair using minnows and jigs

Bluegill good using crickets and worms

Catfish fair on trotlines and jug lines using live bait