Fishing Report by:     Wilderness Trail      

Finally we had a week of spring weather – it is about time! Sunny days in the 70’s and nights in the low 50’s helped the lake warming process and now the main lake temperature is up to 64.3. This weekend I dropped a temperature probe down to 20 feet and the temperature at that depth is 54 degrees so we still have a lot of warming before the lake temperature is back where it should be for this time of year. Lake level this week is 653.81, which is ½ foot below normal pool.

We would like to take a minute this week to give a special shout out to the men and women that are overseas protecting us and keeping us safe. Thanks – keep up the good work and God Bless.

White Bass are done with their spawn and are still in the back of the creeks and pockets feeding on shad. Now would be a good time to catch a mess. Roadrunners, small spoons and Rapala or Lucky Craft jerk baits are all working well. 

Crappie are in their spawn cycle. Check the shallows in the cuts that have crappie cribs to find numbers. Live crappie minnows are hard to beat. Also try chartreuse or pink crappie tubes and Blue Thunder Swimming Minnows.

Largemouth bass have been spawning this last week and a few new beds were spotted this weekend. There are post spawn largemouth's roaming about and they are the ones to key in on. Fish the back of the cuts and pockets with Spider Jigs, flukes, Sinko’s and spinner baits. As the lake warms up top water will come into play. Zara Spooks, Pop R’s, Spit’N Image and Lucky Craft Sammy’s are your best top water baits on this lake. 

Smallmouth bass are in post spawn and the bite is increasing daily. Smallies can be found up on pea rock banks and transition areas around the lake. A number of baits and techniques are starting to work – here are a few to try. Mojo rig with centipedes or 4" lizards, Carolina rig with brush hogs or finesse worms, tubes, Spider Jigs and every once in a while a little top water action. 

Kentucky bass are on their post spawn feeding frenzy chasing shad and roaming the banks looking for crawdads. Pop R’s and Spit’N Image baits are triggering Kentuckys that are breaking on shad. Sinko’s and flukes are working along the banks where there are big rocks and tubes and Spider Jigs are your best baits for the Kentuckys that are under the ledge rocks. During the high sun switch to a Mojo rig with a trick worm or centipede and back your boat out to 30 feet of water.

Welcome to the PWT guys and gals – their tournament starts Wednesday May 11. They have been finding that the walleye are scattered and that is probably due to the water temperature. Bottom bouncers are working with crawler harnesses rigged with Smile blades or gold Indiana blades in 18 to 28 feet of water. Long lining with lead core line is catching walleye from 28 to 60 feet of water on Reef Runners and Glass Shad. Most of the strikes are coming in the 26 to 28 foot range, even over the deeper water. We will have an updated report next week. PWT weigh ins will be held at Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock, May 11, 12, and 13th.

Lake Rating: Good Plus.

Fishing for trout on the White River has been good this past week. Berkley Power Egg bite has been good in yellow and pink. With generation the Buoyant spoons, Thomas Colorado’s, Little Cleo’s, and Blue Fox are the bait of choice. The fly fishermen did well on Olive Woolly Bugger, midges, egg patterns and soft hackles. The Brown trout are being caught on Jointed Countdowns, Suspending Rogues and night crawlers.

Remember to keep only what you can eat and release the rest for another day. Rick Culver of Wilderness Trail does the research for this report and the writing of this report.

Blue cat fishing on lake of the Ozarks really slow catching small fish on the flats drifting shad sides.

Truman looks like blues are going to the nest

Date: 5/12/05
Lake Level : 606.2
Normal Lake Level : 606
Water Condition: Dingy
Surface Water Temp: 68 - 72

Crappie fishing has been good, especially compared to the previous couple of weeks. Lots of small crappie have been caught on the banks this week, with the bigger ones hanging back and shallow. If no luck near the banks, work your way out, or move on to a different bank or cove. A limit of good size crappie can be had with patience and keeping on the move. The serious part of the spawn is yet to happen. Find good rocky banks, log jams and pockets along the banks with cover. Minnows and white or pink jigs or Road Runner type lures, along with white or pink crappie nibbles.

Bass have been good using white/chartreuse spinner baits or tubes, fished anywhere from 2 - 10 feet deep, near rocky points and banks.

Cat Fishing has been tremendous. Several large flatheads and blues were caught on trotlines or jugs using perch for bait. Channel cats are have been very good from the banks with a pole and reel, using night crawlers, shad sides or stink bait.

White Bass have been slow.

BASS: The bass fishing is much improved over last year. Our first three tournaments have produce good numbers of fish being caught. Jigs, spinner baits and rogues are still the lures of choice for most fisherman. The fish are shallow especially up the river arms and up the Branch. See Thurs. 2005 or Weekend 2005 tournament results for the weigh-in.

CATFISH: The Catfish in the Little Platte river arm of the lake are biting. Some nice channels and a few blues are being caught on shad sides. A young man brought in a 32 lb 12 oz flathead in on 4-15. Trot line on a goldfish somewhere in the lake.

White Bass: Fair: The whites are on their way back down from the river and should arrive at the main lake in the next couple of weeks.

WALLEYE: Fair: The spawn is for the most part over. The fish will soon be moving to the main lake points to feed up. This is you best chance to catch numbers of fish. I weighed a 10 lb 9.5 oz monster on 4-4.

The fishing the past few weeks has been tough for the most part. It's been hard to pattern anything because of the weather changes, one front after another. We seem to be about two weeks behind as far as water temperature and spawn. Fish are starting to bed in some areas of the lake now where water temps are ranging from 56 to mid 60's in some areas in the afternoon.

The upper rivers, King's White & James you can catch lots of numbers, mostly small buck bass moving up on 4"worms, French Fry's, 3"-4" grubs on main lake and secondary points, split shot, Mo-Jo rigs or Carolina rigs working best. Fish the smoke or white, or watermelon 3"-5" grubs on 1/8 or 1/4 oz jig heads. Watermelon & green pumpkin worms are working good, also Chompers in the same colors. Fish these worms and grubs in 3'-15', most of the fish have been on bottom or close. On windy days try slow rolling a 3/8 oz. & 1/2 oz. spinner bait from the mouths of the creeks to the very backs, fishing in 2'-10'. Crankbaits in crawdad patterns (browns & greens) Wiggle warts, Bandit 200's, Bombers will also work. I have also started to catch some on Senko's in the creeks as well.

With the water temps rising and the fish moving up to spawn, all sorts of lures will catch fish, you just have to be patient and give your favorite lure time. The Dam area, Kimberling City, Baxter & Campbell Point areas the patterns will also work in these areas, but the mosson bottom can be a problem while split shotting, Carolina rigging, or any bottom baits fished. Most of the moss seems to be from the bank out to about 8', and not all areas have it. Try to position your boat so you can fish the outside edge of the moss. Smallmouths are starting to turn on in the clearer water, they can be caught on grubs and 4" worms split shot or on slider head rigs.

Good Luck!!