Fishing Report by:     Wilderness Trail      

TUESDAY NIGHT OPEN TOURNAMENTS

SPONSORED BY R & H MARINE

$25.00 PER TEAM WITH $5.00 GOING TO BIG BASS POT

Rules and information available at R & H Marine and Wilderness Trail

Summer will be here on Tuesday and if that means warmer weather it could be a sizzler. Upper 80’s with mid 60’s at night was the range this last week with a little sprinkle of rain. The lake temperature is 81.8 degrees and the lake clarity is around 15 feet. Lake level this week is 653.08, just a little over a foot down from normal pool. The thermocline has become stable at 36 feet and the secondary thermocline at 26 feet has weakened throughout the week. There are still a number of game fish shallow from the bank out to 26 feet and the shad are in the same range. 

Crappie slowed some during the day light hours this week but the early evening and night bite has picked up. Crappie cribs and watersheds are holding schools of crappie. Best baits are live crappie minnows on colored jig heads and Bobby Garland Swimming Minnows in pearl, smoke and Blue Thunder colors.

Largemouth bass have been active in the back of the creeks, cuts and pockets early in the morning on buzz baits and Zara Spooks. Their main food source is crawdads but they seem to switching over to sunfish and shad in the mornings. Football jigs and Carolina rigs are starting to pick up during the day light hours off the drop offs around chunk rock secondary points. 

Smallmouth bass have been hard to find this week. They are moving off the pea rock banks and points and we are guessing that they are positioning themselves in rocky areas for shade and crawdads. There will be a full moon and a crawdad hatch this week, so maybe that explains the movement. Jerk baits, grubs and jig worms are working on the roaming smallies. Tube baits started to pick up around chunk rock banks over the weekend and some early morning top water out in the middle of nowhere. 

Kentucky bass remain with the shad, which are located at about 20 feet down, halfway back in the creeks, on cliff ends and in the middle of main lake pockets. We caught a few on spoons this week, ½ oz slab spoons, fished under the shad in 30+ feet of water. Mojo rigs are also starting to produce nice Kentuckys with centipedes or finesse worms. Fish this rig keeping your boat in 40 feet of water and casting into chunk rock points.

Walleye are still inside of 28 feet feeding on sunfish and shad. Ledge banks and chunk rock points are good places to look for feeding walleye in the mornings. Fish crawler harnesses or leech harnesses behind bottom bouncers in the 20 to 26 foot range and pull them from 0.6 mph to 0.9 mph. Long liners are catching a few on Glass Shad and Reef Runners between 27 to 30 feet of water also around points. Night time walleye are active and striking X-Raps and Suspending Rogues on points from 9 p.m. to midnight. Main lake points are producing the nicer walleye.

NIGHT TIME UPDATE: The bite is very slow until 9 p.m. or so, then the bass are moving up on the banks, feeding on crawdads. Jig and pigs, Texas rigged worms, brush hogs and tube baits are all working well. Transition banks, points and brush piles are night time feeding areas.

LAKE RATING: Day time bite is fair, morning bite and night bite are good. Overall – Fair to Good

Fishing for trout on the White River has been good this past week. The Berkley Power Egg bite has been good in yellow, white and pink, or Belgium red worms. With generation the Buoyant Spoons, Rooster Tails and Blue Fox are the bait of choice. The fly fishermen did well on Olive Woolly Bugger, tungsten bead head midges, sow bugs and scuds. The Brown trout are being caught on Suspending Rogues, Countdowns and nightcrawlers.

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.

Catfish are excellent at 4 to 8 lbs. average.

Bass will be excellent 3 to 5 lbs.

Crappie - good stringers being taken.

No Report

Date: 6/23/05
Lake Level : 606.9
Normal Lake Level : 606
Water Condition: Clear in the lower lake, stained in the upper lake.
Surface Water Temp: 79 - 83

Summer is officially here, and the weather this week will back it up.

Crappie fishing is fair. The crappie have pretty much settled into a summer pattern. Most of the crappie being caught are on the small side. The bigger crappie are deeper, anywhere from 12 - 18 feet deep, near shelves close to the river channel. Tight line minnows or jigs near bridge piers, and bluffs, with good standing timber. Keep the bigger ones when you catch 'em and don't stay in one place too long. Revisit holes where you catch keepers, after giving them a little space to settle down. The usual bait/lure is minnows or jigs. Crappie nibbles can really help under these conditions.

Bass fishing continues to be very good. Numerous catches of keeper size bass have been reported. Almost every type of lure has been catching them. Check out the pictures from last weeks Eberlin tournament, then follow the link to the Mid America Outdoors tournament report for more details.

Catfishing has been good. This is a slight downgrade from last week. We're still getting reports of cats being caught on both trot lines and rod and reels. However we haven't seen or heard of as many large cats being caught as we had been. Perch have been in short supply, goldfish are readily available.

The White Bass fishing has been very good. We've had several reports of fishermen locking onto schools of white bass that were gorging themselves on shad and making the surface boil. We keep hearing of more locations where they are being located. Most fishermen catching white bass, that I've talked to, have been enjoying the catch and release action, which is fast and furious when when it hits. Silver spoons.

Black bass fair on buzz baits early and plastic baits later in the day

White bass fair early and late on flats using top water lures and small crankbaits

Walleye good on jigs, minnows and trolling crankbaits

Crappie fair on minnows and jigs 10' to 15' of water over brush piles and good at night on minnows

Catfish good on trotlines using bluegill and shiners and drifting with nightcrawlers and shiners

Bluegill good on worms

Black bass fair on crayfish or shad colored crankbaits and brown and orange, chartreuse or white spinners, black or brown plastic baits in 8 to 10 feet of water around structure, in coves and off points moving into deeper water

Bluegill excellent using jigs, minnows and worms around structure and docks in 3 to 8 feet of water

Catfish good on bank lines, trotlines and limb lines using worms, cut shad and sunfish off channels and points

Crappie good on chartreuse, white or yellow jigs, green Twister Tails, white grubs with a spinner 10 -16 feet deep in the stumps and fish attractors

Muskie hitting shad colored lures trolling along flats and structure

Walleye fair drifting jigs or worms in 10 -15 feet of water along channels and rock bluffs

White Bass fair on the flats trolling Rooster Tails, crankbaits, spinners or spoons. 

CRAPPIE: Good: The crappie spawn is over but lots of nice fish are still being caught. Small males are still near the banks with an occasional female. Just back off the banks some and fish a little deeper along the flats and drop-offs in the mouths of the coves. The fish have been huge and this has probably been the best spring crappie fishing we have ever had.

BASS: The bass are spawning now especially around the main lake. This is going to make catching fish a little more of a challenge. Jigs, spinner baits and crankbaits 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: GOOD: The cats are biting and can be found in shallow waters. Fish shallow points and flats where the cats are feeding. Several nice stringers are being caught by fisherman on a variety of baits. Channels and blues are most common. A 36 lb. flat head did come into the store over the holiday.

White Bass: Fair: The whites are starting to show up on the main lake. They are not concentrated in large schools yet but you can fish points and humps and find nice size fish. Use pepper spoons on the deeper fish and rooster tails and roadrunners on the shallower point fish. You can also catch some large fish by trolling a shad rap around main lake points.

WALLEYE: Good: Some very impressive fish are being brought into the store. I weighed an 8 lb 2.5 oz a 6 lb 2 oz and saw several others 4 lbs and larger. Most of the fish are coming from the main lake. Some are being caught on crankbaits and others on a jig and leech or crawler. Fish 2' to 10' of water . The fish will either be behind or in front of the grass.

Black Bass fair on plastic baits off points

White Bass fair early and late on flats

Crappie good at night under lights using minnows and jigs

Walleye good drifting jigs and nightcrawlers on flats

Catfish good on trotlines with bluegill and shad

Perch No Report

No Report

GENERAL COMMENTS

Water still off most of the day. However, the past two days, they have turned the water on in the morning for a few hours. This morning, they still have one generator on as I write (12:25 p.m.). Appears they ran one generator all night. Yesterday they turned on one generator around 8:00 a.m. then dropped it town for about two hours, they turned it back on for the rest of the day. Information I received from one of the hydraulic engineers at SWPA, they are ATTEMPTING to maintaining the water level at the Branson Landing construction site at an elevation of 701 feet or less until the work near the water is completed.

Water Conditions: One generator has been running since about 8:00 p.m. yesterday. Earlier in the week they have had the water off in the a.m. and turned it on around 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Usually 2-3 generators.

FLY FISHING TROPHY AREA (dam to Fall Creek)-SHALLOW WATER-WADING-

Fishing is still good. This week we have not seen the lull in the mornings from 8:00 to about 10:30 a.m. Getting on the water about 8:30 a.m. and have fish on with the second or third cast. Have had boats or walk wade trips on the water all week. Everyone catching 20-30 fish in 1/2 day trips. Nicer fish this week, running 13-16 inches and very fat. With normal water, rusty midge has been the ticket. In the late morning or early afternoons, with the sun out, the tan flashback scud did very well. Yesterday, the dark olive size 18 soft hackle was working well. Went the water came on this week, the boats have switched to the red tunghead midge and caught several nice fish. Tuesday, after the heavy rain and storms we had Monday night, the water was very dingy in the Special Management Area. Set the rusty midge a little deeper than normal, and the fish were finding it!

STAN'S TIP: New regulations for most of the trout streams went into effect March 1. Read up on these changes. Specifically for Taneycomo, if you keep legal size fish, the limit is now 4. Also, a trout permit is required for anyone fishing above Highway 65 bridge.

Crappie are in 12 to 20ft of water fishing 10ft deep using minnows. The fishing below the marina is the best. Fish the flats ,fence rows and points. Look for the cedar trees and big hard woods.

Bass are being caught in the bushes on points. Look for points with current going across them and use a tube or a 10 inch worm. Most bass are in 3ft of water or less.

Catfish are being caught on jug lines and trot lines in 10 ft of water fishing 5 ft deep. Cut baits are the baits of choice. fish the flats.

White bass. No report on 

Water above the resort is stained the water below the resort is in good shape.