Kayak fishing Lake Sherwood, Warren County, MO, Sunday, March 25th: Lake temps starting to warm

Got the Feelfree Moken Fishing kayak out for the first time this year up at Lake Sherwood in Warren County, MO.  This lake is really known for it's panfish (killer sized Redears and bluegills).  I did not know if it was too early yet or not.  I went out the week before for a few hours without much success.  Caught a couple of nice sized bluegill towards the dam, but was not able to put together a stringer.  My brother in law and nephew did really well out by the marina.

The temperature towards 4 p.m was around 67 degrees surface, so the rest of the water should be changing real soon if the temps keep staying in the 70's and 80's....should be an early spawn this year!

I am thinking I will have some better success stories in upcoming posts real soon

Fish ON!

Mike

Table Rock Lake, Stone County, Missouri March 25th 2011: Dogwood trees start to bloom, monster pig bass come out to play in the ozarks!

I got a chance to get the kayak out for a few hours and decided to paddle and fish Table Rock Lake.  This is the largest bass I have caught in a really long time (maybe ever).  I was fishing a cove with a white roadrunner with a small white mister twister grub attached, kind of bouncing off the bottom.  When she bit, I thought it was a snag, but then the line started moving the other direction.  It was a real challenge landing on a sea kayak.  She had me running around the cove for a little bit.

I was really concerned because I was using a spinning rod with 8# test. I was thinking "this water is so clear, I should have packed the rod that had 6# loaded"...glad I did not!  I did not have a measuring tool, however I got it laid up against my rod and it went past the Shakespeare ugly stik logo.  When I get back I will get it measured out.

I am almost thinking this is a spotted bass.  I know the second smaller one is.  The lateral line on the fish would leave me to believe that it is....

Fish ON!

MLT

Best of 2006- Fishing the James River for Smallies

Imagine this- it is summer time, 90 degrees and very humid. Not always the best for other types of fishing, but my favorite weather to fish for Smallies. The photos are the largest smallmouth I caught that day- around 15" in length. We caught this a couple of hours into our float on the James River on the east side of Springfield, MO. (before you get to Lake Springfield).
My friend, Kevin Hanks, and I grabbed a canoe and some cold ones and headed upstream, with the intent to float down. This is an interesting river. From first sight, it appears to be "dirty", but looking closer, it is a very healthy river- it just does not look like most ozark rivers. This is probably due to the fact that there are not many springs that feed this river- it does have the same rocky bottom, however, that most ozark streams and rivers have. There are some HUGE common carps in some of the deep pools upstream- very impressive!














I was using a bait cast rod and 10# Red Cajun Line, Stand up Jig and Orange/Brown hula grub (Chomper). I have a lot of friends that approach waters like this with ultra lights, and I can imagine that would be a lot of fun as well, but I really dig using heavier gear (especially with all the cover- look at the front of the canoe- that is where this smallie came out of)
We absolutly tore it up on this day- I caught around 15 smallmouths, a couple of large mouths (none of any real size), and some rock bass. We caught so many fish, my elbow was sore the next day- absolutly increadable.
Here is why I am writing this article- when all the lakes are frozen, and the fishing is real lean, it is nice to think about what is to come in 2007!

MLT

Cooking and Smoking fresh trout- very good!

Happy New Year everyone! If you look back a couple of blogs ago, you noticed that we had a good couple of days worth of trout fishing and a whole stringer of fish- now to cook them! We now have a new holiday tradition for the new year- smoked trout! The photo next to the text is my brother-in-law, Charlie Hankins. I caught them, and he cooked them- my compliments to the chef- they were awesome.

I think it is important to note how they were cleaned before we start with how we cooked them. I learned how to clean trout down at Roaring River State Park, in Southern Missouri quite a while ago. It was my first time trout fishing, and I really did not know how to clean them. I have friends who like to leave the head and skin in place (in certain trout areas, you will need to leave the stream area with the fished cleaned as such). I had a gentleman from Arkansas show me how to do it- he cut the bottom of the fish from the head to the back. You then remove the cuts, snap the head back, and use your thumb to clean out the mudline along the spine, and while pulling the trout head back, use your thumb to seperate the skin from meat. Once that is done, get a towel to hold the "meat section" and pull down on the head and skin- like peeling a banana- very easy!

I keep them in freezer bags, fill the bag with water, and drop in the freezer- ready for whenever you would like.

Charlie had a smoker-BBQ set up (I had a photo, but it was to dark to display). He cut the trout into two pieces following the cut along the spine. Once the trout were "halved", he put lemon pepper dry rub and a cajun rub (had some cayenne pepper in it). It was interesting because when I cook trout in foil, I use a lot of butter and such, but when you smoke, you really do not want to use this on the trout. The charcoal was spread out once it was white, and a tub with 1/2 water and 1/2 white wine. the trout were placed directly on the grill, and mesquite and hickory chips that had been soaked in water were added to the grill. We smoked them for about 2 1/2 hours- meat fell right off the bone and the taste was incredible!

Last thought: as much as I enjoyed the trout, and the harvesting of the trout, I enjoy the pricipals of selective harvest- which means out of all the fish I caught this year, I probably released about 2/3 of them- keep our resources pure for the next generation.

To Our Success,

Mike

Trout fishing difficult, Could it be the weather? or me?

Went back to Busch Wildlife CA in St. Charles County, MO. Fishing was challenging today. Weather is still fairly warm, but a front was moving in, day ended in rain. It seemed like everytime the clouds moved in, the trout stopped. Noticed that the people fishing on bait got hard hits right before the front moved in. Started at Lake 24 (the exact same place that I did very well yesterday). Threw just about everything you can imagine (silver super dupers, gold and silver little cleos, white rooster tails, black rooster tails, brown rooster tails, gizit inline spinners, etc). A gentleman next to me did well on gold colored power bait eggs fished on the bottom. He caught (2) right away, but he shut off as well once the heavy clouds moved in.
After about an hour at this lake, went over to lake 22, fished along the dam. Had a nice size trout chase a silvery/red gizit inline spinner, but I did a poor job setting the hook (hit right before lure got to dam- saw the fish chase it and roll away). There were some kids catching them on power bait and Scooby Doo rods- think I am going to trade in my spinner rods for the Scooby Doo!
Interesting day none the less- might go out to Lake Sherwood in Warren County tommorrow if I do not stay out too late tonight

MLT

Busch Wildlife Report- 29 December 2006

What a Day! Started fishing around 10:00 a.m. at Lake 24, (that is a catch and keep lake) for Rainbow Trout. Had (2) rods with me- a Quantum Spinning reel loaded with 4lb test and a Little Cleo Spoon and an Abu Garcia Spinning reel with 4lb test as well, throwing a Silver holographic Super Duper.

Took about an hour walking around the lake until I hit the "sweet spot". The Missouri Department of Consv. has done a good job stocking this year (rumor at the bait store is that the oxygen at the hatcheries is not working well, so they have released larger trout). All I know is that all of the trout I have caught this year have been at least 14" and beautiful (not the "silvery" A-typical stocker trout, but nice, dark green with deep rainbows, large spots and developing Kipes).

Here is what happened- once I hit the spot, I caught my limit within 1 hour throwing spoons- smoked the rest of the lake- which is what we will do with these trout- smoke them on New Years Eve! Trout fishing is funny- sometimes you look like Bill Dance (which is what happened today) and some days you look like you have never fished before in your life!

More posts to follow- fishing is life!

To Our Success,

Mike