Table Rock Lake, Aunts Creek, Stone County, MO August 28th, 2010.: Largemouth Bass in Summer Pattern

Lake Springfield, Greene County, Missouri, July 26th, 2010: Nice size bass caught on texas rigged plastic worm off kayak

I only had a couple of hours after work on Tuesday to hit Lake Springfield.  The last couple of times I have launched off at this point, I paddled north where it turns from Lake Springfield to the James River.  This time, I decided to head west towards the railroad track bridge and bluffs.

  I was using an 8" purple/black plastic worm, texas rigged on a bait casting rod....I got a hit immediate and thought I had set the hook.  When the first bass surfaced, she shook her head and spit it out.  I knew it was a really good sized bass, and for a split moment I had some disappointment...then I realized how grateful I was just to be able to be out kayaking and doing what I love to do.  I never have understood the people who curse and carry on when they lose one....give me a break!  If you fish enough, you will catch another one- promise!  So I just leaned back for a moment, took a deep breath, and said "perfect"!

  Here is what was cool...after a couple of cast, BAM!  Another big hit!  Was it the same fish?  Or was it the brother from another mother?  These are the mysteries of the universe.  I currently have an elbow that is out of place, so landing this one was a real challenge, but we made it happen.  I love fishing for bass this time of the year- especially in the evening!

fish ON!

MLT

whetstone Creek CA, Callaway County, MO.: Black Culprit worms hit again!

A front was supposed to move in Friday, but the day ended up being incredible! I got a chance to head up to Whetstone CA in Callaway County, MO. to fish one of my favorite spots, Big Lake. The water temp is still real warm (75 degrees) so there is a lot of cooling down to do before fall.

This lake is so serene....it reminds me of going up north when I was a kid and fishing for Pike in Canada.

Started up by using the go-to bait for 2009, the Gulp Alive! watermelon worm. Did not have a lot of success with it, so as the shade spots started to form later in the day, I switched over to a 7" black Culprit Worm...boom! First cast caught a nice slot bass and threw him back in. I also had a spinning rod rigged with a barrel rig, leader and a circle hook w/ nightcrawler. Caught several nice bluegill with this method. I was surprised I did not catch any channel cats.

Decided to go ahead and harvest my catch...there is nothing better than fresh catch in the frying pan!....it is how God intended it for all of us!

Fish ON!

Whiteside CA, Lincoln County, MO: Fishing a bit slow, but Kayaking excellent!

Here is a photo of Lake Whiteside in Lincoln County, MO. Fished using a powerbait worm (texas rig) and a bottom rig w/ nightcrawlers. Caught a small bass on a Rooster tail towards the back of the lake....overall fishing was slow with the few people who were out.....sometimes lakes get like that after a heat wave. Water was very clear....lots of structure at this lake. It would not suprise me if there were a ton of crappies in this lake. Kayak handled like a gem...learned how to move a sit sideways on the kayak and fish that way. Was on it at least (4) hours..never got uncomfortable and did not get "puddle butt"- this kayak is EXCELLENT!



Fish ON!



MLT

Little Dixie CA, Callaway County, MO. August 6th, 2008: Plastic Worms the key

Here are a few photos of some nice slot size (12-15") bass at Little Dixie CA in Callaway County, MO. Bass are starting to fall into the tipical late summer pattern- catch a whole lot at once on a plastic worm, followed by a couple of hours of no activity.

Fish ON!

MLT

Busch Wildlife Area, St. Charles County, MO. Lake 35 July 27th: Some success on Lizards and Worms

Lake 35 was a little more productive than it has been in the last couple of weeks. Still getting some nice bites on Zoom Plastic Lizards with the Carolina Rig system. I noticed that the bass are moving into more of a traditional summer pattern. The larger bass was "laying in the salad" when he hit on the red 8" culprit worm, texas rigged. Barely felt the bite, thought it may have been a snag. Caught him in about 8' of water about 10' out from shore.

Fish ON!

MLT

Busch Wildlife CA, Lake 33 July 19th: Some success with Plastic Worms

Had a little success in the morning with a Texas Rigged red/black culprit 8" worm. Skies were cloudy and overcast. Bites were coming close to shore near structure. After the clouds moved out, started to get incredibly windy and rough (but sunny). The bites really started to turn off after that. Left around 5:00....probably would have had some success towards nightfall if I would have stayed out later.

Fish ON!

MLT

Busch Wildlife Area, Lake 35, St. Charles County July 17th & 18th; Tubes seem to work good!

Here is a cool picture of a Large mouth totally engulfing a tube. I was down in Springfield last week speaking with one of my favorite tackle shops, Fin and Feather (on South Campbell). The owner of the shop and I were having a conversation about fishing heavily weeded lakes (which is real common this time of the year) and we got a discussion going on about flipping tubes in weeds. I was originally looking for the red Gamakatsu "Fluke Hooks" (the kind that have the weight molded onto the hook). He showed me one of the coolest hooks for tubes. You run the eyelet part of the hook thru the very top of the tube and then press the hook right thru the tube (so the hook is exposed on the other side, but throws out weedless). I will include a picture on some future posts.

The fishing on 35 is slow right now, but the lake is the healthier than previous years. The tubes seemed to work, and they are hitting on plastic worms. Later in the day and probably early in the morning (typical summer pattern)

Spent some time with a friend of mine, Art McCall. We threw a lot of different presentation. Got very hot and action was slow. Art had better luck than me, caught one on a red plastic worm thrown almost weightless.

Fish ON!

MLT