Fishing topwater Rebel lures from a kayak- Aunts Creek Access, Table Rock Lake

Fishing Table Rock Lake in the southern Missouri Ozarks has been interesting this year. It seems like the bass have been deeper in the day, and then have been coming out close to shore in the morning and evening.

 
I got a chance to hit the lake late June, and did not have a lot of success in the daytime.  Early morning before the sun comes up over the hills seems to be the best time to get any kind of action.  Shad are quite active, and you can see the activity in the shad balls in about 50' of water.  I was throwing quite a few lures, but it seems the topwater minnow poppers were working the best.  Check out the video and you can see how I was "chugging" them.

Fish ON!

Mike

Several days of Memorial Day kayak bass fishing- Early morning is the time!

Had an incredible opportunity to hit my favorite lake, Table Rock Lake in Southern Missouri.  I would consider this lake my home water.  We keep our camper popped up during the season, so it is water that is easy access for myself.
The water has been up (I was hitting it last year during all the rain) so the water is still a tad murky, especially up in the arms.  The two trips I took out were not very productive in regards to catching fish, but the third and final one was.  I finally figured out that to get up on fish, I needed to get out before the sun rose (this was based on the feedback I got from a couple of other anglers I spoke with in the campground)
On the last trip, I got out early, and went to the cove across the lake from the access point.  I was throwing a minnow popper.  Caught a nice smallmouth right off the git go!  The shad balls were pretty incredible as well, and I had several hits on the top water throwing right on top of the shad balls.

True to the coaching I received, as soon as the sun got up over the tree line, the fish cut off.  We shall be back!

Fish ON!

Mike

 

 Table Rock Lake, Aunts Creek Access- early morning bass fishing

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 Table Rock Lake- Hot day of kayak bass fishing with limited action

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Kayak fishing Aunts Creek

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July kayak fishing at Lake Sherwood, Warren County, MO: Heat does not always stop fish

This is a combined report from (2) trips I took to the always wonderful Lake Sherwood, MO.  Sherwood is a private, gated community with several lakes.  I prefer to fish the main lake for bass and monster bluegill.  Both times I fished the lake, the temperatures were about 100 degrees, with very warm water temps.
The first trip I had a ton of success on Largemouth bass (which is what I was fishing for).  I had a fire tiger bright colored Rapala medium diving crank bait.  There were a lot of casts involved, but caught over (8) that day, as well as a catfish that I was unable to land (I knew if was a catfish due to the fight and the slime left all over the line when he spit the lure out).  Most people I spoke with that are familiar with the waters said that the fishing was slow, but I think I figured out what the deal was.  The bass were laying at the bottom of the lake, in the middle of the arms in about 15' of water in the heavy vegetation.  When that lure when by, they jumped up to hit it (hence having to cast a ton of times before a bite).

The second trip the conditions seemed very similar, but no such luck.  A storm front was getting ready to move in, and I started to throw a Rebel topwater plug.  What was interesting was the fact that no bass were caught, however, I caught several good sized bluegills off my efforts.  Makes me think I should come back with a fly rod and a bunch of smaller sized poppers....hmm.....

Fish ON!

Mike