Mississippi River, East Alton, IL, August 24th, 2008- Fishing the Lock and Dam

Here are some great photos of the Melvin Price Lock and Dam near Alton, IL. This is a great place to fish- I forgot how much fun it was just to set some lines out and see what you can do. I got a new Ugly Stick 9' catfish rod, along with a new Tidewater reel, loaded with 30# Shakespeare red cajun line. What a great outfit! I cannot wait to take it to the Outer Banks next year to surf fish. I think that is one of the things I love most about fishing the big rivers- it reminds me in some ways of fishing the ocean. The rigs are the same, and the bait fishing concepts are the same as well.

Caught a little Flathead Catfish at first (I caught a couple of other fish, but lost the rig in the rip-rap). It was a small one, but fun to set the hook on. Later, I caught a HUGE smallmouth Buffalo. It looked like a cross between a Drum and a Carp. It fought me hard. I approximate it was probably about 32-33" across and probably weighted in at around 8-10#. Fought really hard like a carp. I brought it over to another person who was fishing, and he took the photo. I should have attached it- you would laugh! He got everything below where I was holding the fish up.-- note to self: always take one photo of a big fish WITHOUT you, just in case we cannot get the camera figured out. Oh well, no sweat. I will catch other big fish. Used night crawlers all day. Next time I am out, I am going to use cut bait as well (guy next to me caught a really nice Blue Catfish on cut bait, using the same rig I was fishing)

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 CA, St. Charles County, MO, Lake 35, July 2nd: Lizards and Tubes

Hit the lake about 8:00 a.m.- started off a little slow at some of the "go-to" spots. Probably has to do with the water in the lake being high. On that note, this is a lake that looked like it was dead this time last year- it has come back nicely! Looks like they found the leak area and the lake is really starting to hold water well.
Salt tubes way to go (natural color) and the standard for this summer: Zoom Plastic Lizards. I took the one photo of the bass with the lizard just because I thought it was funny- The lizard is almost as big as the bass!
Used some deep diving crank baits and trolled a couple of times in the 25-30' water. Just wanted to see if any big bass or musky were awake- no luck this time.

Barometric Pressure: 29.92
Water Temp: 82.3
Solar Lunar Times: 12:34-2:34 a.m.; 12:59-2:50 p.m New Moon
Outside Conditions: Cloud bank early, then sun, hot

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

Whetstone CA, Callaway County, MO; July 26th: Kayaks are the way to go!!

Here are some cool photos from our "Kayak Adventure" at Whetstone CA, Callaway County, MO. Morning started off overcast and then got real warm. We Kayaked from about 8:00 a.m. to about 1:30 p.m.
I had never been on a Kayak before, so this was a new adventure for me. My friend, Ray, is an expert kayaker (he is considering kayaking the Missouri River, which I think is totally "gung-ho" and very cool). Kayaks are interesting, because it is a bit of a challenging hook set. I am glad I brought my 5'6" rods and not the 7', or else it would have been real challenging.
Started off with baitcast rods and did not have a lot of luck. Switched over to spinning rods with nightcrawlers and tore them up. Lots of big pan fish and some nice bass.
When I got the fish home to clean (I always do it "east cost style"- load the fish in a cooler with ice and clean them later) I realized something. After cutting the heck out of my thumb, right in the same spot I hacked a month ago, while cleaning the fish I discovered something new. Bluegills have gill plates (small, but very sharp). You would think after cleaning all the bluegill in my life, I would know that- how weird!

Fish ON!

MLT

Lake Hunnewell, Shelby County, MO, July 23rd- Lizards are the word

Came back for a few afternoon hours at Lake Hunnewell. Caught over 12 bass on a Carolina Rigged Zoom Plastic Lizard, 14# test on a baitcasting rod. I really have come to like the Carolina Rig as a tool to catch fish. You will get more hang-ups and lose more rigs, but the sensation of catching a bass on a Carolina Rig is pretty awesome.
I am going to come back to this lake and fish it for what it is really known for: Redears and large bluegills (maybe some cats as well).

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