Meremac Park, St. James, Missouri, October 16th: Trout hitting on Power Bait eggs

Hit the park around high noon- fished until about 4:00 p.m. Water is low and really, really clear. Got on one right away. Overall, fishing generally slow. The lighter the line, the better. Was using Power Bait Eggs and 2# test on some ultra light rods

Fish ON!

MLT

Lake Sherwood, Warren County, MO. October 12th: Red Ears are still hot!

Fished Lake Sherwood by the clubhouse using slip bobbers and nightcrawlers. The action was not as quick as in the summer time, but when the Red Ear sunfish hit, they fully committed. Ton of fun............the meal afterwards was most excellent. Cleaned them on the deck and fried them on the spot. Very good to eat, and fun to catch. Average size of the sunfish are bigger than you hand!

Fish ON!

MLT

Lake St. Louis, St. Charles County, Mo, October 4th, 2008: Fishing with Kayaks!

Here is a great action shot of my friend, Ray Schrader. He lives on Lake St. Louis about a mile upstream. We got the kayaks out, paddled under Interstate 40/61 into the creek area (I belive it is Pereque Creek, but I am not sure).
Caught a couple of small Channel Catfish, as well as some below keeper size bluegills. Lots of great stucture, great exercise. Many thanks to Ray for the experience!

Fish ON!

MLT

Lake Sherwood, Warren County, Mo, Sept 21st: Large Bluegill and Red-Ear Sunfish abound

The main lake at Sherwood is still chock full of large Red-Ear Sunfish and Bluegills. Fished about 10' off shore with the standard: Slip bobbers and nightcrawlers. Action was a little slow at first, and is slower than summer- but was still able to get a nice stringer of above average sized pan fish. Largest Bluegill was 11", largest Red Ear was about 13". Great Day!

Fish ON!

MLT

Mississippi River, East Alton, IL. Sept 1st: Interesting action on nightcrawlers

Had a lot of action at the river on this day. Charlie came out with me and we set some rods on Gizzard Shad and on Nightcrawlers. The bait store I like to frequent was out of the Herring (which is like candy to Blue Cats), so we had to go with the Gizzard.

Charlie and I both caught some small fish (Charlie caught a couple of small Channel Cats as well as Drum). I caught a nice Common Carp (in the photo) and the rest were small Drum. The Common Carp nailed it (easy set for me) Got a lot of bites, however. There were other people fishing in the area that did not have as much action as us. One guy caught a nice Blue up closer to the dam. Good day on the water

Fish ON!

MLT

Mississippi River, East Alton, IL- August 31st: Nice Blue Catfish on Cut Bait

Here is a few photos of a nice Blue Catfish I caught on the Mississippi just below the Melvin Price Lock and Dam (north of St. Louis and the confluence point of the Missouri River). Had a pretty slow start, but once it hit, caught several other (including the photo of the Drum- which surprised me).
My mother came out and I thought she was not going to see us catch a fish. She was packing up to go back when it hit. I am glad she had a chance to see it happen.
Man, he fought hard. I was fishing with 30# test. It reminded me of when we were catching Trigger Fish out in the Atlantic.
It seems whenever a barge goes through the lock, that is the time when the fish turn on. I bet it has something to do with the water that is being released and the small bait fish that get caught up in the flow.
I also caught a much smaller blue that I released. I tried to be a good steward and release it gentle-like in the water. When I did, I totally busted my ass on the rocks- almost went face forward into the drink! Next time, I am going to toss it in.
Side Note: Actually broke an Ugly Stik on a snag- never had that happen before! took it back to Wal Mart and they replaced it- note to self: no matter what the commercial says, you CAN break an Ugly Stik!

Fish ON!

MLT

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

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

Lake Hunnewell, Shelby County, July 13th- Bass on Lizards (again!)

Lake Hunnewell is a very interesting lake. Lots of deep drop-offs and tons of really thick vegetation. Fished the entire day in the veg, used worms, drop shot rigs, rattle traps, etc. The only thing that seemed to work was a carolina rigged Zoom plastic Lizard. Caught about 8-9 fish up on the dam on the way out the door. Felt good not to "0-fer".

Fish ON!

MLT

Bennett Spring, Lebanon, MO: Thursday & Friday July 10th & 11th- Crowded Conditions

Here is a video from Bennett Spring. Hit the part late in the day (after 4:30) on the 10th, caught a couple of trout on spoons. Time was limited, so I went right to my "go to".

Came back Friday around 3:00. Had more time, so I got the fly rod out and threw some really small jigs- no luck. Moved around later and went to the "go to"- no luck. Managed to "0-fer" for the day. Park was REALLY crowded. I think everyone is staying in Missouri for vacation this year.

Fish ON!

MLT

Busch Wildlife Area, St. Charles County, Lake 35, July 4th, 2008: Bass hitting on "spring like" lures

Hit Lake 35 about noon on July 4th. I decided that I was going to leave the live bait at home and just go for bass. Tried and threw quite a few different lures: Flukes on a spinning rod, Plastic worm, Hula Grub jigs, even tossed a wiggle wort around.
Here is what worked: A carolina rigged baitcast rod with a green zoom lizard. Caught the two fish you see and got more taps that I was able to miss. Here is what I have noticed about 2008: since the water is high, what worked in May last year is working now in July. I have even noticed this with panfish fishing.
Good news: Lake 35 is looking healthy for the first time in about 3 years. It still is a real mossy lake, but it looks nice and healthy.

Fish ON!

MLT

Busch Wildlife Area, St. Charles County, MO, Lake 37; Catfish turning on!

Check out the photo of the HUGE crappie I caught at 37! He hit on a nightcrawler like all of the rest of the fish. Landed a much larger catfish that I lost (when I fish this style, I use a thinner, sharper crappie hook and 6# test- makes the fishing more exciting!).
This lake has a good varity- good catfish, redear sunfish and, I guess now, crappies. I have never had a lot of luck with large bass- most that I have caught here over the years have been in the 8-12" range

Fish ON!

MLT