Table Rock Lake, Stone County, MO July 6th 2011: Very, Very light bite on Table Rock

Table Rock still is a little high, but it is much closer to normal pool than when I had kayaked it 4 weeks ago.  This weekend (the 4th) the boat traffic was incredible.  I am thinking it was good for the local economy, at least I am hoping it was.

I was using Zoom Pumpkin trick worms on a texas rig when I caught the bass in the video above.  I was getting a lot of taps, but it seemed eveytime I pulled back to set the hook....nothing.  I had debated going to a small set up on the spinning rod (maybe a small spinner) but decided to keep with what I had.  I also was throwing a Chomper Hula Grub on a stand up jig.  This time of the year, the smallmouths really seem to be prevalent when it gets warm, so I figured that would be a good strategy...not this time.

They are really deep so I was fishing 14' of the shore and points....sometimes it is just hard to figure them out.

Fish ON!

MLT

Niangua River, Laclede County, MO. June 28th: Beautiful Ozark river with some incredible smallie fishing!

I have always wanted to hit the Niangua River in the Missouri Ozarks, and finally got an opportunity to kayak and fish it.  The water is fairly swift, so kayaking upstream and drift fishing down was a challenge, but I was able to get it done.  Did a little over 2 miles, due to the fact that I had to portage quite a few times due to the depth and swiftness of the current. 
If you take a look at the film, I caught the first small Smallmouth on a Rattle Trap.  It then got a tad slow for about an hour, but really turned on right before I was getting ready to take out.  River bend + current in grass + Gene Larew Salt Craw= success!!

Felt so good getting up on these incredible bass....I have quite a new addiction now- Smallie Fishing!  Caught one at 16" and one at about 14" and then the small one before I headed out.  This strip had quite a bit of canoe traffic, so I do not know if it would be a good weekend river (maybe in the fall when people do not float as much).

Fish ON!

Mike