McCubbins Point, Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri May 21st, 2013: Lesson learned...ALWAYS re-tie your lures!

 The weather the last couple of weeks has been a bit challenging (at least speaking for me coming from a kayak).  I had an opportunity to hit the McCubbins Point area (just south of Lake of the Ozarks SP).  I like this area due to the fact that there are not as many pleasure boaters on the water.  If you go back in further, there are some nice gravel access points that are perfect for someone with a canoe or kayak.
I used the boat ramp and headed out for a few hours of fishing.  It started off cool, windy and grey, and then the clouds moved out and we experienced sunny skies.  The only challenge was that the wind really started to kick in.  I fished the first cove (to get out of the wind), but realized the the fish were probably up on the rocks in the whitecaps.  Great for fishing ...challenging for kayaking.  I went around the point (you can see it in the photo, towards port side).  I took the kayak through the white caps into the next cove and fished the other side- same story-not a taker.  So I headed back and drift kayaked back up on the point.  The lesson learned in this trip was a quick fact that I got lazy and forgot.  ALWAYS RE-TIE YOUR CRANKBAITS AFTER A SNAG UP!  I was fishing a crank bait (Wiggle Wart- my go to!) and got snagged real bad in the second cove.  I thought I might lose the lure, but managed to get it out.  If I would have felt the line, I would have realized it was time to re-tie the lure. 

Going back to the "one that got away" story- As I was drift fishing with the wind to my back, and got up on a very nice Largemouth in the rocks.  Got him almost to the boat, and then "snap" I watched him take off with my Wiggle Wart in his mouth....wow!  Lesson learned....

Fish ON!

Mike

Kayak fishing McCubbins Point at Lake of the Ozarks

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Kayak fishing Table Rock Lake, Aunts Creek Access May 15-16th: Fishing slow with rain, but still managed to get up on one!

Had a chance to hit Table Rock Lake at the Aunts Creek Access point (just north of Kimberling City, MO) on May 15th & 16th.  We have been receiving a lot of rain and storms, so the lake is not necessarily high, but is more murky than I am used to (at least at this section of the lake).  The first day got a chance to only fish for about an hour or so.  Got back to shore just in time (heavy thunderstorm).  Would have really thought the fishing would have been better with the impending

storm coming in.  Was throwing Senkos, Wiggle Warts, spinners, and kitchen sink LOL.

Day 2 I had a little more time, so I got down to the ramp around 2:00 p.m.....then I waited for the rain to stop....and waited....and waited.  Finally I went back to the camper and took a nap, and then came back out around 5:00 or so.  I call the fish in the photo "the fish of a thousand casts" (I know that moniker belongs to muskies)

I did a TON of casting and throwing things out to try and figure what they were getting up on.  Once again, the Wiggle Wart came through for us!  I am really starting to enjoy fishing crank baits, especially on Table Rock.  Made a short video for you viewing pleasure...enjoy!

Fish ON!

Mike

Day 2 of Kayak fishing Table Rock Lake- Success in day 2!

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Kayak Fishing Table Rock Lake- Rain and slow fishing for our first day

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Boulder Lake, Pyramid SP in Southern Illinois- an AWESOME place to kayak fish!

I had an awesome time kayak fishing Pyramid SP in Southern Illinois on May 12th.  This area is an old strip mine that was converted in the early 60's for recreational use.  There is an older section and a newer section.  I went ahead and fished the newer section, choosing the larger Boulder Lake as the place I would fish for the day.

The water is gin clear and varies in depth within a matter of feet.  Like its name would imply, there are quite a few boulders and rock piles, which is AWESOME!

It took me a few hours to figure out what they were biting on.  I eventually caught a huge bass on a texas rigged Senko worm, but lost it about 5' from the yak.  I started to throw what has become my "go to", the Wiggle Wart (never thought a crank bait would be my go to LOL).  SMACK!  thought it was a bass a first, but ended up being a nice sized channel catfish.  Took me about 1/2 hour to the get the lure untangled from the net!  After that caught several smaller bass and bluegill on the Wiggle Wart.

Looking forward to coming back to this place soon!

Fish ON!

Mike

 

 

Boulder Lake, Pyramid SP, Illinois- Kayak fishing at it\'s best!

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Palarm Creek/Arkansas River and Maumelle River/Arkansas river- first kayak fishing trips of the year

Palarm Creek close to the Arkansas River near Little Rock

Here are the first (2) kayak fishing trips of the year. Did not have a lot of success, the kayaking was excellent. Was using the Feelfree 14' Atlantis sea kayak (yes, you can fish off it!) First stop of Palarm Creek/Arkansas river. This is the water that comes from Lake Conway and drains in to the Arkansas. The current is fairly swift with a lot of "shubbery" in the water. Bummer thing happened on this trip- my rudder snapped in two! Ended up cutting it of, stowing it away, and kayaking the rest of the trip. Have to debate if the get a new kit to install or not. Fishing was not good, but the weather (85 degrees) was way better than STL (43 degrees) Second trip was the Maumelle River at the confluence of the Arkansas River. I did manage to catch a small bass on a small spinner outfit. Slow fishing, but we had just had a cold front move through, and it still had a ton of wind behind it

Kayak the Maumelle River by the Arkansas River confluence

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Arkansas River-Palarm Creek Arkansas

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