Fishing in the Ozarks (MO/AR/OK/IL/KS) all 12 months! even winter! what is working, what is not working, new ideas and photo's of great fishing experiences. Kayak Angling is spoken here with a heavy emphasis on Kayak Fishing and paddling!
This is the path I took with the kayak on beautiful Mark Twain lake in northern Missouri. I think this lake can be one of the more challenging lakes out there (I have caught nice sized bass in the past). The lake is very low, just like all of the lakes in the Midwest. I was throwing deep diving Wiggle Warts, 10" Mann's Jelly Worms, Chartreuse spinners, white spinners, Zoom trick worms, Red worms, almost everything I can imagine...it just goes to show, sometimes you "O-fer"...and that is alright.
I am looking forward to coming back in the fall to explore the lake even more....I love Mark Twain for its remote location. It is chock full of structure, and reminds me of an undeveloped Lake of the Ozarks..
Stockton Lake is not a lake I have had an opportunity to fish all that often. I think this trip may have been the second time I have ever fished this lake. It is not really close to anywhere (It is north of Springfield, MO kind of between Springfield and Joplin.
The outside temp has been really high. I put the kayak in around 3:30 or so.....It was 100 degrees when we put in at the Mutton Creek Access point. My strategie starting off was to bring (2) spinning rods and (2) bait cast rods. The (2) spinners had a wiggle wart and rebel popper, and the (2) bait cast had a white spinner and a texas rigged Zoom trick worm.
I caught the largest fish on this day off the main channel, in the rocks, about 8' from shore in about 10' of water. I let the spinner sink all the way to the bottom and had a slow, inconsistant retrive. It hit the spinner hard! He was a nice, nice piggie bass! After I released him, I got out of the kayak and took a quick swim (it was so hot outside).
The cove on the way back had some bass as well. I caught a smaller one on the Wiggle Wart crank bait. This has been a very productive lure this year for me in these Ozark reservoirs, big time.
Stockton Lake is a very interesting lake to me. It is know as one of the top sailboat lakes, and it lived up to its reputation. Everytime I have been here it is windy and choppy. The bottom of the lake reminds me of Table Rock Lake...just not quite as clear.
DiSalvo lake located on the Bismark CA area in SE Missouri is becoming one of my favorite lakes to fish. I got a chance to fish this place for about 5 hours which was very exciting. I started off fishing for panfish with a slip bobber and nightcrawlers (you can see the success I had a few post prior. I was not disappointed, matter of fact, my stringer was large with larger size bluegills than the prior trip. Had enough for a nice stringer of fish to take back and clean.
After I had a full stringer, I decided to start bass fishing with chartreuse spinner baits. I was HAMMERING them.....these little pigs were so hungry. I must have caught at least (7) bass, all really, really, nice sized. I lost a HUGE pig that I was not able to get a photo on, but I was grateful none the less. This lake has a lot of vegetation. I was throwing the spinners parallel to shore and they were absolutely hammering them.
I am looking forward to coming back to this lake a little later this month....great spot for kayaks (not as great for larger boats, although people take them out)
We had several trips to Lake Lincoln in May....this is one deep little lake. If you go about 50' from the boat launch, it is 70 feet deep in the middle. Almost the entire lake has straight drop offs by the edges of the lake....I would imagine the swimming beach area is the only area that has a gradual depth. This would be a great lake to practice if you had a week at Table Rock coming up. The water is very clear (I would not say "gin clear"...but close).
Ray and Myself hit this about the beginning of the month....Ray had a fly rod and was catching quite a few small bluegill and bass on poppers. I was using slip bobbers and caught a few as well...nothing really all that large.
I came back for a second visit the next week...the weather was very warm and sunny. I caught a bass on a white spinner, but did not have a lot of success past that point. This is a very nice lake that is close to home. I think the extreme depth provides some real limitations....it would be great to figure this deep little lake out.
The wind in central Missouri finally calmed down on Friday and I was able to get some kayak fishing in Friday. I had been to Table Rock and Stockton earlier in the week, and it was WAY to windy to get any fishing and/or kayaking in.
The paddling was incredible....the coolest part was the cave located in the cliffs. I got a chance to shore the yak, and went up to explore. A kingfisher was nesting in the cave and was not to happy about my presence. I was hitting the rocks and timber with a white spinner, then a chartreuse spinner as well....no success. Threw Wiggle Warts and little micro spins with Treetop grubs, still no success. I think if I would have had a nightcrawler and slip bobber set up, the results would have been different. Looks like the water temp is around 55 degrees (60 on top) so the fishing should get good real soon...the paddling was AWESOME!
Put the Kayak in at the Route 66 SP boat ramp just south of Hwy 44 in St. Louis County, MO. Got out about 11:30 a.m. and fished until about 5:30 p.m. Fishing today was excellent!! Water temp is running about 62 degrees. This part of the Meremac River runs about 10-14 feet deep in most spots and is nice an wide. We paddled probably about 1.5 miles upstream.
Caught several drum on bottom rigs....they were on today! Too bad drum do not make very good table fare, or I would have taken some home to eat. Figured out how to kayak w/ cooler temperatures and cooler water...hip waders. Felt a little cumbersome at first, but once you get used to wearing them while kayaking, it is not a problem.
Ancored up in a nice and rocky area with good vegetation. Caught a nice eating sized channel catfish, but chose to throw it back. Caught another really weird looking catfish. Had the head of a flathead, but with black splotches all over it.....I will have to look this one up to see what kind of a catfish it was. The weird thing was when I caught these catfish (bottom rig with nightcrawler), I actually brought up some huge shells. This is proof that their is a shell bed under that water at the bend...perfect for catfish (they like to lay in shell beds)....I will have to keep this spot in my memory.
The smallie is the real story....measured out at 15"...which is very large for a small mouth. What a pig! He was huge! Caught him on a white spinner w/white grub trailer in about 6 feet of water, pushing the spinnner bait upstream right next to the vegetation line. This is the biggest smallmouth bass I have caught so far. I caught one on the James River near Springfield, MO. that was similar in length, but it was not nearly as fat as this one....what a rush!!
We had several trips to Lake Lincoln in May....this is one deep little lake. If you go about 50' from the boat launch, it is 70 feet deep in the middle. Almost the entire lake has straight drop offs by the edges of the lake....I would imagine the swimming beach area is the only area that has a gradual depth. This would be a great lake to practice if you had a week at Table Rock coming up. The water is very clear (I would not say "gin clear"...but close).
Put the Kayak in at the Route 66 SP boat ramp just south of Hwy 44 in St. Louis County, MO. Got out about 11:30 a.m. and fished until about 5:30 p.m. Fishing today was excellent!! Water temp is running about 62 degrees. This part of the Meremac River runs about 10-14 feet deep in most spots and is nice an wide. We paddled probably about 1.5 miles upstream.