Kayak fishing Whetstone CA, Callaway County, MO June 8, 2013: High and muddy= slow fishing!

Bit of a slow fishing trip.  The Big Lake on Whetstone CA was high and had a "chocolate milk" consistency about it.  Threw a lot of different lures to try and roust up some bass.  Had a slip bobber/night crawler set up that yielded a nice sized bluegill, but other than that, not many bites to speak of for the day.....maybe next time

Fish ON

Mike

 

Kayak fishing Whetstone CA, Callaway County ,MO

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July kayak fishing at Lake Sherwood, Warren County, MO: Heat does not always stop fish

This is a combined report from (2) trips I took to the always wonderful Lake Sherwood, MO.  Sherwood is a private, gated community with several lakes.  I prefer to fish the main lake for bass and monster bluegill.  Both times I fished the lake, the temperatures were about 100 degrees, with very warm water temps.
The first trip I had a ton of success on Largemouth bass (which is what I was fishing for).  I had a fire tiger bright colored Rapala medium diving crank bait.  There were a lot of casts involved, but caught over (8) that day, as well as a catfish that I was unable to land (I knew if was a catfish due to the fight and the slime left all over the line when he spit the lure out).  Most people I spoke with that are familiar with the waters said that the fishing was slow, but I think I figured out what the deal was.  The bass were laying at the bottom of the lake, in the middle of the arms in about 15' of water in the heavy vegetation.  When that lure when by, they jumped up to hit it (hence having to cast a ton of times before a bite).

The second trip the conditions seemed very similar, but no such luck.  A storm front was getting ready to move in, and I started to throw a Rebel topwater plug.  What was interesting was the fact that no bass were caught, however, I caught several good sized bluegills off my efforts.  Makes me think I should come back with a fly rod and a bunch of smaller sized poppers....hmm.....

Fish ON!

Mike

Lake Sherwood, Warren County, Missouri April 8th 2012: Panfish are now ON!



Huge Green Sunfish from Lake Sherwood

I had had so much success at Lake DiSalvo in St. Francois County the day before, I decided to hit it again on Sunday.  Like I may have said in the previous post, about the only thing I like as much as bass fishing is panfish fishing.  Lake Sherwood is, in my opinion, one of the better sunfish lakes in the entire state when they are on, especially in regards to the redear sunfish variety.

Something I like about my fishing kayak is the fish finder I am able to use with it.  I fished for about an hour without much success, and then noticed on the finder that they were about 10' from shore in about 14-19' of water, suspended about 1/2 way down.   I went ahead and made the adjustment on the slip bobbers (my favorite rig in the spring) and then they started to turn on.  Came back with an entire stringer of really nice panfish, which I proceeded to clean when I got back home.....great trip at Lake Sherwood.  I am glad I was able to catch the adjustments!

Fish ON!

Mike

Nice Lake Sherwood string on the Miss Bossy Flossy!

DiSalvo Lake, Bismark CA, St. Francois County, Missouri: Hot and heavy panfish action

I got a chance to kayak fish Lake DiSalvo on April 7th, 2012.  I had been to this lake a few months prior, but the wind was so bad at the time (and water temperature so cold) I passed on kayaking this lake earlier this year.

Lake DiSalvo is located in the Bismark CA in St. Francois County, Missouri.  I have not had a lot of luck on bass using artificials to this point, so I was using basically nightcrawlers on a slip bobber set up.  I have to say, I love bass fishing, however, when the panfish are "ON" , I really believe there is nothing better.  On this day they were ON!  In the beginning, I was catching a lot of really small bluegill, but as I worked my way down the lake, the size started to improve.

By the time I got towards the dam end of the lake, the wind really started to pick up and whitecap.  I think that is why the fishing was so go, at least for all the bluegill and redear panfish.....I think the wind was working the forage in that direction.  I was only out for about 4 hours, but caught enough for a nice stringer to take back home.

What was funny about this trip was when I got back to my house (this is about 2 hours from where I live) I was SO tired, I took the lazy, east coast, saltwater method of cleaning fish:  I re-iced the fish on the stringers and went to bed...cleaned them in the morning.....and all was good!  Good tip if you get too tired to clean fish (or too intoxicated LOL).

Fish ON!

Mike

Kayak fishing Lake Sherwood, Warren County, MO, Sunday, March 25th: Lake temps starting to warm

Got the Feelfree Moken Fishing kayak out for the first time this year up at Lake Sherwood in Warren County, MO.  This lake is really known for it's panfish (killer sized Redears and bluegills).  I did not know if it was too early yet or not.  I went out the week before for a few hours without much success.  Caught a couple of nice sized bluegill towards the dam, but was not able to put together a stringer.  My brother in law and nephew did really well out by the marina.

The temperature towards 4 p.m was around 67 degrees surface, so the rest of the water should be changing real soon if the temps keep staying in the 70's and 80's....should be an early spawn this year!

I am thinking I will have some better success stories in upcoming posts real soon

Fish ON!

Mike

Lake Sherwood, Warren County, MO, April 20th, 2011: Panfish are starting to warm up.....

Lake Sherwood is probably like most lakes in east central Missouri right now....high with water!  I did not know how the fishing would be after we had that massive cold front move through yesterday.  It was colder than I expected when I got out there.  I am glad I keep my gore-tex jacket stored in the kayak just in case.

Picked up some nightcrawlers and had one of the rods set up for a bottom rig, but due to the wind and the fact that my sea kayak does not have an anchor, I went back to mini spinning rigs (silver or gold spinner, jig head and mini grub).  Caught a couple of nice bluegill and a small slot size bass (the slot at Sherwood is 12-15"). Really enjoyed my time out in the water.
If you watch the video, I get the jig stuck in my hand about 2/3rd through it.  I like how I just tried to shake it off.

The thing to remember about sea kayaks and fishing is that there are some limitations.  I bought a rod leash and some foam rod floats.....leash D hook was cheap, fell off, and actually lost it in the water.  Rod fell in water and turned kayak around to find in floating.  Rod leash= FAIL  Rod Float= thumbs up!  Keep that in mind if you are fishing from a sea kayak.  I will be breaking the SOT fishing kayak out very soon.

Fish ON!

MLT

Crane Lake, Iron County, July 17th, 2010: Fishing slow, but paddle trip excellent

Ray and Jenni in Kayaks- this was her first kayak trip with us

Small Bluegill caught on bottom rig- water is really clear!

Sugar Hollow Lake, Warren County, MO. July 2nd 2010: Fishing a little slow, a couple of nice fish

This is the second largest lake at the Lake Sherwood area. Gas driven engines are not allowed on this lake- trolling motors only. This keeps the traffic down on this lake. Everytime I have taken the kayak out here to fish, I have been the only one on the lake.....good set up!

Fished on this day about 4 hours.....caught a couple of nice panfish (see photo above), but not a lot to write about. Fishing was sporadic at best. Had a nice hit on a minnow spinner, but was not able to set. I think the fishing may have had something to do with the weather pattern or time. I have seen buckets of panfish come out of this lake in the past....fish are in a summer pattern for sure! This seems like it would be a great early morning or evening lake to fish. We will have to try that some time before the summer closes out.

Fish ON!

MLT

Lake Sherwood, Warren County, MO. June 26th 2010: Tore it up on large Bluegill and Red-Ear Sunfish- Big time!!

I have fished Lake Sherwood in Warren County many times in the past from shore, but this is the first time I have kayak fished the main lake at Sherwood. My opinion is that Lake Sherwood in Franklin County is the best Red Ear Sunfish lake in the state of Missouri, and is one of the top large Bluegill lakes in the state as well....what an incredible fishery!

I put in near the island on the main dam and paddled into the first cove past the island. The day started off with a couple of large bluegills. Started with a slip bobber, but soon moved to a bottom rig with a nightcrawler...that was the trick!

When I paddled back, I anchored up at a point and started to cast out...BOOM! I must have hit a whole school of large redears! We ended up with a nice stringer at the end of the day, big time. Ended up cooking the filets baked over cajun rice...yum!

Fish ON!

MLT

Lake Sherwood, Franklin County, May 30th, 2010: Fish moving into summer patterns

Got out on the pontoon boat with Rob and Tammy and Hunter. The weather could not have been better....seemed to get up to 90 degrees or so. We were catching them on bottom rigs with nightcrawlers. I caught the bass on a small spinner w/ jig and plastic minnow. Came out with quite a stringer of fish...took me a few hours to clean. This is an OUTSTANDING red ear and bluegill lake.

fish ON!

MLT

Cuiver River SP, Lake Lincoln, Lincoln County, MO: Several trips to this very deep little lake

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.

Fish ON!

MLT

Lake Sherwood, Franklin County, MO, April 25th, 2010: Huge Redear Sunfish and Bluegill harvested, despite rain and wind

We got a chance Sunday to head out to Lake Sherwood for some fishing. I just had a feeling that the fishing would really be on. The weather was not very encouraging. It seems the best time to fish would have been on Saturday morning before all the really big storms moved in. On Sunday, the cold front had already passed and it was windy with intermittent showers, some were fairly heavy at times. That forecast usually spells for bad fishing. However, I do believe that the spawn is on, so sometimes, especially with panfish, that rule is not always applicable. In this case it was not.

We started out with slip bobbers down about 10', but soon found that the bigger fish were closer to shore. My nephew Hunter came out with Rob, and he tore them up...very, very large Redear Sunfish and Bluegill. The most productive rig was the rig that is always productive at sherwood- bottom rig with nightcrawlers.

We got out around noon and left around 4:00 p.m. or so....Rob and Hunter had 30# worth of fish, we came close to 10#....great day at the lake despite the weather!

Fish ON!

MLT

whetstone Creek CA, Callaway County, MO., April 17th 2010: The SPAWN IS ON!!

The title should say enough....THE SPAWN IS ON!! Got out to Big Lake on the Whetstone CA around noon or so and the fishing started off a bit slow. Hit the first cove that I had some success on a couple of weeks ago first, but only caught one smaller bluegill. What was nice about this trip was that we did not have 20 mph winds coming in from the SW, so I was able to get some decent paddling in as well. Paddled to the back of the lake and fished that spot for a short period. I had a strike on a Gulp! nightcrawler texas rigged, but that was it.

As the sun started to go down lower as it got later in the day, I decided to paddle to the east shore of the lake (where the sunlight was in direct contact). Parked the kayak and got out to stretch and shore fish for a bit...this is when they really started to hit. The bluegill are obviously starting to spawn about 10' from shore. Got on them using a slip bobber and night crawler outfit about 6-8' down.

The most exciting part was catching the large Channel Catfish on 6# test on a kayak...at one point he tried to go under the bow of the kayak...really thought I might lose him- what a fight! The fish are on again, off again, but if you follow water temperature, you should really do good this time of the year....finally, the spawn!

Fish ON!

MLT