Needemp

She was an old fish. I could see it in her scales and eyes. She was strong though. I only fished for an hour. I've never fished the upper. Would like to someday. If you take a boat, be careful because the Asian carp are bad. I had 2 jump in my boat this time, and 2 years ago, the last time I was there I had to duck to avoid be hit in the head by a big one. That's one of the reasons I stopped going there.

Decided to go to George Winter this morning on the Meramec River to do a little fishing. Hadn't been there in a couple years. 45 minutes in I caught this beauty. She weighed 7 pounds even. (the Asian Carp are still ridiculous)

Does anyone know anything about someone poisoning that lake and them having to drain it? Heard that rumor and just trying to confirm it.

My fish were holding to chunk rock, but I am sure they are using the pea gravel by now. The air temps won't really cool below the water temps till Friday. That may not bother your fish but it may. I would start off as if the cooler air temps won't bother the fish. Fish shallow w jigs, spinnerbaits and crankbaits. If you don't get bit or only catch 2 pound and less buck bass shallow, then fish the 4-10' range for bigger females. If the cool temps affect them, then they might be finicky. Try real slow. For those females fish big rock, brush piles skip far under docks.

St Louis here. I fish LOZ and Twain from spring to fall. Then I fish Baldwin Lake in the winter time. I fish the Meremac locally and I am going to start fishing Horseshoe Lake in Granite City. BTW LOZ is on fire right now. Get down there if you can. Baldwin had a major fish kill last summer. Last winter it was an amazing lake. Several 20# limits. This year I had one day with 19#s and not another day w more than 3 keepers.

Anyone know what the high and low temps are? Is there any clear water? What stage are bass in? Thanks in advance guys

I hardly ever consider the Osage in early March. I know there are some good creeks up towards the 70mm, but that's a long run and I find it to be more miss than hit in March. I stick by the dam/Gravois area and the Nianguas. Between the 2 of those areas you usually have 2 different patterns to choose from. I like the quality of the late winter/early spring fish. So what ever area has that going on is where I head first. Therefore it takes special conditions for me to head up the Osage. Do you ever have success up there?

If you have 3 temp gauges, then you have the accurate temp. Temp is relative. Its about what the bass are doing. This time of year its winter pattern. But when it begins to warm up, you might find warmer than expected temps, but the fish may not be doing what you think they should be doing. That's why sometimes going to your favorite part the lake can hurt you. For instance, the Nianguas usually seem to be ahead of the rest of LOZ. But if you go up there to fish warmer water, you might find the late winter schools have broken up and scattered to their migration. But the lower end of the lake might still have big schools on ml areas. You may have to bust your hump to find them in Nianguas, but you might sit on 1 point by the dam area and catch a nice limit. Vice versa when the Nianguas warm up first and the first wave of big females get real active, the dam area fish might still be slugish.

I have noticed that too. But I figured out why. The temp gauge must do the reading at midnight or early in the morning. So it is usually the coolest temp. But LOZ is pretty big. And you can find different temps all over the lake at the same time. As much as 15 degree difference. In spring the Nianguas can have 52 degree water, and the Glaize, Osage and Gravois areas can top out at 40 on the main channels. Sometimes the creeks can be more than 10 degrees warmer than the main lake. I don't know where that gauge is at, but let's say it is at the 6mm on the main channel. That same day you could be up the Nianguas and find 10-15 degree warmer water. You could also go pretty far up the Osage (especially if they are pulling water from Truman) and find 5-10 degree colder water.

I haven't been there yet this year so I don't know the surface temp first hand. But I would trust http://www.odd.net/ for fairly accurate temps. It says 35

Nick is right on about the water flowage. But it all depends when you go down and the conditions. Be careful not to pigeon-hole yourself. If you don't get your rain runoff, it may be foolish to commit to those creeks all or most of a day. Obviously you can go back and try a few just to see, but if conditions aren't right and you don't get bit or only catch small keeper fish, get outta there. In March, there are times you can catch quality fish from those creeks, but most of March your quality fish are deeper and main lake. In fact, there are times in March where the Glaize is the toughest area of the lake.

How has Coffeen lake been fishing lately?

I finished 4th out of 75. I missed the first tx and that hurt me. The top 6 didn't miss any. But I still had a chance to win AOY going into the last tx. But now I have my side imaging

I was at where you are at a few years ago. I just started fishing 5 years ago. I fished for a year then joined a club my second year. I did very well when I was the boater. I won a couple including our Classic and finished 2nd in a couple. But I knew I was not ready so I got out of the club for 2 years and practiced. I reentered this year and had a chance for AOY going into the last tx. I ended up 4th. But I had to miss the first tx and the other top 5 fished them all. My plan was not to fish any tx I wasn't ready to win. I had a lot of things go wrong this year including health, boat problems and all but one tx on water I had never fished before. Plus I missed a tx. Point is I know I am closer. My advice is based on my experience. You have to do a ton of studying off the water and know about what the fish should be doing when you get on the water. But when they are not doing what they are suppose to be, then start searching for them from that point. And you have to find the big fish. Not just keepers. Also, only get in the back of really good fisherman. You need to learn and that experience is best learned from you making the desicions. You have to be able to find your own fish and your own spots. And you can't always live by the same spots over and over. I could go on and on but you get the point. Oh yeah, confidence is the most important thing. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Yep. I'm still fishing. I pretty much exclusively fish Baldwin. Went out 2 weeks ago and I am going this weekend. I will fish there all winter till the beggining of March. Big fish over there. I know its hard to believe, but my smallest LM is 17" over there.

I fish Baldwin and Cofeen in the winter. I heard that Lou Yaeger wasn't worth it.

I trek up to Mark Twain. I figured a lot out about that lake this year. And now that I finally have side imaging I can't wait for next year. I stay with a buddy that has a place up there. Actually he was the best tx fisherman up there this year. He won 5 or 7 (can't remember) tx this year including 2 BWS's. I would love to go back to Whiteside someday with the boat.

LOZ is my favorite. I woundnt count out Mark Twain this time of year either. I have better big fish days there in the fall than I do in spring. What style of fishing are you?

LOZ is my favorite. I woundnt count out Mark Twain this time of year either. I have better big fish days there in the fall than I do in spring. What style of fishing are you?

Wondering how the bass fishing was

It's not real easy. It's a lot of work. Obviously the more time you have, the better chances of finding schools. But, like me, most of us don't get that much prefishing time. So you have to pick seasonal, high percentage areas before you even leave for the lake. For instance, this last trip for me at LOZ I knew a lot of fish had spawned out. So I figured the best, most active schools would be closer to the main lake. Sure enough, that was the case. Secondary points and transitional banks inside the coves didn't have the schools. But inside main lake transitional points, they were schooled up. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Sometimes they are not doing what you think they should be doing. And that means you will not always find schooling fish. So I will change areas and presentations in hopes of finding schools somewhere. It is a gamble with limited prefishing, but it has high rewards. If I fail to find them, then I can always resort to the areas that will have one here and one there. To answer your question specifically about how to find schools, pick your high percentage areas and fish only around them. Don't go running down a nothing bank just because it is adjacent to your ledge, creek channel, etc. Fish the high percentage area with different crankbaits, jigs, finesse, topwater or whatever your confident baits are. Use different retrieves, cadence and speed. Check the top of a break first for active fish. Then try the break itself. Finally, don't leave until you have targeted the inactive, suspended fish. That is why it is important to have more than a few rods ready to go. Drop the crankin stick and pick up the jig. Drop that one and throw jerkbait. Drop that and let a wacky rig fall through the water column. If no bites, then move on to the next area you have picked out. Here is a final tip. Always fish a lake as if it is your first time there. In other words, do not just fish your past spots. Your productive spots may not fit the conditions and you will waist time. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't check them. But if they aren't productive, go to the areas that match your conditions.

What do you guys have success on during muddy, falling water in a reservoir with standing timber, mostly rock and deep water? I know it is tough, I was just wondering if anyone has had success in these conditions. Thanks.

Good question. You have to know the lake well. I recently had this in a Tx at LOZ and I knew where the fish were the day before. But since I was new to that area of the lake, I only had enough weight for a top 10 because I didn't have areas that matched my conditions. But here is what I do when I know a lake and have areas that match the conditions. I'm not sure if you had schools of fish or just one here and one there in a pattern. But if you watch Day on a Lake or read it from BASS, then you see how much they work the water column with speed, color, depth, cadence, etc. They change it up a lot till they find what is working. The way the elites work a water column is systematic. They are not always successful, but are more consistent than the average angler. I learned a ton from that series. In your conditions I would try slow falling jigs and weightless plastics. Use different speeds of fall. I would also try to bang a crankbait off of cover to get a reaction bite or some other kind of reaction bite. I would try crawling a jig and digging a crankbait slow and fast. I would try topwater and jerkbaits. I would try flats first, then at the top of the break to the bottom of it. Then I would target bass suspended on the break. I would start in areas where I found quality schools of fish in hopes that they didn't move far, but keep in mind they may be far away. But I wouldn't start in areas where I only caught 1 or maybe 2 bass. I would start with the schools first. You have a better chance of finding multiple bass. Keep changing until you find something. Remember, it seems that in a Tx someone always finds quality fish. Why can't it be you?

I have a good guide for LOZ. He is very detailed and knowledgable and a very nice, unselfish person. PM me if you decide to go there. LOZ will be main lake and current oriented in mid-June.

Glad to help. I will give you my detailed experience this weekend. I just fished a Tx there Saturday. I didn't get very much prefishing done because it was also a family weekend, but I did a lot of homework before I went. I saw the fish spawning there a month ago. I knew there would be a big wave moving out with the stable weather we had. So I decided to target main lake transition points. I tried medium to large sized coves that had the best transitional structure on their points. Thursday I prefished for about 2 hours and sure enough, I found 18 to 19 inch spawned out females there. I had 5 keepers around 13 pounds on jerkbaits, crankbaits and jigs. I had about another 1.5 to 2 hours prefishing Friday morning and I fished areas that I didn't plan fishing in the Tx. In that short of time I had another limit about 10 pounds. Got them on jerkbaits and jigs. Went out Friday afternoon just mapping and marking new areas for the next day. Tx day came and I ended up culling to 13.26. I didn't find any kickers, but had a dozen keepers. What I found was 3 areas on which the fish schooled up while in transition. My 3 biggest bass came from each one of those 3 points. They where all within 3 miles of each other and had to have the right structure. I first found them on the bottom eating jigs. When that bite stopped, I tried digging a crankbait and then I tried a jerkbait. Finally, I decided to try a wacky rig Senko. That was the trick. The conditions were cloudy, cold and rainy for days. I am sure that you will still be able to find the fish doing the same thing. Some guys had success on secondaries. I personally fished them and found some fish, but it was a fish here and one there. Never a school. All 3 schools I had were main lake. Good luck to you.