Trophy Country?

[Long Mike]

Just got back from a two-day outing with Ghoti (Gary) up at Trophy Country. If you've never heard of it, it's a privatively owned hunting/fishing establishment located in NE Missouri. Between the two of us we caught about 150 bass in two days, with Gary catching a least two-thirds of them. I could whine and say Gary front-ended me the whole trip, but the truth is, Gary is a much better fisherman than me.

Remaining true to its reputation for dinks, Trophy Country provided us with a "Trophy" of about two-and-a-half pounds. On the up-side, we were provided with the opportunity of fishing through non-stop rain on Saturday, PLUS the opportunity of loading all of our gear (including two batteries and a trolling motor) into and out of a boat parked on skids on a forty-five degree, sodden clay slope. Loading the boat was an ordeal in the morning, but at least were sliding downhill with all the gear. At the end of the day, having to move everything up hill in that slop,I felt that I was in the first day of Navy SEAL training. My only thought was to get to the top of the hill and ring the bell. Both Gary and I thought we were going to have a heart attack (he's already had one) before it was all over. The only thing left to do was to crank the boat back up the skids. We had already attached the strap, so ... we told the owner that if he wanted that friggin boat back up the skids he could do it himself. There's only so much fun you can tolerate at $100/day each.

On Sunday, we fished a different small lake where the access to the boat was MUCH easier. In the morning, the remains of Isaac were still providing a cloudy day and we caught fish on seemingly every other cast. But then the sun came out and the bite shut off almost completely. All-in-all, a good day.

For me the opportunity of fishing with a close friend, and catching a lot of bass far over shadowed the difficulties that we encountered ... but I will never go back to Trophy Country and fish that particular lake again. For those of you who have been there, that Lake is called "Upper Duck." It's a great fishery, but, until TC takes corrective measures, entry and egress is a MUTHA.

[Revo_Carrot Stix]

Hey Mike!

Wasn't Upper Duck the lake they "renovated" last year and relocated the launch? The launch sites are all ugly - especially when you factor in the drought. They wonder why the trolling motor shafts get bent? You have to hydroplane those things to dock and you still have 10 feet of vegetation to get through. I assume you didn't make it to The Islands with all that rain. We got stuck out there during the spring and we had two 4x4's.

I'm glad everyone made it out safe. We are considering a trip in two weeks to close out the year before we trade our fishing poles for shotguns.

[Long Mike]

Revo, Upper Duck is much easier to get to these days, as there is now a gravel road that takes you all the way to the boats ... and then someone had a brain fart. They mounted the skids on a slope so steep that it takes a mountaineer to access them. The road has improved, but the boats are almost impossible to load, launch and retrieve. Unless TC has re-graded it, DO NOT go there.

As for the Islands, it's probably the jewel in their crown and they do not realize it. I am dumbfounded as to why they do not try to improve access to that lake. It's like they get you almost there and then stop ..just as they did with Upper Duck

[Revo_Carrot Stix]

Yes, the cut through makes it easier to get to and that gravel road is very steep. I would assume nearly impossible to scale with all the rain you mentioned.

Did you happen to hear how the smallmouth pit is coming?

[Long Mike]

I'm not sure. Kurt did mention that one pit is about ninety-eight percent complete and that another was about seventy-five percent.

[roadwarrior]

Man, smallmouth in a Missouri pond doesn't sound very promising to me.

[Revo_Carrot Stix]

Agreed RW. I think it's perfect for Spots, not sure about the smallies in pit that may go 15 feet at best. Last time I talked to Kevin in July, they were feeding the smallies crawdads and fathead minnows, but the pit wasn't even close to 1/2 full with the drought. Maybe Isaac topped it off. Mike and Gary would have to hand glide probably to get to those boats. I think they may introduce some walleye out there too. I'm headed there next Thursday - Saturday with 5 others, so I'll get the scoop.

[.ghoti.]

It won't be stocked with smallmouth. It will be stocked with the smallmouth / spotted bass hybrid, known as a meanmouth or tiger bass.

[.ghoti.]

OK, now I have some time. We had a great trip despite the remnants of TS Ike. Fishing in rain all day Saturday, the spinnerbait was hot for me. Got 2/3 of my fish on it. Got most of the rest on a tube or Fat Ika.

I had a real reminder of the importance of rate of fall Saturday. The tube bite was on. I had a Poor Boy's tube with HP internal weight on a 3/0 Rig-N hook. Lost my last 1/8oz HP weight, and tried with a 1/16oz. The bite turned off that fast. With an 1/8oz weight they were tearing it up. Nothing at all on the lighter weighted tube. That was when I switched to the Ika and spinnerbait. Got a few on the Houdini shad, but the bite on that was so light it was hard to detect.

A good day of catching, soaking wet, followed by the load-out from hell. Had clay mud (clud) all the way up to my kness from sliding and tripping on that slope. Even had clud in my freakin hair and ears. I must have also stepped in something that was not mud. Got in my car the next morning and it smelled like somebody had crapped out something dead.

Sunday was another great day of catching. We fished all day on Long Lake. I had the idea we might fish two lakes, but the bite was too good to leave. The spinnerbait bite was dead. Not one fish on it. The Ika was hot, Houdini shad was hot, jigworm got hot later. Mike went on a rip with a fluke. No rain Sunday.That was nice. The sun made an appearance which put the fish a little deepr. That was when the jigworm started working. The sun came out to stay around 4 and put an end to the bite.

My brother Mike and buddy Steve fished Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and Sunday morning. They got completely soaked Friday. It rained a lot harder Friday that it did Saturday. They both looked, and smelled, like drowned rats when they showed up at the cabin. But, they had a fine three days of catching too.

Good fishing, good friends, good food, it doesn't get any better.

Kent, you shoulda been theree.

[roadwarrior]

I know!

Great trip, I wish I could have been there.

[Revo_Carrot Stix]

We just completed our 3rd trip of the year. Unfortunately, we caught the first signs of Fall going from Sunny 80's to Cloudy 50's in just a day. We all averaged around 100 bass total for 1/2 day, full day, 1/2 day outing. The biggest catch was 23" 6.25# caught on a wind blown point in The Islands on KVD 2.5 Sunfish. This was the biggest trophy I've personally seen at TC in the last 3 years.

Mike/Gary - Corrective measures were taken on Upper Duck! Duke and Kurt followed us out there on the first day. We slid down the hill and launched. By the time we came back (6 hrs later), they dug out the clud and lowered the ramps - it made it easier to land which gave us the needed energy to scale the incline like pack mules. We couldn't help but laugh envisioning the bell at the top of the hill!!!! LOL!

The bass were scattered on every body of water. We could NOT figure out an effective pattern for the life of us. The most we caught in a single area cranking was 4. The best pattern was on windy banks, we just couldn't hold the boats in position for more than 2 casts. The other days were dead calm with an east breeze. One guy slayed them on a buzzbait going down fingers and channels, but most were in the 10-13" range. I usually end up only using 3 rigs (topwater, shallow crank, med crank) and seldom open the tackle bag. This time around, I had every box and bag open, looking for the "one"...

I'm convinced that the best fishing out there is in the heat of the summer when those boats are literally frying pans.