Flippin & Pitchin Posted May 20, 2014 Posted May 20, 2014 Each year, me and my fishing partner take our boat on a fishing trip. We've done Lake Fork twice, and Falcon Lake once. Fun trips, caught a few nice fish, but in our eyes, wasn't worth the money and drive to go to them. After fishing a small club the past 2 years, and having 4 tournaments on Lake of the Ozarks we decided to head there for 4 days and stay a little closer to home. We are from Illinois. We always ended up with 13# to18# during our tournaments here, so we figured what the heck. We knew the lake a little, and had a decent deal on a place to stay so we went after it. Well we just got back, and we caught a bunch of bass, just not many big bites. We would have struggled to fill out 15# the entire 3 1/2 days we were there with keepers. Not discouraged with the lake by any means, just an odd week with the weather. Anyways onto my original point.... We are not against returning to the Lake of Oz next spring, but have also kicked around going to a few other ones in the area. Kentucky, Bull Shoals, and Table Rock are all fairly similar in distance to the Oz for us. We fish a BUNCH of senkos around docks at Oz, as well as the bluff ledges and have never had an issue getting quality bites, until this year. This week I fell in love with a jerkbait bite and it was hard for me to put it down the rest of the trip. The familiarity with this lake makes it a little harder for us to abandon this trip, as well as how it plays to our strengths, but is the fishing at the other 3 lakes THAT much better that we need to give them a try? After all, our first hour ever spent on the Oz in a tournament we filled a limit of 16 pounds with a 5# kicker!! Sorry if that was too long winded! Quote
Brian6428 Posted May 21, 2014 Posted May 21, 2014 I don't have much experience fishing any of these lakes other than LOZ but bull shoals ranked pretty high on bass masters top 100 lakes of 2014. You considered Mozingo? Not nearly as large as the others but I saw some pretty good fish caught there at a small tournament this past weekend. Big bass was 7lb in a 20 boat tourney. Quote
conorsixtakc Posted May 21, 2014 Posted May 21, 2014 It's no mystery that the jerkbait dominates LOZ from winter-early spring. If that's your confidence bait youre always going to do well with it there provided the conditions are right. If it was me I'd go to Table Rock, if only for the fact it's more of a diverse fishery. LOZ has a good population of football-sized spots but no smallies. 1 Quote
macmichael Posted May 21, 2014 Posted May 21, 2014 Hey flipping and pitching. I fish a lot in your state from Shelbyville down to Kincade. Any tips you wanna share? Quote
Stbrown Posted May 21, 2014 Posted May 21, 2014 Kentucky Lake, hands down Kentucky Lake. Spring fishing is phenomenal, numbers and good weights are common and you have 180+ miles of water. Plus you have Barkeley next door if you want something different. Quote
tbone1993 Posted May 21, 2014 Posted May 21, 2014 Toss up between table rock and Kentucky lake for me. Sure LOZ boosted my jerkbait confidence but it did nothing for me. You can get on a spring time a rig bite on the rock and whack the tick out of them. You can also get on a great bite on kentucky lake. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted May 21, 2014 Global Moderator Posted May 21, 2014 I've fished Bull Shoals a few times, Table Rock a bunch, but never been on Kentucky. With that said I'd go to Kentucky Lake. You can catch some big fish at Bull and Table Rock for sure, but you can just as easily strike out completely. Last day I was on Table Rock, I was out there for 5 hours and worked my backside off for 4 fish, 1 was a 20.5" largemouth on my very first cast of the morning, the other 3 where smallmouth that you could have put end to end and they wouldn't have been as long as that first fish. Personally I feel you have other very good options for big fish closer but if you're set on one of those 3 I'd go to Kentucky. 2 Quote
conorsixtakc Posted May 21, 2014 Posted May 21, 2014 Sure LOZ boosted my jerkbait confidence but it did nothing for me. Care to elaborate? Quote
Flippin & Pitchin Posted May 21, 2014 Author Posted May 21, 2014 Hey flipping and pitching. I fish a lot in your state from Shelbyville down to Kincade. Any tips you wanna share? I honestly don't get out as much around home as I would like. I used to fish Newton and Coffeen a bunch when I had a smaller boat. Jacksonville is probably my best lake close to home, and can still produce some good days despite heavy tournament pressure. Egypt down south is another one that has treated me pretty well. I almost got to spend this weekend on Bull Shoals as I was going to buy a truck I found down there, but it sold yesterday! Would of been too convenient to haul the boat down too. I would say we will probably end up on Kentucky or Oz next year. We don't have much experience fishing deep cranks and jigs off shore, so Kentucky may be challenging for us if that's where the bite is. Quote
pbrussell Posted May 23, 2014 Posted May 23, 2014 I honestly don't get out as much around home as I would like. I used to fish Newton and Coffeen a bunch when I had a smaller boat. Jacksonville is probably my best lake close to home, and can still produce some good days despite heavy tournament pressure. Egypt down south is another one that has treated me pretty well. I almost got to spend this weekend on Bull Shoals as I was going to buy a truck I found down there, but it sold yesterday! Would of been too convenient to haul the boat down too. I would say we will probably end up on Kentucky or Oz next year. We don't have much experience fishing deep cranks and jigs off shore, so Kentucky may be challenging for us if that's where the bite is. It's not something i'm proficient at, but it appears your best bet when ledge fishing out at kentucky is to pay close attention to your graph. In fact, investigate the ledge you're on before even throwing a line, marking bait balls/schools. Once you've found those, and you get the schools fired up, it's game on. Quote
Big Bassman Posted May 29, 2014 Posted May 29, 2014 I have fished all of these over many years. OZ, BS, and the Rock are all very similar. IMO if you want to fish a jerk bait go to BS. Now, as to picking a lake for convenience of location to you, new to you, and full of quality fish that are catchable, I strongly suggest Kentucky. Also, per Brownie, Barkley is right there as well. Both lakes are like twins and I will guarantee you and your friend will enjoy them so much you will want to come again asap. Make sure to let us know how you did! Good Luck! Quote
Phoenix Guy Posted June 15, 2014 Posted June 15, 2014 Kentucky Lake would be #1 for me. And i'm surprised nobody suggested Pomme de Terre. That lake is on fire right now. Quote
Super User Bankbeater Posted June 19, 2014 Super User Posted June 19, 2014 I would stay away from LOZ this time of year. Too many boaters that don't know what they are doing. Quote
Bass_Fanatic Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 Read the Toledo Bend thread on here and see what the weights that have been reported in there have been. Toledo Bend is one of the hottest lakes in the country right now. Just last week I weighed a 11.72lb bass (I didnt catch it, a guy needed my scale lol) and then had 24lbs in the boat in under an hour. The spring time is a great time to catch big fish too. You can sight fish on the south end of the lake or back out and catch em on traps and A-rigs. I weighed in 26.5lbs in my club tournament back in March up there with a 10.2lb kicker. Quote
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