Where are the fish! (Missouri/ Illinois guys)

[1099gl]

I mostly bank fish but im finally able to make a whole day trip this weekend and I can't seem to find the fish. Are they deep? are they shallow? Are they spawning still? I don't know where to look. I've been fishing pads with hollow body frogs lol probably why Im not catching much. Anyways I am either going to fish Coffeen Lake in west central Illinois (power plant lake) or Little Prairie lake in Rolla Missouri, which is choked with some type of grass probably milfoil. I  have no clue where to look for the fish at coffeen since its a power plant lake. There is grass (milfoil or hydrilla). Just looking for some tips on bait selection and where to look for them to help me catch a few more. Also is topwater worth fishing in the morning and evening? 

 

Thanks

[countryboy65]

I have been catching fish shallow in south east mo, either on topwater or spawners.  I caught about a 6 on a spro shad 2 weeks ago and missed one as big or bigger on a spro king daddy frog last weekend.  Spawning pretty heavy now.

[moguy1973]

Coffeen is a strange one.  Since it's a powerplant lake so the water stays warm year round so the spawn time is a little different over there.  They probably spawn a little earlier than most places since they can go up into the warm water once it gets to around 60 degrees or so and do their thing.  It's probably a little warmer than that now since we've been having nice weather so they are probably post spawn and back out in the main lake.

 

I've never been to Little Prairie but I'm sure they are real close to spawn or even post spawn since it's a smaller lake it may have warmed up faster than larger lakes in the area so they'd be off the bank some.  Should be getting around to being top water time although all this cool rain we've been getting might really screw them up.

[1099gl]

13 hours ago, moguy1973 said:

Coffeen is a strange one.  Since it's a powerplant lake so the water stays warm year round so the spawn time is a little different over there.  They probably spawn a little earlier than most places since they can go up into the warm water once it gets to around 60 degrees or so and do their thing.  It's probably a little warmer than that now since we've been having nice weather so they are probably post spawn and back out in the main lake.

 

I've never been to Little Prairie but I'm sure they are real close to spawn or even post spawn since it's a smaller lake it may have warmed up faster than larger lakes in the area so they'd be off the bank some.  Should be getting around to being top water time although all this cool rain we've been getting might really screw them up.

I went to the warm side in late January and the surface temp was 60 degrees. No clue what they are gonna be doing if I go over there. If I do ill let you know how it goes.