Lake of the Ozarks - 3/26/2010

We started in 6-Mile Cove fishing the main point and hump. The water temp was 40 with a slight SE wind. We fished from the west side casting into the wind to drag our baits back at us. Fan casted all around the "hump" on this point and found no bites. With this being our first stop we decided the water was too cold for them to be up this far and headed to our next spot.

Our next stop was in Indian Creek, way up on right hand side fishing chunk rock in 20' of water pounding the shoreline with stick baits & lipless. We caught 0 fish.

Pulled back to a pocket short of the point and fished from there towards the point. This was smaller chunk rock (fist sized). We were in 12' of water casting parallel to the shoreline with a lipless letting it sink and pulling it across the bottom. We caught 1 largemouth 3.5# in 12' of water. We think this fish was roaming the area and not a pattern fish.

The overall weather was sunny skies with a slight wind. Air temp was in the 50s and water temp was in the low 40s.

After this we moved back to the very end of the Gravois Arm. VERY shallow water. The lake is down about 6' so when we powered down off the big motor we were in 1.5' of water. we worked the docks with jigs back to some deeper water. We finally found 3.5' of water and ran into 2 guys catching them on stick baits around docks. Jason had one fish to the boat that got off. It may have been a short but was caught under the corner of the dock. I just don't think they had moved up that far.

Water temp in this area was in the upper 40s and topped out at 48.5.

Ran back down the Gravois Arm to a couple of main points. Water temp dropped back down to the low 40s. We fan casted lipless cranks setting the boat in 20' of water and casting up to the shallows. We would let the bait sink and pull it from the shallows to the deeper water hoping some fish might be staging out close to deep water but found no fish.

Moved back up into another cove and fished some big docks at a marina. Switched to a jig and fished the large chunk rock along the shoreline. Water temps had moved back into the low to mid 40s. We didn't fish here long and decided to run to the dam.

Fished the north side of the dam from where the dam meets the shoreline west. We were throwing stick baits, lipless cranks and jigs. We actually threw quite a bit more than that, but those were our main choices. We fished west along the bluff into the first cove. The cove has quite a few transition banks so we kept working these areas. On the north side (back) of this cove we hooked up with a short on a stick bait. It was up on the shoreline right at a transition pocket. As we came around the secondary point, we started paralleling the shoreline with a lipless. In 8' of water with water temps in the low to mid 40s we hooked up another largemouth, but didn't land it. It was right at the 15" mark, or so it seemed. We finished working the cove and called it a day. We got off the water around 7:30.

Mississippi River - Pool 26 (Harbors)

Saturday morning looked as though it was just going to pour, but the forecast was for no rain and the radar was empty. Savannah, Alan and I headed out on the Mississippi again for another try at those pesky river largemouths. The water was right at action stage and was on the rise from all the rain we got on Friday. We decided to stick to the marinas. As it turns out, there was also a bass tournament on the river today, so that hurt our chances a bit more. We started at Polestar Marina. They have a lot of rip rap on their shoreline. We were both throwing plastics today. I started with a jig and creature, but quickly switched over to a Texas rig. We worked almost all the way back but there were two other boats back there fishing the tournament so we didn't want to bother them and decided to try another spot. We ran down to Woodland and worked the back of their marina. They have a couple of culvert pipes that supposedly hold bass, but they didn't show us that. Alan did get a bite on a plastic worm, but couldn't get it to hook up. I eventually started throwing a spinner and got a bite, but again, couldn't get it to hook up. Talking to some of the other boats out there, they were catching fish. One of these days I'll get to catch a bucket mouth on the Mississippi. But it won't be today. - cld
Oh, forgot the conditions. It was overcast skies with a rising barometer. The water and air were both around 65° with the river on the rise.