Missouri Lakes Fishing Report

Lake - Table Rock 02/12/05:

Kimberling City Area: Staying with the shad is still the key to finding fish. Look for schools of shad to be near the mouths of creeks and on channel swing banks of both the main lake and the major creek arms. The deep bite has been pretty good over the past week, look for shad relating to main lake channel swings and deeper points, work the bottom and side edges of the schools of shad and watch your graph for fish to react to the bait. A second pattern that is working well is an Eakins' jig fished on steeper channel swing banks in the major creek arms, brown/purple flash with a cinnamon purple Yamamoto twin tail has been the most effective bait.

James River: Just as the James was starting to clear the recent rains have added a little more color. Look for the fish to be moving up on sunny, deeper banks when the sun is shining. Fish with a Eakins' jig with either a Yamamoto twin tailed grub or a pork chunk for a trailer, let the water color dictate your jig color, the more stained the water is the darker your jig and trailer should be. Missouri craw and black/blue flash have been two of the best colors this past week.

White River: The Corps of Engineers is still trying to bring Beaver lake down to power pool so the upper end of the White River has allot current which is positioning both the bait and the fish. Look for bait to be on the down stream side of points and channel swings on the main lake, fish these areas with Lucky Craft pointer 78 in both Table Rock shad and Chartreuse shad. Don't be surprised if you catch a mixed bag of bass, walleye and white bass fishing this way it seems both the walleye and white bass are staging before they spawn and are taking advantage of the current positioning the shad as well.

Dam Area: The deep bite is still your best bet in the dam area, the fish are not in a traditional deep pattern but can be caught on white spoons and drop shotted finesse worms on channel swings and saddles on the main lake, you will need to locate shad to be successful. When the wind is blowing the grub bite can be awesome right now on pea gravel flats and points. Don't be afraid to fish in less than a foot of water if the wind is blowing on the bank, fish a salt and pepper 4" Yamamoto single tail grub on a 1/4 oz. head, throw it to the bank and reel it back in.