Missouri Lakes Fishing Report

Lake - Table Rock 02/26/05:

Kimberling City Area: The deep bite is hit or miss right now, your best bet is to find schools of shad on deep pea gravel and work a spoon or drop shot Yamamoto cut tail around the schools of bait. The best pattern is a Lucky Craft Pointer 78 in Nishiki fished on deep chunk rock points and banks. If it is windy you will need to pause the bait very little, if it is calm start with a 10 second pause and work you way up until you find how long they want it to sit still.

James River: The dirty water in the upper James is warming much faster than the rest of the lake. Two key patterns have developed over the past week: an Eakins' jig in brown / purple flash with a twin tail Yamamoto green pumpkin grub on deeper swings in the major creek arms will produce fish everyday. If it is windy, fish a wiggle wart or bandit 200 in a craw pattern on 45 degree chunk rock banks, parallel the bank between 6' - 10' of water and pay close attention to any wood cover.

White River: The best pattern right now on the White river is a wiggle wart or bandit 200 in a green craw pattern. Parallel chunk rock banks in 6'- 8' of water and pay close attention to the areas where the rock changes size or becomes mixed with bigger rocks, these areas will hold most of the fish. On calm days fish these same areas with a Lucky Craft pointer in Chartreuse Shad and pause the bait between 10 - 20 seconds between twitches.

Dam Area: The deep bite is still slow, if you find shad it is worth working the area for an hour or so but if you don't catch any fish move on. The best bite on windy days is to fish pea gravel points and flats with a salt and pepper Yamamoto single tail grub, cast the bait to the bank and fish it on or close to the bottom all the way back to the boat. There are still a few fish being caught on an Eakins' jig in PB&J in the shad around boat docks on pea gravel.