Missouri Lakes Fishing Report

Lake - Table Rock 01/30/06:

Kimberling City Area: Deep fishing is still your best option in the mid lake area, most of the fish are being caught on spoons or drop shot rigs fished on flats and points near deeper water. Look for birds to clue you to where the bait is and the fish will not be far away. White spoons and sand or watermelon red finesse worms fished from 40’ – 80’ deep in and around schools of bait will produce several fish.

James River: The jerkbait bite is still strong on the James River. Flat, mixed rock banks with isolated cover continue to produce several bass, large crappie and even the occasional walleye. On windy days fish the bait from 3’ – 20’ deep around isolated pieces of cover, on calm days fish will move deeper and you will need to fish cover in 10’ – 30’ of water and pause the bait for as long as 10 seconds between jerks.

White River: The warm rain on Saturday pumped quite a bit of fresh water into the Kings River and it turned on the fish. Wiggle warts in both brown and red craw have been producing several fish. Parallel mixed rock banks around 6’ deep and bang the bait off every piece of cover you can find. If it is a calm sunny day move into the bigger creek arms of both the white and Kings and fish channel swing banks with an Eakins’ jig in brown / purple flash with a green pumpkin Eakins’ craw for a trailer. Pay close attention to any cover along these banks.

Dam Area: The best pattern around the dam area continues to be deep. Look for schools of bait up off the bottom from 40’ – 80’ deep suspended over as much as 150’. Most of the bait is on the ends of points, on channel banks and on saddles, look for fish to be in and around the bait to be successful. A good secondary pattern is to fish the larger boat docks on pea gravel banks and points in the major creek arms. Look for docks that have a “deep end” in 50’+ and make pitches to the center walk way of the dock from 10’ - 40’ deep with a PB&J Eakins jig and green pumpkin jig trailer.