Missouri Lakes Fishing Report

Lake - Table Rock 11/07/06:

Kimberling City Area: With the cooler weather this week there has been more fish moving shallow and feeding on crawdads and schools of shad. With that in mind there are two primary bait that have been very effective this past week; Jewel football and spider jigs are working well for smallmouth on pea gravel points and flats and War Eagle Screaming Eagle spinnerbaits have been working around shallow standing timber. Best colors in the Jewel football and spider jigs have been PB&J or brown / purple flash both matched up with either a cinnamon / purple / jelly or green pumpkin Chomper twin tail jig trailer. Fish the jigs on pea gravel from 10’ – 35’ deep maintaining bottom contact and working the bait slowly in any rock or wood cover you run into. The War Eagle spinnerbaits are working better on windy days, use white or spot remover with double willow blades and throw past standing timber and run the bait into the timber to trigger strikes.

James River: The upper reaches of the James River has some of the coldest water on the lake right now. Spinnerbaits and small crankbaits have been very effective in the shallow stained water of the James. Look for isolated laydowns, stumps and standing timber and throw War Eagle spinnerbaits in white / chartreuse or limetreuse with double willow blades past the cover and run the bait directly into the cover to trigger strikes. The same technique will work with small shallow crankbaits like Lucky Craft R.C. 1.5 or 2.5, Bandit 100’s or Bagley square bills in shad or chartreuse. On high pressure days these same pieces of covers will produce fish on Eakins’ Finesse Flippin’ jigs in black / blue flash or Missouri craw matched up with a matching Paca chunk.

White River: The White and Kings Rivers continue to be very productive; the White has a really good deep bite from Baxter to Campbell point on drop shot rigs and spoons and the Kings has had a lot of fresh water flowing in over the past week and the shad are on the bank and in the backs of the creeks. If you are heading up the Kings look for fish to be shallow following the schools of shad into the backs of creeks and up on pea gravel points and flats. War Eagle spinnerbaits are a great choice in the Kings, white / chartreuse Screaming Eagle with double willow blades have worked well in and around schools of shad. From Baxter to above Campbell point most of the fish being caught are Spotted Bass; look for them to be following schools of shad in creek arms and on the main lake on flats and pea gravel points from 25’ – 50’ deep. Chomper’s drop shot worms and War Eagle Spoons have been the most effective baits.

Dam / Branson Area: The lower end of the lake has been productive this week as well. Jewel football and spider jigs have been producing big Smallmouth bass on pea gravel points and flats from 15’ – 35’ deep, Chompers' drop shot worms and War Eagle spoons have been producing Spotted bass on drops and saddles and War Eagle spinnerbaits have been working in the upper reaches of Long Creek for Largemouth around standing timber and laydowns. When using the Jewel jigs focus on the areas where pea gravel changes over to chunk rock on points and flats and work the bait from 15’ – 30’ deep maintaining bottom contact, PB&J or watermelon / purple flash have been top colors with green pumpkin or cinnamon purple twin tail trailers. Look for Spotted bass to e 25’ – 55’ deep on pea gravel roll offs and saddles, find the bait on your graph and you will find the fish.Much like the other areas of the lake when in the upper reaches of Long Creek throw white / chartreuse War Eagle double willow spinnerbaits past shallow cover and run the bait directly into the cover to trigger strikes from Largemouth.