Clearwater lake... a huge disappointment.

Met my old fishing bud Jim Strong, at Clearwater on the 14th. At one time we pretty much owned Clearwater and had some of the best outings ever on that lake. The last time we were there was 20+ years ago and this is now. Places we fished stumps in 8' - 10' dropping off into a 14' creek channel are now silted in and the stumps are covered up.

One Saturday in 1990 we drove up from Cape Girardeau for a couple of days fishing. When we arrived there was a open bass tournament preparing to launch. I looked at Jim and said, "You know what's about to happen?"

"Yep," he says, "We are going to catch more bass than those guys, and not be in the tournament."

We managed to come up with the $55 entry fee by combining our bills and $4.00 out of the ash tray. I never caught a bass that day, but my pard was right. He boated 3 great fish and we won the tournament, plus the big bass pot.

Memories... but as I said, that was then and this is now.

Clearwater isn't the same lake it was 30 years ago. They keep the water level much lower now since doing all of the work on the dam. There are many places we fished in the '70's and '80's that are high and dry now. Plus several years of poor spawns have really hurt the fishing. Different lake now with new challenges

Good to hear from you Hank. I also catch more big bass crappie fishing. I like to raise them up and show my bass fishing friends on my lake as they are flying by in there boats.