Watkins Mill report

First time fishing this little 100 acre lake by boat and I have to say it exceeded my expectations. Spent about 3 hours yesterday in the morning finding the brushpiles and vertical jigging. Found fish in 10 to 20 fow about 8-10 ft down, except the shell crackers, caught those trolling the banks in between brushpiles. The bigger crappie seemed to prefer minners while most others were caught off of white and chart slabslayers. The largest was about 13" and lost one at the boat that was bigger than that...not too bad for that lake from what I hear. I caught probably 20-25 shorts and a few white bass also. Will be going back for sure!

Chris

Nice mess of fish! When we lived in Lawson we fished it regularly , but haven't been on it in a few years.

Never fished Watkins Mill, but looks like I need to check it out. Nice job!!

Thanks for the Post and pic.

those are some toads for Watkins. Nice work!

We did a tournament out there a few years ago. First person to 30 wins (no length limit). I think our biggest was 7" :biggrin

Very nice mess!!!

Sounds like a smaller version of Smithville, only with fewer dinks per keeper!

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Originally Posted by Joedog

Sounds like a smaller version of Smithville, only with fewer dinks per keeper!

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Yeah, and without all the over sized pleasure boats and lake lice! :banghead

No such thing as a short at Watkins. They want them all kept! Nice job on the catch. The last time I drove by the lake it was packed. 6 boat trailers in the lot, a large pontoon, a few canoes and maybe 15 kayaks, packed for Watkins anyway.

nice mess of fish, looked fun! Would you say it'll be worth it to hit it from the banks now? how about the spring?

Tried to get there for the tourny mentioned. Still have it on my list to fish. Congrats and thanks for posting.

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Originally Posted by MustangJimmy816

nice mess of fish, looked fun! Would you say it'll be worth it to hit it from the banks now? how about the spring?

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Its a great lake to bank fish from. You can get all the way around the lake on a nice paved trail

Hookin'&Cookin' is right about the easy access, and some of the brushpiles are accessible from the bank as well.

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Originally Posted by ripnlips

Tried to get there for the tourny mentioned. Still have it on my list to fish. Congrats and thanks for posting.

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Does anyone still do a tourney here?

Chris, in the 4 years or so I have been here, I have only heard of 1 of those tournaments


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I think that tourney there was set up by the Mo Conservation Dept. to help thin out the crappie. I also did not make it.

Any boat/motor restrictions on Watkins Mill???

Answered my own question - 10 HP or smaller boat motor restriction.

Yes on the 10HP. But you Can run your big motor at a no wake speed and to unload and load.

That conservation sign states " outboard motors in excess of 10 hp must be operated at slow, no-wake speed".

Yeah we did the Watkins tournament a few years back at request of dept of conservation to help thin the crappie out. Thought it would be fun "sprint" to 30 and see how it worked. Pretty interesting tournament where the winner just yelled when they hit 30 :biggrin it was kinda a rush knowing every bite counted and the clock was ticking, and you could SEE almost everyone at any given time. I would say the 2-3 times I've been there most people fishing it are on the bank. And like everyone already said its idle only on the big motor.