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Good day anglers,
I'm headed to LOZ for a few days of relaxation and while my family sleeps during the wee hours of the morning. I plan on taking the boat out and shooting docks for crappie. I'm going to guess this is a lot like dipping trees on Truman? If anyone wants to join me for a morning of fishing, I'll be staying at the Hawaiian Islands area. Shoot me a msg, I'll be there early evening Sunday and leaving early morning Friday.
Go EARLY buddy, or run way up in the Gravois Arm if you dare... keep in mind 3ft swells are common so don't stay out too late. The chop is hard hard hard to navigate in any boat as the waves break from all directions. That nitro wont have alot of freeboard, so don't forget you need to get home.
The cruisers and general mayhem is less right by the dam so mile 1-2 might be ok. Being a week day will help alot but that area stays busy.
I had a 23ft cobalt and it was extremely rough.
oh and use your side imaging to ID crappie beds near/under the docks...least that what's I hear people in the know say.
I've heard it gets busy down there. This is why I'm going to hit the water early. Remember I'm one of those crazy guys who likes O-DARK THIRTY! :)
You will be in a good area just east of the island are a couple of good coves. If you are not getting them under the docks and you are marking fish out in front of them. Tie on a double jig rig 2 1\6th oz. And slow troll just give them a good cast out the side or back and go about .6 mph. Look for docks with lights cleaning stations and fish baskets. But remember to be courteous most dock owners are nice but there is a few notheads out there.
I haven't found them consistently under the docks yet. Trolling has been best technique for me. Regarding thr rough water, I always plan to stop fishing by 10:00 and back at the dock by 10:30. Any later, and you are really pushing your luck.
Sounds like I need to make sure I'm not on the lake past 10:30 am. The arm just east of the island has more than enough water to fish a few times over the next week.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Bubba
I've had good luck shooting docks in Lick Branch Cove which will be close to you...
We cruised over before the storm rolled in. We idled around checking depth and for fish. Are you saying they are under the docks or at a certain depth this time of year.
I thought fishing Truman was tough! Helix was lit up like this for 100 yards. I spider rigged and pulled cranks. Nothing!Attachment 382190
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I believe they are under the docks but usually down so far... docks and the crappie beds dock owners place are pretty much the only structure on LOZ(with exceptions).
Lots of fisherman get a dock or a slip at a marina then pretty much only fish the dock there after... personally I prefer to be in the boat burning gas, getting sun burned, and not catching, over sitting on a dock all day.
We always gathered all the Christmas trees we could find and sunk them to one side of our dock, away from the swimming ladder/part of the dock.
Look for docks with fishing boats.
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I don't thinks those are crappie, as thick as it was I wonder if the thermocline was fooling the helix.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheRo0sTer
Seem like the crappie have been hanging around 10ft
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I'm going to head out and waste gas and get burned later today.
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Now, I am certainly no expert on pulling cranks. But, here are a couple of things I have learned.
Depth is everything. You can be off on color or speed, but if depth is right, you will catch something. For me, after the spawn, my cranking is solely with Bandit 300s. And, I have a pretty specific amount of line out. I do not use line counters and just cast out to the sides (like Mike Baker). If I cast too far, I find the bite REALLY slows down. There is a sweet spot. I cannot tell you how much line it is, I can just eyeball it. I recently fixed up some reels and they casted way further. It took a while for me to realize that I was apparently too deep and had to cast shorter - back to my usual distance. Then it was game on. I have also been in the boat with someone else that was letting out more line and the difference was night and day.
Speed is also important too. I see on your graph that you are going 1.2 mph. If you ask 10 people, you will get 15 answers, but I have to be 1.4 to 1.7 mph to catch fish. At 1.2, the bite really slows down. Faster and I seem to catch more white bass.
Color matters, but less. I find it is either a day they want bright and shiny or a day they want darker colors. Beyond that, their taste varies throughout the day. So, I start each day with a mix and then let the fish tell me what color pattern they want.
Also, I fish LOZ almost exclusively on the Big Niangua and main channel. So, it should be similar to your experience up where you are fishing. If I happen to fish on the same days that Mike Baker produces his videos, I find that I have the same results he did. So, I think LOZ fish follow the same general patterns.
Hope this helps.
I would think it was going nuts, but same depth, fish go away as we move.Quote:
Originally Posted by Baitwaster
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when we had place at 6 mile cove had four slips and at each outside post I had cedar. no fishing boat or cleaning station so it wasn't obvious so you can;t always eyeball and since you have time, hit all the docks in a cove at different depths till you find the pattern. heck had some great days on places where the cable holding docks in place dipped into water and crappie were holding to that, so uneverknow. but definitely hit the docks where you are staying and you could get down to where they are and have fun.
I used the mega side imaging and could see brush, cables and crappie condos. The fish we did find weren't interested or were dinks. I changed game plans and targeted largemouth and whatever would take our jigs. We put a few of these on the deck with a bunch of pumpkin seed sunfish. Attachment 382344
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