5/4/05 Truman Lake Fishing Report from Sterett Creek Marina

[JimDog]

After two big tournaments out last weekend and a lot of cold weather the lake is starting to get back to normal. The water temp is still running below the normal and has slowed some of the fishing down. The weatherman is calling for temps. in the mid 70's for the rest of the week and the lows in the mid 40's so we should gain back the water temp. that we lost over the last couple of weeks. Maybe the crappie will come back in and finish spawning. Have had a couple of reports that some have started coming up already.
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LAKE LEVEL: 706.60
WATER TEMP: 58 deg.
WATER CLARITY: Stained
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BASS: Even after two big tournaments out last weekend and all the cold weather the bass fishing remains pretty good. In the Concord Village Lions Club tourn. on Saturday the winning stringer was a little over 17lbs. The story I was told was the fish were caught in the Tally Bend area on spinner baits up shallow around lay downs. Last night in the Hawg Fights it took 17lbs to win. Clint Rayburn and Jack Hockett had the winning stringer and had big bass weighing 3.71lbs. Second went to Steve Blake and Billy Fisher with 7.87lbs. The jig bite has slowed a little this week but the lizard bite took over. Watermelon red seems to be the best color with PBJ right behind it. Fish seem to be holding in 2' to 6' of water on the steeper banks. Banks that change from chunk rock to dirt or pea gravel are the best areas right now. Look for lay downs.

CRAPPIE: The crappie fishing should improve this week with the warm up we have coming in. Marty Zych had fish yesterday out of the bare pockets in 2' to 4' of water on jigs. This is a lot better than the 15' to 20' of water they have been holding in after the cold front. In our area we still have a lot of fish that haven't spawned so this should be a good weekend. I will update the report when they hit the banks again.

WHITES & HYBRIDS: There has been a few whites caught off the humps in the Berry Bend area trolling. Wiggle warts in chrome have been the best baits. I would also check the KK Island area, these fish should start moving to this area real soon.

CATFISH: We saw some nice catfish this week. We weighed a 16lb. and a 12lb. blue yesterday. These came off jugs with leeches set about 10'. The edge of the flats next to deep water seems to work the best.
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That's it for this week from Sterett Creek Marina
660-438-2280
critter@dam.net

So till next week we bid you good fishin.
Tommy