Mark Twain Fishing

[Larry Douglas]

Crappie, bass catfish.... it's all been great this past week. There's been some nice size everything being caught. A 2.5 lb. crappie, 8 lb. bass and 50+ lb. flatheads. Turkey's are being killed. It's a great time to be here. The only caveat may be the cold front that just came through. Here's this weeks report....


Date: 4/22/04
Lake Level : 605.99
Last Weeks Lake Level: 605.40
Normal Lake Level : 606
Water Condition: Dingy - Muddy
Surface Water Temp: 58-62 degrees

The lake is currently on the rise.

Crappie fishing has been excellent. Last weekend the CrappieUSA tournament enjoyed good fishing, with the winning limit of 10 fish weighing in at 13.05 lbs., including the 2.56 lb. crappie that won the big fish award. Click here for pictures. . The strategy that helped some of the CrappieUSA guy's win money, was to fish pretty far up the branches, in the secondary coves, in water no deeper than 5 feet, and in areas with lots of debris. Drop the bait slowly through the debris, working from one opening to another and keeping on the move. Don't tie off to anything for long if you're not catching keepers. Jigs were the lure of choice, color didn't seem to matter a lot, however most used black/chartreuse or red/chartreuse. Some fishermen used jigs tipped with crappie niblets and some used just minnows. We're finally getting some good reports from the west end of the lake, South Fork, Otter Creek and North Fork are a few areas to think about. Sandy Creek had good reports as well. Some guy's fished way up Lick Creek and caught lot's of crappie, but they went through a lot of small ones before getting some with any size to them. Later in the day has been better, there have been a few reports of crappie biting very early then shutting off fast. We have an excellent article on spring time crappie fishing at Mark Twain Lake. The article hit's right on the strategy mentioned above, so the time is perfect for reading it. Here's a link.

The CrappieUSA Kids Rodeo that we hosted last Saturday was even better than last year. The weather was great and the kids caught fish throughout the tournament. Here's a link to pictures of this years event - CrappieUSA Kids 2004

Bass fishing has been excellent. A lot of bass have been caught, mostly sub legal just below the 15" length limit. With that said, there have been a lot of legal size bass caught as well. White spinner baits or jigs have been catching fish. The bass have been hanging out around lay downs and brush piles in water 4 feet or less. Main lake points or secondary points, clear water or dirty water didn't seem to matter a lot. Both ends of the lake have been equally good as the bass have been active on what is described as an all day bite.

Catfishing has been excellent. Flatheads have been more active, several nice ones have been caught on trot lines. Blues and Channels continue to be caught on trotlines as well. The trotline bait of choice has been perch, followed by goldfish and cut shad. Rod and reel fishermen have been seeing their share of the action as well, using nightcrawlers or shad pieces. Elk Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork are productive. With the lake currently on the rise, the catfish should continue to be on the prowl.

White morel's should start popping up very soon, the weather has been warm and we now have the moisture. Be aware that spring turkey season opened this week, so please exercise caution when in the woods.

[fishin]

Thanks Larry

[RB]

fishin, pm your way about the boat.