Oar Fish- Fish Or Chinese Dragon?

I ran across an interesting photo and video on "Oar fish" This is very interesting and down right creepy if you ask me! Just another good reason for me not to swim in the ocean!

You can google search and find interesting stuff on these creatures, or fish is probably the more technical word, I also search it on you tube, there are a lot of videos too!

Do you really have to swim that close to these things to enjoy them? Not me, this is close enough for me!

Hope you all enjoy!

I REALLY do believe they need a bigger boat?!!!

Be sure to watch this short video and you will, like myself, learn something, I am sure!

Catching Those Summertime - Suspended Bass!

Memorial weekend has come and gone, hopefully, everyone has taken care of that awful disease that all fishermen get in the winter time, "cabin fever!" I call it BASS fever! Hopefully everyone has caught enough bass, white bass , bluegill, walleye, stripers, hybrids, etc to get them through till the next fishing trip!

With spring fishing well under way, and the spawn is nearly over, at least in most of the area lakes around here, of course some are still spawning, but as a whole , we are in post spawn. It won't be long until we are dealing with summertime and those lock jawed bass!

If we can catch them feeding, we can have a successful trip, but this is not always the case. When bass are full of grub, and or the weather has shut off the bite, bass have a tendency to... SUSPEND!

Oh my, sorry for the vulgar language but it's not like we haven't heard this nasty word before. I have a tip or two , that will put those finicky , lock jawed , stubborn, large mouth bass, along with other predatory fish like stripers, etc. into the boat or live well.

Introducing, Berkley's "Power bait Hollow Body" a relatively new Lure but growing in popularity on the pro circuit and hopefully after today, enjoyed by all who fish!



Have you ever been on the lake fishing and no fish can be found , except, suspending fish. When this is the situation it can be down right frustrating and a pain in the #@*! <------- censored!

These soft swim baits can be virtually fished from the surface to the bottom of the drink, which makes it a complete tackle box, all in one lure! You can fish it weedless for thick cover or open hook for open water! While there are many ways to rig this little critter, my favorite, personal preference is rigging it with the hook that comes with it and fish it weedless. Because the bait is hollow and soft hook set is relatively easy and this increases your chances of a higher percentage of hook ups!

Now you can cast this out over suspended fish and count it down until it is right on top of these suspended fish and swim it to the boat and it stays at the desired depth of the fish! You want to use good line, lets say 12 to 15 lb test and a good strong rod as you don't want to break your line on the hook set! You will find that turning these suspended fish on the hook set, will put a lot of shock on your line and reel.

Just be sure to let the fish run with it before you set the hook! I know that this sounds too simple , but try this soft swim bait and then you be the judge , I think you will find that this is the ideal bait for almost all fishing situations, especially handy on suspended fish, but a very versatile, all conditions, all terrain fish bait.

If you don't have these baits then get some and then be sure to USE them as you can't catch fish on them if they are at home or in your tackle box. They have to be fished, to be effective! ;-)

So Until next time, keep your swim baits wet and boat safely! But above all, enjoy the "Great Outdoors!"

Truman Bass Fishing - Excellent!

It's been a while since my last post, it's not from the lack of material to post, just a case of "writers block" is all! Seems like I can post a story , but when I sit down to write, a big fat "nothing" so rather than fight it I just hang loose until it comes easy!

Hope you all had a good "memorial weekend" I did, but I didn't do anything but watch the cardinals play baseball. I hate to fight the big 3 day crowds at the lakes and streams. I pretty well fish during the week when most people have to work. So it's really not a necessity to fish, during these high fishing pressure week ends!

Tuesday, I went to "Truman" and had a real successful fishing trip! There was a lot of action on suspending rogue, and we caught 12, 2 - 3 lb large mouth! We probably caught 50 or 60 bass and the 12 we kept were the biggest. We caught no big fish, but we had a blast!

Wednesday we decided to catch the whites , if we could find them! We had noted Tuesday that the whites surfaced in a few locations where we were bass fishing, and decided to give them a try! We trolled most of the morning and did manage to catch 9 nice whites and one 8lb hybrid! We started hitting the flats and humps, late in the afternoon and we caught several big whites on white roadrunners.

We were fishing this long submersed point and the whites started surfacing around us! You know, like pirahnas, boiling the shad, and scared the" *&^%" out of us! We caught 2 nice stripers and 12 nice whites, and then it was over. It is truly amazing at the action during a big school of stripes and hybrids, surfacing, it is a free for all, and you can catch a lot quick, if you're in the right place when it happens!

Fishing is great all over the area lakes, between rises, and muddy conditions, with all the rainfall. We would gladly send some of this rain to other places, as we have had more than enough, and some aren't getting any rain. If you can get out and get to fishing , you will catch fish.

Keep your hooks wet and boat safely, please practice catch and release, only keep what you can clean and eat!

Norfork Lake, Striper and Bass Fishing Heats Up!

This past week I managed to go to Norfork Lake in Arkansas! I took 2 days away from the storm clean up operations around home. I got the major work done and out of the way, and I hang a sign on the door saying "Gone Fishing!" Norfork Lake bound and ready to just get away from all of the madness for a couple of days

Leo and I spent about a half hour catching shad the first morning and found a big school of shad and what appeared to be big fish below the shad, and we assumed stripers, since other boats were starting to arrive on the scene. We fished it hard and out of 4 boats none was observed catching any fish.

I got the idea to move to another location about 15 minutes away where we had gotten into them about 3 weeks before. We circled around until we found bait fish on our fish finder , again with big fish below, we cast out and was talking about fishing stuff, you know the drill always another big fish tail bigger than it was before, and before you know it we had a fish on, Leo had been bitten and it was peeling off line at ease! Leo was pulling and tugging and the striper was tugging and pulling and Both seemed to be tiring just a bit!

Then as quick as it started his line went slack and it was over, Mr. Striper had won this round. Dang! Of course you know I had to really bust Leo's chops but he would not live this one down, nor would he let me off that easy! This was going to be a fun day and we had to dog each other, just to bring light to the frustration of the big one getting away. We ended up catching 5 real nice stripers weighing between 10 and 14 lbs, not bad for a first days catch!

The next day a cold front moved into the area and it was down right chilly! Wind coming straight from due north was dominating the region, and we caught 6 bass total 3-5 lbs, real nice stringer of bass,considering they weren't too eager to cooperate , what few we caught came on the jig n pig, very light bite or bump should I say. They bit like a sun fish, bump,bump!

We originally started out on the trip just to get away, and do some fishing, and while we didn't set any records, or hurt the fish population we did manage to have fun, and catch some nice bass and stripers! Leo and I are always eager to exchange fish stories and occasionally one of us might successfully pull of a prank, and we just over all,have a blast! Enjoying the "Great Outdoors!"

Until next time boat safely, practice catch and release, and we hope to see ya all out there!

Missouri Storms Cause Lots Of Damage!

I need to update my subscribers and readers, to the latest here at "Kenny's Great Outdoors" The last 2 weeks has been busy for Missouri residents! Due to tons of rain and one severe thunderstorm after another, the fishing has been " iffy " at best! Some days you can catch the fire out of the fish, other days, the fish seem to have disappeared.

Rivers are running into the area lakes high and muddy, and then after 2 or 3 days, they run in clear again. I am not saying that you can't catch fish, it just requires more patience and skill, or knowledge of how to fish during these times of water conditions, not only that , but one northern cold front after another seems to give the bass lock jaw.

My Internet comes via satellite and my system got hit by lightning and I have been out of commission since the 6th of May. I have several posts on bass fishing , stripers, whites, and turkey hunting! But simply haven't been able to post articles with out access to the internet! My internet was restored May 13 which was yesterday. Then last night it stormed here again and I lost my internet all night last night.

We have had all kinds of straight wind damage, tornadoes, hail, trees uprooting, from the ground being too wet and all the high winds! They simply are just uprooting and falling over, because of all the high wind conditions , we have been experiencing.

I have managed to fish and hunt during turkey season, between storms and storm cleanup around here. Last week I spent 2 full days clearing out the trees and limbs on local back roads, just to help people get out of their houses and into town. Hundreds of people are removing trees from roads, peoples houses, and we have been without electricity quite a bit here lately.

Anyway, we hopefully will see the weather stabilize and then maybe life can get back to the norm, for all of us here in the mid west. I just wanted to let everyone know , why it has been so quiet here. It has to get better , I hope, even though gas prices have soared from $1.69.9 a gallon to the latest price gouging of $2.18.9 a gallon! I figure it will get even higher by the big "Memorial" weekend!

So stay tuned and check back often, as things WILL return to normal and posts WILL be more frequent again. I love you all and hate it when I can't update with consistency!

So until next time, keep your hooks wet and your lines tight!
Fishing is good , when you can fish, so the fish will cooperate, if you can find them and its not too muddy for them to see you lures and baits! See ya out there!

Loads Of Rain Keeps Missouri Rivers Muddy!

Missouri, as of late, has been getting a lot of much needed rain!
We have been getting rain almost every day for over a week
now! Now, these rivers are running into our lakes and, well,
you know what that means! Dirty water!

So we have watched the river and lake levels rise up and
down all spring, but we need the water. This has the fishing
and spawning all messed up, this could be good for us when
the water clears up some. Those fish are needing to spawn!

This next picture is "Mason Bridge" decommissioned and
closed due to age and deterioration, the floor of the bridge
was made of oak timbers several yearsago! Notice the water
on bridge girders, it is dropping pretty fast, again!

This is the "Big Piney" river and it is usually clear, it is spring
fed, and you can see the bottom in almost every bit of the
river except really deep water! With "Memorial Day
weekend coming up, you probably should check the rivers
out or contact someone who can check them for you! I will
try to remember to keep you all posted.

So until next time, keep your hooks wet! Good luck to you
and yours!

Missouri Lake - Fishing Report

Here are just a few area lake fishing reports as of May 1, 2009
Fishing has been great, considering our wet weather, and several fronts moving through the Missouri lake regions!

Lake Of The Ozarks

Water Level: 658.83 with light generation. Lake level should be around 659 over the weekend. Rain fall over an inch should raise that some. Truman lake 713.5 and rising fast.

Water temps: 60-67 degrees

Dam area: This part of the lake is clearing up fast now that they stopped generating heavy. Fish are spawning in the pockets. The bigger fish are holding on the little pea gravel secondary points leading into those pockets. They can be caught on carolina rigged and texas rigged plastics. Any of your favorite plastic baits will do. Bass are not that picky. The trick is getting it right in front of their nose. The smaller males are shallower and the bigger females are in the 6'-8' range.

Glaize. Clear to Stained. The fish are relating to pea gravel points leading into pockets is these area also. These areas are the favorite carolina rigging places. Other good spots are pea gravel flats that have scattered brush on them. Fish are 3'-8' deep on these secondary points and flats. On the steeper banks pre spawn fish can be caught on spinnerbaits and crankbaits such as the wiggle wart. Channel bank swings have been good places to use those lures.

Nianguas: Clear to Stained and in some spots very muddy. The Niangua’s have been warm for a while. And the fish have been spawning here for a while also. Carolina rigged and texas rigged plastics have been best. Fish them down to the 6'-8' range on the pea gravel at the ends of channel banks and mouths of small pockets. In cloudy or rainy conditions mix a spinnerbait in with that and you may draw some bigger strikes.

Osage River. Stained to Muddy. They slowed the flow of water in the Osage and this should settle that main river down and the water will clear a little. The fish have been spawning for some time in the Osage. They have moved to pea gravel banks and are doing their thing. Carolina rigged plastic baits on the sloping points and pea gravel flats. Texas rigged plastics are best around docks and steeper banks. Now not all fish spawn at the same time. There are too many fish for that. The go in shifts. And the shifts start on the new moon cycles. There are still plenty of pre spawn females that can be taken on spinnerbaits, jigs and crankbaits still. Look for them on the deeper banks.

Norfork Lake, Arkansas

The lake level is 554.2 which is a little over two foot above nromal pool of 552. The water temperature is in the upper 50's to the mid 60's.

The main lake is clear and back in the creeks the water has some color to it. The stripers are still hitting swimbaits,soft jerkbaits and stickbaits. Throw a stickbait after it gets dark.

The bass have been hitting jigs,crankbaits and spinnerbaits if there is some wind. A few walleye have been hitting stickbaits at night.

Bull Shoals Lake

As of Tuesday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports the lake’s elevation at 656.56 feet MSL.

Water temperatures in the 60- to 65-degree range in the backs of creeks and 58 to 60 degrees on the main lake. Walleye are being caught in the evenings and early mornings on stick baits fished around main-lake points and pockets.

During the day, try live bait a little deeper around productive points and pockets. Largemouth bass have moved to spawning areas.

When it’s windy, try stick baits, crankbaits and spinnerbaits. If it’s calm, a Carolina-rigged or mojo-rigged 6-inch lizard or 8-inch finesse worm will work well.

Smallmouth and Kentucky bass are spawning. Try jigs, tubes and Carolina rigs around slightly deeper gravel areas for these fish. Crappie are slow.

Table Rock Lake

Kimberling City Area: The spawn is in full swing in the mid-lake area, several fish are locked on to beds and be caught with typical sight fishing methods; white tubes, lizards and craws will draw strikes from fish guarding nests. For those not wishing to sight fish look for post spawn fish to be holding on secondary points near spawning pockets from 3’ – 20’ deep. Split shot rigged lizards and fish doctors, Jewel spider jigs and shaky head worms are all effective in these areas. While it hasn't taken off yet, the famed post spawn topwater bite will kicking in soon; spooks, sammys and red fins will all be effective during low light hours.



James River: The spawn is further along in the James River; several fish can still be found on beds but post spawn conditions have started to take over from the mid river up to Cape Fair. A variety of patterns have been effective with the water being a little high and stained; there are several fish holding in the newly flooded bushes flipping Eakins jig and craw combos in to the bushes, casting weightless Chompers salty sinkers and flukes around the bushes and casting Chompers McCutchen spinnerbaits around shallow bushes on windy banks have all been productive. Early and late spooks, sammys and red fins have been producing schooling fish on secondary points.



White River: Fish are in all stages of the spawn through out the White River. In the Kings the spawn is the farthest along with several fish guarding fry in coves around standing timber and laydowns, others are still on the nests guarding eggs and still more have moved out onto points and are suspending recovering from the spawn. The fish on points can be targeted with spooks, sammys and red fins early and late and Jewel spider or football jigs as the sun comes up. Don’t ignore the cover in the water, several good fish have come off of laydowns and flooded bushes in the shallows of the Kings this past week. From Baxter to Campbell point more fish are locked on the beds and can be taken with traditional sight fishing techniques. Shaky heads and split shot rigs are producing on points near spawning coves from 5’ – 20’ deep, target any cover that is on these points. Fish can be caught in the flooded bushes as well, Eakins jigs and Ultra tubes have been working well in these areas.



Dam Area: The dam area has been the toughest end of the lake over the past week; water temperatures have been slow to rise and while there are fish on beds they have been harder to catch than in the upper portions of the lake. Split shot rigs and shaky heads have been producing around spawning areas from 3’ – 12’ deep, look for small “bumps” or pockets in spawning areas to hold more fish than other areas, also any wood or rock cover within a spawning cove deserves attention. As the water warms the fish will spawn and sight fishing will become a more predictable pattern.

Spring Time Bass Fishing - Getting Started!

Every Spring, we get ready to go bass fishing and we all start asking " What lures do I use?" or "What color lures?" I have recieved several emails lately asking these very questions!

Spring bass fishing can be either hit or miss, or you can catch them consistently , time and time again. Bass are dependent on food to stay alive so even when the weather doesn't cooperate, bass do, If you know how to find them and give them what they want!

In order to understand how we determine what lure to use, we have to break spring down into four parts, and choose lures accordingly.

Note that this is what I have learned and it works for me! This is just a basic guide to help you prepare yourself for "Spring Bass Fishing!" The weather will effect bass at this time and you need to be flexible with your selection, because not all bass spawn, or stage at the same time! Bass will be in various stages of spawn whether it be pre-spawn, spawn, or post spawn!

Pre-Spawn

. During pre-spawn the bass are staging in the eight- to fifteen-foot area waiting for the shallows to warm. Crankbaits, Texas rigs, jigs, and Carolina rigs work well at this depth.

Spawn

During the spawn, while bass are on the beds, jerkbaits, floating lizards and worms rigged without weights, spinnerbaits, shallow crankbaits and lipless crankbaits are all good choices.

Post-Spawn

In post-spawn periods bass move back to the same depth and areas as they were during pre-spawn and the same lures will work.

Late Spring - Pre-Summer

In late spring bass are moving into shore early and back to the first structure change later in the morning. It's about the same as an early summer pattern. Spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and lipless crankbaits are a good choice this time of year along with the other spring baits.

Springtime colors should be shad and crawfish-related whites, white/chartreuse, reds and browns. These are basic lures and colors to get you started in the right direction at minimal cost, and that means a lot.

Hope this helps you in determining lure selection and colors to use during the Spring and don't forget to be different sometimes, this really pays off sometimes and that's what we are after! Not just fishing, but CATCHING!



So try this basic, lure selection and expand your bass fishing adventures, hope you all catch more bass and bigger bass with these tips! Keep your lures wet! See ya out there!