Whites and Hybrids are on the RUN!!!!

[NoCat2Big]

I've been out nearly every day for the past 2 weeks and only one day I didn't
come back with my limit.

If you like to catch fish you want to be on the upper side of LOZ RIGHT NOW!
From White Branch cove, down to about peppers cove you can catch more fish than you can clean in the evenings right before sundown.

Alot of folks consider whites and hybrids trash fish, but for fighting they are a blast and if you can get all that red meat off they aren't too bad t o eat.

This afternoon when the wind was gusting between 45-70 mph we caught a TON of nice hybrids... mostly between 3-9 lbs. A few over, a few below.

They are hitting anthing BLUE... BLUE BLUE BLUE and have been doing so for the past 2 weeks. Especially on overcast days with a little wind blowing at the mouth of white branch.

We have been catching our share of CATS to on jigs with a minnow. Haven;t seen any great big ones, but have seen quite a few in the 1-5 lbs range, with a bunch of little ones mixed in.

If someone asked me the best place to fish on LOZ I would have to say between White branch cove and the power lines. not that I want to see 10,000 boats stacked up in there, I just want to see my pals here on the board have some fun..


So for now all I want to hear from you all is Fish on.. Gimme the net!!!"


Take care..
Chris

[Bigmagic]

Hey expect to see the Magic man up there this evening. Now a little more specific on the lure please. Thanks for the 411! See ya on the water!

[elvenbane1]

I have been catching a lot in the river below Bagnell Dam. I'm casting into the current near the UE side. "Almost every cast"

Fish On, Kip

[slabmaster]

there going good on beaver lake to. the crappie are begining to go shalloww to . beaver lake surface temp is 54 to 56 degrees

[Mr.T]

Wolfie, White Branch is the first cove downstream from the Hwy 65 bridge on the south side of the river. The powerlnies are another 1/2 mile or so downstream.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Warsaw,+MO&t=h&ll=38.240641,-93.352032&spn=0.012235,0.026951

As for lure, I'd bet on a Rat-L-Trap, Sassy Shad or Little Fishie. Can't imagine there's much surface action yet.

Thanks for the report, Chris - I'd like to head down on Saturday afternoon / evening but we're going out Sunday morning with a catfish guide from Warsaw and I don't think I can get away with being gone from home that long...

I always had fun catching hybrids right below the dam in late April when the water was running good - sometimes getting them to double up on a 2-jig rig...

[Bigmagic]

Chris I was up there a little while ago. I was going to put my boat in but there's just too many people. With my ticker I can't park my trailer that far away. I may shoot up there by boat tomorrow and check it out after I spend the day chasin cats. The catfish bite is heating up should be a great weekend looks like Marty got his trip booked for the right time. See ya on the water!

[Hannibal Mike]

I hope that they maintain that energy for a couple more weeks so that I can get down there! So far the Missi (lock #22) is not doing so well on hybrids/whites. I do enjoy them a lot each spring. Thanks for the post! Hannibal Mike

[Bigmagic]

Mike if this season is anything like the last couple the Hybrid bite can be tough. If we get some rain and have a little current we can tear em up! These low water levels of the last couple of years mess it up. In the old days we would catch all we wanted from the bank using remote boats. Back then we had water flow usually at least one gate plus the turbines but for the last few years the water just hasn't been there. I got into some nice Hybrids two years ago in the evenings off the points up there but the most consistant action will get going in June on Truman(G3 etc.). Hope theres water and I hope we all get em this year. See ya on the water!

[wayne7009]

sounds like alot of fun

[kspor]

I love catching fish no matter what they are. Sounds like a blast. Thanks for the heads up.

[NoCat2Big]

I'm heading out in about 30 minutes or so to get some more.
They should be down about 15-20 feet with all this sun we have today.

Gonna try to catch a few cats too.

I'll start posting pics of all these fish we are catching. Spring is here!

[hotrod98s]

going to arkansas to fish the white on 7th of may, hope ithe action stays up like it is, till i can get htere. lol

[NoCat2Big]

Well, Went out yesterday like I said and everything was pretty darn slow.
Caught a handful of whites, an approx 4 lb hybrid, and some small blues.

Saw a guy from the BOC there but didn't catch his name... Who was that?

[Bigmagic]

I was up there for a little while in the middle of the day but there wasn't much activity from the dam to the power lines(shad wise). I did see a huge school of Spoonbill stacked up across from Drake where the channel moves toward the other side. I fished hard yesterday but didn't get any big ones.:crying: Problem was the bait I had was too small for big Blues. See ya on the water!

[Dwednuts]

Ya, they are on the run because the flatheads are waking up, LOL!!!

[NoCat2Big]

BigMagic,
There are alot of shad stacked up in White Branch cove. Almost every cast nets several. Out in the channel from white branch there seemed to be alot of shad too.

[Bigmagic]

Is it possible to get in the cove I started in but backed off when I saw the bouys standing stiff. They lookd like they were beached! I can run my boat in a foot of water but I aint wanting to.lol Also is there any big shad? I have found shad up and down the river but few large ones except when we had a couple of days of stable weather. Let me know I may try again tomorrow if the bait is there. I did locate some large ones this afternoon but the wind got a little strong. Let me know Chris I'm planning on fishing till 1:00pm or so tomorrow. Thanks!

[SeaArk1]

That was me that you saw down there Chris. We have been fishing below the dam from the bank for the past couple of weeks. I heard from a guy I know below the dam about the whites biting pretty good down there and then I saw your post so we took the boat along with us when we went fishing below the dam. Only caught 10 crappie below the dam and they were real slow!! So we put the boat in and took off to search for the whites. We troll up on Truman most of the summer and catch a lot of crappie and whites/hybrids. Thats what I tried at first put we didnt hit anything. I took a whole boat load of women snagging last weekend and from the many trips I had to take to the bank for them to pee I tore off my transducer so basically I was trolling blind which is like trying to cross the street blind! We started throwing jigs and small spinners and that worked pretty good. We went crappie fishing last night and ended up with two limits pretty close to the bank.

Have you still been hittin it the last couple of nights? Might try to get down there again this week unless the rain messes me up. If not then I will probably be down this weekend.

See ya on the lake!!

[ccso640]

Not sure if it was you, guy I talked to had a dump bed pickup and a pontoon plus a few women that were out snaggin. I always fish for white bass and crappie below the dam using lights at night. Been pretty slow so far, need more water. Chris

[SeaArk1]

You probably didn’t see me snaggin last weekend, we were up on Truman.

I drive a red four door dodge dually and I was the one you saw the other night in the camo Sea Ark boat. Have you been still catchin the whites the last couple of days??

Do you do much good below the dam for crappie at night? What time of year do you do that?

[ccso640]

I do real good fishing below the dam in the old river channel. I put floating lights out in anywhere from 17-23 feet of water depending on the water temperature, deeper is better right now. Last year my girfriend and I caught 109 white bass in about 2 hours and yes, we only kept 15 each lol. Crappie are also there if they can get to the jig or minnow before the whites do. I fish about a foot off of the bottom. I talk to alot of people down there and I'm probably best remembered because I always have my crazy dog with me, she's a beagle/husky mix with blue eyes. I think she likes fishing more that I do. Good luck! Chris

[Hannibal Mike]

I am going to Warsaw tomorrow! Only two days, but would like to find some hybrids, whites, and a couple of spoonies. Of course our beloved cats too. I was wondering about the hybrids. Any ideas? We'll have a boat. Hannibal Mike