KimberlingCity Area: The corps of engineers ran a lot of water through the turbines this past week. Water levels have dropped slightly and the fish have moved accordingly. Smallmouth are still holding on gravel points in the mid lake area; Jewel football jigs with J tail trailers have been the best option fished between ten and twenty feet deep along the bottom. Spotted bass can still be caught on drop shot rigs and spoons out deeper on these same points look for schools of shad near the bottom twenty five to forty feet deep and the fish will be close by.
James River: The shallow bite up the river has turned on over the past week, shorter days and cooler nights have lower water temps to the mid to upper seventies moving fish shallow to feed on schools of shad. The backs of creeks and flat pockets have been very productive, look for shallow wood cover and throw Lucky Craft RC crankbaits, buzzbaits and spinnerbaits as close to the cover as possible. As the sun comes up switch to a Jewel Eakins jig and work the shady areas of the cover over thoroughly.
White River: How yu wanna catch ‘em? Is pretty much the story on the White River. Deep fish can be caught on spoons and drop shot rigs from twenty five to forty on drops of flat points, Jewel Football jigs and Carolina Rigged baby brush hogs are working on flat points and drops from ten to twenty five feet deep. There has been a very good topwater bite on sammys and spooks early and late on flats and points. The dock bite is starting to take off with Eakins jig and craw combos around larger dock on both the main lake and in the creek arms. Finally, the Kings River has been producing nice largemouth on shallow wood cover with RC Crankbaits, spinnerbaits and Eakins jigs. It’s just fun to fish the White River right now.
Dam Area: The deep bite is still the most productive option on the Lower End; Chompers and ROBO worms fished on a drop shot rig around brush and roll offs on gravel points is still the top pattern for numbers of fish. The Jewel Football and Spider jig bite has started to pick up for smallmouth on gravel as well, look for fish to be holding a little deeper than up the river with the best numbers and size coming out around eighteen to thirty feet deep. Long creek has been producing some good strings of Largemouth; shallow crankbaits and spinnerbaits around wood cover and flooded bushes has been productive during lower light hours and an Eakins jig or Chompers Super Sinker is a good choice when the sun is high.
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The increase in generation has been good for Taneycomo this past week. The jig bit has taken off with good numbers and some surprising quality coming out of the area from Fall Creek to CooperCreek. Sculpin jigs are still the best bet, but olive, ginger and black have been producing well on a erratic retrieve. Fly fishermen using a one - one hundredth ounce jig below an indicator have been catching as many as they can handle. As always when things get slow switch up to drifting crawlers or Gulp Eggs to put fish in the boat.
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