June: Small streams and more

Last weekend there was a significant rainfall with many streams in SW Missouri rising 10-15 feet. With NW Arkansas getting pounded with storm after storm, the dam at Beaver Lake had to open the floodgates, releasing water over the top and passing the water through Table Rock Lake, Taneycomo and pooling water in Bull Shoals Lake. Bull Shoals Lake is now at 677.5 feet, I started fishing it in February at 653.4 feet. You do the math, that’s 24 feet of extra water in Bull Shoals. The Little Sac River did come up ten feet and I was wondering if there are any fish left in Stockton Lake to make a run up stream. By most accounts, the white bass run and spawn is done by Mother’s day. But this has been a usually late spring, and if one wonders, load up the kayak and take a day to fish it.

Keith Coffey with a sixteen-inch large mouth bass

June 9, 2015 (Tuesday):I called Keith Coffey, a long time member of the MTFA and asked about his last trip to the little Sac River. He and John Dozier had a good day fishing a few days before the rains. Keith and I spent the entire day covering water from Taylor Bridge to Mackey/Lumpe hole. Stockton Lake came up 21 inches according to the USGA web data. So the lake is past the second power line hole and S-curve. There was little shade and the sun was sending down ninety-degree heat. It left a sunburn patch on my wrist.

We managed five white bass, two channel catfish and Keith picked up a sixteen-inch large mouth bass. I saw Eagle fly off, with deer chased from the water’s edge. There were rabbits scurrying about near the bridge, with turkeys in the fields, and a woodchuck along the road on our drive back to Springfield. The fishing was great, with the catching less than desired.