May: White Bass in the OK and MO streams

Illinois River near Tahlequah OK

May 1, 2014 (Thursday): I had the opportunity to attend the Small-mouth Rendezvous (SMR) in Tahlequah Oklahoma. This was my fourth trip to this event in as many years. I met Jim Knight from Tulsa at Fish’s BBQ for lunch in Tahlequah. After lunch, we drove to the Illinois River to fish. Last year we fished the Barren Fork, which is in the same general area. We caught a few short small-mouth bass and fifteen white bass on a fly. Jim left at 3 PM and I stayed until 6:30 PM before calling it a day.

Jim Knight looking for a good spot on the Illinois River

May 2, 2014 (Friday): I met Jim, Chuck Harrison and Walter Davis for breakfast at Del Rio. I heard news of the white bass run in the area, trips to near by rivers, and misadventures. I had the opportunity to visit with Leonard Brown and Harvey Ragsdale. After, spending a full day at the SMR. Jim suggested going back to the Illinois River for an evening of fishing. We covered the same water the night before with fewer hookups. We fished to 7:30 PM before calling it a day. We decided on pizza for dinner. There was a suggestion by locals to try “salmonella” pizza down by the college. I questioned the name thinking, of poorly cooked chicken and turkey. Jim knew where the place was and we pulled up to “Sam & Ella’s”. Now, I am not sure if that is a play on word or Sam and Ella are the owners. I did check the Internet with no history of the restaurant found. It caught my attention. The pizza was good with slow service. I did stay another day and returned to the SMR on Saturday. I did help a few people with casting and spent time talking with others about fishing.

 

Small mouth bass taken out of the Illinois River

May 4, 2014 (Sunday evening): I returned to the Little Sac River late in the afternoon. I picked up Dr. Wm Taylor and we took off for Morrisville. Bill and I paddled up to the power lines from Taylor Bridge. 

Little Sac River late afternoon

The conditions have not changed much with the exception the water has become more dingy with warmer days or the fishermen up stream kicking up the bottom. We managed to catch white bass in the range 13-17 inches. The spawn was in full mode and I suspect it is near the end for this stream, maybe to Mother’s Day before the fish return to the lake. We catch 20-25 fish with 14 fish stored in a cooler. I have plans for one more trip this week before moving on the other waters.

Dr Taylor taking another white bass on a fly

May 8, 2014 (Thursday): Joe Simecek and I took a trip to the little Sac River. I called the night before to move the time from 2 PM to 8 AM. The weatherman forecast of thunderstorms in the afternoon made us uneasy so we decided to get an early start before the rains hit. There were less people; the water was turbid with a bright sun at 9 AM as we made our way upstream. There was no one else fishing this day, with the white bass spawn nearly over. I went up past the s-curve before making my way back to the power lines with carp breaching but very few white bass moving in the water. Joe and I caught small-mouth bass, line bass, drum, and sunfish with eleven white bass. Five or those white bass were short and returned to the water. I watched the line of thunder storms on the phone and decided to return to the truck at 1:30 PM, just as some heavy clouds started to come in. The storm did not have the impact as predicted with little lightning or hail, but better safe than fishing foolish. The next day rain was a little over an inch but had little runoff; the little sac only had a bump in the gage height 0.15 of a foot. My guess is the white bass run/spawn is over for the little sac river. I will probably look at other streams or go back to the Pot hole for my next trip.

Joe Simecek providing floating service on the Little Sac River

April: White Bass, walleye in Bull Shoals Lake

April 4, 2014 (Friday): I finally had an opportunity to return to the water to fish. A storm past through the night before with lightning, hail and wind; the wind did blow over a few trees that went across the dirt road at the end of River run near the pot hole. I had to back the truck out after making the discovery and took the kayak to the other side of the Pot Hole to launch it from the west side. 

A limit of white bass caught out of the Pot Hole

The day was clear and cool; the water was coming through the power house with the lake level at 659 feet. I took to the water and worked the west side and picked up one 14 inch white bass before drifting across to the other side and fishing late afternoon near the road bed. With the shadows coming across the lake, the white bass started to eat my fly and within an hour had a limit of white bass with seven of the fish in the 16-17 inch range. The male white bass were 14-16 inches. It was a nice cooler of white bass with the average size 15.7 inches for the limit. I set up at sun set to take a walleye and hooked an hour after sun set. I taped it at 24 inches. I left the water at 9 PM, since I was scheduled to work at 6 AM. Hope to be back soon.

I did see a satellite pass over and researched it at home; it happened to be the International Space station (ISS). It was brighter that the planets flying over at 8:30 PM.

April 6, 2014 (Saturday): Rod and I returned to the Pot Hole. I carried a chain saw to remove a tree; someone beat me to it with an axe, I did some trimming on the down tree to allow for better access. We place the canoe in the water and checked several spots before getting eight white bass. We did see and talk with Ty Ingram. He found a 22-inch walleye and pulled a few white bass out below us. We quit at 8 PM and returned to Springfield.

A tree fell across River Run road; it has be cleared and the Pot Hole is accessible again.

The last two trips, 23 white bass were caught with the largest 17 inches with the average size 15.3 inches with a total length of 352 inches. 

With some rain this weekend, it will get better for the streams.

April 9, 2014 (Wednesday): Rod and I returned to Bull Shoals. No significant rain fall has fallen. The lake level was at 659 feet with water flowing over the dam. We tried fishing from a canoe near Swan creek but found the current and prevailing wind blowing us down the lake too fast to get a fly down. We packed the canoe and went up to the dam. We found Keith and Myrna Coffey at the Pot Hole, Keith said they fished Beaver creek earlier with a few white bass caught. Ty Ingram was leaving the water and reported another walleye for the skillet. Rod and I placed the 17-foot canoe into the water and fished near the three trees. The whites must have moved out or we did not have the correct fly. We fished until 8 PM without a bite.

Keith and Mryna Coffey

April 17, 2014 (Thursday): Charlie Erickson and I drove to Morrisville and parked at Taylor Bridge to fish the Little Sac River. The water level (2.55 feet) was high enough to go up stream. There was a very low flow (70 cfs) with a few spots with moving water.  Stockton lake level was 868 feet, which is three feet lower than last year. A forecast of rain did not happen but left the skies overcast in the afternoon. There were a few other people fishing the area but we found a spot below the power lines. We managed to get 22 white bass for the club fish fry, a drum and a few line bass. The white bass were 13.5 inches to sixteen with one female and the rest males; these are three-year old white bass.

Little Sac River near the power lines

April 18, 2014 (Friday): Charlie was not able to return, so Rod and I made it back to the Little Sac River. We arrived near 4:30 PM and saw several kayaks leaving the Taylor Bridge area. Several of the fishermen said it was tough finding fish with last weekend witnessing a stream full of spawning white bass. We had the water below the power lines to ourselves; a few fishermen passing through in kayaks and a pair of wandering fishermen. As the day passed to evening, we had an osprey fly over with a pair of bald eagles an hour later. We manage to get a few white bass to bite with the fishing better after dark. We caught a sucker, several small-mouth bass, few small line bass and 21 white bass. We stayed until 8:30 and witnessed two or three Great horn owls stage a vocal contest with their silhouettes seen on the opposite bank. If there is enough rain to increase the water flow I would expect the white bass to hand on until Mother’s day. 

Jenn, Fred and I starting our fishing trip by paddling upstream

April 23, 2014 (Wednesday): Jenn, my daughter wanted a White Bass outing. I took her and Fred Fregin to Taylor Bridge on the Little Sac River and paddled upstream to a location with moving water. We talked with Terry Tanner as we passed him going up stream. He had a good day of catching and was fishing his way back to his vehicle. We found our spot and had a short visit with John Smallwood below the power lines. 

The day was sunny with seventy degree temperature. The water level was low with the gage reading 2.5 feet. We did manage to find a few White Bass with Fred hooking and releasing a light weight carp. 

Fred with the catch of the day

There was a time restriction and we had to be back in Springfield before 5 PM. We left the water with seventeen white bass in the cooler. There is rain in the forecast, hope there is enough the flush this small stream and bring in fresh fish.

March: Bull Shoals Lake after dark

Lake level 657.1 ft 

March 7, 2014 (Friday): Rod Pennington and I drove late afternoon to fish the Pot Hole. The lake level was 657.1 feet and no current from the powerhouse. There was a mild breeze but not enough to provide cover for the fish. There were a few shad breaking the surface and at dusk trout (probable) taking items of the surface at mid-lake. Rod took off going down the lake and I walked the roadbed to fish the points. Needless to say we did not hook up and we fished to 7:30 PM. There was a chill in the air and on our drive home had some rain droplets on the windshield.

Power Site dam at sunset

March 9, 2014 (Sunday): First day of day light savings time. The lake level is 657.1 feet with no generation through the powerhouse. The lake is flat with a very light wind. I decided to explore more water and took the kayak. I parked on the east side and paddled to the west shore to find the shade from the hill and the setting sun. There were a few shad hitting the surface. I started with a white 1/80^th oz. jig trying to pick up any small fish and did hook and land a seven-inch shiner. I floated the water on the west side to silver creek and drifted back to the pothole.  I finished the night in the pothole with no hook ups; fishing without a current is difficult.

Rising moon a few days from being a full Moon

March 13, 2014 (Thursday): I checked Table Rock Dam and Bull Shoals dam with water moving at Taneycomo with the lake level reaching 709 feet, probably operating four generators. I was anticipating a good night of fishing. I checked the water levels before leaving Springfield and found the water flow had ceased with Taneycomo going back to 701 feet. When I pulled up to the Pot Hole, I found some flow through the powerhouse, so I drove to the west side and unloaded the kayak since the water level was probably at 657.7 feet (up six inches since my last trip). As soon as I had the kayak in the water with waders on, the water through the powerhouse stopped with the water flows changed in the lake. I considered packing up and fishing Beaver Creek but decided to tough it out. I fished the first point without a hookup. I took to the kayak and fished the west side wading out into the lake and working a bunny strip without a take. The shadows began to cover the west side and fished the same area with purple buck-tail streamer, again no takes. I saw baitfish on the surface and heard a few large fish splash without actually seeing them. The moon rose over the east before sunset and the night had plenty of light with moon shadows.

Power Site Dam at 10 PM

This is my third trip to the pothole without a walleye, the remarks from Paul Henry would be if no moving water, move on to fish another spot. It has proven to be true.

I had a long weekend off from work and took time to fish the Pot Hole below power site dam on Bull Shoals Lake. The water has been flowing for a week with the lake level steady at 659 feet. There was water running over the dam all three days with some water passing through the powerhouse. The water’s edge is ten feet past the large sycamore tree at the end of River Run lane. You can wade the roadbed but you will not travel far before it gets too deep.

March 21, 2014: Friday evening, Rod and I took a seventeen-foot aluminum canoe to fish the deeper water. We waded and fished the west side with one 15-inch rainbow trout taken before the walleye hole. Two bait fishermen fishing the walleye hole took several 3 lbs. trout. Later that evening, we loaded the canoe and took three walleye after sunset; the largest was 22 inches. We stayed until 8:30 PM before returning to Springfield.

March 22, 2014: Saturday evening, I drove down alone. I loaded the kayak and fished the east side. There was plenty of water coming over the dam with a lake level at 659 feet. The wind was out of the north with the weatherman forecasting some frozen precipitation Sunday morning with a low forecasted to be 24 degrees. I stayed until 9:30 PM, with one short walleye returned.

March 23, 2014: Sunday evening, again I took the kayak. The water conditions were similar to the past two days; lake level 659 feet water clear. The wind was out of the east with a light chop on the water. There were a number of fishermen lined up on the dam wall on the west side. I did see moving fish and took a sixteen-inch white bass at sunset.

  

first white bass of the year

With warmer water, it is my opinion the fishing in the deeper water will bring fish, unfortunately a boat, canoe, kayak or belly boat will be helpful to get to the fish. There will be very limited wading this year at the Pot Hole.