Kimberling City Area: Rising water and moving fish best describe this weekend on Table Rock. The heavy rain has driven lake levels to five or six feet high inundating shoreline cover and moving fish shallow. In the mid lake area there are fish up in the bushes and trees, these fish can be caught on Eakins Jig and Craw combos, Chompers Ultra Tubes and shaky head worms work the baits close to flooded cover and pay close attention to shade on sunny days. On windy days these same fish will feed on War Eagle and Chompers spinnerbaits or Lucky Craft RC crankbaits. Work all sides of the cover to insure you are putting the bait in front of the fish.
James River: The run off has made the James River stained to down right muddy, fish are being caught in shallow flooded cover much like the mid lake area. Eakins and J-Lock jigs with Eakins craws or Paca Chunks are drawing strikes on shallow wood and bushes, darker colors are working better, black and blue or brown and black have been best. Chompers McCutchen spinnerbaits and War Eagle coleslaw spinnerbaits will produce on windy banks as well. In the backs of cover the shallow crankbait bite has really taken off, look for wood cover and throw Lucky Craft RC or Academy H2O shallow runners beyond the cover running the bait into the wood to draw strikes. Laydowns and brush in the middle f coves has been holding better fish than shoreline cover.
White River: The White River has the same shallow bite as the rest of the lake, shallow bushes and laydowns along the shore and toward the back of creeks is producing fish both by flipping and with spinnerbaits and shallow crankbaits. There are some fish being caught above Eagle Rock on steeper banks using wiggle warts and Bandit 300 series crankbaits. Similar to a springtime pattern look for 45 degree chunk rock or mixed rock / gravel banks and fish parallel maintaining bottom contact through out the retrieve, not a solid pattern yet but it should improve with falling water temperatures.
Dam Area: The smallmouth bite still dominates the lower end of the lake; while several smaller fish have moved into the bushes the better fish remain outside of the bushes 8’ – 12’ deep. Chompers Ultra tubes, Jewel Spider jigs and BPS Tender tubes are still producing on flat gravel points throughout the lower end. With the amount of water the Corps of Engineers is drawing out of the lake this bite will be strong and should actually improve as the water falls. Further up Long Creek the shallow cover patterns are outstanding; jigs and tubes on calm days and spinnerbaits and shallow crankbait on windy days.
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