Area hot spots for cold weather angling

Submitted photo/ Tina Hymer of Strafford, with one of the many crappie she snagged the day after Christmas.

Nevada Daily Mail

The day after Christmas, area lakes saw anglers catching fish in spite of the cold weather. Anglers at Table Rock, Pomme de Terre, Stockton, Truman and the Lake of the Ozarks had fishermen casting lures.

For the past 15 years, Tom Smith and Fred Stark, of Des Moines, Iowa, have made trips to fish in some of the area lakes just prior to the annual Kansas City Sportshow. They have always caught bass that were larger than any they had caught all year. Since the Kansas City Sportshow doesn't start until Jan. 22 this year, they couldn't wait to hit Table Rock again, so they made a trip to the lake the day after Christmas, and were glad they did.

Submitted photo/ John Brewer of Springfield, with one of the crappies he caught the day after Christmas. Brewer fishes Stockton Lake, his largest crappie, was a 16-inch fish.

Smith said, "For the past 15 years, we have fished Missouri in late December or January and have caught some big bass. This year, because of some prior commitments and the late date for the Sportshow, we decided to make an early trip. We know Table Rock has a healthy population of bass and in December the water temperature can change and the fish react to it. It's an excellent time to fish the lake for several reasons. There isn't a lot of activity on the water and the area is beautiful with all the Christmas lights and displays."

The pair of Iowa anglers caught five fish over five pounds and had several in the three pound range. Stark said, " We saw some fish feeding on shad and at first we thought they were white bass, but when I cast a Zara Spook into the school, a three pound largemouth hit and the action started. We hooked six nice sized fish before they quit hitting."

After fishing Table Rock in the winter, the anglers have learned what to use and where to fish. Usually at this time of the year they use Pig and jig lures, but this year they hooked most of the bass using spinners and stickbaits. The anglers also took some time to look for crappie and were rewarded with 10 crappie over 11 inches long.

Stark said, "My wife asked me to bring home some good eating fish so we went looking for the crappie one afternoon. It took awhile, but we managed to catch 10 keepers. That should help me score points when we get home."

Missouri weather is something the Iowa anglers have gotten used to over the years. Smith said, "One day we didn't need our jackets, but the next day we wore our burr suits. It was still warmer than had we been in Iowa."

Like the Iowa anglers, local anglers have learned that not only can the fishing be good, in winter, the catching can be good also. Some big muskies have been caught on Fellows and Pomme de Terre lakes this past week, and reports from Truman and Stockton lakes show that the crappie fishing can be very good in late December.

More and more anglers don't put up their fishing gear in the winter and are finding the area lakes can provide some good fishing in cold weather.

Duck hunting

Meanwhile, the much borrowed phrase, "It was the best of times, it was the worse of times" could well be applied to the duck hunting seasons.

While Missouri duck hunters have been blessed with an abundance of ducks and geese this year, they have been cursed with the number of birds they have shot.

Jim Low, who recently retired from the Missouri Department of Conservation, said he was hunting earlier this season at the Grand Pass Conservation Area that was holding more than 125,000 ducks.

All day long he saw and listened to the birds, but never fired a shot ---- that was, until just before shooting time ended the day's hunt. A lone mallard drake came sailing in front of his blind and Jim fired the only shot of the day. It turned out it was a banded duck which helped make the hunt better for him.

Hunters at Four Rivers and Schell-Osage Conservation areas saw tens of thousands of ducks, but the birds were flying out of range of their decoys. On Sunday there were 57 hunters that averaged one duck per hunter at Schell.

Kevin King, at Schell-Osage said, "We have some 70,000 ducks on the area, mostly mallards, as the season closed Tuesday in the middle zone. It has been a fair season with plenty of food and water for the birds. There have been both good and bad days for the hunters."

The season in the south zone continues through Jan. 25.