Mark Twain Lake

[jcd]

Hi,

Does anyone fish Mark Twain frequently?....If so?...I would like to ask you a few questions....I plan on hitting Mark Twain next spring...

Jeremy
Thanks
Bye

[Rattler]

Hi there Jeremy, I don't get to fish there as much as I would like, but I might be able to help get you started as to what areas of the lake to try. This past year was pretty busy with business travels so didn't make it up there. It ended up being a pretty tough year to catch slabs there but some of the locals still found them regularly. The biggest thing about MTL is the water level changes. The lake can go up as much as 15-18ft. in the spring if conditions are right. Adds a lot of new water. What part of Illinois are you from? I fish Rend Lake a few times a year and Carlyle a few times in the summer for the White bass. There are now lakes in Illinois that I'm familiar with that resemble MTL in any way. Deep creeks and all the timber you want to fish. You can find flooded timber in the 20-25ft range pretty regularly. Let me know if I can help out more. Also Bruce Carp fishes the lake pretty often and is very knowledgeable to its strong points. He might help you out also. Don't catch em all!

[CrappieOutlaw]

You would be better off trying yourself than listening to the crap that some spread around here (not mentioning names but most of you know who I'm talking about) Mark Twain, still a good lake but you have to sort out the dinkers and stay on the bigger fish when you find them. Most of the lake is wooded esp the upper ends, also upper lake tends to be muddier than the lower end. Pretty easy lake to learn, get ya one of those GOOD yellow and white topo maps, water warms in the upper south, north, and middle forks first, (lick creek too) so thated be a good place to start this spring. Fish should be in the mouths of the creeks early and then make their way in as the water warms, 50-65 degree water. Like to long rod the visible timber with a jig or jig and minnow, also prefer black and chart. thats just me there are a lot of other ways to catch em. Be prepard to see lots of fisherman (which drives me freakin crazy) a couple of good web sites to help ya out. Also TAKE YOUR TIME when you are learning that lake it is a boat eater, good luck.

www.cannondam.com
www.southforkresort.net

[Bruce Carp]

jcd, lots of stumps that can ruin a boat, so exercise caution and idle a lot unless in the channel. It is an easy lake to learn but you either spend a day with a map and a tank of fuel and scout the lake, Or hire a guide, lots of good ones around the dam. Or pm me for more info. Won't comment on others, but MTL is my home lake, born and raised there.

[TwainGang]

What's with the snide comments and the Hatfield and McCoy crap here? This isn't the first time I've noticed it.