Dinkerama on Mark Twain Lake

[ibcamn]

Smallville continues at MTL. We fished Saturday and Sunday along the Middle Fork bluffs. We dipped trees 8 to 12 feet. We trolled along the bluffs 6 to 15 feet in depth. Caught about 30 fish on Saturday and 20 on Sunday. Most were 8 to 10 feet deep in 30 to 40 feet of water. All were caught on minnows with crappie nibbles.
Somebody stole all the big fish!!!

[nemofisher]

Fishroper and I fished Indian and little Indian today and ended up with 3 fish 9 to 10 inches. We too found about 8-10 feet. We had several short hits, but nothing produced. We used jigs. Surprisingly it appeared that in the muddy water, lighter colors seemed to do better than dark. fishroper used white and chartreuse and I used nearly every color slab buster and slab slayer I had.

[TypeO]

Smallville continues at MTL. We fished Saturday and Sunday along the Middle Fork bluffs. We dipped trees 8 to 12 feet. We trolled along the bluffs 6 to 15 feet in depth. Caught about 30 fish on Saturday and 20 on Sunday. Most were 8 to 10 feet deep in 30 to 40 feet of water. All were caught on minnows with crappie nibbles.
Somebody stole all the big fish!!!

I forgot to post up my day on July 4th but this is exactly what happened to me. I launched at South Fork and drove up to middle fork and fished there for awhile. I caught maybe 25 before 7a.m. but all were about 6-7 inches. As the boats passed by me, I decided to hit the bluffs probably in the exact same area you were. I caught several keepers but mostly dinks and a couple catfish/big perch. All were caught in deeper water anywhere from 8-19ft down. The keepers were caught at 19ft. Catfish were caught on trolling cranks. I was using minnows only.

I got up to MTL at about 5a.m. and launched and was having fun until about 8:30a.m. All of the sudden I had a massive headache, could not stay awake, and was not feeling well at all. I felt bad enough that I threw my fish back and headed for the boat ramp. I got to the boat ramp up against the courtesy dock and was light headed/dizzy and I fell in and hit the courtesy dock...I finally got the boat on the trailer after dang near breaking my hip and headed for the parking lot. I sat there for probably about an hour until I felt well enough to drive home. Almost called an ambulance but I made it ok. Got home and went to the doctor. Ended up with a shot of Toradol and Phenergan. Was not a good day. Haven't been back since but look forward to going again.

[ibcamn]

Damn, TypeO, I'm gonna quit bitchin' about small fish!!! I hope you're alright now. Next time ask for help. There are a lot og good folks up there.

[archer66]

Fished this evening for a couple of hours. Dipped minnows around standing timber, trolled cranks and spent a little time just looking around. You can tell the bite isn't on.....the parking lot was empty.....saw a total of maybe 10 boats scattered out between the mouth of the indian creek areas all the way to Florida point and most of those weren't fishing. The lake is darn near deserted. Did see one guy rigging out in the main lake over a hump....didn't see him catch any but wasn't watching very close. Lake's muddy...water temp is 80-82....looked like the thermocline is around 14 ish....is that pretty much what you folks saw?

I did see some large schools of shad working in one of the creeks I ran up. Couldn't scare up any white bass around those....heck even the gulls were absent.

[nemofisher]

DAANNGG!!! Suck day. Hope you're feeling better.

[VIRGIL]

Fished Sat in Middle Fork and South Fork and only found 4 keepers over 10". I figured fishing to be slow when I pulled into South Fork parking lot at 6am on Sunday and there was only 1 truck in the parking lot. As i got back to the boat ramp I saw something we all fear. I saw a guy loose his truck and trailer into the lake as he was backing his boat into the water. Not sure what happened but it looked like he was in the boat as someone backed he down and the person got out and left the truck in neutral. It was completely submerged. That's not going to be cheap.


Went to Lick Creek on Mon and little to nothing to speak of. Two 10" fish in 4 hours. Went to Little Indian and limited out in 3 hours with 9 1/2-10" fish. Fished Crappie Rocket
jigs with a nibble. Very light bite. They would only hit the jig if it was falling. 8-10ft deep.

[TypeO]

I'll be fine (I think). Archer66, that's basically the same as what I saw although the parking lot was packed obviously because it was July 4th. So far, it's just not happening this year. Thermocline was around 14ft on my finder. I could see plenty of fish but everytime I started catching them they were small. Even the larger ones I was catching weren't real fat. Perhaps things will pick up this fall but so far it's been a bust. I think next time I'm going to hit another lake until I hear the bite is on at Twain. I check the South Fork Resort blog once in awhile and nothing really to report from there either.

Dang, losing a truck and trailer would be terrible. I forgot to put the plug in one time as I backed into the lake but knew immediately because the plug was in my hand. =)

[Route U]

Better times a'comin......... no doubt.

Heading over to the cabin this weekend to do some work and then going to hit the water early Sunday morning in search of a bite. Taking everything....... riggin set-up, cranking rods and dipping poles.

Will post up when I get back, but if anyone is in the area on Saturday and wants to swing by, just gimme a shout.

U