Fished Rathbun on Thursday 5-14 thru Saturday 5-16.
On 5-14 ended up with (24) crappies, (6) gills & (2) catfish. All fish were caught in Buck Creek in the flooded brush along the bank on small jigs w/ minnows. The crappies kept were 10"+ with the largest @ 14". We had many 12" & 13" fish and 18 of our crappies were caught around one flooded bush in 2" to 3" of water.
On 5-15 it rained all day with strong winds so we didn't even launch the boat. Ended up fishing below the dam and managed (12) crappies. You could catch as many small 4" to 6" crappies you wanted all day with no bait. It was fun, but there was no size. I seen one nice 13" crappie, many big walleye and dozens of catfish caught by others below the dam.
5-16 Rathbun was MUDDY and the wind was 20+ MHP. Fished first thing in the morning and only managed (2) keepers with one @ 12".
Headed to Lake Miami in hopes to get out of the wind and caught (16) keepers. Still windy as heck, but easier to navigate than the big lake. All fish kept were around 9" and caught on mini-mites w/ waxworms & minnows.
Finished the day back below the Rathbun dam and ended up with (18) more crappies and (7) gills worth keeping. It seemed like you would catch a fish every cast, but no size. It would be a good place to take a young kid fishing.
Now thats a long day of fishing!!!!!