Truman Lake, 6-14

[D.W. Verts]

I started practicing for my third tournament yesterday, and while I normally wouldn't post this before a derby I did so lousy that I thought I would share. How's that for a confidence booster?

The lake is maybe a foot or so high (I didn't check officially). We are huge dry here in MO as are many places, and they are only generating at the dam in the evenings so no real day-long current to work with. Interestingly enough I started seeing a water line yesterday afternoon and the lake dropped about six inches total while I was there. That certainly didn't help the situation.

Water temp are basically near 80 degrees in the afternoon, and the water is too clear for me in the lower lake (Tebo arm), with visibilities as much as 4-5' in places. With no rain there aren't much better conditions anywhere, and I'm not running forty miles to check it out, not for this little tournament.

Shows how times have changed- thirty years ago I'd have run to the moon to find better conditions. Sigh.

It was also a very clear and sunny day with a very few high white puffies, and very little wind. Wind would have helped.

I caught three short bass in 6-1/2 hours of fishing. They all came on a squarebill in timber, in less than eight feet of water. Never had a bite other than a bream on a worm, and late in the day (after they started drawing water) I had a decent-sized walleye chase a deep crankbait up to the boat. Weird.

And that's that. I was wore out and a little disgusted, but my lack of fishing time has me seriously behind. I intend to try it again tomorrow, and I'm documenting the whole sad process for YouTube. We'll see- hope this helps somebody. If I HAD to catch bass, or win a tourney, I'd certainly investigate further up the Osage or the Grand.

Dale

[Donald Garner]

Dale, tks for sharing the trip report with us.  Best wishes on the upcoming tournament.  I miss fishing on Truman.  The trips Marvin Deckard and I had back in the late 90's were great.  We fished out of Bucksaw all the time beings that's were he guided from.

[Wizard]

Gee Whiz, Mister D. You know there is a short period in mid-June when everyone KNOWS the bass are going deep. You also know bass have done just the reverse and are very shallow against the points and breakwalls. A nice shiny spinnerbait with a white or bluegill skirt and short, quick pitches should catch a bunch of bass. Just a reminder from an older gent who used to fish.

Mal

[D.W. Verts]

Gee Whiz, Mister D. You know there is a short period in mid-June when everyone KNOWS the bass are going deep. You also know bass have done just the reverse and are very shallow against the points and breakwalls. A nice shiny spinnerbait with a white or bluegill skirt and short, quick pitches should catch a bunch of bass. Just a reminder from an older gent who used to fish.

Mal

Yes sir. Wise stuff indeed. But I guess maybe it's the clear water? Or maybe my new-found inadequacies as a bass fisherman. Bottom line, I screwed around three days on Truman for one solid keeper (and had two more jump off in the tournament). To say I'm down is a huge understatement, and while it only took 14 pounds to win the derby, that was 14 more than I had. I'm having to once again re-evaluate my position in the world. Thanks buddy.

Dale