Mark Twain Help

All,

I agreed to help a group from work, that have a trip to Mark Twain planned for April 29 to May 2. They will be staying at South Fork Resort. They were there last year and didn’t have much success. They describe themselves as casual fishermen and about half the group knocks off at noon to play golf.
I’m looking for help with locations, patterns and techniques for bass and crappies. We have a session planned for Tuesday April 20 where a friend and I will go over suggestions of what lures/tackle to take, how to fish them and suggested fishing locations.
Any help would be much appreciated.

PS. We get lots of free beer out of this deal.

Crappies ought to be smokin by then.I like to fish Lick Creek for crappies. Go back this creek till you get to the rocky bluffs and outcrops and fish laydowns and timber. Jig and minnows under bobbers is the most fun but slider grubs will catch better fish. Also good bass fishing there too. All the forks up north will have fish, crappies are everywhere when they are going. Watch your limits closely, they dont fool around if they catch you over Good luck.

i fished there last year in may the lake was close to normal pool the fish for us any way were all over and agressive just killing spooks in the morning

some buzz bait fish as the day went on we caught them on 10 inch worms crankbaits 6 inch ring worms and senkos this was later in may the bigger fish tended to be on the standing timber points on the ledges typical post spawn pattern we were there in late may

id go to the creek arms and small pockets off the main lakes i havent done well in the mid size coves on that lake but the small pockets between sand creek and i want to say lick creek (should get out my maps) have a few huge beaver
hutts in them when they are there the bass should be shallow and ready to or in the process of spawning

we had a hard time catching keeper sized bass 50 or more shorts a day we averaged last year

hope this helps

i won a tournoment there 2 or three years ago in april or early may its been to long ago

I will be fishing a club tourney that same weekend, and staying at South Fork. I would be more than happy to provide them with some of my spots…. I have several, but will likely only fish in one particular creek arm.

Have them stop by… blue Ranger 520, blue Tahoe with Illinois license Bluewtr 2. They will need a map and I will mark the spots for them. I will be throwing spinnerbaits-grey/black skirt, gold No. 4 Colorado blade, and white on white buzzbaits on secondary points, right on the bank…and white senkos farther into the pockets. Maybe a jig/frog on the wood in the pockets also.

Works for me, might work for them.

On the 20th, if you want to call me, I can have my map out and cover some things then. Send me a PM for the phone number.

Gene

Guys,

Thanks, this kind of help is what makes the site so great. A couple of quick questions. I assume the fish will be post spawn and what is the typical water clarity like that time of year?
Fenderman, we may take you up on a conference call but I’ll let you know for sure. I suspect the guys will try to link up with you at South fork. That fish in your photo looks huge, was it in Mexico?
If I can return the favor please ask.

water clarity can be any thing depends on the rain and the lake level 6 years ago we cancled a tournoment there cause it was to high very very high 4 years ago it was 15 foot low and last year i believe it was normal pool the north end was stained the rest was clear

i think the fish will be prespawn and spawn at the least the bass any way we have always fished that area in missouri mid april to early may im 2.5 hrs north and east of mark twain and the weather isnt to diffrent here and there but the fish are usually a week or 2 ahead of ours but not much

Ok on the call…. yes that fish came from El Salto, 12lbs 4oz… one of 5 over 10lbs I caught in a 2 hour period off a hump on a crankbait… my buddy caught 3 over 10 and a 13-0 at the same time. Very cool.

I agree on the spawn phase, The bass usually spawn in May down here . Should be some good pre spawn action in some areas.

I wil be down there next Friday (04/16/04). I have done alot of Crappie fishing there, but never really done much bass fishing on Mark Twain Lake. We will be fishing for bass that weekend. What’s the best approach (lures) for this early in April?
Thanks

Vito.. first find the warmest water you can (upper 50’s to low 60’s right now), check points/pockets inside bigger creeks on north side of lake, spinnerbaits would be my choice, stick baits like a husky jerk too… cover water, if you find fish, then slow down.
I prefer silver/black skirts on spinners/buzzers at Twain. Fish will probably be prespawn, maybe a few on beds in far reaches of the lake. Fish should go to the bank in the afternoons as the water warms, watch for baitfish getting pushed around.

I will be there in 2 weeks, hoping for a big warm up in the meantime.

Spent this past weekend on Mark Twain. Very dissapointed with what we found. Corps had been pulling the lake down fast and shut the gates a day before we arrived. The whole lake was muddy and I mean the whole lake. Fished Lick Creek, Dry Fork, and North Fork. Water level is 1/2 ft. below normal. Water temps averaged in the low to mid 50’s. As ussual, we found fish everywhere, but the size was terrible. Never kept a fish to clean. One out of ten or 15 would measure up to my personal size limit.
With so many fronts moving through, the fish haven’t had a chance to develope a definate pattern yet but that will change this week with stable to rising temps. Very few fish were near any banks yet, except an occasional bass. Most of our crappie were staging at the 4-6 ft level over 16-20ft of water. Most colors were taken but there was a prefference for chartreuse. Bring the Crappie Nibbles.

RiverFan, If the water is all muddy up look for any clearer water,even if its a ten foot by ten foot area.My partner prefished under these conditions for 5 days and did not get a fish until he found 5 or 6 of these areas,a lot of idle moving and a lot of looking.His mistake was looking for large areas of clear water, there was none.

i just fished 2 lakes in illinois one was clean one was muddy and the locals say it was muddy all winter and cant figure out why

the one lake that was clear was 52 degrees wednesday morning at 7:30 am saturday at noon the spawn was on every where you looked there was big bucks crusing and building nests one cove had 1 femal about 3 lbs setting a bed at 6 am at 2pm the report was there was over 30 lbs of bass moved up in that cove looking to lock up but they wouldnt bite or commit to locking up wish i would have been there today instead of the mudd hole
on the muddy lake big fish was 6.9 had a messed up tail slightly and the 3 bucks i caught had blood starting to form if the weather holds may4th is the full moon marktwain should be on fire

I was on Twain this past weekend—16-18. Water was unusually muddy from 6″ rain last week and very high winds 4-5 days in a row.

Partner and I got around 30 bass out of South Fork. Saw bunches of crappie men/women all loading the boat. Most of the club I was with fished the Lick Creek area and had good luck as well. Unfortunately, not many keepers. Most of our fish came on Chartruese/white spinner bait or black/blue jig pitched along steep banks in 3-4 feet of water. Bass were not around the standing timber yet. Only places we took anything were laydowns connected to the bank

This was my frst time on Twain and really enjoyed it. Very impressed, especially with the crappies! Good luck