Little Birds first WIN!

[Ray Co. Hank]

Smithville is a great lake for people that like to fish!


It has been a tough summer on Smithville lake (they call it the 'Dead Sea'). Anyway, we had a decent end of April and May w/ two 2nds and a 3rd and a 1st BB. Then came the dry spell, 3 blanks (2 in a row) and finally we have started catchin a few fish again. Thursday July 14th we scored our first win of the season and my first win in the bird w/ 2 fish (one of which was 5.2 I caught in the last 30 mins of the tx that made 2nd BB) for 6lbs 11.5 oz's. Hard to beleive 7lbs to win a 3 and half hour 40 boat tournament but hey, thats Smithville!!! Total 19 legal fish caught! We backed it up this past Thurday w/ a 2nd place and 2nd BB w/ two fish 7lbs 2 oz.

One thing is for sure, every bite counts!!!

[nightbasser]

Congrats and great job Hank!!!

[rudapa]

Congratulations!! I'm told the lake use to be great, Why can't they get it improved from "dead sea: status?

[idbefishing]

Congrats Hank.

[flippinout]

Congrats Hank. I took 10th place with 3.1lbs(23 boats) at my first tournament in 4 years and in my new 719. 1st had a whopping 6.91lbs. Tell me about "dead seas".

[Redtom]

Congrats Hank

[revinkevin]

Yep congrats man. BTW... the Get outside with Henry bit. Love it. Its entertaining and great. Look out KVD.

[Scott McGehee]

Great job Hank!! Congrats!!

[charliecfh]

Congrats Hank!!

[Ray Co. Hank]

Thx guys, now I will prolly blank.........

Russ, they have a vegitation program trying to get grass back in the lake. Thats when it was good. Also, it was in its prime as a fishery because of its age. The grass died out from rain and high water muddy water (suspect anyway). Its tough fishing to say the least!





Modified by Cowoty at 11:41 AM 7/25/2011

[rudapa]

Can't they do the brush pile thing and give it a spark? What kind of grass are they trying to get going?

Curly Leaf Pondweed is in a little dirty lake here called Burchard and it makes it an excellent fishery year after year.It grows like crazy in the Spring and then dissappears from July till the next Spring. There is coontail in there as well. But it is pretty dirty water most of the time.

[Ray Co. Hank]

Russ, the pond weed has really came on the last two weeks. Not sure why its so late, but it is. The 'caged' veggies are hit and miss, some are doing good and others are not. The lilly pads seem to be filling the fence and others are bare. Some millfoil is present and growing when you can find it in a fence or not, but is sparse and doesnt seem to hold to many fish. The brush-deep brush has been planted by the MCD w/ the help of Burton's (tx director) for a while now. The valve is shut off and there is zero current so one would think they would set up on the brush, yet the ones that know a lot of brush piles arent catching fish. One thing about it, each week is different. Prefishing, or more like scouting, is a must!! Oscurities is the key on SV!!

[rudapa]

Hmmm, I've not fished it, but a friend (Larry Lagsding) has told me how tough it can be.

What is the main forage Gizzard shad or bluegill? It is interesting how some lakes can be so good and others similar are so tough. Mark Twain and Long Branch for MO come to mind.

[Ray Co. Hank]

Shad for sure, but any tree I see a Bluegill swinmming around I drop in a treat along side the tree to the bottom. This past spring the tourney had heavier weights than had been caught for a long time. Not spectacular mind you, but much improved. 1st has been anywhere from 15 lbs to 8 lbs most of the year and has came to a crawl this month. The lake's river end has tons of silt and a lot of guys that used to go up there dont much any more. Tons of boat traffic and fishing pressure dont help things. Bottom line I think it is better and getting better but the glory days are over! Clay county parks charge so dang much for a yearly pass for a lake w/ no fish!!! Oh well, they built 2 new huge biking trails that can be used for free, yet we only have one light at the boat ramp that goes out if someones headlights hit it just right! I hope the County gets to where it cant afford it no more and the corp takes it back over!!!!!

[RangerRumps]

congratsss

[MI17Explorer]

Super win in a super boat!!!!

[bassin again]

Russ(rudapa) you have an IM

[rudapa]

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