Big water, big fish

Guide Rick LaPoint, of Springfield, left, gets an early morning start with client J.D. Towner, of Memphis, Tenn.
Phil Surratt | Branson Tri-Lakes News

By Phil Surratt
Staff Writer
Originally published Oct. 21, 2009

In a couple of years, Table Rock Lake may be producing more trophy bass thanks to flooding in 2008.

Shane Bush, fisheries management biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said flooding can sometimes provide better homes for bass.

“If anything, last year’s heavy rain had a good impact on the fish population,” Bush said. “When the lake came up, water moved into wooded and grassy areas. That provided excellent habitat.”

As a result, Bush said fish samples taken this past spring revealed large numbers and big fish.

“From our spring electro-fishing samples we found a big-year class of 6 to 7 inch fish that were born in 2008,” Bush said. “With the high water, they had more spawning ground and they had more cover throughout the summer. The survival rate was excellent because of the conditions that were created by the flooding.”

Bush said it will take about three to four years for the bass to mature into trophy size. Bush said he is expecting to see some pretty big numbers of fish being caught in the near future.

“We had a bumper crop in 2008 and those fish should reach 15 inches by 2012,” Bush said.

From the anglers’ standpoint, bass numbers are already up. Rick LaPoint, of Springfield, who guides on Table Rock nearly every day, said his clients are steadily boating fish.

“The fish are small right now,” LaPoint said. “Give it time and we will be catching larger bass on a regular basis. I’ve seen an improvement since the flooding.”

Bush said electro-fishing surveys last year also revealed large numbers of white bass. Bush said anglers are already reporting large catches.

“We are hearing about some of the largest catches anglers have had in a long time,” Bush said.

“Those fish were born in 2008 in all of the high water, so white bass fishing should be phenomenal for about the next two to three years for sure,” he said. “Anglers can expect to catch more white bass than they have historically.”

Bush said water fluctuation has a dramatic effect on fish who seek structure for spawning.

In 2008 high water on Table Rock Lake held for the entire season creating the perfect habitat.

“Largemouth bass, white bass and crappie relate well to cover,” he said. “We typically see in high water years like this the spawning rates being tremendous. During low water years we see bigger smallmouth bass numbers because they like to spawn in the rocks in deeper water.”