While crappie fishing has slowed a bit after the spawn, catfishing remains red hot.
Anglers continue to catch good numbers of channel cats at both Clearwater and Wappapello lakes from late evening through the early morning hours.
As expected, stinkbait is catching a lot of fish, as are nightcrawlers and cut bait.
Bluegill fishing also is especially good at the moment, pretty much what you'd expect for the first full moon after the water hits 70 degrees.
Crickets are the go-to bait for bluegills, though pretty much anything small might work, especially if you find big males guarding a nest.
There's always a debate among anglers about taking fish off their beds, and I suppose it's a fine line with bluegills. They're generally very prolific, but you don't want to run the risk of taking too many from a given pond or lake during their spawn.
Speaking of bluegill fishing, I cruised through Duck Creek Conservation Area Monday and while Pool 1 is starting to get covered with a lot of vegetation, there's still plenty of open water, especially along the edges and in the southern third of the lake.
Bassin' Results
It was a hot one Saturday for the USA Bassin' tournament on Clearwater Lake, but anglers were successful in their endeavors.
The team of Francis and McCallistor ran away with the win, hauling 21.62 pounds to the weigh-in. According to tournament director Doug Warren, the pair found success by fishing off-shore structure and stayed there all day along.
Second place went to Robertson and Shoder with 12.97 pounds, while third place was earned by Sadler and Newton with 12.77 pounds.
Finishing in the fourth position was the team of Warren and Dougherty, who had 12.29 pounds and the day's big bass, which weighed in at 5.63 pounds.
Rounding out the top five spots was the team of Carnahan and Cannaday with 12.07 pounds.
The USA Bassin' group's next scheduled tournament is June 9, again at Clearwater, though there is, Warren said, a small chance it may have to be rescheduled.
Weekend Tourneys
If you're into tournament angling, whether its for smallmouths, largemouths or both, this is the weekend for you.
Three different tournaments are on the weekend schedule, starting with the Current River Smallmouth Association's season kick-off event Saturday at Van Buren.
Fishing will begin at 7 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m.
The event will be based out of the Watercress ramp just north of town. Follow the road behind the Ozark National Scenic Riverways office to get there.
Another Saturday tournament is the 39th annual Wappapello Bassmasters Classic Buddy Bass event, fished out of Rich's Chaonia Landing at Wappapello Lake.
Fishing hours will be 6 a.m. until 3 p.m., and you'll have to be in the Chaonia Landing cove by 3 p.m. to avoid penalties.
The entry fee is $100 per boat, which includes the big bass pot, and cash payouts will be earned through at least 10th place, depending on the number of entries. The overall winner will take home $1,200 cash.
Entries will be taken right up until launch time, but you also can pre-register by calling Chaonia Landing at 573-297-3206.
The weekend's final tournament will take place Sunday, when the Bass Quest/Angler's Choice circuit hits the water at Wappapello.
A launch time of 6 a.m. at Chaonia Landing has been set, and the weigh-in will take place at 3 p.m.
Ken Owens is the tournament director and can be reached at 573-820-3715.
Leave Them Alone!
It really can't be stressed enough - folks really need to leave baby animals alone.
This is the time of year when most wildlife gives birth to its young, and it's common for people to find those babies hiding near their homes or while they're out and about.
Many with supposed good intentions pick up fawns or other wild babies, thinking they have been abandoned by their mothers, but in almost all cases, nothing could be further from the truth.
Wild babies will hide for most of the day while their mothers venture away to feed so as not to attract attention to the young. The mother is never far from the hidden babies, but until the young are strong enough and old enough to run away, this is nature's way of protecting them from predators.
To aid them in hiding, most baby animals are born and/or hatched with spots and sometimes muted colors in order to help them stay hidden from predators, plus they also have essentially no scent so they can't be sniffed out.
So, when you run across a small fawn curled up somewhere, it's doing exactly what nature intended - hiding from predators. It's not "abandoned."
When you find a baby animal, the best practice is to simply leave it alone. You may think you re helping it, but in reality, you could be giving it a death sentence if you keep it too long. Besides, it's not legal to keep wildlife.
If you have picked up a fawn or other baby, put it back where you found it as soon as possible, and don't believe the old wive's tale about the mother not taking it back. Just like with humans, the motherly instinct is strong in wildlife and she has too much invested to give up on them that easily.
Roads Reopening
Finally, if you plan on venturing around the Cane Ridge area, maybe for a squirrel hunt for instance, the roads in the Mark Twain National Forest's Spring Walk-In Turkey Hunting Area will reopen to vehicular traffic beginning tomorrow. Most of the side roads have been closed since mid-March and any turkey poults hatched in the last few weeks should be old enough that any disturbance shouldn't bother them much.