Fishing Journal Entry 16 - James A Reed - Coot Lake

7/29/2016

After what felt like an extremely long week at work I was able to sneak away for a few relaxing hours of fishing with my dad at James A Reed Memorial Wildlife Area located in west-central Missouri.  

Today's Weather Stats

The weather for today was very pleasant as you can see from the snapshot above.  I may begin adding the weather details for the fishing and hunting journal entries this way as it is a very simple way to record and share all of the important data that I usually include in these posts.

Dad looking impressed with a small bluegill

This little bullhead was one of three bullheads caught during our outing.

One tiny bullhead

This channel catfish was the biggest of the day measuring about seventeen inches long.  He was released unharmed at the end of the evening.

Decent little channel catfish

This little bass was hungry as anything you've ever seen and did its best to put up a good fight.

A little bass

In all we caught only six fish, but we still had a great time relaxing while waiting on the fish to bite.

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day

Fishing Journal Entry 15 - Lake of the Ozarks Truman Dam Public Access

7/23/2016

Today I took the family fishing at one of my favorite places - Lake of the Ozarks public access area below the Truman Dam.  The weather was extremely hot with a temperature of 98 degrees.

Emilee with a crappie

The wind was blowing off and on at about eight miles per hour.  The skies were clear to partly cloudy throughout the day.  Unfortunately I forgot to record the barometric pressure on this trip.

Cody with a sunfish

Having spent the entire day from noon until 11:30 at night fishing from a dock I achieved sunburned status.  We fished with all types of bait including minnows, gizzards, shrimp, night crawlers, and cut bait.

Even the baby catfish were hungry!

We managed to catch fish on everything except the chicken gizzards.  Although the fish were biting fairly steadily we didn't catch any giants.  

Some of the fish caught below the Truman Dam

The crappie were biting like crazy at a depth of about 12 feet with the biggest crappie of the day measuring eleven inches long.  

Some of the crappie caught throughout the day

We caught several catfish throughout the day. Although many were small, they were still fun to catch.

Another small catfish

I was unable to keep track of the total fish count on this trip, but we caught a lot of them!

Cody with another fish

Although we didn't catch any big fish on this trip the whole family had a blast.  In my book that's what makes any outdoor experience a successful one!

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day