Carnahan also throws a 1/4-ounce white or chartreuse buzzbait on 17-pound-test line early and late in the day. He targets stumps and Corps fish attractors planted about 4 feet deep on the lower end of the lake from Chaonia Landing to the dam.

If shallow bass ignore his topwater offering, Carnahan switches to a 1/2- or 3/4-ounce Rat-L-Trap lipless crankbait (chrome-and-blue) that he drags along the bottom. He prefers the larger versions of this lure, because they match the size of the shad in August.

"A lot of tournaments are won by guys fishing all day long with a buzzbait," offered Brotherton. "It seems like when the sun comes up and gets hot, the topwater action slows down, but the diehards might stay with a buzzbait all day long."

Brotherton also recommends throwing a 1/8- or 1/4-ounce buzzbait with a white or chartreuse skirt and silver blade on sunny days. A black buzzer works best on cloudy days. Fansler believes that throwing a buzzbait offers the best opportunity for catching a 6- or 7-pounder in August.

MIDDAY MAGIC
Flipping a 5-inch plastic tube or 7-inch plastic worm in pumpkinseed or watermelon hues to stumps in 1 to 2 feet of water produces bass in the stained water areas of the lake. Brotherton notes that this tactic works all day long -- and the hotter the weather, the better it produces.

Most Wappapello anglers target deeper water for bass during the middle of the day, though. Brotherton suggests trying a Texas-rigged 7-inch pumpkinseed or watermelon plastic worm with a 3/8-ounce weight along the old river channel around the Holiday Landing area. A chartreuse shallow-diving crankbait run 4 to 5 feet deep also tricks bass in this area.

"A lot of bigger bass are caught on the (fire tiger) Poe's 400 Series crankbait, but that is a slow process," said Brotherton. "You don't catch as many fish, but you do catch some nice ones." These deep-diving plugs are cranked to 10 to 12 feet deep to bump the stumps and trigger strikes in the river arm above Holiday Landing.

When the day heats up, Fansler also switches to Texas-rigged 6- or 8-inch plastic worms in junebug or red shad hues.

"I try to use the lightest weight I can get by with according to the wind," said Fansler, who will scale down to a 1/8-ounce sinker on calm days. The local guide targets points or rocky banks at depths of 5 to 8 feet in the river arm.

Fansler also looks for bass busting shad on main lake flats during the afternoon. "We just try to find the big pods of threadfin shad," he said.

Whenever he sees surface activity along the flats, Fansler throws a blue-and-chrome Rat-L-Trap on 12-pound-test to the commotion.

By turning up the sensitivity on his depthfinder, Carnahan pinpoints the lake's thermocline, which is generally less than 6 feet deep in the summertime at Wappapello.

"You need to know where that is, because the fish will be below that," said Carnahan. The guide keys on channel drops, where he throws either a plastic worm or a crankbait that runs 7 to 8 feet deep.

His favorite lures for summer afternoons on Wappapello are shad-pattern Poe's 300 Series and Rebel Deep Wee-R crankbaits or a Texas-rigged 7- to 8-inch plastic worm in junebug and tequila sunrise hues with a 1/4-ounce weight. Dragging a Carolina rig with a 10-inch plastic worm and 1/2-ounce sinker produced some money finishes for Carnahan in tournaments last summer.

The tournament competitor tries to find offshore structure to avoid the crowds. "Wappapello gets a lot of pressure, so you can't win tournaments on that lake fishing community holes that everybody else fishes," he said.