CAPE FAIR, Mo. — For this week’s Daybreak on the Lake segment, we switched things up a bit by heading out to the James River in Cape Fair, Missouri.

Heavy rains brought the river level up to make it easier to take a boat out. The extra currents increased activity in the area. We headed out in a 1983 DuraCraft outfitted with a 40-horsepower jet motor that allows it to propel in water as shallow as 4-6 inches. “Prop boats” require more depth to work, which makes them less than ideal in shallow waters.

Eric Prey of Focused Fishing Guide Service set us up with a “Whopper Plopper,” but he used a buzzbait. We were fishing on the surface, looking for some bass.

Naturally, Prey brought in catch after catch while we sat watched idly by, waiting for a fish to fall for our Whopper Plopper. The buzzbait is designed to get the bass curious about what’s happening on the surface. The former was a failure, but Prey had some luck with the latter. As the season gets older, the fish start moving upstream, making these surface tactics more popular in the area.