Try Upper Lake of the Ozarks for a change of pace, scenery
By John Neporadny Jr.

The scenery changes dramatically on the Lake of the Ozarks the farther you fish on the upper reaches of the Osage arm. From the 55 mile marker on up, the lake continues to narrow until it turns riverine in appearance. 

Siltation has filled in the mouths of the feeder creeks and coves so anglers need to use extreme caution when navigating in this area. Keeping an eye on your electonrics will help you follow the channel when running the main lake and find the boat lanes to enter the backwaters. 

The Upper Osage features numerous mud flats dotted with lay-downs, submerged logs and brush. Its water clarity varies, but most of the time it is stained to murky. 

This section tends to have lighter fishing pressure since the shoreline has less development and fewer resorts and facilities. 

The following pointers from the local experts will help you catch catfish, crappie, white bass and paddlefish on the Upper Osage. 

Catfish
Fishing at night is Terry Blankenship’s favorite way to catch summertime cats on the Upper Osage.  From the Fourth of July to mid-September, Blankenship targets the river channel where he catches fish 25 to 30 feet deep.  The veteran angler anchors his boat on the edge of a flat 8 to 10 feet deep and casts out into the channel. He notes the biggest catfish usually bite between midnight and daylight. Blankenship uses skip jack herring which he wraps around a 9/0 or 10/0 hook. He casts the bait without any weight on 20-pound test line and lets it fall slowly to the bottom.  This technique produces best when there is no flow from the dam since the bait is fished without any weight. “We’ve had nights where we have caught 300 pounds of fish,” claims Blankenship.  “We’ve caught a lot of 20-pound blues and some fish up to 60 pounds.” 

Crappie
Stover, Mo., angler Shannon Beckmann finds crappie close to the creek channels during the winter and keys on docks. Since the lake narrows down in this section and becomes shallower, Beckmann rarely fishes deep for crappie.   “Once you get above Proctor Creek you hardly ever have to fish deeper than 10 feet.” The local expert usually vertical jigs over brush with a long crappie pole over and uses a 1/16-ounce jig in chartreuse--a size and color he depends on for most of his crappie tactics. Since the water is usually off-colored on the upper end, Beckmann opts for 6- to 8-pound line for most of his crappie techniques. During the prespawn (last week of March or first week of April), Beckmann keys on any stickups, logs or brush piles he can find near pockets or small nooks with mud banks. He presents his jig to depths of 4 to 6 feet. The spawn usually starts during the full moon in April and peaks during the last week of the month. “When it gets above 60 degrees and stays there a few days then the fish will be building nests,” advises Beckmann. He catches crappie on a jig as shallow as 1 foot deep along the mud banks of nooks and pockets. After the spawn, crappie move to brush piles 5 to 6 feet deep throughout May and follow the same migration route they used during the prespawn. The fish will pull back to the centers of the creeks or stay up on mud flats where Beckmann catches them shallow on a jig. 

Once the water starts getting hot in June, crappie migrate to the main channel and suspend 10 to 12 feet deep over channel breaks and rock ledges in 30 to 40 feet of water.  Beckmann switches to a 1/8-ounce jig to fish vertically or troll for crappie suspended over the channel or feeding along the main lake mud flats. Bluffs become Beckmann’s favorite structure to try in the fall. “The big numbers of fish will pack up on the bluffs then,” he says.  On windy days, the fish will move out of the deep water and cling to any brush 5 to 6 feet deep along rock shelves or ledges.  This pattern usually starts in late September, peaks in November and ends in December. Beckmann catches these shallow fish on a 1/16-ounce jig or Roadrunner. 

White bass
Wind-blown points are Beckmann’s top spots to try for white bass in the wintertime. He usually slow rolls a 1/6-ounce white or silver Roostertail or casts a 1/ 4-ounce chartreuse jig and slowly works it back to the boat on 6-pound test line. Starting in March, whites run up the larger creeks such as the Big and Little Buffalo where Beckmann finds them stacked up in holes.  “They will find any little hole about a foot or 2 deeper in the creek channel and will spend the day there,” says Beckmann. He usually positions his boat in the area where the lake narrows into a defined creek and fan-casts a 1/ 2-ounce Rat-L-Trap (blue-and-chrome is best) on 10-pound line in the channel until he locates the fish. Ripping a 1/6-ounce Roostertail along the mud flats and humps produces summertime whites for Beckmann.  If the fish are reluctant to take his high-speed offering, Beckmann switches to a bobber-and-jig combination (chartreuse 1/16-ounce jig set about 1 foot below the cork on 6- to 8-pound line) that he pops along at a steady pace. He usually finds white feeding 2 to 4 feet deep along the flats. In late September, Beckmann returns to the windy points or pockets where he finds white bass chasing shad.  He uses the Roostertail to catch numbers of whites, but when he wants to catch bigger fish he opts for a Rebel Pop-R (in chrome hues) that he pops on 8-pound line.  This pattern usually runs through October and lasts until early November. 

Paddlefish
During the snagging season, Beckmann looks for paddlefish on the Upper Osage along any river bend. “When you locate the fish on the graph, just start circling them and go into and out of them and crossways all that you can,” says Beckmann. He believes the fish are facing upstream, so he increases his chances of hooking the fish by trolling across the channel. 

  Equipped with 72- to 100-pound test line, Beckmann ties three large treble hooks on his rig (set about 2 1/ 2 feet apart) with a 6- to 8-ounce weight set about 2 feet below the bottom hook.

“Through March, fish the channels and then if you can’t find fish, they have probably moved up 6 to 8 feet deep on the mud flats,” says Beckmann.  He snags for these shallower fish with his three-hook rig and lighter weights (4 to 6 ounces).  

For information on lodging and other facilities at the Lake of the Ozarks or to receive a free vacation guide, call the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-FUN-LAKE or visit the Lake of the Ozarks Convention and Visitors Bureau web site at funlake.com. 

Copies of John Neporadny's book, "THE Lake of the Ozarks Fishing Guide" are available by calling 573/365-4296 or visiting the web site www.jnoutdoors.com.

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