Catfish-good-shad sides, night crawlers

Hybrids-fair-rattletraps

Crappie-fair-jigs tipped with wax worms, small minnows need to go to deep waters

MEET THE PRO - Eric Olson and Joe Whitten from the FLW Outdoors Walleye

Tour will be at Wilderness Trail, Thursday, March 31st from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Come on in, have a cup of coffee, meet the Pros and ask questions

March 21, 2005

The winds of March stayed with us this week with temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s. The nights are still into the low 40’s, which is holding the lake temperatures around 48.5 to 49.5 degrees. The upper lake above Tucker Hollow and the upper part of the Theodosia arm is a few degrees warmer. Lake level has stabilized and is 653.90. We still could use a little rain to raise the lake a foot or two before spawning season. White Bass did not make any moves over this week, they are still at the back of the northern creeks holding in 40+ feet of water with the shad. When the shad move, the whites will move. All we need is a week of warm weather. 

Crappie have been moving back into the pockets toward the brush piles throughout the week. Fish the deep outsides of the brush piles with crappie minnows and Bobby Garland Swimming Minnows in chartreuse or pearl colors.

Largemouth bass still have not staged and are roaming in and out of the northern cuts and pockets. Without the lake temperature warming up this so-so pattern will continue. Work the northern points and secondary points with crankbaits or slow rolling spinner baits. If you don’t have any success with reaction baits move to 35 feet of water and fish a Carolina or Mojo rigged 5" lizard or finesse worm. 

Smallmouth bass have made a move to pea rock "do nothing" banks during the sunny part of the day. Crankbaits - Wiggle Warts in V37, V38 and V86 or Lucky Craft Pointer 78DD’s in American Shad or Chartreuse Shad are working the best. The jig bite has also picked up some with green pumpkin and P&J being the dominant colors. Kentucky Bass are spending a little more time roaming the banks looking for crawdads, then returning back out to the schooling shad. The shallow Kentuckys can be triggered with crankbaits or spinner baits. Northern chunk rock banks are holding the aggressive Kentuckys at this time.

Lake Rating: Walleye are slow, bass are roaming but the bite is picking up, crappie are moving back to structure. This week the rating is fair to good.

The PWT tournament will be May 11 through the 13th. The PWT will once again operate from Bull Shoals Boat Dock and the weigh ins will be held every day at the dock. The weigh ins are very exciting and should not be missed.

Walleye can be located between 32 to 42 feet of water around main lake points and secondary chunk rock points in the creeks but they are not feeding so we can’t set a pattern. A few are being caught on crawler harnesses and bottom bouncers or Glass Shad pulled on lead core line. The best bite is at night up on the points with Suspending Rogues. Unfortunately it has been a little cool at night and not many anglers are out on the lake chasing them. Hopefully with a little warm up the walleye will move to staging areas in the next few weeks.

The FLW Outdoors Walleye Tour will be coming to Bull Shoals April 6th through the 9th with 150 pros and 150 co-anglers. You can pick up more information and entry forms at R&H Marine in Bull Shoals and at Wilderness Trail. This tournament will coincide with the opening of the new Wal-Mart Super Center in Flippin. There will be lots of activity around Bull Shoals Lake. Two FLW Outdoors Walleye Tour Pros will be at Wilderness Trail on Thursday March 31st from 6:30 to 8:30 to answer questions on walleye fishing. Come on in, have a cup of coffee and talk to the Pros.

Fishing for trout on the White River has been good this past week. When there is not much generation, Berkley Power Eggs in yellow and orange have done well along with Belgium worms. With generation the Buoyant spoon, Little Cleo’s, and Crocodiles are the bait of choice. The fly fisherman has done well on olive Woolly Buggers, sow bugs, scuds, peach egg pattern and San Juan worms. The Brown trout are being caught on suspending rogues, night crawlers and Countdowns.

Remember to keep only what you can eat and release the rest for another day.

Crappie- No Report

Catfish -No Report

Bass No Report

Crappie fair-small bright jigs, small minnows need to go to deep water

Catfish-fair-shad guts

Walleye-fair off dam-crankbaits

AmerenUE reports the current lake level at 656.53 with heavy generation scheduled for the next three days, which according to AmerenUE should give the lake a level of 656.3 by Friday, March 4th. The water temperature taken at Bagnell Dam is 42 degrees. The main lake and some of the coves off the main lake are is still muddy, but the Big and Little Niangua and Gravois Rivers are clearing with visibility ranging from 2 to 4 feet. The Grand Glaize is muddy from the Osage River down to about the Ft. Leonard Wood recreation area where it is beginning to clear towards PB#1. The water temperature in the Osage River averages 38 to 42 degrees with the larger tributaries having surface temperatures ranging from 44 to 48 degrees. A cold front moved into the lake area today, which will probably drop the water temperature a few degrees, but the forecast for the rest of the week is a warm front moving in with temperatures in the mid 40's and 50's by this coming weekend. 

LARGEMOUTH BASS - GOOD Since the warm weather moved in last week bass fishing has improved. The best bite has been the medium diving crankbaits, Bandit, Wiggle Wart and DLN (crawdad and chartreuse colors) worked on channel banks with large chunk rock and on flats near the channels swings. The bass have been right on the bank out to about 8 or 10 feet. The best method has been paralleling the bank and working the crankbaits with a slow retrieve. The jig, tube bait and twin tail Chomper (brown/black, brown/chartreuse, black/blue and green pumpkin) seem to be the better colors worked in 8 to 15 feet of water around docks and on the same type of structure where the crankbaits are producing. A few bass are being caught on the suspended jerk bait in the clearer water off secondary points and flats near the channel swings, but the crankbaits and bottom baits are producing better. Lately the most productive area has been the Big and Little Niangua Rivers, but the Grand Glaize is beginning to turn on and producing some nice keepers.

CRAPPIE - SLOW The crappie being caught have been suspended over brush in 12 to 25 feet of water, but seem to be scattered or just stubborn. Two or three crappie caught out of one brush pile seems to be the limit then the bite stops. It's taking a lot of brush piles to get a mess. The best bite is the Road Runner and tubes (white, white/red head and chartreuse combinations) worked very slow and minnows. Tipping the baits with Crappie Nibbles seems to help.

03/22/05

Catfish Reports by: Anthony Ford: Catfish & Spoonbill Guide

Here is a spoonbill fishing report for the first week fish are spread out lake is 6ft low spoonbill not move up river thing should improve when water starts running I was out this morning count 73 boats no fish on a single boat

Fishing on Lake of the Ozarks Catfishing is really good catching alot of blues and channel on cut bait in 15-20 ft of water. Bigger fish on live bait you can catch a limit in a few hours mostly good eater only a few over 15lbs its all I can due to keep up with 3 rods that good fishing.

Lake Level : 607.17
Last Weeks Lake Level: 606.1
Normal Lake Level : 606
Water Condition: Dingy - Muddy
Surface Water Temp: 50

There should be at least one courtesy walkway in place at each of the boat ramps that normally have them. The wind has been downright brutal the past couple of days, enough to keep a lot of people off the lake. The wind has been a strong enough factor to decide what ramp to use, avoid ramps with a strong cross wind or that are facing the wind. The good news, the wind has been out of the south and south/west which means the warm winds, coupled with 60+ degree weather, will help warm up the lake that much faster. The weather reports for this weekend are good, so get out and enjoy the lake.

The crappie reports are spotty. The usual early season pattern favors the northern branches, some good reports have come out of Sandy and Shell Creeks. A couple of good early season bets on the south side of the lake, are Lick Creek/Dry Fork and Pigeon Roost. As of late, the fishermen that have been catching crappie have found them about 8 - 9 feet deep around brush close to rocky banks, with good southern exposure. Any branch on the south side of the lake could prove productive, look for northern banks that get good day long sunshine, with good heat gathering objects, such as large trees and rocky banks. One fisherman this week said he did better in the South Fork than in Sandy Creek. Bridge piers gather warmth and could be worth trying. As for bait, minnows or jigs tipped with minnows or crappie nibbles are best. Black/Chartreuse tube jigs have been the most popular color combo. As always, be patient and don't give up too soon, and keep on the move if the crappie are not cooperating.

Bass fishing is still very slow. The few reports have not been encouraging yet, however the season is young and the water temps are still too cool.

We haven't heard much from cat fishermen this week, last week they were catching them back in the South Fork. The water flow into the lake is slowing down. However the warm, sunny days, along with the warm winds will rapidly heat shallow areas of a lake, which are warmer than the nearby deeper waters. Look for wind blown shallow banks, the warmer water and food gathers there. Catfish love these conditions, moving out of the deeper, colder areas of the lake to feed themselves. If you don't have any bites for about 30 minutes, try a different area. Shad sides is an excellent choice under these conditions, the smellier the better.

Happy fishing and good eating!!

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POMME de TERRE

Updated 03/31/05

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 839.0 Temperature:

Inflow: 300 cfs Outflow: 100 cfs Level: 0.68 feet high

Black Bass No Report 

White Bass No Report 

Crappie No Report 

Catfish No Report 

Muskie No Report 

Walleye No Report 

Bluegill No Report 

Temperature: Clarity:  Level: high and dingy

Largemouth Bass: No Report 

Channel Cat:  No Report 

Bluecat: No Report 

Bluegill: No Report 

Crappie: No Report 

Water Temp: 

Crappie: No Report 

Blue Catfish: No Report 

Channel Catfish:  No Report 

Largemouth Bass:  No Report 

Bluegill: No Report 

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 864.2  Temperature: 46

Inflow: 45 cfs Outflow: 8 cfs Level: 1.89 feet low

CRAPPIE: Fair to Good: The fish seem to be scattering. They are less concentrated and you have to work a little harder for them.

BASS: A few keeper bass have been caught. Only a few people fishing right now so it should improve as the water warms.

CATFISH: The Catfish in the Little Platte river arm of the lake are biting. Some nice channels and a few blues are being caught on shad sides.

White Bass: Fair: Some are being caught around the docks by the crappie fisherman. The run up the river should start soon.

WALLEYE: Fair: They are starting to spawn. I heard of several keeper fish being caught on the evening of 3-25. Most of the fisherman are fishing the face of the dam but a few are being caught around the rocks on the bridges.

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 867.7 Temperature: 

Inflow: 600 cfs Outflow: 40 cfs Level: 1.79 feet high

Black Bass No Report

White Bass No Report

Walleye No Report

Crappie No Report

Catfish No Report

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 706.0 Temperature:  

Inflow: 13000 cfs Outflow: 31571 cfs Level: 2.68 feet high

Fishing Report from Sterett Creek Marina 3/30/05

Windy is the word from Sterett Creek this week. The only good thing about this weather is that it is warn and with the wind it should warm the water up and get the fish going. We are supposed to have a small cool front come thru tomorrow and this should settle the wind down for the weekend. With the conditions the way they are I think we will see some fish caught this weekend.

LAKE LEVEL: 707.10
WATER TEMP: 46deg.
WATER CLARITY: Stained but very fishable.

BASS: With last weekend being Easter I didn't see any Tourn.. going out on the lake. Never the less the fish still bit a little. The rogue bite is still going up on Pommie. There is a spinner bait bite going on the Tebo arm according to Guide Steve Blake. Slow roll spinner baits off main lake points in about 4' of water. Steve said you need to use a big bladed bait and pull it real slow. There is also a jig bite starting in some of the creeks on the secondary points. these fish seem to be holding in 3' to 8' of water. Here again you have to move the jig real slow. This is the time of the year that the fishing will get better every week.

CRAPPIE: There is a crappie bite starting up the rivers. A jig set under a bobber is starting to catch fish. The Barker Creek area up Big Tebo up to C bridge has been producing some nice fish off the banks. The bucks are starting to go in and look for spawning areas. If the weather holds had we get what they say we are going to get I think this weekend we should see some shallow fish out of Brush and Clear Creek.

WHITES & HYBRIDS: No Report.

CATFISH: This week has been tough on the cat fish guru. He said the wind was to tough to chase jugs. Over the weekend there was some fish caught on jugs using cut shad. Jugs set on the flats at about 9' seemed to work the best. The big thing is to have deep water close by.

Grand River Arm

Updated 04/02/05

Lake temp: 47 to 52 degrees depends on the sun shine

Report for Grand River Arm by Bucksaw Marina 

Crappie fishing is getting better every day the fish we are catching are in 10 ft of water or more fishing 7 to8 ft deep. Any dark colored jig is working. A 16oz jig is the best the slow fall will get you more bites. Stay in the creeks and keep on the move jump tree to tree not staying in one spot long. The fish that are coming in are good crappie the numbers will improve ever day with the water warming up.

Bass fishing is hit and miss right now. You can catch fish with a spinner bait in creeks. The key is to fish the shallow flat pocketsand keep on the move cover lots of water. Fish the north creeks and pockets. A grey or white spinnerbait in 1/4oz is the best. The fish that are being caught are up in 1 to 3ft of water.

Catfish We are seeing some being caught in the mouth of the creeks in the deeper water using cut bait. The water is stained and the temp is 47 to 52 degrees depends on the sun shine.   

Crappie No Report

Bluegill No Report

Catfish No Report

Note: On the waters of Wappapello Lake & its tributaries, all Walleye & Sauger must be returned to the water unharmed immediately after being caught. Anglers are encouraged to harvest bass under 11" (daily limit 6) to reduce the numbers of small bass in Wappapello lake.

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