Catfish are biting river worms and shrimp

Bluegill good on crickets waxworks and river worms

Crappie fair to poor on minnows

Bass fair top water early am

Fishing Report by:     Wilderness Trail      

TUESDAY NIGHT OPEN TOURNAMENTS

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I wish that we could say the fish are jumping in the boat but they are not. It has been a slow week with temperatures ranging from 90 during the day to mid-70’s at night. Lake temperature is 87.6 degrees this week, cooling down to 84 to 85 degrees at night. We had a little rain over the weekend, which might help the bite. Lake level this week is at 649.73, 4 ½ feet below normal pool and the thermocline is at 29 feet. 

White bass have moved out over the channels and are holding under schools of shad that have moved down into the thermocline. It is spooning time! Silver, white and silver/blue spoons are starting to trigger some nice Whites in the mornings under the shad. It is not a hot bite but it can be rewarding. 

Crappie have moved back out away from the brush piles and have relocated off points or over channels. Live crappie minnows are the best baits fished either on a slip bobber or a jig head down around the 30 feet level.

Largemouth bass remain slow during the day but the morning and night bite is okay. Largemouth are up on the banks at dawn and can be caught on buzzbaits, Pop R’s, Zara Spooks and Chug Bugs up until the sun is shines on the water. The night bite starts around points and drop offs and moves to brush piles and channel swings throughout the night. Texas trigged worms and jigs have been the best night baits. During the daylight hours fish Mojo rigged finesse worms or centipedes and a Carolina rig with lizards or brush hogs on drop offs with 30 to 40 feet of water. 

Smallmouth bass are now down in the thermocline where the shad have moved to in the last week. Spooning will trigger a few smallies that are feeding on shad but your best technique at this time is fishing a drop shot rig or swimming a grub or 4" worm. Best baits on the drop shot have been 4" finesse worm, tiny brush hog, beaver tail grub and bass size Swimming Minnow. 

Kentucky bass are on the same pattern as the smallies, only deeper. The smallies are under the shad at about 30 to 34 feet and the Kentuckys are down in the 50 foot range. Drop shot technique will also work on the Kentuckys although vertically spooning is the key. Bink’s spoons and Cotton Cordell spoons in the ¾ oz. size have been the best.

Walleye are acting strange; they are feeding from about 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.. They are inside and on top of the thermocline, which puts them in the 30 foot range. Leeches have been hot all week fished on a leech harness with bottom bouncers. Main lake pea rock banks and chunk rock banks are key holding areas. Long liners are catching a few out over the top of the standing forest throughout the lake. Lead core has been the technique with Reef Runners, Wally Divers, Glass Shad and Bill Norman’s DD14’s.

NIGHT TIME UPDATE: The bite has moved to the early morning hours from 2 a.m. until dawn. The baits are the same; worms, craws and jigs. Junebug, strawberry/gold and red shad colors in worms, brown/orange claw or green/orange claw colors on the craws and black/blue or Junebug colors in jigs. Points and bluff walls along with brush piles have been producing the majority of bass.

LAKE RATING: Crappie have moved deeper, bass are slow during the day and walleye are feeding up a storm. This week’s rating is fair for bass and crappie – good for walleye.

Fishing for trout on the White River continues to be good on Berkley Power Eggs in yellow and pink and Belgium red worms. With generation the Buoyant Spoons, Rooster Tails and Super Dupers are the bait of choice. The fly fishermen did well on olive Woolly Bugger, tungsten bead head midges, soft hackles, and scuds. The Brown trout are being caught on Suspending Rogues and nightcrawlers.

Remember to keep only what you can eat and release the rest for another day. Rick Culver of Wilderness Trail does the research for this report and the writing of this report.

Crappie is slow reason is no one is fishing much. 

Bass slow. Same reason 

Catfish have been doing good in the evening hours 3 to 6 lbs on worms and shad.

Catfish are biting river worms and shrimp

Bluegill good on crickets waxworks and river worms

Crappie fair to poor on minnows

Bass fair top water early am

Channel catfish FAIR

Largemouth bass FAIR

Bluegill sunfish FAIR

Redear sunfish FAIR

Crappie SLOW

Cottontail Lake will be closed for physical renovation for the next couple of years. The lake has refilled and the stocking of small fish will occur this summer. After they reach a harvestable size the lake will reopen for fishing.

Honker Pond will be closed through the end of August for some renovation work.

Lake of the Ozark water elevation is 658.01’. Truman Lake water elevation is 706.30’. Water temperature is 81 degrees Fahrenheit. Water discharge from Truman Dam is 550 CFS through the gates.

Bass (Largemouth): Great!

Shannon Harrison of Belton, MO and Dennis Dahlke of Bonner Springs KS cracked the code on Largemouth this weekend. I ran into the duo Saturday morning as they were headed out fishing and I told them to let me know if they had any luck. They shagged me out of the restaurant right around dinnertime to show off their catch. Apparently they both do real well in the local and regional bass tournaments and their live well full of fat bass proved their point. The first fist Shannon hoisted from the live well was a real nice 6 ½# (if not bigger) fish. He likes to use his fish finder to find the baitfish schools and then fish under the schools for best results. I took several pictures of their fish, which should be posted under the "pictures" link in a couple weeks. They said they fished the flats in 8’ of water and used worms, jigs and spinner baits. After our photo session they released all their fish unharmed. Well-done guys!

Catfish: Good.

Chad Wiseman from Slater, MO reports he had pretty good luck using limb lines this past week. He prefers to fish the deep water where the channel angles towards the shoreline and he uses live perch hooked through the tail. Chad uses a good stout nylon cord and sets his limb lines just before dark. He caught nothing but flatheads. He said fishing is slow during the heat of the day, find the cooler waters and you will find your best fishing. Father and daughter duet, Larry and Kelsey Hopkins had a good time cat fishing this weekend with Kelsey catching the biggest catfish on a night crawler. She had a nice 3# channel catfish she had caught for their dinner. Take a kid fishing and they will be hooked for life!

Crappie: Poor.

I couldn’t find anyone who had any luck fishing for crappie this weekend.

Remember a bad day fishing is better than a great day at work.

Date: 8/13/05
Lake Level : 601.5
Normal Lake Level : 606
Water Condition: Clear
Surface Water Temp: 85 - 88

Crappie fishing has been good. Lots of crappie are being caught, there's just not lots of size to them for the most part. The bigger crappie (9 - 11 inches) are out there, you need to keep on the move and find them. They've been caught anywhere from 12 - 20 feet deep around tree covered areas. Minnows or minnow tipped jigs.

Bass fishing continues to be good. The best bite has been in the main lake, and they've been suspended anywhere from 4 - 12 feet deep over 20 - 40 feet of water. Deep diving crank baits or spinnerbaits.

Cat Fishing has been good. It is still mostly channels on rod and reel, using nightcrawlers or cut shad. Trot line and jug fishermen have been catching channels using shad.

Crappie - the crappie lady caught 45 week on 7/30 and 25 on 8/6. She only uses minows.

Bass - fellow said they were jumping on the hook from 8 am to noon today 8/7, before and after they didn't catch a one.

Bass - No report

Walleye (Fair)-some are being caught by crappie anglers in the standing timber and moderately -deep brushpiles on minnows and minnow-imitating jigs. Trolling points with shad raps and hot-n-tots is producing also. Most are undersized -from 13-16", but fish up to 24" are being caught.

Crappie (Good) - Crappie are staging above the thermocline near brushpiles and standing timber. Fish with shiners during low-light conditions for best results.

Bluegill (Good) - Fish with nightcrawler pieces in the same areas where you are targeting crappie.

Catfish (Good) - Dip-bait, liver and gobs of nightcrawler in the shallows is producing for fish from 3 to 10 pounds.

Black bass fair on plastic baits early in the morning

White bass fair trolling on the flats using rooster tails

Crappie fair on minnows around trees and structures

Catfish fair on shad and worms

Bluegill fair on worms 8'-10' deep

Walleye/Muskie slow.

Catfish (good) on liver, worms, dip and cut bait. Try shady banks near timber during the day, better at night.

Bass (good) at dusk, fair at other times. At dusk, try Pop-Rs, Zara spooks, or buzz baits on the shoreline for fun top water action.

Crappie (good) try above the thermocline from 4-12' down. try minnows or tube jigs under a bobber around timber

CRAPPIE: Good: The crappie have moved into their summer patterns. Fish the brush piles and tree lines in the deeper water. The fish are in 18' to 24' of water approx. 10' feet deep. This pattern should hold true for the rest of the summer. Minnows or jigs

BASS: Poor: The bass are playing hide and seek with the fisherman and most of the time don't get found. Some nice fish are being caught occasionally but not consistently. Worms, jigs, brush hogs seem to catch the majority of the fish. 8' or less of water seems to be the areas to concentrate on.

CATFISH: FAIR: The catfish are feeding up. The crappie fishermen are catching some nice ones in the deeper water on minnows so try the 20' of water areas with your favorite bait. A variety of baits is working.

White Bass: Good: The rest of the summer should continue to produce nice stringers of whites. Fish main lake points early and late by throwing small crankbaits in the 2' to 8' water depths. Watch for surfacing schools. During the day troll to find the schools which are roaming following the shad. The size of most of the fish is excellent.

WALLEYE: Poor: The wallies have sort of vanished for the time being. They are either buried in the grass of laying in deep water either making them difficult to get to. Use crankbaits or a jig and leech or crawler.

No Report

GENERAL COMMENTS

Water still off until 11:00 a.m. earliest, 1:00-2:00 p.m. latest. Fished pretty good today.

Water Conditions: Water off in the mornings most days. Yesterday they turned on one generator about 7:00 a.m.; increased it at 8:00 a.m. and ran 4 generators most of the day. Today one generator about 10:00 up to three by noon. Still running 3-4 generators until 8:00 or 11:00 p.m.

FLY FISHING TROPHY AREA (dam to Fall Creek)-SHALLOW WATER-WADING-

Trips out every day and we got to fish over the weekend with friends. Did very well this weekend. Caught a 20 inch plus Brown in full color with hooked botton jaw followed by a couple of Rainbows just about as big and also in good color. Had a father and two sons, 10 and 14, out today. Lots of missed fish and lots of landed fish. Water came on early so we didn't get to wade too long. Caught them on a new little tan scud we are working on, the tan flashback scud, and with three generators, caught them on the red tungsten beadhead midge. Fish over the weekend were mainly on the new little tan scud (still in trial stage-not in shop yet) tan flashback scud and red San Juan on the water rise. Did catch lots of fish Saturday on the olive size 18 zebra midge. This worked especially well below the boat ramp casting toward the boat ramp side.

STAN'S TIP: Hard to believe while you are standing in 40 degree plus water that you can get hot and dehydrated! Drink lots of water while you are out fishing in this weather. Wear a good hat to protect your face, ears, and neck. Lots of sun lotion. and don't forget to protect you eyes with sunglasses. Both from the UV rays as well as flying hooks. But most of all....LOTS OF WATER ! !

The weather is still hot and we haven't had any rain but the fishing is starting to heat up. I heard of one tournament last weekend that had a 22lb. stringer of bass weighed in on Sunday. Then last night in the hawg fights we had a 15lb. string and that was in 3 hours, with three more stringers over 10lbs. No matter how you look at it that is some good fishing. The lake is just about normal pool and the water clarity is good so lets look for a lot of good fishing to come.

BASS: The suspended bite is really going good now. Last night in the Hawg Fights Doug and Ozzie Wallace brought in the winning stringer of 15 lbs.even. Second went to Howard Love with 14.39 lbs. and he also had big bass at 6.02 lbs. 3 rd. went to Marty Watson and Randy Lutjen with 12.72 lbs. Fourth went to Ernie Cox and Russell Beck with 10.33 lbs. Most of the fish came on big worms in 10' to 25' of water and were suspended 6' to 8' down. Tree rows that run next to a channel are the top picks right now. Also tree rows that come off a point are are holding fish. As far as color I am hearing watermelon red and red shad.

CRAPPIE: The crappie are working a couple of different patters now. Guide Steve Blake brought in some real nice fish this week which were caught off tree rows in 10' of water on minnows fished 8' down. Have had several reports of fish coming off the bluffs out of 30' of water fished 20' down on minnows. The big thing is to find trees that are a couple of feet under the surface that most folks go by. Cedars are producing better than hardwoods.

WHITES & HYBRIDS: The COE hasn't been running much water this week so the white and hybrid fishing has been kind of hit or miss. The fish are surfacing in the evening but you have to be at the right place at the right time. Concentrate on the areas where the fish hang out most of the time and you will probably have fish coming up. KK Island and G 7 are two good areas to look.

CATFISH: Jugs are the best right now. Main lake flats in 20' of water with stages set about 15' are producing some cats. Cut shad is the best bait.

Just a reminder that we will be having the Sterett Creek Open Buddy Bass Tourn. on Saturday Sept. 17. Everybody is welcome. For info you can contact the marina at, Sterett Creek Marina

That's it for this week from Sterett Creek Marina

Lots of smaller fish being caught on flats 5-15 ft of water cut shad working best

Crappie are still being caught on the flats in 14 ft of water or more. Minnows are the bait of choice. Fish down 11 to 13 tithe best area is bucksaw to longshoal.Look for isolated trees or fencerows.

Bass are hard to find ,the ones we are seeing are being caught on buzz baits and crankbaits on shallow points. Point hop is the best approach. As the sun comes up fish out deeper using 11 in red shad worms.

Catfish are being caught on jugs using cut bait. The best water dept is 10 ft fishing down 5 ft. Fish the flats.

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