Missouri Lakes Fishing Report by Steve Wilson

Lake - Lake of The Ozarks 04/12/06:

The full moon and 60 degree water temps have sent a major wave of spawners to the banks at Lake of the Ozarks. They were on the beds last week up the river. I seen cruising fish and beds developing through the week on the mid lake. Now they are starting to lock down on the beds.

Lake level: 654.19 Minimum generation is scheduled for the next few days. This should keep lake levels at 654.2 Truman lake level: 706.99

Water temps Mid 50's to lower 60's.

Dam and Gravois areas: Clear. Your best bet for a good pre spawn bite. The creeks of the lower end are a little cooler than the rest of the lake. The last few secondary points towards the backs of the creeks are holding staging fish. Jerkbaits, finesse jigs and carolina rigs are working. Shad colored jerkbaits and watermelon and PBJ colored jigs and Lizards.

On up the Gravois and in the back of some of the larger creeks in the Glaize there is some colored water where you can catch fish on a spinnerbait and wiggle wart. Watch the water temps. Once you hit 60 degrees the spawners will start showing up. Switch to the lizard and tube and pick colors based on water color.

As for as lizards go it is hard to beat Zoom 6" and they are many tubes out there. Have some common sense when you pick your baits. Those really fat tubes are hard to hook fish with. And I have 0 in my tackle box. I like a medium tubes like Crock-O-Gator’s. They have a huge selection at the MAO E-Store. Use a good, strong wide gap hook. 3/0-4/0 and 15#-20# line.

Glaize: Clear with some stained water in the very back by PB 1. There is spawning activity in this area also. But every fish can’t spawn all at once in this area of the lake. So the secondary points are stacked with staging fish just waiting for the tournament anglers to catch the spawners for they can use their nests.

The carolina rig rules on the secondary points even though some guys are still catching a few jerkbait fish. You can put a lot of different plastics on the end of a leader. So experiment some. Keep to the color basics in the Ozarks. Browns and greens with some Black and blue.

Try to find something different that these bass haven’t seen and you will be better off. There is also some topwater action starting. It don’t have anything to do with mourning or evening. It is a shad thing. If you see some fish busting large shad. You can catch them on topwater walking baits.

Nianguas: Clear with some stained in the upper portions of both rivers. The water is warmer here. They have been doing their spawning thing for a good week up here. This area of the lake is about two weeks ahead of the mid to lower lake and a week ahead of the Osage.

Besides fishing for fish on their beds. The carolina rig on the secondaries and topwaters worked on the steeper points have been producing good fish. Another good way to catch some good ones in this area is to blind cast to spawners on the pea gravel in the dirtier water up the rivers. Use lizards and tubes on Texas rigs in blk/neon and blk/blue.

Osage river: Clear in the mid lake region starts to dirty up past the 50 mile mark. The Osage offers a lot of different water colors from clear around Tan Tara to 39 mile mark to stained to 50 mile to dirty past there. The fish are spawning the whole way through the river. So you better be able to adjust to this. A lot of the fish are gone from the deep banks and are setting up in sloping pockets.

There is some good pre spawn fish on the pea gravel secondaries in the creeks though. These are females waiting to drop there eggs. They can be caught on carolina rigged lizards. The males are in the backs of the pockets and can be caught on Texas rigged lizards.

The males are mostly 2-3#’s. The females on the secondaries are bigger. But you get less bites fishing that way. It is the best way to 20#’s though. The males in the pockets are fun. But it is hard to catch more than a 3-3 ½ # average off of them. Remember that the dirtier the water means you can’t fish too shallow for spawning fish.

Thanks and Good Luck!

Note: Between Osage Beach Bait & Tackle (Located near Town and Country Motel-PB 2 area) and District 78 Tackle Shop (Located in Standing Rock Hollow 32 mile marker of the Osage by water-Red Oak Resort by Land.) You should have all your tackle needs taken care of at Lake of the Ozarks. They both carry premium tackle. The good stuff!

So check your calendars, reserve a date and Lets Go Fishing!!!!!!!! To inquire about or book a trip email me at BassFactory@Netzero.Net or call 314-406-3913

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