Missouri Lakes Fishing Report by Steve Wilson

Lake - Lake of The Ozarks 07/26/06:

The fishing has been a little tougher at the Lake. The boat traffic can keep you off the good structure during the weekend even at night. But during the week when there isn’t as much traffic we are starting to notice a decline in the fishing. This signals that it is time to change tactics!

Lake level: 658.80 with minimum generation scheduled for the next few days. Predicted lake levels of 658.7 for the next few days. Truman lake level: 705.55

Water temps: The main channel is running in the mid 80's. And the creeks up the rivers upper 80's.

Dam and Gravois areas: Clear with some stained in the back of the Gravois. Patterns have remained the same. Just the bites are harder to come by. The majority of the bass are either deep on structure relating to brush piles or suspended under deeper docks. The big fish (the ones on the deep structure) are biting both day and better at night on the same locations. Look for cover (brush) on points, humps in 12'-25' deep. During the day ½ -3/4 football jigs in PBJ and Watermelon and 10" Power worms in Watermelon and Blue/Flk. Texas or carolina rigged depending on how vertical you are fishing. There is also some fish being caught on the DD 22 above brush in 12'-16'. They have a good selection of deep cranks at the MAO-Store. Crash the DD22 into the brush on 12# Seaguar. Pause then crash it into it again. This is a great way to provoke reaction strikes out of structure fish. Use a 7' plus rod for this big lure. I like the Team Daiwa TL-76T-FB with a Advantage 5.1 gear ratio reel. This rod/reel combo can handle the vibration of the big plug and absorb it for you don’t have to. It also picks up line in a hurry.

Glaize: Clear with the upper Glaize stained. You can still catch fish on the brush piles on points with the same techniques as on the lower end. But even during the week the boat traffic is bad. So get them early of structure and head to the back of the Glaize for some good shallow water fishing. Up the Glaize around PB 1 the water gets some color to it. You will also start to pick up the bait fish in this area. It is a lot quieter here and fishing can be very good at times. The key is to go as far as you can up the Glaize. Fish can be caught topwaters, spinnerbaits and crankbaits on the horizontal wood on the channel banks and flats. A 10" Power worms or Brush Hog is also productive around that wood.

Nianguas: Clear with some stained in the upper portions of both rivers. At the mouth of the Nianguas near the Hwy 5 Bridge the few points near the channel with brush are holding structure fish. Football jigs, Texas rigged worms and DD 22's have been taking the better structure fish. The brush around boat docks dominates the night bite. Blk 10" Power Worms and ½ RattleBack Jigs. During the day bass can be caught many different ways. Jigs and plastics around the docks are a great way to catch the better fish. There are also some relating to the horizontal wood on flats. Buzzbaits, spinnerbait and cranks catch them. The shad haven’t grown up as fast as last year so use smaller lures to "match the hatch"

Osage river: Stained to about 40 mile marker then it starts to color up and dirty past the 60 mile marker. Some of the structure patterns hold true in the 30-60 mile range of the Osage. The fish get shallower on the points as you go up lake. The bigger fish have been holding on the deeper docks on the creek channel banks. Falling lake has been doing this. Pulling fish off the flats and putting them on channels. The docks with brush are the best. 3/8 RattleBack jigs in Blk/Blue and Brush Hogs pitched to the brush around the docks have been producing the biggest fish. 10" Power worms fished a little deeper also are productive.

Thanks and Good Luck!

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