Missouri Lakes Fishing Report by Steve Wilson

Lake - Lake of The Ozarks 08/23/06:

It finally rained at Lake of the Ozarks. Though not much and most was absorbed quickly into the ground. This little rain really helped the fishing. Could we please have some more!

Lake level: 658.0 with minimum generation scheduled for the next few days. This should slowly drop the lake to 657.98 and 657.96 the next couple of days. But it sure looks like it’s more than two feet low judging by my cove. Truman lake level: 704.77

Water temps: The main channel is running 85-87 degrees. And the creeks up the rivers 85-89 degrees.

Dam and Gravois areas: Clear with some stained in the back of the Gravois. Night and early in the mourning is best for the structure bite. The majority of the bass are either deep on structure relating to brush piles. The structure fish have been the most reliable with the falling lake level. Look for cover (brush) on points, humps in 15'-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. 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. Check out the Specialty Tackle Deep Crank. The rain brought some color to the back of the Gravois. The fishing is starting to get good on the shallow docks in this area. Look for shad schools on the flats and fish shallow docks and horizontal wood with spinnerbaits and crankabaits. This patterns better later in the day.

Glaize: Clear with the upper Glaize stained. Fish are still biting in the brush on structure. And topwaters off points on cloudy days. The first couple of miles of the Glaize holds a lot of fish that are traveling away from PB 2 on their way out of the Glaize toward the Osage. This is a good area to practice structure fishing and use the DD 22 pattern. The structure fish are deep from 18' to as deep as 25' and can be caught on the same baits as mentioned in the Dam area. Do these fish a favor and release them as far as you can get from the Glaize. It is up to us fishermen to protect the fish. Stockpiling leads to disease! Up the Glaize fish can be caught on the horizontal wood on flats. But they are running very small. And it is hard to catch keepers up there. Crankbaits and spinnerbaits will catch them fish.

Nianguas: Clear with some stained in the upper portions of both rivers. The Nianguas weren’t effected much by the rain. I thought it would bring more color to the water. The ground soaked it up. The fishing in this area remains about the same. The medium depth to deeper structure is the best bet. Docks with brushpiles in 8'-15' have been producing quality fish. 10" Power Worms in Blue/Flk and Plum have been the way to go. Points and deep structure around the mouth of the Nianguas also is good. Football jigs, carolina rigs and DD 22's fished around brushpiles at 16'-25' is producing. On cloudy days, spooks on steep points can save the day!

Osage river: Stained to about 40 mile marker then it starts to color up and dirty past the 60 mile marker. The river wasn’t effected any by the rain. So the water color hasn’t changed much and the patterns have remained the same. The fishing continues to be good from the main river to about halfway into the creeks. Docks and ledges have been holding the better fish. The dock fish have been relating to brush. 10" Power Worms and Rattleback jigs are taking the better fish. Blk/ Blues and Blk/Neon colors are working good. On the ledges the best baits are medium diving crankbaits, ½ football jigs, Texas rigs and carolina rigs. These ledges are shallower as you go up river. Start off with natural colors at the mouth of the Osage and use darker colors as you head up river.

Thanks and Good Luck!

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