Missouri Lakes Fishing Report by Steve Wilson

Lake - Lake of The Ozarks 09/13/06:

Water temps are dropping and the fishing is really improving at Lake of the Ozarks.

Lake level: 657.99 with minimum generation scheduled for the next few days. This should hold the lake steady at 658.0 Truman lake: 704.82

Water temps range from the high 70's to low 80's

Dam and Gravois areas: Clear. There is still a good structure bite at 18'-30'. 5/8 and 3/4 Football jigs in PBJ and watermelon. Also 10" Power Worms in motor oil and blue flk fished through brush on points and humps. Deep cranks are also taking fish at 12'-16'. DD 22's in lavender shad and Specialty Tackle’s deep diver in Blk/shad.( Check it out at the MAO E-Store) Crash these baits into brush and stop them to get a reaction strike. Look for brush besides docks near main points. On cloudy days it is hard to beat a topwater fished in the same areas. Up the Gravois there are a few fish starting to follow the baitfish. They can be caught around shallow docks with spinnerbaits, crankbaits and jigs.

Glaize: Clear with some color in the water above Bucks Marina. The best fishing in this area is within a couple miles of PB2. There has been so much stockpiling of tournament release fish that there are fish constantly jockeying for position on the deep brush to get that meal that provides them the nutrition they need to leave there. It is amazing how the bite dies off as you go up the Glaize (Not as many release fish) It seems the majority of the fish take a left as they leave PB 2 and head out to deep water. The patterns used on the lower end work well here as do different presentation such as drop-shotting. These fish are deeper than they have been in past years. Football jigs off points has been the best way to take quality bites. The Jewel ½ and 5/8 football jigs are hard to beat. They are available at Osage beach Bait and Tackle. There are also some keepers behind docks in this area. They are biting on jigs and tubes. But are running much smaller than the structure fish.

Nianguas: Clear with stained water in the upper reaches. There is plenty of bait in the Nianguas but the fishing is a lot tougher than last year. I think it is the lower water level. This has pulled a lot of the shallow fish out on points and deeper docks. They can be taken on 10" Power Worms fished Texas style, football jigs and deep cranks. There is usually more than one once you do get bit like this. The 12'-16' range has been where the bigger fish have been coming from. As far as shallow fish go. There is always shallow fish. But the lack of cover due to the lake being 2' low has made them few and far between. You need to cover a lot of water with a spinnerbait or crankbait to get it in front of one. On sunny calm days there are some fish relating to shallow docks on flats. Jigs and tubes work best on them.

Osage River: Clear around Hwy 5 bridge, stained from 45-60 mile markers and dirty from 65-85 then it clears up again around Truman Dam. The water being done has this area fishing differently than the past also. I have been doing the best when I forget about all the history I have on this river and fishing it like I never been there before. It used to be that you never fished under 5' in the river. Now you can pull out the deep cranks and catch them off points in 12'-16' of water. This is very effective up here to. They don’t see a lot of deep cranks or any lures that deep up in the river. You have to hit a lot of points before you find some good ones. But the fish are good size when you get on a school of them. Keep it simple: deep crank, football jig and Texas rigged 10" Power Worm with a 5/16 to 3/8 bullet weight. The shallow fish are the same as in the Niangua. You have to cover a lot of water to get them. Cranks and spinnerbaits on the shallow docks. On clear days Rattleback Jigs and Plastics pitched behind docks is producing shallow keepers. They still aren’t as big as the structure fish. But for me at least, I would much rather catch them knee deep in the mud then out there on structure.

Thanks and Good Luck!

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