Missouri Lakes Fishing Report by Steve Wilson

Lake - Lake of The Ozarks 11/01/06:

The fishing is pretty tough on Lake of the Ozarks right now. They are moving from rocks to docks to brush. They also are anywhere from 6" to 35' deep. Thank God that October is over!

Lake level: 657.17 with minimum generation scheduled for the next few days. This should hold the lake steady at 657.15 Truman lake: 704.36

Water temps range from 50 to 61 degrees.

Dam and Gravois areas: Clear with a little color in the water up the Gravois. The dominate pattern right now is football jigs fished against the bluff banks down to 35' deep. This will be good this weekend since it has been cold the last few days. Brush isn’t important. This is a rock pattern. Focus on bluff end points and rock slides in the middle of the bluff. Fish can be caught 2' deep to 35' deep. That’s the reason for the heavy jig. You can cover more water and it is basically a reaction bite. The first few miles of the Gravois to Bagnell Dam then back up towards the toll bridge has been best. The shallow fish up the Gravois have been hit and miss. Hopefully the cold will put them back into the feeding mood. I know that I fished to noon Sat without a bass of any size biting anything. And ended up catching two keepers off a deep bluff. Between the two of us we had around 5 bites. That is the toughest day I have had on this lake ever! I have found that warm weather in the fall is the worst.

Glaize: Clear with some color in the upper reaches. The bluff ledge football jig works good here also. And is the dominate pattern. But don’t forget the DD 22 on the points with brush. This is a great way to catch a big string. The thing is... They either are biting it are not. Fish it on the points or around deep docks with brush for an hour and you can tell if it is going to work or not. The shallow fish around here are hit and miss also. They are very weather dependant. They will bite things such as topwaters in the right conditions. Or be behind the shallow docks biting jigs if it gets tough.

Nianguas: Clear with stained water in the upper reaches. Hopefully the Nianguas are starting to fish a little better. For a while there the upper reaches of both rivers where adjusting to the falling water temps. And they will still have there ups and downs till it stabilizes. The mouths of the Nianguas have been producing some DD 22 fish. The main river points at the beginning of both rivers are good. 12'-16' is the best range to work those big lures. Around the same area fish can be caught by swimming a white jig along the deeper docks. There is no law that says you have to use a white jig! Most fishermen seem to think there is. I like Blk/Blue or Green Pumpkin colors for my swim jigs. But I do use white sometimes. So experiment. I find the darker colors are better whenever your swimming the jig around shallow docks and want to touch the bottom once in a while.

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 river has been going through some adjustments also. Some parts of it have been turning over. Lately fishing has been really tough up here. But that is getting ready to change. I don’t know about his weekend. But the Osage is getting ready to come out of her funk. You can tell it is bad if you see me fishing the lower end. Because I am pretty much married to the Osage and I date the Nianguas on the side. The best way to fish the river is to look for the creeks with shad. Fish the docks, any horizontal wood or brush and rocks to determine which form of cover the fish are using on a particular day. And it can change daily. Spinnerbaits, cranks and jigs do the whole job up here so keep it simple. Pick colors based on water color. The fish are not picky in the fall. It is just a matter of covering a lot of water and getting it in front of one.

Thanks and Good Luck!

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