Missouri Lakes Fishing Report by Steve Wilson

Lake - Lake of The Ozarks 04/05/07:

Big cold front has sank into the Ozarks! This is should ruin fishing. Right? It seems to have made it better. It kept those big females staging in their pre spawn locations. It was looking like the majority of them were going to drop their eggs during the full moon April 2nd . So now with the help of Mother Natures’ cold front we will be able to enjoy big stringers for a few more weeks.

Lake Level: 656.32 with heavy generation today then medium to light generation over the weekend. Lake levels of 656.1, 655.9 and 656.1 are predicted over the next few days.

Water temps: 52-63 degrees. Some of the areas (shallows) that had temps in the high 60's dropped over ten degrees due to this cold front.

Dam and Gravois area: Clear to stained in the upper portions. The lake had really opened up and was fishing good throughout. But right now we are seeing everything in reverse because of the cold front. So your areas that were strong a few weeks ago before the warm weather will be strong now. And if you been keeping track of what is happening at Lake of the Ozarks you know that they have been hitting a jigs, jerkbaits and wiggle warts in the lower end. Secondary points and creek channel bank transitions (chunk rock to pea gravel) is were the fish are located. The jerkbait works great on the secondary points. The wart is good on the channel bank transitions. And if there is docks all over the creek channel bank fish a jig around those docks.

Glaize: Clear with really dirty water in the back. The best fishing has been in the clear water. It is has maintained water temps better. Thanks to this cold front you can still catch fish on jerkbaits around the main and secondary points. In the creeks carolina rigs, wiggle warts, jigs and chompers grubs fished on the transition banks works well. The fish seem a little deeper in this part of the lake. I think it is the amount of boats they see over their heads. They even spawn deeper here. It is interesting how they adjust to fishermen. Try backing off a little deeper in this section of the lake next time you fish it.

Nianguas: Clear to stained to dirty in some areas. Hopefully the cold front will put more bass back into the pre spawn transition areas. The water was getting way too warm here. Before the cold front it was ranging 57-upper 60's. The males were making beds and setting up shop all over the pea gravel. The females were staging in deep water near pea gravel and bites were getting tougher to come by. Now these females might of dropped their eggs during the full moon. They were in that stage and it was sure warm enough. Hopefully not. Hopefully they went back to those pre spawn transition banks(chunk rock to pea gravel) and are feeding on shad and crawfish. Wiggle warts are a great bait to cover these transition banks. Colors 37,38 and 60 work great a this lake. The jig always catches fish on these creek channel banks and spinnerbaits can be really productive with a little wind or cloud cover.

Osage River: Clear to stained and dirty in some areas: The Osage had some areas that were just too warm before the cold front also. The creeks in the upper portion were warm enough that all you could catch was males on the pea gravel. The lower Osage has been better. The water has been running 5-10 degrees cooler and is clearer. This cold front is changing some of that though. It is holding some of the females in deeper water along points and transition banks were they can be caught on wiggle warts, carolina rigs, jigs and spinnerbaits. Pick colors based on water color. Natural colors in the clear water and bright colors like blk/blue in the dirty water.

Thanks and Good luck!

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