Missouri Lakes Fishing Report by Steve Wilson

Lake - Lake of The Ozarks 03/19/08:

The lake is on the rise with muddy conditions throughout most of the lake. Flooding conditions in the area have made some changes.

Lake level: 658.74 and going up. Heavy generation is predicted for the next few days as Bagnell Dam tries to keep up with the water coming in. But the lake level hasn’t peaked yet. It looks like by the weekend we might see water levels around 660. Truman lake level: 711.4.

Water temps: low 40's to low 50's.

Ok. You can pretty much take everything you had figured out the last couple weeks and throw it out. We are going to see another 2' jump in lake level from last weekend.

I know it took me till Friday afternoon to really figure out what these fish were doing. Usually at this time of the year we are seeing lake levels from 653-655. That is why our winter fishing is so good here. Low clear to stained water.

This year with a little more water in the lake. It is like taking a large amount of fish and putting them in a small area. At 660 you have that same amount of fish in a larger almost 100 mile long area.

There still there just spread out. This will be good for fishing in the long run when the water warms up into the 50's. But later this week will be interesting. Anglers will really have to adapt to the change. Below is some patterns that were working last weekend and areas of the lake.

Dam area and Gravois: The clearest water you are going to find is going to be in the mouth of the Gravois up to around Cedar creek. The Gravois lies to the North and should get the lest amount of run off. Last weekend it was clear with stained water in creeks up the Gravois.

Water temps in this area were running 41-48 degrees. Jerkbaits, jigs and wiggle warts were all producing in this part of the lake. Because the lake is up and the fish are spread out it is hard to put together limits.

But these lures are catching keepers on secondary points and creek channel banks. A key to getting bites last week was to fish painfully slow. Even though these fish are spread out. The water is still really cold. They don’t bite it unless it hits them right in the nose.

Toll Bridge to the Glaize: Last weekend the water in this part of the lake was very fishable. A little cooler than the rest of the lake. Water temps from 40-44 degrees. But fishable. Jerkbaits on mainlake points was the best way to go here.

Pointer 100's and MegaBass 110's. After this flood the run off should make this area pretty dirty. The Glaize can get muddy in a hurry. The upper end of it lays south and the majority of the rain ended up around Hwy44.

Nianguas: Right now they are muddy. The rivers were fishing good before all the rain. Warmer water had been pulled throughout the Nianguas by the current from Bagnell Dam.

Temps from 45-low 50's. Same three lures. Jerkbaits, jigs and wiggle warts. Fish were spread out between points, channel banks and pea gravel banks. The flooding will do a number on this area.

The Little Niangua will become completely unfishable and smaller portions of the Big Niangua will have fishable conditions maybe.

Osage River: Very Muddy strong current in upper sections. The Osage was turning on last week also. Jigs and wiggle warts were working best there. Water temps from 42-48 degrees.

But after these rains it has become very muddy. It will take a few days for it to settle down just to see if fishable conditions exists. That has a lot to do with water temps after all this rain. It seemed like a pretty cold rain. I am hoping it warmed up the lake a little.

Thanks and Good Luck!

Note: Justin Angel. A Bassfactory Instructional Fishing Trips customer I had on Thursday learned how painfully slow jig fishing can help you get a few bites in tough conditions.

He used his knowledge to secure a second place finish at the TBF tournament over the weekend. Way-to-go Justin!

If you have any questions about fishing patterns/lures or would like to book a trip at Bassfactory Instructional Fishing Trips send me an email at Bassfactory@Charter.net

Click here to email Steve Wilson and schedule your fully guided dream trip today.