Missouri Lakes Fishing Report

Lake - Lake of The Ozarks 06/24/05:

Night fishing is hot at Lake of the Ozarks! With the extreme heat and full moon we had this week the night fishing is peaking.

Lake level: 659.7 Both Dams have been generating plenty of water with the demand for electricity to operate the air conditioners under these high temperatures. Truman Lake level: 709.5 They will be letting water flow through and holding the lake steady at 659.7

Garmin surface temps: 79 in the mourning. Warming to 87-89 in the afternoon.

Dam and Gravois areas: Clear with a slight stain to the main lake. The Generation effects the main Osage by coloring it up a little. The current and water color helps the structure bite. The clearer the water the deeper the structure. In the clearest areas. Bass are holding on structure from
16'-25'. Ledges on points have been best. Fish around these points till brush is located. Fish Carolina rigged and Texas rigged plastic worms. Worm from 8" to 10" have been best. Natural green colors during the day. Dark colors during the night. Deep crankbaits in shad colors are also good. With the current and slight stain in the mian lake. Some fish have been shallow on steep main lake points. These fish can be caught on topwaters early and late in the day.

Grand Glaize to Linn Creek: Clear to Stained. The dirty water from the Osage river is mixing around the Linn creek area. Deep structure and night fishing are the way to go in this area also. The structure depth varies from the clear water around Grand Glaize bridge where 14' to 18' is best to Tan Tara area, which has plenty of color and the fish are holding much shallower
4' to 12' and some are suspending under the foam of docks. The shallower ledges open up a wider variety of lures to use. The same plastic worm presentations that work in the Dam area are effective here. Mix in jigs and medium diving crankbaits to get reaction strikes. The fish seem to really be moving around on the structure with the lake level. This week when it was rising they moved up shallower and now that it has stabilize I expect them to bunch up on the brush on the points. Remeber in this area a Blk single spin spinnerbait can be great at night fished on them shallower ledges.

Nianguas: Clear. This area has been suffering from lack of water. It hasn't rained in forever. The mouth of the Niangua where it meets the Osage has the first clear water near the Dirty water the Osage is running through the lake. This is a great place to throw a topwater during the mourning and evening. During the day fish have been suspending uder the foam of the deeper docks. About 2' down. They will bite on small 1/4 Rattleback jigs in shad colors and tubes. Lots of spots. At night fish around the deeper docks with brush. Use a texas rigged 10" Blk/Blue Power Worm. There is a couple of long points with in the first couple of miles of the Niangua that hold some fish. Carolina rigged brush hogs in watermelon seed have been good.

Osage river: Dirty to Muddy. The Osage has dirtied up do to all the generation. This doesn't kill the bite. It just limits the places where you can find biting fish. Going up river you will notice the muddy water. Turn into a creek and you will notice the water start to mix. The clearer water is at the back of the creek. The dirty water is coming from the geration not run-off. Fish Hawg Caller 3/8 spinnerbaits in white and white/chart around the horizontal wood. Square billed crankbaits work to. They should bite blk/neon tube in the same places but yesturday I could only get bites on reaction lures. Around the deeper docks in the middle of the creek fish
3/8 Rattleback jigs in Blk/Blue around the brush. In the mourning yesturday I caught two on a Blk Lunker Lure Buzzbait with gold blade. The buzzbait fish were relating to the grass and biting within a few feet of it.

Thanks and Good Luck!