Catfish good at night using goldfish, extra large minnows and skip jack                

Bluegill No Report

Crappie early morning on wax worms

Bass No Report

Fishing Report by:     Wilderness Trail     

We are on the downside of summer and a hot one it has been, but changes are on the way. This next week is supposed to be in the 80’s with 60’s at night; that will be a nice change. Lake temperature dropped a degree or two this week mostly because of the pop up storms that we have had. The main lake temperature is at 84.6 and the creeks are between 85 and 86 degrees with the thermo cline from 30 to 38 feet. The generation was high again this week and the pool level dropped to 650.77, 3 1/2 feet below normal. Hopefully the rains will keep us within 6 feet of normal pool, which will help the fall bite. 

Big crappie were active this week about 36 feet deep in front of deep brush piles and along the bluff walls suspended on pole trees. Crappie minnows hooked through the tail (so they can swim) were very effective early in the week and crappie grubs and tubes worked better over the weekend.

Largemouth bass can still taken top water in the mornings, but the strikes are coming not at the back of the creeks but in the cuts and pockets halfway back into the creeks, secondary points are the best. Fish brush piles during the daylight hours with Texas rigged worms and brush hogs. 

Smallmouth bass are the same as they have been for the last month; scattered and deep. Stay in 40 feet of water and jump around from point to point that have some ledges and chunk rock. Fish hula grubs, Spider jigs and shaker heads with finesse worms. 

Kentucky bass have moved with the shad that are relocating in the middle of the coves and inlets in the creeks. They are holding at 40 to 50 feet and can be caught on spoons and drop shots; the morning bite is the best.

Walleye continue to be the one game fish that can be caught day in and day out. They are holding in a zone between 32 and 40 feet and no matter whether they are on the bottom or suspended with a little graphing you can find them. The walleye that are on the bottom can be triggered with Binks spoons any time of the day. The suspended walleye are being caught using lead core line pulling Hot’N Tots, Rip Shads, Jointed Shad Raps and Wally Divers at .9 to 2 mph. Purple or red colors are the best and stay with small baits.

NIGHT TIME: The bite remains on the slow side with most of the fish coming on top water before dark. Brush piles have been the key after sundown. 8 to 10 inch worms work through the brush better than jigs and largemouth and Smallmouth will bite them. Night fishing safety tip – when you are running at night have your lights on. I have noticed a lot of boats running without lights. Night sounds are very deceiving. If you don’t have your lights on, other boaters cannot tell where you are or where you are headed.

Fishing for trout on the White River has been good. With light generation Berkley Power Eggs in yellow, chartreuse and Sunrise have worked well along with Berkley Power Wigglers in pink. With generation the Buoyant Spoons, Rapala Countdowns or small Shad Raps. are the baits of choice. The fly fishermen have done well with little generation on Olive Woolly Buggers, San Juan worms and scuds or sow bugs The Brown trout are being caught on Count Downs, Deep Rogue Jrs., and night crawlers.

Remember to keep only what you can eat and release the rest for another day. Rick Culver of Wilderness Trail does the research for this report and the writing of this report.

Our lake is closed only during duck season now.

Which means it will open around the first of January each year and close around the end of November. 

Anyway check when you get your lake permit. Also our permits have been lowered. 

Crappie No report 

Bass No report 

Catfish good at night using goldfish, extra large minnows and skip jack                

Bluegill No Report

Crappie early morning on wax worms

Bass No Report

Channel catfish FAIR

Largemouth bass FAIR

Bluegill sunfish FAIR

Redear sunfish FAIR

Crappie SLOW

Cottontail Lake will be closed for physical renovation for the next couple of years. The lake has refilled and has been stocked with small fish. After they reach a harvestable size the lake will reopen for fishing.

Lake of the Ozark water elevation is 656.96’. 
Truman lake water elevation is 704.76’. LOZ water temperature is 81.7 degrees Fahrenheit. 
Water discharge from Truman Dam is 250 CFS through the turbines.

Crappie: Slow: I am hearing mixed reports from Crappie fishermen. Morning and evening hours while the sun is entangled within the tree line are producing a few scattered fish. Minnows and jigs in shallow water at cove entrances and deep water along the bluffs are best.

Walleye: No Report

White Bass No report

Remember a bad day fishing is better than a great day at work.

Report By: Anthony Ford: Catfish & Spoonbill Guide 

Updated: 08/19/06

fishing is very good on the Ozarks most fish in the 2-8lbs most caught on cut bait in 15-25foot of water

Date: 8/26/06
Lake Level : 602.4
Normal Lake Level : 606
Water Condition: Clear
Surface Water Temp: 80 - 83

Crappie have been good. Holding 15 - 18 foot deep, over 20 - 25 feet of water. On the outside edges of trees, Minnows, jigs (yellow/chart).

Cat fishing has been good. The better reports have come from rod and reel fishermen, using night crawlers or shad. The cat fishing should continue to be good, with the 1-1/4 inch of rain that we got last night.

The White Bass fishing has been good. Using rooster tails, shad raps or silver spoons. Concentrate on areas of the lake where there are underwater humps, or long shallow points.

Hello from main St. Bilby ranch lake

Crappie good on the small side

Catfish good

Nodaway lake 

Bass fair catfish good a few walleye

Mozingo 

Bass good catfish good walleye fair

102 river catfish good

Nodaway river catfish good on fly rods and shrimp

Thanks
Big bird

The boat pass price changed to $5.00 day pass and $35 for the year also

Fishing is still slow on Pomme, few white bass hitting the surface. Water temp is 85 degrees.

The upcoming "cool" weather, in the upper 80's might bring it down a little. Bass are deep along with crappie. Nobody fishing for muskies, water too warm. Fishing should really pick up in the next couple of weeks as the water cools down....

Have a good day
Earle Hammond

Bass slow early mornings and late in the evenings

Crappie No Report

Water Temp:76 degrees: There should be little change for the next few weeks. There could be some improvement on the white bass or a decline on the walleye. Basic summer time fishing!!!!

CRAPPIE: Fair: Lots of small fish being caught. The fish have moved into their summer patterns and catching a limit of crappie requires lots of moving around to catch the scattered keeper fish. Minnows and jigs seem to be working equally well. Tree lines or brush piles in 20' of water are holding lots of fish as well as some shallower tree lines, 10' or less.

BASS: Fair: The hot weather in the past couple of weeks has slowed the bass fishing. Strange as it may seem the fish are very shallow not deeper because of the hot weather. Some very impressive catches are being reported during the week. You are likely (or not) to catch a fish about anywhere. (shallow) Fish the grass, shallow tree lines, or suspended fish. See tournament results Thursdays and Weekends.

CATFISH: Good: If you are fishing the main lake for cats they are like the rest of the fish, shallow. Bass fisherman are catching cats on spinner baits and crank baits on main lake points in less than 8' of water. Lots of nice fish are being caught shallow and on trot lines and limb lines. Bait varies depending on how you want to fish. Most baits are working well if put in the right place.

White Bass: Fair: I caught a few whites on the Trimble dam on 8-9 They seem to still be roaming around and scattered. You had to work for a limit. Reports of fish hitting the surface in the evenings are becoming more frequent. Be in the right place at the right time and you could have some fun.

WALLEYE: Poor: The walleye have vanished for now. Few reports are coming in of walleye catches.

Lake Level: 910.5
Normal Pool: 915.00'
Water Temp: 85-87 degrees

White River Area 

The bass are on summer patterns. Carolina rigs with green pumpkin fish doctor or centipedes in watermelon candy in 25-35 feet deep on main lake gravel points. Drop Shot rigs with Zoom finesse worms in green pumpkin color and watermelon candy on main lake gravel and bluff ends in 28-45 feet deep for Kentucky bass. Fish the bait at 28 foot near the thermo cline. Fish 5/8 and 3/4 oz. Jewell football head jigs in peanut butter and jelly or brown and purple on main lake points 25-35 feet deep is working the best for Kentucky and some Smallmouth bass. For early morning top water bite use a Cordell Red Fin or Zara spook on pole timbered points, back in the creeks and on main lake points. White bass are schooling on flats in the morning and on cloudy days and can be caught on top water lures and spoons during the day.

    Mid Lake-Kimberling City Area 

The bass are on summer patterns. Carolina rigs with green pumpkin fish doctor or centipedes in watermelon candy in 25-35 feet deep on main lake gravel points. Drop Shot rigs with Zoom finesse worms in green pumpkin color and watermelon candy on main lake gravel and bluff ends in 28-45 feet deep for Kentucky bass, fish the drop shot rig at 28 feet near the thermo cline. Fish 5/8 and 3/4 oz. Jewell football head jigs in peanut butter and jelly or brown and purple on main lake points 25-35 feet deep is working the best for Kentucky and some Smallmouth bass. For early morning top water bite use a Cordell Red Fin or Zara spook on pole timbered points, back in the creeks and on main lake points.

Lower End-Dam Area 

The bass are on summer patterns. Carolina rigs with green pumpkin fish doctor or centipedes in watermelon candy in 25-35 feet deep on main lake gravel points. Drop Shot rigs with Zoom finesse worms in green pumpkin color and watermelon candy on main lake gravel and bluff ends in 28-45 feet deep for Kentucky bass, but fish the bait at 28 feet deep near the thermo cline. Fish 5/8 and 3/4 oz. Jewell football head jigs in peanut butter and jelly or brown and purple on main lake points 25-35 feet deep is working the best for Kentucky and some Smallmouth bass. For early morning top water bite use a Cordell Red Fin or Zara spook on pole timbered points, back in the creeks and on main lake points. Kentucky bass are taking night crawlers good on gravel points 26-32 feet deep on the main lake.

    Upper End-James River 

Carolina rigged Zoom centipedes in watermelon red and watermelon candy on main river gravel points in 15-25 feet deep. Football head jigs in peanut butter and jelly in 15-25 feet deep is working best for bass. Also use deep running Shad colored crank baits. Top Water use a spook in shad patterns on bluff ends and timbered points in early mornings and for schooling bass.

Crappie Crappies fishing has slowed down but some are still being caught under deeper docks and deep pole timber, but are scattered.

Lake Taneycomo

Trout I'm catching some nice rainbows and a few browns on a small Rapala in the morning and also swimming a white 1/16 ounce jig. The trout in the trophy area will also take pink or green micro jigs under a float and a zebra midge has also been very good. Below the trophy are from Fall Creek down, the trout are biting very good on night crawlers or power baits. In the early morning you can catch them swimming a 1/16 ounce jig or little Cleo spoon, in line spinners are also good in the mornings.

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GENERAL COMMENTS

We are still pretty much on the summer generation pattern.

Water Conditions: Past Saturday, they started running one generator at 8:00 a.m. Sunday, they started one at 9:00 a.m. One So far this week, ramping up from one generator at 1:00 p.m. to all four within the hour, and today they started 3 at 2:00 p.m.

FLY FISHING TROPHY AREA (dam to Fall Creek)-SHALLOW WATER-WADING-
Boats out every day. Must say it is fishing better than it was the past two weeks. Yesterday and today, it was a little cooler and cloudy than it has been. Fishing well in the a.m. with fog on the water with the Copper Dun Midge. Caught some on the Golden Variant Sculpin pattern today using 4X tippet both on the drift as well as stripping (once the sun came out). Couple short pulls, then let it rest. Ugly midge was working good day, and has been for the past couple days. Once the sun came out, the Primrose and Pearl Midge did well. Caught 14 fish 1/2 day yesterday; mostly with the copper dun. Brand new people, but they had a good day. Small black ant pattern as well as size 16-18 black soft hackles were working well over the weekend for several of our customers. Understand that folks fishing at night are doing well on a blood red, or purple leech pattern.

STAN'S TIP: Sun lotion, sunglasses (polarized) and lots of water right now. Weather has been in the mid 90s to low 100s. Stay hydrated! Drink lot and lots of water. Take a small towel to wet down with the cold water and put it on the back of your neck. Does wonders for cooling you down.

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THOMAS HILL

Updated  08/31/06

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 722.00 Clarity: dingy  Level:

Temperature:  83

  Lake Map

Crappie fair using minnows in the deeper water

Bass good using lures

Channel Cat good on setlines 

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TRUMAN LAKE

Updated 09/06/06

Lake Elevation at Normal Pool: 706.0 Temperature: 76 

Inflow: 200 cfs Outflow: 250 cfs Level: 1.24 feet low

Lake Map     Braggin' Board

MAIN LAKE Report by Sterett Creek Marina  

Lake Level: 704.91
Water Temp: 76 deg.
Water Clarity: Light Stain.

With the holiday over and the cool weather upon us the fish are starting to get back to their normal routine. Last weekend the fish bit good on Saturday slowed up on Sunday and started back again on Monday. We are seeing lots of shad on the surface in the early morning hours and the gulls are starting to work the surface so maybe the fall bite is going to start.

BASS: Look for shad on the flats and fish top water early and late. The bass are pulling up in 2' to 3' of water. During the day they are dropping back into 8' to 10' of water and laying on the bottom. Fish the thickest trees or clumps of trees you can find. Jig and frog are working along with big worms. Plum is still the top color. Doug Wallace won the hawg fights last night along with having big bass. He weighed in 6.19 lbs. and big fish was 3.64 lbs.

CRAPPIE: The crappie are spread all over right now. There are fish on the bluffs in 40' of water down about 30'. There are also crappie in the tree rows in 8' of water down 7'. Minnows are still the best bet for catching crappie. When fishing the bluffs start looking at the points at the mouths of the coves. There are also fish on brush piles in 20' of water and they are holding real close to the bottom. The brush pile fish have been the best bite this week. Here again minnows are doing the best.

WHITES & HYBRIDS: Not much of a report. We had a few people come in and say they saw fish surfacing but they didn't stay up long enough to catch them. I had one report that they caught a few in the G 10 area.

CATFISH: The catfishing is still good on jugs. They are still holding in 8' to 10' next to deep water. Cut shad is the best bait. We saw a couple of 20 lb. fish last weekend.

Don't forget the Sterett Creek Open Buddy Bass Tourn. will be the 16th of September. You can get ahold of the marina for details.

That's it for this week from Sterett Creek Marina

Till next week

Tommy

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Truman lake elevation 704.7
Water surface temperature 80

Crappie: Fish or biting on the flats and on the outside tree rows. Fish around 12' to 14' deep in 25' to 30' of water. Starting to see some nice limits coming in.

Whites & Hybrids: Slow but seeing a few whites & hybrids coming in.

Bass: No report

Catfish: Jugs are still doing good, fish about 12' deep just off the channel. Used cut shad, or live bait. Some fish or being caught on skip jack & mackerel a new bait we just put in our store.

Walleye: Seeing some nice walleye coming in off the Osage arm.

Have a nice weekend

Crappie fishing is good. The crappie are still on the flats in 12 ft of water or more. The fish are only 8 to 10 ft deep. The bait of choice is minnows. We are seeing a lot of big fish come in. The best fishing is above the marina and more numbers below the marina.

Bass fishing is fair early. Fish the main lake points at day break. When the sun comes up fish the flats. This week we have been catching them while we were crappie fishing in the cedar trees.

Catfish are being caught on cut bait. The fresher the bait the better it works. You can throw out some jugs while you are crappie fishing and take home some catfish to. We are catching catfish on minnows while crappie fishing.

White bass no report

The fishing was still great this week. 

Crappie are doing very well around fence rows, trussels, act.. 

The channel and whites are really good, mostly on glo worms, livers. 

The flatheads are doing good in the shallows on Israeli carp and perch. Get into the stumps and you will catch the flats right now.