*We have fishing reports for 10 different lakes listed in Alphabetical order, scroll down the page to see them all*
Bull Shoals Lake:
(East):78 degrees, normal, dingy; all species slow. (West): 72-75 degrees, high, clear; black bass fair on jigs, soft plastic lures and crankbaits; walleye fair on jerkbait and nightcrawlers; all other species slow.
Report provided by Bull Shoals Boat Dock:
There seems to be some changes on the lake this week. The thermocline is aprox 30 to 34ft with good oxygen from 0 to 50ft. Water clarity is fair to good on the main lake and a bit stained in the back of the main creek arms. One major change this week is the lake water temperature has been dropping, 87 a week and half ago, to 79 to 81 today.
BASS- Top water is still producing in the early A.M. Along with crank baits, jig and craw, jig n pig, spoons, drop shot and an 8" worm. Live baits that are working well are crawdads and night crawlers rigged on a #4 hook and a #5 split shot. Fish are schooling, look for fish that are surfacing (chasing shad) and work a crank bait, rattle trap, spoon or top water.
WALLEYE- Best baits for these fish have been bottom bouncers rigged with night crawlers and spinning rigs, also vertically jigging spoons have been catching fish. Look for walleye in the 32 to 38ft range. Trolling deep diving cranks baits should also produce.
CRAPPIE - Some crappie have been coming into the dock, I just don't think too many people are fishing for them. Look for fish on the brush piles using live bait on a slip bobber. Try varying your depths from 15 to 25ft
CATFISH- Some really nice cats have been coming in these last couple of weeks. Live bait on the bottom or on trotlines.
Trout - Fishing has been excellent; with low water conditions in the A.M you can anchor and catch a bunch. Also live bait fishing can produce some good browns right now. There has been generation in the afternoons were you are able to drift fish.
Report provided by Davy Wotton:
First of all apologies for the later report, l left for Montana end of August for my working vacation and recently returned. Had a great trip, fished many of my favorite rivers and lakes, and filmed two new Fly Tying videos to be released next year.
While away l keep in touch with what's going on here in AR, and there have been some changes. The first of which is the new habitat work at Bull shoals dam. If you have as yet not fished the dam recently then you will not be aware of it. Its more a issue of concern for those of you who go afloat for the reason that there are now placed, more to the Marion cty side rock structure, root wads and strung cedar trees,which are tied down with cable to the river bed. your concerns would be not to run into the structures either going up stream or floating back. Unless you are very conversant with the known positions of the structures a drag chain is not a good choice, neither is running into the structures with your motor. Low water flows will easily allow for you to see the structures and navigate around them, high water fast flows is a different matter, so take care. This structure has definitely changed the way we fish BSD dam, we not only have structure but due to that current seams and flows around it have very much changed fish locations, its kind of anew learning experience again at the dam. I have fished in a good few times this past week and its ok. For waders then you will find new structure that holds fish around them. But do not do what one foolish individual did the other day. He chose to stand on one of the rock piles when water was being released, at the time flow rates were low, while he was there they pushed up the CFS and he was unable to get back to the shore, he was ferried back by boat.
Read the full report
Hello Fly Fishers!
Dry run creek at the hatchery. Arkansas game and fish have now started to undertake the habitat and bank restoration at the upper end of the creek. Our plan of action is to now move to the lower end and complete the instream and bank restoration. After which the FNNFH can send out bids for contractors to undertake the handicap boardwalk construction. While work has been in progress fishing has been permitted with very little disturbance to the stream.
OK, back to the rivers. Fall is on the way and this is one of my favorite times of the year, gone are those awful hot humid days for one. The Browns are on the move upstream and often as not fishing pressure is well reduced, all be it the past few days due to the heavy rain falls BSD to Wildcat has seen some serious fishing pressure. Crooked creek at the time of writing is in flood stage so that more or less counts put fishing below CC and the Buffalo river, give a week or so and no more rain and we will have clean water through the system.
Given current lake levels and assuming we do not see a serious rise of water that needs release we should see moderate generations and water release. Many of you will recall at this time last year we saw big water and did not see a shut down at BSD till December, it was great for the fish as we did see this year way better average sizes for the Bows, and certainly the 24in min size limit for Browns has increased overall numbers of fish over the previous 16in limit.
Fishing. The transitional time of summer end to fall will as a rule cause fish to feed well through the day time periods. Which gives great opportunity for both wade and drift boat fishing, there are plenty of fish in the river at this time.
Now is also a great time to swing larger streamers for the trophy Brown, all be it we nailed a good few today at BSD fishing sowbugs and midges.
Hoppers and dries can also be great fished to rising fish and working seams and into the shorelines , you never know when a big fish will eat your fly.
Low water should see good midge and possibly BWO hatches on those dull overcast days, here again fishing with small midge patterns such as Prism and Whitetails in black, silver, gold, claret, red, pearl, and hot heads, will do the business as will sowbugs and scuds, and generics such as hares ear. Along with the above wet fly and soft hackles, and various streamers are all worth a swim.
Higher water flows, dynamite and San Juan worms in different colors along with jigs and eggs will do the business
OK, if we see any further changes l will update the report.
Tight lines all
Davy.
Clearwater Lake:
Water is 78 degrees, normal, clear; all species slow.
Lake of the Ozarks:
(Bagnell Tailwater): 73 degrees, dingy; black bass and crappie slow; white bass and catfish fair. (Glaize): 75 degrees, dingy; black bass, crappie and catfish fair; white bass slow. (Gravois): 75 degrees, dingy; black bass, crappie and white bass slow; catfish fair. (Niangua): 75 degrees, dingy; black bass fair on jigs around docks with some success swimming a Gitzits; crappie good in the coves; catfish good on cut shad, on jugs at 8 to 12 feet deep at the 60MM. (Osage): 75 degrees, dingy; black bass fair on jigs around docks with some success swimming a Gitzits; crappie good in the coves; catfish good on cut shad, on jugs at 8 to 12 feet deep at the 60MM.
Mark Twain Lake:
Water is 70 degrees, normal, clear; crappie fair on jigs and minnows; channel catfish fair on trotlines using cut shad; largemouth bass fair on soft plastic lures; all other species slow.
Report Provided by South Fork Resort:
The fishing has picked up this week, at least as far as the crappies. They are being caught pretty much in the same pattern. Set your depth at about 12' and fish the outer edges of the tree line. You might be in 14 foot of water, or 40 foot of water. Just keep moving as you won't find many pockets with a bunch of fish in them. Limits can be caught, but you are definitely going to have to work for them. We are still seeing fish in excess of 1 coming in and the occasional 2+ pounder as well. If you are using jigs I would start with anything and chartreuse…red, blue, black. Make sure to tip it with a nibble of some sort. Or a minnow! Catfish have been pretty tough all summer. We had a few blues come in this week, all in the 10-12 range. The bass fishing has been hit or miss. We talked with someone yesterday that hit them real good, catching about 50 bass. Most of them were shorts, but that is still a fun day of fishing. Rumor has it they have been scoring on some white bass just before sunset as well. Go to the usual haunts for them…islands, main lake points, etc. The lake level is at 605.4. They are generating most days so thats why we are seeing the level drop about 3" on some days. They don't have a target level in mind, just answering the power demand. It looks like we are set for a great weekend weatherwise, but we have all seen how that goes…look at last weekend. May as well enjoy it!
Lake Pomme de terre:
Lake level is normal, clear; crappie good in 15 feet of water around structures; black bass good in 10 to 15 feet of water, best on topwater lures early in morning; white bass good while trolling; walleye good while trolling flats; catfish good on live baits; muskie good in early morning and late evening.
Report Provided by Pomme Muskie Guide Service:
The lake is finally at normal pool, water temperature is generally from 82 degrees in the morning to about 87 in the evening.
Fishing has generally been pretty good.
White bass are surfacing in the mornings and evenings.
Bass in general have been hitting good fishing deep and on top water in the mornings.
Crappie are doing good on minnows and jigs in about 25' of water around the brush piles.
Catfish are hitting just about anything right now.
Walleye have been slow.
Water temperature has been too high to fish for muskies, we quit fishing for them when the water reaches 80 degrees.
Stockton Lake:
Water is 72 degrees, normal, clear; crappie good on white and yellow tube jigs on the upper ends of the Big and Little Sac arms of the lake; walleye good on bottom bouncers with minnow or worm combinations while fishing off points.
Report Provided by Thompson Fishing Guide Service:
Walleye- fishing has still been hit or miss probably because of the weather we are having. We have been able to catch a few keeper fish, but it seems lately we have caught a lot of smaller fish, which is somewhat unusual. For thermo cline information, read the last couple weeks' reports. Main lake flats north of Googer and points on the dam are your more consistent places. A good friend of mine has been catching some walleye in the Cedar Ridge area. Jigs and night crawlers or Lindy rigged crawler harnesses are the best. You can try trolling some deep diving shad imitator crank baits.
I have a question: Are any of you afraid of lightning? I was on my way in yesterday about 15 minutes in front of a real bad electrical storm and I saw several boats put in and drive right off into the middle of it. Lightning can travel a lot further than a person thinks, especially if you are on the water. Just something I think about.
Bass- fishing has been so-so. You would think with the water temperatures in the low to mid 80s and clouds overhead, they'd really go crazy. On the two days that I got to go bass fishing, I noticed that the bites seems to be more sluggish than normal; I am talking about plastic worms or jigs. The crank bait bite wasn't very good at all. The good fish that we caught were between 15-18 inches. It is odd that we caught several bass that were right under 15 inches and weighed a little over 2 pounds. That goes back to the thing we talked about last week reference bait availability and fish catch ability. The more productive spots were secondary points in your larger coves in about 15-20 feet of water.
Crappie- fishing has been pretty good for the most part. Several friends of mine have caught close to limits during the last week fishing deep timber. They caught a lot of the little buggers, though (which is good), because that is the investment for the next few years of fishing, so don't complain. Crappie minnows on crappie jigs or on Aberdeen hooks are the most consistent. When you find crappie in deep timber or over deep brush piles, it is not too hard to find out what they want to bite. When I say deep timber, or deep brush, I mean around 20 feet, around the thermo cline.
Table Rock Lake:
(James River arm): 72 degrees, normal, clear; white bass good in early morning or late evening on shallow diving crankbaits, topwater lures and white or shad colored Rooster Tails. (main lake): 72 degrees, high, clear; white bass good in early morning or late evening on shallow diving crankbaits, topwater lures and white or shad colored Rooster Tails, watch for surfacing fish near Virgin Bluff, Point 12, Loftin Hole or Point 9.
Report Provided by Table Rock Guide Service:
Fishing on Table Rock is very good right now. Some fish are shallow early in the morning and can be caught on top water and Carolina rigged Zoom centipedes and 1/4 oz Shakey heads with Chompers finesse worms in green pumpkin and brown & purple seem to working the best. White bass have been showing up on main lake flats and points chasing the bait fish on the surface. Top water lures and grubs will get the strikes for the whites. Kentucky bass are on main lake points 24 to 28 feet deep where they can be caught on drop shot rigs. Jewell football head jigs in 5/8 and 3/4 oz. in brown and purple flash and peanut butter and jelly with 5 inch twin tail chompers trailer in green pumpkin is producing fish from 15 to 30 feet on main lake points.
Mid lake-Kimberling City Area Top Water action on the bass has been good early in the mornings. Cordell Redfins and Zara Spooks are working best on pole timbered points. Also, try throwing a 5/8 or 3/4 oz Jewel football head jig in green pumpkin and brown & purple in 20 to 35 feet of water on the main lake and secondary points. If the jig isn't working for you, throw a Carolina rigged Zoom centipede in green pumpkin or watermelon candy in 18 to 25 feet. One of those should produce strikes. Fish are out in deeper water where they can be caught on drop shot and jigging spoons in 24 to 28 feet of water. Mostly Kentucky bass on the drop shot and jigging spoon.
Lower end-Dam Area The smallmouth bass fishing has been good on the the main lake points early in the mornings. Carolina rigged Zoom centipedes in either green pumpkin or watermelon candy fished in 10 to 18 feet of water on very flat gravel points has been producing alot of strikes in this area. Kentucy bass are being caught on secondary and main lake chunk rock banks with a Shakey head worm and Carolina rigged Zoom centipede worm around 18 to 25 feet deep. Some fish are also being caught on top water baits on the main lake timbered points and bluff ends over timber. Zara spooks and Cordell redfins in shad colors are working the best. Some Kentucky bass are moving to 24-28 feet where the drop shot rigs seem to working the best.
Upper end-James River There has been alot of good top water action early in the mornings on Zara spooks, Pop-R's and chugbugs. Carolina rigged Zoom lizards and brush hogs in green pumpkin and watermelon red in 10 to 18 feet on the main lake gravel points has been producing alot of strikes. Also try a Jewel football head jig in peanut butter & jelly or brown & purple in 10 to 18 feet on the main lake points.
Crappie-Crappie are in 10-25 feet deep in around standing timber on bluffs. Crappie jigs in white or chartreuse and white and minnows are working best.
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.
Lake Taneycomo:
Water is 50 degrees, normal, clear; upper lake: trout good on flies and Rooster Tails; lower lake: trout good on Power Bait, nightcrawlers and minnows.
Report Provided by River Run Outfitters:
Weather projection through the weekend is for hot, humid, mostly clear days. Slight chances of pop up showers, but mostly to the north and northeast of us. Water generation so far this week has been to come on at 2:00 p.m. and that is the projection again for today. Two generators on to start followed by two within the hour.
Jim came in Sunday after I had posted the fishing reports. He had John and Charlene out again, from Carl Junction, MO. Both are pretty new at this (might be their second time), so they worked on casting, line management and hook sets for a while. Boated several fish on the gray and olive browns scuds. Think Charlene is into fly fishing for the long haul. She came back and purchased the Temple Fork Casting for Recovery rod, a reel and some fly line….looks serious.
Stan was out yesterday with Norman from Indiana. He used to fly fish and decided he wanted to get back into it again. And that he did. They had a good half-day outing on the rusty and P&P midges.
Meanwhile, I sneaked away from the shop to fish for 2-3 hours. Wonderful day. just being in the water. Did have a very good day on the P&P midge. Very few things did not work for me. Fished the black wooly, olive wooly, and the crackleback all under the sinking leader. These all worked, especially the black wooly. Water was a little dingy when I first got out. Once the water cleared and the sun came out, P&P was hot!
Truman Lake:
The Lake is dingy; white bass and hybrid striped bass good off the banks with wind; catfish good on cut baits; black bass good back in the coves on spinner baits.
Report Provided by Sterett Creek Marina:
The fishing here on Truman is like the weather this week, it's great. We have been seeing lots of fish come in this week. We have had some good rain but it hasn't affected the lake, water clarity is perfect. They are calling for good weather the rest of the week so it might be the right time to get on the lake and enjoy mother nature at her finest.
LAKE LEVEL: 706.51
WATER TEMP: 81 deg.
WATER CLARITY: Clear to light stain.
BASS: Last nights Hawg Fights netted some real nice fish. Doug and Ozzie Wallace weighed in 9.77 lbs. for a winning 3 fish limit. Second went to Howard Love and John Pollit with 7.98 lbs. Third went to Barkledge and Brownfield with 7.72 lbs. Big Bass went to Jamie Lehares and Chris Powell with a 5.24 lb. lunker. The big worm is the top producer this week. Fish are holding in 8' to 12' of water. Humps and brush piles are holding fish along with points both main lake and secondary's close to deep water. There is also a top water bite in the early morning on the flat points in 4' to 6' of water.
CRAPPIE: We are probably seeing some of the best crappie fishing of the year right now. It seems that every arm of the lake in on now. There are fish on the bluffs in 25' to 30' of water down about 12'. There are also fish on the tree rows on the end of the flats in 17' to 20' of water with fish holding about 7'. Minnows are the best bait in both areas. If you are looking for some good eating now is the time to be here.
WHITES: The top water bite is working in the evening. Rooster tails and Pop's are two baits that are working. The shad are working on top of the water over the humps and are drawing in some nice whites. There has also been some fish caught trolling. The sassy shad and a medium sized deep running crank bait are working on these fish.
CATFISH: Trot lines baited with perch fished on the humps next to deep water are producing a few flats. Jugs baited with cut shad are working in 30' of water with baits set at 20'.
Lake Wappapello:
Black bass fair using spinner baits, buzz baits and plastic worms
Bluegill slow using crickets and worms
Channel catfish fair using live bait and night crawlers and on jug lines and trotlines at night
White bass slow using on small spinner bait
Crappie slow
