Lake of the Ozarks is Missouri's serpent: 92 river-miles of Osage water with more shoreline than California's coast, a hundred thousand docks, and a bass-and-crappie factory hiding under the party-lake reputation. Night fishing in summer is the local religion.
Reports current for Friday, October 23
Every one of the 14 Missouri waters we cover has a live read this morning. 5 are scoring 4 out of 5 or better, and none is slow. Water runs 47 F to 74 F. Pressure is holding steady on most of them, so the day comes down to water temperature and wind.
Best right now: Lake of the Ozarks 4/5, Mark Twain Lake 4/5, Pomme de Terre Lake 4/5
Live verdicts from this morning's reports.
Missouri's 54,000-acre serpent: 1,150 miles of dock-lined shoreline and a crappie-and-bass factory.
Ozark clear water at its finest: Table Rock’s bluffs and brush grow spotted bass, whites and crappie under Branson’s hills.
A 55,600-acre Corps flood-control reservoir with 8,800 acres of standing timber, and crappie, catfish, hybrids, walleye and paddlefish.
The walleye surprise of the Ozarks: clear, windy and underrated.
Mark Twain Lake: 18,600 acres behind the Corps' Clarence Cannon Dam in northeast Missouri, fished for crappie, largemouth, white bass and big blue and flathead catfish.
Kansas City's northern big water: crappie beds, walleye programs and 7,200 acres of room.
Lake Taneycomo: the cold White River reservoir below Table Rock Dam at Branson, a trout lake that MDC stocks every month.
Bennett Spring State Park: a spring branch near Lebanon, Missouri, stocked with trout every day from March 1 through October 31.
Where Missouri's muskie program began in 1966: a 7,820-acre Corps lake in the western Ozarks with strong crappie and bass numbers.
The Current River: Ozark spring water with managed trout water below Montauk State Park and smallmouth bass downstream.
Meramec River: an Ozark river that runs 218 miles to the Mississippi below St. Louis, with smallmouth and Red Ribbon trout rules on its upper reaches.
Missouri’s crooked river: the Gasconade winds 280 miles of smallmouth and catfish through the Ozarks.
The Eleven Point: one of the first eight National Wild and Scenic Rivers, with MDC Blue and White Ribbon trout water below Greer Spring and smallmouth above and below.
The Niangua River in Missouri: an 11.5-mile White Ribbon Trout Area below Bennett Spring Branch, next to the Bennett Spring trout park.
Species activity across the state's covered waters. Peak of the year: March.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.
Seasonal surface curve for this state's dominant water type (estimated).
| Water | Type | County | Live gauge | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake of the Ozarks fishing report | Reservoir | Camden | modeled | Mar |
| Table Rock Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Stone | USGS | Mar |
| Truman Lake fishing report | Reservoir | St. Clair | USGS | Mar |
| Stockton Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Polk | USGS | Apr |
| Mark Twain Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Monroe | modeled | Mar |
| Smithville Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Clay | USGS | Apr |
| Lake Taneycomo fishing report | River | Taney | USGS | Apr |
| Bennett Spring fishing report | River | Dallas | USGS | Apr |
| Pomme de Terre Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Hickory | USGS | Mar |
| Current River fishing report | River | Carter | USGS | May |
| Meramec River fishing report | River | St. Louis | USGS | May |
| Gasconade River fishing report | River | Osage | USGS | May |
| Eleven Point River fishing report | River | Oregon | USGS | Apr |
| Niangua River fishing report | River | Dallas | USGS | Apr |
Missouri fishing runs through its White River-system reservoirs (Table Rock's clear-water bass, Bull Shoals' winter jerkbaiting) and the Osage's Lake of the Ozarks with its endless dock game. The state's trout parks (Bennett Spring, Montauk) offer a unique put-and-take culture, while the Current and Eleven Point float streams hide wild rainbows and smallmouth in spring-fed Ozark water. Big-river catfishing on the Missouri and Mississippi rounds out a state that fishes far bigger than its fame.
March: trout park openers and pre-spawn staging. April-May: crappie and bass shallow statewide. Summer: night fishing on the Ozarks, float trips on the spring rivers. Fall: Table Rock's topwater and the year's best crappie. Winter: Bull Shoals and Table Rock jerkbait season, and Lake of the Ozarks' quiet-water dock bite for those who bundle up.
Not if you fish like a local: dawn patrol, weekdays, and summer nights on the main-channel docks when the wake boats sleep and the big bass feed.