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Lake of the Ozarks Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Missouri's 54,000-acre serpent: 1,150 miles of dock-lined shoreline and a crappie-and-bass factory.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
80 / 81 F
Wind
SSE 5 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Tap a marker for today's tip
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

4/5Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Lake of the Ozarks offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. Today brings clear skies, wind SSE around 5 mph, falling pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 81. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:48 AM-11:48 AM and 10:16 PM-12:16 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Largemouth bassExcellent

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Catfish (blue, channel)Excellent

Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

Hybrid striped bassGood

Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

CrappieGood

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Tomorrow: Similar at 83 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Missouri requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $14.00 for residents. What a Missouri licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with MDC before you keep anything. The season dates for Missouri, read off the agency, are on the Missouri seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp80 F
High / Low81 / 49 F
WindSSE 5-7 mph
Pressure1019.6 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:28 / 18:23
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Lake of the Ozarks this week

Today is the pick of the week on Lake of the Ozarks, at 4 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Good

Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Solunar majors
9:48 AM-11:48 AM and 10:16 PM-12:16 AM
Minor period
4:10 AM-5:10 AM
Sun
07:28 to 18:23
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 6 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake of the Ozarks: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Hybrid striped bass illustration

Hybrid striped bass

Best: the spring shad spawn and fall; summer at dawn and dusk

A hatchery cross of striped bass and white bass, also called wiper or palmetto bass, stocked by state agencies into reservoirs and rivers as a sport fish that also eats gizzard shad. Schools roam open water after shad. Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

When to come: the Lake of the Ozarks calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Hybrid striped bass
Catfish (blue, channel)
Crappie
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake of the Ozarks today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 80 F, wind to 3 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 77 F, wind to 5 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 73 F, wind to 5 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Missouri requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Black bass: 15-inch minimum, 6 per day. Crappie: 9-inch minimum, 15 per day. Missouri license required; no length limit on white bass/hybrids (15 combined). Confirm with MDC.

Access

Public ramps at Lake of the Ozarks State Park (Grand Glaize), PB2 (Osage Beach), Hurricane Deck and dozens of marinas by mile marker.

About this water

54,000 acres on the Osage River, Camden/Miller/Morgan/Benton counties, MO. Ameren, Bagnell Dam completed 1931. 1,150 miles of shoreline.

Fishing Lake of the Ozarks: the full guide

The Magic Dragon

Lake of the Ozarks snakes 92 miles up the Osage River from 1931's Bagnell Dam, throwing off arms (Gravois, Niangua, Grand Glaize) until its shoreline outmeasures California's coast. It is Missouri's recreation capital, but under the party-cove reputation runs a workhorse fishery: bass living on a hundred thousand docks, crappie on planted brush, hybrids and whites chasing shad in open water.

Docks, docks, docks

The pattern that defines the lake: jigs and shaky heads pitched around dock cables, wells and brush from one mile marker to the next. Spring moves fish to pockets and gravel points; summer is a night-fishing lake (big worms on main-channel docks after the boat traffic dies); fall turns on the creek arms as shad migrate. Crappie fishing over brush piles at 10-20 ft may be the lake's best-kept non-secret.

Navigating by mile marker

Everything here runs on Osage mile markers (dam = MM 0) and arm names. Lower lake (0-20) is developed, deep and busy; mid-lake mixes structure and coves; the upper Osage and Niangua arms fish more riverine and stained. In summer, fish early, hide in no-wake coves midday, and let the lake calm again toward dusk.

Common questions

How do I find fish on 1,150 miles of shoreline?

Think in patterns, not places: pick a dock depth and angle that produces, then repeat it up the same arm. The lake's sameness is a gift: one good pattern replicates for miles.

Is summer fishing hopeless with the boat traffic?

No: it becomes a night lake. Locals fish main-channel docks with big worms and jigs from dusk to midnight and out-catch the daytime fleet all summer.

What is the crappie situation?

Strong and improving: MDC and anglers sink brush constantly, and 10-20 ft piles in the Gravois and Glaize arms hold fish from fall through spring. A 9-inch minimum keeps quality up.

Is fishing good at Lake of the Ozarks right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Nearby waters

Niangua River21 miPomme de Terre Lake27 miBennett Spring32 miTruman Lake39 miStockton Lake56 miGasconade River60 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 38.1672, -92.9655 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.