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Mark Twain Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Sep 4, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

North Missouri's big water: crappie brush, hybrid schools and room to spread out.

3/5
Fair. Fish early or late.Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows.
Water temp
~84 F est.
Air / High
96 / 97 F
Wind
SSW 8 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 05507820, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
4
September 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.

3/5Fair. Fish early or late.Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows.

Mark Twain Lake serves up more heat: the productive hours are the dim ones. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 8 mph, steady pressure near 1012 hPa and a high of 97. Water sits around 84 F for the season (estimated). With the last quarter, the solunar majors run 5:39 AM-7:39 AM and 5:39 PM-7:39 PM: plan around them and beat the heat.

The plan, species by species

Hybrid striped bassGood

Schooling at first light over main-lake humps and channel edges. Slabs, tail spinners and live shad once you mark bait. It is usually over by mid-morning.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Anchor on 20-30 ft baited holes with punch bait or cut shad. They keep biting through the heat when everything else quits.

Largemouth bassFair

Topwater at first light on points and seawalls, then slide out to 12-25 ft brush and points with a Carolina rig, deep crank or drop shot. The bite is dawn, dusk or deep.

CrappieSlow

Straight down on bridge pilings and deep brush at 15-25 ft. Minnows outfish jigs in hot water; move until the graph shows them stacked.

Tomorrow: Similar at 101 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Sep 5, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Water and weather

Live readings from Monroe City Lake near Monroe City, MO.

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.

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovSep, ~84 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp96 F
High / Low97 / 75 F
WindSSW 8-9 mph
Pressure1012.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 1%
Sunrise / Sunset06:38 / 19:33
MoonLast Quarter, 50%
Water temp (seasonal)~84 F est.

Bite planner

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

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Next 7 days

Tap a day for the detailed outlook.

Fri Sep 4 · Clear, 97/75 F, wind 8 mph, rain 1%

Fair or better. A 8 mph breeze puts a working chop on the banks it hits: fish the wind-blown side.

Species guide

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

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: spring and fall

The headline act on most American reservoirs. Relates to cover: docks, brush, grass edges and points. Topwater at first light on points and seawalls, then slide out to 12-25 ft brush and points with a Carolina rig, deep crank or drop shot. The bite is dawn, dusk or deep.

Hybrid striped bass illustration

Hybrid striped bass

Best: Jun-Sep

Stocked white bass x striper cross. Open-water shad chasers; birds and busting bait give them away. Schooling at first light over main-lake humps and channel edges. Slabs, tail spinners and live shad once you mark bait. It is usually over by mid-morning.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Good year-round

The most reliable bite on most southern waters. Blues run big; channels fill the cooler. Anchor on 20-30 ft baited holes with punch bait or cut shad. They keep biting through the heat when everything else quits.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: Nov-Mar

Brush piles, bridge pilings and standing timber. The fish fry favorite. Straight down on bridge pilings and deep brush at 15-25 ft. Minnows outfish jigs in hot water; move until the graph shows them stacked.

When to come: the Mark Twain Lake 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 84 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovSep, ~84 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 Mark Twain Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Sep 3

3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Hybrid striped bass led the card at good. High of 97 F, wind to 10 mph.

Wed, Sep 2

3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Hybrid striped bass led the card at good. High of 97 F, wind to 10 mph.

Tue, Sep 1

1/5 Tough. Pick your battles. Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk. Hybrid striped bass led the card at fair. High of 98 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used to send you this water's report each week. No spam, ever.

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

Crappie: 9-inch/15. Standard MDC limits otherwise. Confirm with MDC.

Access

Ray Behrens, Indian Creek, John Spalding, Frank Russell ramps; marina at Indian Creek.

About this water

18,600 acres on the Salt River, Ralls/Monroe counties, MO. Corps of Engineers, impounded 1983.

Fishing Mark Twain Lake: the full guide

The north's answer

Mark Twain gives northern Missouri what the Ozarks hoard: 18,000 fertile acres of timbered coves, crappie brush piles by the thousand, hybrids chasing shad over the Salt River channels and a strong catfish culture. Stained water makes it a jig-and-spinnerbait lake: fish it like Truman's little brother with fewer boats.

North Missouri's crappie bank

Mark Twain holds the region's densest crappie: spring pushes them to buckbrush at 2-6 ft across the Ray Behrens and Indian Creek arms; summer stacks them on hundreds of MDC-planted cedars at 12-18 ft. Stained water keeps color choice simple: chartreuse, orange, done.

Cats, hybrids and room

Salt River fertility grows channels and blues that fill juglines all summer: the flats near Route 107 are the drift standard. Hybrids roam the main lake with fewer pursuers than any comparable fishery in the state: an uncrowded dawn bite hiding in plain sight.

Common questions

When is Mark Twain's crappie run?

Mid-April into May as water passes 58F: two weeks behind the Ozark lakes at this latitude. Our temperature estimate flags the window each spring.

Crappie by the numbers

Mark Twain's flooded timber makes it Missouri's structure-crappie stronghold: MDC's habitat program plus natural standing wood gives schools cover at every depth band, and the spring bite in the buckbrush (jigs at 2-6 ft) fills Hannibal-area freezers. Summer fish slide to 15-25-ft timber edges where spider rigs shine. The stained water forgives heavy line: efficiency over finesse.

What else does Mark Twain produce?

Serious blue cats (drifted shad on the flats), hybrid stripers off the dam, and a spring white-bass run up the Salt River forks: the crappie fame hides a four-species box.

Is fishing good at Mark Twain Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows.

Nearby waters

Gasconade River80 miMeramec River93 miRathbun Lake110 miLake of the Ozarks112 miLake Springfield117 miNiangua River132 mi
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