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Smithville Lake Fishing Report

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

Kansas City's northern big water: crappie beds, walleye programs and 7,200 acres of room.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Gauge
863.78 ft
Air / High
72 / 80 F
Wind
SSE 7 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 06821140, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
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.

Smithville Lake rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. The gauge reads 863.78 ft, 0.42 ft below pool, easing 0.11 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSE around 7 mph, falling pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 80. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:54 AM-11:54 AM and 10:23 PM-12:23 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeExcellent

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Northern pikeExcellent

The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

White bassGood

The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

CrappieGood

Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Tomorrow: Similar at 80 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 walleye 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 from Smithville Reservoir near Smithville, MO.

Gauge height, last 30 days

USGS gauge 06821140. Conservation pool is 864.2 ft.

863.68863.92864.16pool 864.2863.78 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp72 F
High / Low80 / 51 F
WindSSE 7-16 mph
Pressure1019.9 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 1%
Sunrise / Sunset07:36 / 18:27
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 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 Smithville Lake this week

Today is the pick of the week on Smithville Lake, 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
9:54 AM-11:54 AM and 10:23 PM-12:23 AM
Minor period
4:17 AM-5:17 AM
Sun
07:36 to 18:27
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 11 mph
Rain chance
1%

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

Species guide

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

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

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. Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

When to come: the Smithville 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
Walleye
White bass
Northern pike
Crappie
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 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 Smithville Lake 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. Walleye led the card at good. High of 76 F, wind to 7 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 76 F, wind to 5 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 72 F, wind to 7 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

Crappie 9-inch/15 (check); walleye 15-inch/4. Confirm with MDC.

Access

Litton Way, Camp Branch, Crows Creek ramps; bank jetties throughout the park.

About this water

7,190 acres on the Little Platte, Clay County, MO: KC's brush-mapped panfish factory.

Fishing Smithville Lake: the full guide

KC's home lake

Smithville gives Kansas City real fishing at commuter distance: a crappie fishery dense with planted cedar (maps published by MDC), improving walleye, hybrids over the main lake and catfish everywhere. The habitat program here is a model: brush maps in hand, limits follow.

Crappie by GPS

MDC publishes Smithville's brush-pile coordinates: hundreds of marked cedars: making it Missouri's most democratic crappie hunt. Spring shallows, summer 15-25 ft piles, fall creek mouths: rotate publicly, catch privately.

Walleye on the wind

The dam face and main points hold April walleye; summer sends them to deep flats where crawler rigs at 1 mph produce. Wipers crash shad on the wind-blown side all summer: watch for the slicks.

Crappie infrastructure

Smithville is Missouri's most deliberately furnished crappie lake: MDC has sunk thousands of cedar trees and pallet structures, all published on the online conservation atlas. Spring fish flood the buckbrush and beaver lodges of the Camp Branch arm; summer and winter schools hold the 15-25-ft piles within sight of the ramps. Bring the coordinates, idle between piles, and let the graph pick your spot: it is structure fishing by subscription.

Common questions

Where are the Smithville brush maps?

MDC's website publishes coordinates and depths: load them before launching. The transparency spreads pressure and somehow everyone still limits in April.

What else does Smithville fish well for?

Walleye: MDC's stocking built a real 15-25-inch fishery on the flats and dam face, best on jigging raps in November and bottom bouncers in June. Hybrid stripers add summer topwater flurries off the points.

Is fishing good at Smithville Lake 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

Perry Lake49 miHillsdale Lake54 miClinton Lake56 miPomona Lake74 miMelvern Lake88 miTruman Lake104 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 06821140 β€” Smithville Reservoir near Smithville, MO
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 15:45 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 39.3972, -94.5677 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.