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Table Rock Lake Fishing Report

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

Ozark clear water at its finest: Table Rock’s bluffs and brush grow spotted bass, whites and crappie under Branson’s hills.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
80 / 81 F
Wind
SE 5 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 07053450, 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.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Table Rock Lake lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 5 mph, steady 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 9:50 AM-11:50 AM and 10:18 PM-12:18 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Largemouth bassGood

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)Good

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.

CrappieFair

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

White bassFair

Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

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 →

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 →

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 from White River bl Table Rock Dam near Branson, MO.

No recent gauge reading

USGS 07053450 has not returned a reading for this chart; it comes back when the gauge reports again. Until then conditions are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations.

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp80 F
High / Low81 / 50 F
WindSE 5-7 mph
Pressure1019.7 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:28 / 18:27
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)56 F USGS
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 Table Rock Lake this week

The best day on Table Rock Lake this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:50 AM-11:50 AM and 10:18 PM-12:18 AM
Minor period
4:12 AM-5:12 AM
Sun
07:28 to 18:27
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 7 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Table Rock Lake: 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.

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.

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.

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. Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

When to come: the Table Rock 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
Crappie
Catfish (blue, channel)
White bass
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 Table Rock Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 80 F, wind to 4 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 78 F, wind to 4 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 75 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

Missouri license. Black bass have a 15-inch minimum with special spotted bass rules on Table Rock: check current MDC regulations.

Access

Table Rock State Park, Indian Point, Campbell Point, Big M and State Park Marina ramps; Corps access throughout.

About this water

A 43,100-acre Corps reservoir on the White River near Branson, Stone and Barry counties, Missouri, extending into Arkansas.

Fishing Table Rock Lake: the full guide

The White River jewel

Table Rock backs the White River into 43,000 acres of clear Ozark water below Branson, with 800 miles of shoreline cut into bluffs, coves and timbered points. It is one of the country’s best-known bass lakes: largemouth, spotted bass and smallmouth all thrive, with the spots dominating the rocky main-lake structure. Add white bass schooling the open water, crappie in the sunken brush and the trout tailwater below the dam, and the lake supports fishing all year.

Bass on clear-water structure

Clarity sets the rules: light line, finesse presentations and long casts. Spots and smallmouth hold the bluff ends, gravel points and channel swings: drop-shots, Ned rigs, shaky heads and jerkbaits work through the seasons, with fish following shad from 10 feet in spring to 30-plus in summer. Largemouth prefer the brushier creek arms: the James River and Kings River arms carry stained water and cover for cranking and flipping.

Whites, crappie and the tailwater

White bass run the James and Kings river arms each spring: a March-April institution: then school the main lake all summer, crashing shad on the surface at dawn. Crappie stack the sunken cedar and brush piles that locals maintain: 12-25 feet, jigs or minnows, best in spring and fall. Below the dam, Lake Taneycomo becomes a cold trout tailwater: a completely different fishery ten minutes from the same ramp.

Branson-area logistics

Corps ramps and marinas ring the lake: State Park Marina, Indian Point, Big M, Campbell Point and dozens more. Summer weekends bring heavy recreational traffic near Branson; the upper arms stay quieter. Table Rock State Park anchors camping and access near the dam. Spring and fall are the fishing seasons: clear water, active fish and half the boat traffic.

Common questions

What species dominates?

Spotted bass on the clear main-lake rock, with largemouth in the stained creek arms and smallmouth on the gravel. All three in one day is normal.

When do the white bass run?

March into April up the James and Kings arms: fast fishing on small jigs and spoons when the water hits the mid-50s.

Is Taneycomo worth adding?

Absolutely: the cold tailwater below the dam holds rainbows and big browns year-round, a completely different trip from the same base.

Is fishing good at Table Rock 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 the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Lake Taneycomo15 miBull Shoals Lake29 miBeaver Lake36 miBuffalo River59 miStockton Lake66 miNorfork Lake67 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 07053450 — White River bl Table Rock Dam near Branson, MO
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:15 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 36.5972, -93.4756 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.