Crappie fishing peaking at Truman

With the water continuing to fall the lake area looks a whole lot different. You can see rip rap, use parking lots and walk to the marinas. We are not seeing any drift on the lake at all, and best of all we are seeing a lot of fish come in. We saw more and better fish come in last weekend than we have all season. The cleaning station looked like it does during the spawn season. The water clarity is the best it has been all season so I would look for the fishing to remain as is for a good while.

LAKE LEVEL: 714.5
WATER TEMP: 83 deg.
WATER CLARITY: Clear to a light stain.

BASS: Last night in the Hawg Fights Doug and Ozzie Wallace found a bunch of fish ( they had a little problem finding their boat) but they still managed to win with 12.53 pounds. Second went to Jack Hockett and Clint Rayburn with 11.63 pounds. Third went to Marty Watson and Doug Long with 9.77pounds. Fourth by one-hundredth was Larry Wright with 7.27pounds. Big bass went to John Pollit and Howard Love with 4.57pounds. The patterns were pretty well all the same but the baits changed with the anglers. Willows on the points in 4 to 8 feet of water was the best bite. Either main lake or secondary didn’t seem to matter. The baits went from jigs to big worms to skirted grubs. The top-water bite started about 8 o’clock.

CRAPPIE: I would really hate to guess how many limits of crappie we saw come in last weekend. I talked to several anglers that said they didn’t keep anything under 11 inches. That’s some good crappie fishing. We weighed one limit of 15 fish and it went 15 pounds. Minnows were by far the best bait. It was hard to pick a pattern because the fish are all over. There are fish in the willows in 8 to 10 feet of water about 7 feet down. There was also a good bite on the bluffs in 30-feet plus with the fish holding in the 16- to 18-foot range. The T 6 area along with the Osage seem to be the hottest areas.

WHITES & HYBRIDS: Last night the guys said they saw surface activity. It seems that the shad are finally starting to get in their little pods over the humps and the whites seem to be following. With the lake getting down to a lower level and the Corps of Engineers running water I think this will be the week that they really get going. I would check all the usual haunts. There were some fish caught off of G 4 last weekend.

CATFISH: Jugs and trot lines are still producing catfish. With the water temp still warming, you have to check lines more often so you don’t loose fish. Cut shad and hot dogs were the best baits this week. Dick Caton was fishing with Truman. I think Truman ate all his little smokies this week. Lines set on the flats in 10 to 12 feet of water at about 6 feet have been taking fish. You want deeper water close by.

Tommy Novinska
(660) 438-2280
critter@dam.net