The fishing
report for Truman Lake in Missouri, runs from the
first Thursday in
April until the end of September.
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Check out the Missouri Department of Conservation Fishing Report here!
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Fishing Report Courtesy of Tom McGovern - Local Guide If you would like to have some help in
finding the fish you can go to www.Tomslastcast.com
or call Tom at 816-806-2215 to schedule a day of fishing. |
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August 26, 2010 Crappie: The crappie bite is pretty good right now. Like usual there are different patterns you can try to catch them. The first being around cedar trees in around 12' to 20' of water. Look for them to bite your blue and pearl jig anywhere from 5' deep to the bottom. If the shad are near the surface the crappie will be shallower-if you don't see the shad then they have been pushed deeper and the crappie will follow them. The other pattern and my favorite are the brush piles. Go to your brush piles (not mine) in deeper water and bump your jig in and around the limbs. If the action is slow try tipping your jig with a minnow. Bass: The bass are still hit and miss. Although they seemed to be moving shallower as the water cools back down. The key is structure. Whether the structure is wood, rock, or a break line you'll want to drag your worm, jig, or crawl slowly through the structure-letting it pause helps out. Most of the bites are smaller bass but, there are definitely good keepers mixed in. It's a matter of being in the right place when the big ones decide to feed. The most productive water seems to be in the 4' to 7' range. Flats or points-it doesn't matter either-they're at both places. Color doesn't seemed to matter that much. Throw the one you have the most confidence in. White Bass: These guys are going crazy in the evenings. They are tearing up the surface and anything that gets in their way. The old reliable such as the rooster tail type of spinners to crankbaits to pop-r's are working. The lower Osage, Grand and Tebo are hot areas right now. Just look for the splashing. Catfish: No Report, although I did catch a 30 pound flathead on a big red shad worm. |
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27, 2010 Lake Level: 708 Water Temp: 85 Water Color: Clear Crappie: <>Now that the lake is close to being at normal pool of 706.6 the crappie are getting on their regular summer pattern. Start on the flats in 15’ to 20’ of water and fish the trees (both hardwoods and cedars) about 10’ down with minnows and jigs. The brush piles are starting to hold crappie again. Another pattern is the bluffs. Try fishing the trees about 7’-12’ deep. You will go through a lot of smaller fish to get your limit, but you should have a lot of action.Bass: <>The bass are starting to show up where we expect them to be this time of year. They are suspending in the trees on the flats in around 12’ of water. On sunny days they are 7’-10’ down and cloudy days 5’-7’ deep. Big worms or big brush hogs in red shad, blue fleck, or watermelon are the colors to use. This doesn’t rule out flipping shallow water stumps or logs. Have a buzz bait or pop r handy throughout the day for bass busting shad on the surface. It can happen at anytime-shallow or deep.White/Hybrid Bass: Look for the whites and hybrids busting shad. G4, G10, and KK Island are seeing good action in the evenings. From |
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June 30, 2010 Lake Level: 718 Water Temp: 84 Water Color: Lightly stained (It looks great) <>Crappie: <>The crappie can be found on the flats around the hardwood trees. Look for trees in the 15’ to 25’ range and fish with minnows 10’ to 15’. Also, the bluffs are producing some good crappie in the same depth range as the flats.Bass: <>Water is being discharged around 32,000 cfs through the dam and this is pulling the bass to the main lake and secondary points. These fish seemed to be holding in the 10’ to 15’ range. Basically, they are most concentrated along the original bank line. Jigs, worms, and brush hogs are working well texas rigged and White Bass: <>With the current flowing again the whites and hybrids are getting back to doing what we want them to do and that is going to the humps. They are back on the humps around KK island, O3, cemetery, and on the weir. Bump ½ ounce jigging spoons and larger crappie jigs off the bottom in 15’ to 25’ of water. Trolling over these areas with medium divers are picking up some nice fish. Some (although brief) periods of whites busting the surface is going on through out the day. So keep a top water rod ready by your side. Catfish: No report |
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June 17, 2010 Lake Level: 717.83 Normal 707.6 Lake Temp: 83 Current Flow: 0 CFS Water Clarity: Lightly Stained <>Well the rains came again and the lake is back on the rise. Last weekend the lake level was around 714 but the heavy rains to the North and West is causing the lake to rise again. By Saturday the lake level is expected to be around 719. The COE isn’t expecting to release any water for at least several days. <> Crappie: The crappies are still pretty slow. Your best bet is to use minnows 10’ to 12’ deep in the hardwoods on the flats. You will need to keep on the move. I have found some over brush piles on jigs tipped with minnows. There are lots of shad holding in 15’-20’ of water about 5’-10’ deep off of points in open water. They could be mixed in with the shad and suspending away from structure. <>Bass: Over the several weeks the bass have been feeding up from the spawn. The blue gill and shad had moved up shallow bringing the bass with them. Bass are holding in 7-10’ of water. They were in 4’-6’ prior to the lake coming up several feet this week. Crank baits and soft plastics are working. Over the last couple of weeks I and my clients have boated over a hundred keeper bass and two to three times that counting small fish on T-Dawgs and Brush Dawgs flipped into the middle of the bushes and letting in sit there for a few seconds. I had one guy had a glass bead between the weight and the hook to add sound to the bait while in the bushes. He was able to pull the biggest bass of the day with that technique. The Timbe-R-Stik (senko style) worked along the wood lay downs has been deadly. With the stained water conditions these baits in Dark Melon with red flake really stands out and the bass really seemed to like them. These are hand poured lures to meet the water conditions at Truman. You can find them for sale at Long Shoal Marina, Parkside Cabins, and the C Store. White bass: There are definitely whites and hybrids following the schools of shad off of the main points and over the humps. Large numbers of shad schools are suspending 5’ to 15’ over deeper water. With the hotter weather causing the water temp to rise; some surfacing action is happening. Look for these schools of shad on you sonar (they are easy to find) and fish around them with crankbaits, spoons, and jigs. <> Catfish: No report Good Luck and Have Fun |
| <> May 27, 2010 Lake Level: 722 Lake Temp: 76 Current Flow: 49,000 CFS <>Water Clarity: Tebo & Lower Grand Arms: Stained Upper Grand and Osage Arms: Stained to Dirty <> Crappie: With the lake being so high the fish are scattered. There are two patterns to choose from for catching crappie. First is the summer pattern. Look for trees on the flats adjacent to the channel. Drop your jig tipped with a small minnow down along side the tree. These trees are anywhere from 15’ of water to 30’ deep. The bites have been coming anywhere from 12’ to the bottom. Work your jig all the way to the bottom until you find them. They crappie could be 12’ down on one tree and a tree next to it they could be on the bottom 20’ deep. The second pattern is shallow as in still spawning. About midway to the backs of the coves in the flooded bushes 4’-6’ deep there are crappie still spawning. The fish have been on the smaller size (around 10”) but none the less they taste as good as those big slabs. Weed less jigs (black & chartreuse) dipped from bush to bush have been working for some. Bass: During the past two weeks the bass fishing has been as bad as I’ve seen. The high water has had them shut down. Fortunately, today, I was able to find a couple of spots that actually held a good amount of bass on them. Two of us were able to boat around 40 bass and 20 of them were keepers. These fish were on main lake points in 5’-8’ of water. The bites came on darker soft plastics rigged texas style. No fast moving baits worked for us today. <>White bass: There is plenty of current flowing now. The whites and hybrids are starting to get back with it. Look for the normal humps and fish heavier jigs and spoons just up off the bottom. I have been finding them around 15’ to 25’ deep. Catfish: No report Good Luck and Have Fun |
| <> Lake Lake Temp: 67-70 <>Current Flow: 23.000 CFM Water Clarity: Tebo & Lower Grand Arms: Lightly stained to stained <> Upper Grand and Osage Arms: Stained to Dirty Crappie: There are a couple of different patterns for catching the crappie now. The first pattern is still the shallow bite. Some crappies are still trying to spawn. These seem to be the smaller ones. They are anywhere from the bank out to 6’ deep in the pockets off of the main lake or back in the coves. Look for the 45 degree sloped banks. Chartreuse and black or chartreuse and red jigs are working well. I have been using a 1/8th ounce pony head with the spinner to catch mine. The other pattern has the crappie moving out to 10’ to 12’ feet of water on the flats and over brush piles. These crappies are the ones that spawned a couple of weeks ago and are going to their summer pattern. Jigs and minnows are working well for this pattern. <>White bass: Well I’ve loaded up my live wells a couple of times since my last report; so I can report that the whites are biting. They are on the humps and weir. The humps around KK island and the old cemetery are a good bet. The weir (out in front of the dam-just look for the boats) is producing as well. Jigging spoons and plastic shad bodies seems to be the ticket from 15’ to 20’. Catfish: No report Good Luck and Have Fun |
| April 16, 2010 Lake Temp: 63-67 Current Flow; 16,600 CFM Water Clarity: Tebo & Lower Grand Arms: Lightly stained to stained Upper Grand and Osage Arms: Stained to Dirty Crappie: This is the
weekend to forget about the housework and the ball games and get to White bass: Not too much to report here. Some are being caught up the creeks on jigs while crappie fishing but nothing worth chasing after. They should be showing up on the humps pretty soon. I’ll let you know when they do (that is only after I have filled my live wells a time or two). <> Catfish: No report
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