This looks like the start of a long holiday week. With the 4th of July on Wed. here at the lake it looks like we are going to celebrate for the whole week. Warsaw is doing fire works off the dam this Sat. night and Osage Bluff will be doing ours on the 7th. of July. There are several area towns doing theirs on Wed the 4th so come and celebrate with us here in the lakes country. The weather looks like it is going to be typical for the 4th of July and the lake is in great shape so come on down.
We had a storm roll through here Tues afternoon with some high winds and it dropped about 2" of rain in the area but all this water didn't affect the lake. We are actually a little below normal pool right now. The is lots of flooding going on in the MO River basin but I'm not seeing where this will affect Truman. With the hot temps we are having you would assume that the COE will be generating power in the afternoons keeping the good fishing going. Keep in mind that when the lake gets below normal a little extra caution is needed when running the lake.
LAKE LEVEL: 705.9
WATER TEMP: 84 deg.
WATER CLARITY: Light stain
CRAPPIE: The crappie fishing is the same as it was last week with brush piles being the most popular right now. Piles in 18' to 20' seem to be the best now with minnows or jigs working. The fish seem to float up and down in these piles but once you hit the first fish there will be a bunch at that depth. The bluff banks in 25' of water are also going now. The crappie seem to be holding about 15' with the bushier hard woods working the best. Minnows are working the best and take plenty as you will have to sort through the little guys to get a good limit. With the lake at this level and the water clarity the way it is there are more trees on the flats showing. Tree rows in 8' to 15' of water fished with minnows down about 7' are holding some big ole crappie.
BASS: Big worms and deep water points are the best bet right now. Main lake or secondary points fished down 8' to 15' are the best. A deep running crank bait on the secondary points will also work. I know it seems a little early in the season but I have seen a few schools of surfacing bass but with the number of shad working the top it is probably understandable. The early morning top water bite is still going on the wind blown flats. Lunker lures and Pop R's are the two top baits.
WHITES & HYBRIDS: KK Island has been one of the hot spots for hybrids this week. The evening top water bite has been good. Rooster Tails and 4" sassy shad have been the best baits. There has been some live bait action in the airport area. Spoons are working on the humps in 10' + water when they are running water. There has been some surfacing going on during the day on the big schools of shad so keep a Rooster Tail or a Rat L Trap tied on.
CATFISH: Jugs are the best of the best now. There are lots on nice blues being taken off the flats in 8' to 12' of water. Cut shad is working the best when set about 5'. Same goes with rod and reel drift fishing, There has also been several nice fish come off the humps doing the same thing. Trot lines are working in 15' to 20' of water along the chunk rock bluff banks. Cut bait fished down about 8' seems the best. With the water temp where its at lines need to be run about every 6 hours.
WALLEYE: There are still good numbers of walleye coming in. Crawler rigs with bottom bouncers and deep running crank baits have been the best around the humps. 10' to 15' of water seems to be to their liking. Flat main lake points close to deep water with pee gravel are also working on the Pommie arm. Best depth is about 8' to 10' with this being a early morning bite.
That's it for this week. We do have a couple of stalls left for this weekend if you need one for the fire works. You can contact us at Osage Bluff Marina 660-438-2939. Check us out on Facebook at Osage Bluff Marina for the latest and greatest happenings on the lake. When traveling the lakes area over the holiday please use extra caution when on the lakes or the highways. All of us here at Osage Bluff would like to wish everyone a HAPPY and SAFE 4th of July.
Till next week
Tommy
