Wow another month has gone by. It seems like the summer should be just starting. We are about a week away from Labor Day and are hoping everyone comes to Truman to enjoy the holiday with us. The lake is a little low now so we do need to exercise extra caution when boating. There are a few stumps and trees that are showing that aren't normally seen. And when traveling on the highways there are lots of deer moving so extra caution would be advised. We are about 18 days away from the opening of archery season for deer and from what I can see it looks like it should be a good season with lots of deer. It's time to pick up permits and do a regulation check on what has changed for this year. With the presence of CWD in the state it seems each county changes rules every year. LAKE LEVEL: 704.8 WATER TEMP: 82 deg. WATER CLARITY: Clear to lightly stained. CRAPPIE: The best way to put the crappie fishing this week is that they are not jumping in the boat but if you work at it you can catch a nice bunch of fish through out the day. With the heat we had this week it was a little hard to be on the water during mid day. The best bite seems to be in the hard woods on the flats in 12' to 15' with the fish holding at about 10'. Minnows by far are the best bait. With the lake being low you can find trees that haven't been fished all summer. The isolates clumps of trees are also producing numbers of fish. Look in the same depth range. The bridge pillars are also putting out some fish. 25' of water down 15 to 18' seems the best with minnows for bait. BASS: The bass fishing is the same as last week with points being the most productive. Jig and frog or big worms fished in 8' to 10' is producing some nice fish. Either main lake or secondary points will work. A square bill will also work on these points with Tenn. shad being the best color. Pop R's fished on the timbered flats in the early am. will also pick up fish. Look is 6' of water and the presence of shad is a must. The suspended bite is still working along the edge of creek channels. It seems that smaller baits fished weightless are working better now. WHITES & HYBRIDS: With the shad schooling on the surface now the white bass fishing has been good. The evening bite seems to be the best. Rooster Tails seem to be the best bait right now for surfacing whites. With no flow going through the dam it's pretty much top water action on the whites. Watch for the gulls hitting the water they are good fish finders. I talked to several folks that picked up hybrids surfacing lately. Might be a good idea to keep a rod loaded with a 3" sassy shad on a 1/2 oz. head just in case. CATFISH: There is no change in the cat fishing this week. Jugs seem to be working well on the flats in 8' to 12' of water close to a channel edge. Cut shad seems to be working the best. best action has been with baits set about 5'. Lots of reports this week of slot fish being caught. Rod and reel drift fishing has also been good in the same areas. With the water temp warming up again jugs have to be run more often. WALLEYE: I don't have a walleye report this week the guys that help me out with this went to a different lake this week. I'm sure the pattern hasn't changed though with trolling flicker shad on the humps and switching to crawler rigs on bottom bouncers in the saddles during the day. That's the report for this week. I hope you all can come to the lake for the up coming holiday and enjoy it with us here at Osage Bluff Marina 660-438-2939. If your looking for rooms please feel free to contact Osage Bluff Motel at 660-438-2891. Have a great week in the outdoors. Till next week Tommy
