What a great week in the Ozarks, we had just enough rain here to settle the dust and for August the temps have been vary tolerable. With the state fair starting this week it seems like it is almost to cool. Well lets just hope that this weather holds for a while. The water here on Truman continues to drop and it is just about to where we should see a big improvement in the fishing. There is more cover appearing everyday and with the lake on a continuous drop the humps and brush piles will start being fishable real soon.
A continued word of caution with the lake where it is at its time to stay in the channels when running. Some or the tree tops are getting to be lower unit height. As far as drift goes I am not seeing any at all and the water clarity is perfect for fishing. With the extra traffic in the area and the good deer herd we have keep a tight grip on the wheel, this morning coming into the marina I saw 9 deer and they were defiantly not afraid of vehicles.
LAKE LEVEL: 719.2.
WATER TEMP: 83 deg.
WATER CLARITY: Clear to lightly stained.
CRAPPIE: It seems everyday we see more crappie come in. The secondary points are still holding crappie in 18' to 25' of water with fish holding 10' to 12' down. Minnows seem to be working the best. The tree rows on the flats are starting to show up more each day and there are fish holding on them down about 10'. Some of these tree rows are still in 25'+ water but the fish are holding rite on top of them. Cedars seem to be working the best. There has also been a few fish come off the bridge pillars with minnows being the best bait.
BASS: The bass fishing is about the same as last week with some nice large mouth coming off the secondary points. When fishing the points the current flow around the point is the key factor if there is fish on that point or not. Big worms and creature baits are working the best here in 8' to 12' of water. With the amount of shad schools on top the top water bite on the timbered flats in the early am. has been good. Buzz baits and Pop R's has been very productive.
WHITES & HYBRIDS: The hybrid fishing has slowed down a little this week but the white bass have picked up. The KK Island area has produced some real nice whites on spoons this week. There has been shad just about everywhere around the island and the whites are staying right with them. There has also been some surfacing fish in the evenings. I look for the humps to start just any day now with the lake level where its at. Also some of the old road beds should start holding some nice whites.
CATFISH: The cat fishing here on Truman remains good. Jugs seem to be working the best for blues with several fish over the slot being caught. Flats in 20' of water fished with cut bait down about 10' will keep you busy. Trot lines set on channel bends off the edge of the flats are also working. 20'-25' of water with baits set 8' to 10' using cut bait has produced some nice fish this week. Fishing the current off these bends is the key to catching better fish.
WALLEYE: Not to much to report on the walleye this week. The bite has gotten a little slow. It's getting close to working crawler rigs on the humps along with spoons. Trolling a deep running crank bait should also produce around KK Island.
We have a holiday coming up in the not to distant future so if you are in need of a boat stall you might want to get one reserved at Osage Bluff Marina 660-438-2939. Sounds like we are going to have some big things going on over the holiday that you don't want to miss. Rooms are available at Osage Bluff Motel at 660-438-2891.
Till next week
Tommy
