Missouri

Fishing in Missouri

Fishing in Missouri is yet another life-time memorable experience! Missouri has got around a million of acres of surface water, most of which offers great fishing. Lakes, rivers, 200 different species of fish including 40 most favorite ones, and what not! Missouri has got everything to satisfy your passion of fishing.

Pony Express Lake: Western Missouri

Pony Express Lake provides the most varied fishing opportunities amongst other small lakes of the state. Tremendously abundant crappie, muskie and catfish, additionally excellent largemouth bass are the lake’s special features.

Crappie Festival

Annual Crappie Festival is arranged for 1 day in May every year by the Missouri Dept. of Conservation, in which anglers are given lessons about how to catch crappie and cook it. It is a neat event for families who want to learn fishing. Many door prizes are offered to children, which in addition to the fast fishing action is surely to encourage their interest.

Season, Baits and Techniques

It is best to catch muskie during spring and fall, at dawn and dusk or on cloudy days, as the fish is most actively feeding on such days. Large white bucktails and spinner baits are the best. Spring and early summer are best season for bass fishing. Most lures work well in spring when the fish is aggressive, the best bait being imitation shad. Catfishing is better after a rain when water flows in the upper ends of the lake. Don’t fish too deep for the fish in summer. For blue catfish, to drift cut shad or live sunfish is the best bait. You can best hook the fish on shallow flats near deeper water in spring and fall, or otherwise suspend baits in deeper water slightly above the thermo cline in summer. The thermo cline in the lake is typically between 9 to 12 feet deep in summer.

Reward Tagged Catfish

The Pony Express Lake contains some catfish which have tags worth from $1 to $100. If you happen to catch such a fish, return the tag to the DMC and get the reward. You will get the tag back too.

Mark Twain Lake

Situated 120 miles northwest to St. Louis, Mark Twain Lake is 18,600 acres Corps Engineers Lake. The Salt River and some nearby creeks pour most of the water in the lake. The lake offers generous fishing of black bass, crappie, bluegill, walleye and catfish.

Best Baits and Seasons

For bass, jig-pig is the best in spring and in winter, while plastic worms, and crankbaits work best in summer and in fall, top water, and spinnerbaits work well. For crappie, minnows and jigs work well in all seasons, while crickets and worms work well for bluegill in all the seasons. For catfish, cut shad is the best, while crankbaits and jigs are best for walleye. Night fishing in summer is good, and fair in spring and fall, though winter doesn’t favor night fishing.

Lake of the Ozarks

This is a 57,000 acre lake situated in the central Missouri, and offers some of the best fishing in Missouri. The lake has a wide variety of shoreline structure providing excellent spawning for every fish, and so you can get variety of species like black bass, bluegill, crappie, white bass, walleye and catfish.

Baits and the Seasons

For bass, rogues and jig-pig work well in spring, while plastic worms work better in summer, crankbaits in fall and rogues again in winter. Minnows and jigs work well in all seasons for crappie, while worms and waxworms are best for bluegill. Roadrunners and jigs are best for white bass, while liver, goldfish, stinkbait, shrimp, perch, and worms are best for catfish. For walleye, minnows and crankbaits work well in spring, lipless crankbaits are best in summer and fall and jigs and spoons are best in winter. Night time fishing is excellent in summer, good in fall and poor in winter.

Truman Lake

Truman Lake situated in the mid-western part of the state, is a 55,600 acre Corps of Engineers Lake and provides yet another good fishing in Missouri, with a variety of species like black and white bass, crappies, walleye, catfish and bluegill.

Baits and the Seasons

Jerkbaits, jig-pig, and spinnertails all work well for bass in spring, and top water, plastic worms and craws in summer. Top water and spinnerbaits work well in fall and jig-pig and spoons in winter. Jigs and minnows are best for crappie, while crickets and worms are best for bluegill, and white bass are best caught with spoons. Cut shad and stinkbaits are best for catfish, and jigs, worms and crankbaits are best for walleye. Night fishing is well favored in all seasons, except in winter.

There are number of other lakes like Stockton, Table Rock, Bull Shoals, Pomme de Terre, Clearwater, Wappapello , and Taneycomo offering wonderful fishing in Missouri. So do not miss it if a chance comes to get into the Show-me State!