Outdoors report: Fishing has been tough, but you can still find ‘em if you put in work
Here is the fishing and hunting report for lakes and reservoirs in the Kansas City area and regionally around Kansas and Missouri for January 29, 2019.
FISHING
Missouri
BLUE SPRINGS: low 30s, stained, normal Outlook: Lee’s Summit Area Fishing Facebook Group reports: mostly iced over. Not safe to walk on. You’re best fishing opportunity will be around the marina. Call ahead to make sure there is open water. Crappie will hit on jigs or minnows.
BULL SHOALS: 48 degrees, dingy to clear, 8.5 feet high Outlook: Del Colvin Guide Service reports: Fishing is fair. Look for birds, loons and gulls actively feeding to find the shad at the surface. There are some shad dying off. They’ll be at the top down to 50 feet. Tops of trees are holding shad 40 to 60 feet down halfway back into major creeks. Finding shad is key! The shad seem to be breaking up with water generation. Look for big groups of shad on your graph. A-rig is producing. No wind or sun, go deep on drop shots, close to or on the bottom rapala ice jigs, spoons, or damiki rigs. Cranking on cloudy days is good, but also try jigs on ledge transitions. Wind will help rock crawler/wiggle wart bite, but you need to stay on steeper banks with big rock or ledges. Del Colvin also does a video fishing report on YouTube: Bull Shoals Lake Fishing Report. Below the dam: John Berry of Berry Bros. Guide Service reports: The White has fished well. The hot spot has been Bull Shoals State Park. The hot flies were olive woolly buggers (#8, #10), Y2Ks (#14, #12), prince nymphs (#14), zebra midges (black with silver wire and silver bead or red with silver wire and silver bead #16, #18), pheasant tails (#14), ruby midges (#18), root beer midges (#18), pink and cerise San Juan worms (#10), and sowbugs (#16). Double fly nymph rigs have been very effective (current Berry Bros. favorite combination is a cerise high water San Juan worm with an egg pattern suspended below it). Use long leaders and plenty of weight to get your flies down.
JACOMO: low 30s, stained, normal Outlook: Lee’s Summit Area Fishing Facebook group reports: main lake is mostly open. Any ice present is not safe to walk on. Ramp at north marina is open. Look for crappie around the marina using jigs or minnows. They may also be sitting down deep on brush.
JAMES A. REED: 32 degrees, clear, normal Outlook: Missouri Dept. of Conservation reports: Lakes are ice covered. Ice is unsafe. Fishing pressure is low but some folks have broke ice around the docks and caught trout.
LAKE OF THE OZARKS: 43 degrees, clear, 1 foot low Outlook: Gier’s Bass Pro reports: fish are on the winter pattern. Things have been hit or miss. Look for crappie 15 feet deep over brush. Jerkbait bite worked extremely slow for bass should produce a few.
LONGVIEW: upper 30s/low 40s, dingy, normal Outlook: Longview Marina reports: things have been very slow on the lake and around the marina. Try using black and silver colored jigs 20 feet down. Fishing hours are 8am-12:30pm 7 days a week. Join Lee’s Summit Area Fishing Facebook group for daily updates.
NORFORK: 48 degrees, stained, 6 feet high Outlook: Bink’s Guide Service reports: the best bite for multi-species like hybrids, wipers, and whites is down dep on main lake flats. Look for them 75 feet down. Crappie can be found in the back of creeks vertically jigging the ¼ oz Bink’s spoon.
POMME DE TERRE: 40 degrees, clear, 8 feet high (2800 CFS) Outlook: Pomme Muskie Guide Service reports: lake is more stained the further down you go. Not many reports in last week due to cold. Crappie can be found over brush piles on jigs and minnows. Bass are being found most frequently on A-rigs. All other species slow.
SMITHVILLE: 32 degrees, clear, 2 feet low (8 CFS) Outlook: Burton’s Bait and Tackle reports: Most of lake is still iced over. Crappie are still fair to good but having to find them around the docks.
STOCKTON: 40 degrees, clear, 6.1 feet high (40 CFS) Outlook: Tandem Fly Outfitters reports: Bass are hitting well on a jerk bait, jig, and A-rig. Crappe are 30-40 feet down and biting 1/8th oz jig head with a blue ice colored jig. Also try white, silver, or clown colored 1/4oz Bink’s spoons. A few walleye are starting to hit a jerk bait on main lake points. They have also been biting on 1/4oz Bink’s spoon or Rapala Jig-N-Rap.
TABLE ROCK: 47 degrees, clear main lake (clear to stained rivers), 2 feet high Outlook: Eric Prey of Focused Fishing Guide Service reports: For bass, the jerkbait has started to catch a few on steeper rocky banks arounds standing timber. Most fish have been suspended 5-10 feet over 15-25 feet of water. Jigs have been effective on mixed rock and gravel points 10-25 feet deep on the main lake 8-15 feet deep in the rivers. A-rigs have been working on steeper banks and points around standing timber. The deep bite has been good on spoons and jigging lures, most fish are 40-60 feet deep on gravel points. White Bass are fair to good and most are being caught deep in the rivers 35-50 feet down on gravel points. Most crappie are being caught on jigs and baby shad lures around brush in the rivers 15-30 feet deep.
TANEYCOMO: 47 degrees, clear, 10,000 CFS Outlook: Lilleys’ Landing reports: big generation expected to continue after large rain. Despite the heavy flow, fishing has still been very good. Minnows and night crawlers have been working very well lately on the bottom. Best area has been from Monkey Island down to Branson Landing. PowerEggs will catch you rainbows as well. White marabou jigs have been working from Fall Creek down to Branson Landing. Anglers are also dragging small minnow imitation hard baits along the bottom using a Carolina rig. Drifting with #12 scuds and San Juan worms in cerise and pink color is still a hot technique to reel in trout both in and down from the Trophy Area.
TRUMAN: 38 degrees, stained, 10 feet high (18,000 CFS) Outlook: Richard Bowling Guide Service reports: Lake level Crappie are being caught 8-10 feet deep in the upper end of the lake fishing 10 feet of water and more. On the lower end of the lake, fish 18 feet down in 20 feet of water and more. Fish the bluffs and the mouth of the creeks. Catfish bite is very slow recently.
Kansas
CLINTON: 33 degrees, dingy, normal (500 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Good reports of crappie coming from deep water down to 30 feet over channel breaks and brush using small jigs. Very delicate bite, anglers are lowering down jigs and trying to keep them still. Boat Ramp # 1 and 2 (Marina) are open in the State Park. The west ramps (#3) in the State Park are closed as is Campground 3 for repairs. Also, the Bloomington Ramps are open, but the docks may not be in.
COFFEY COUNTY: low 40s, clear, about normal Outlook: KDWPT reports: Fishing continues to be very slow. White bass and wipers will hit if you can find them. Entrance gate phone number is 620-364-2475. Be sure to call ahead for lake conditions.
EL DORADO: mid 30s, stained, 0.3 feet high (255 CFS) Outlook: KS Dept. of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism: All boat ramps usable. Trout fishing has slowed due to water release which has dispersed the fish. You can find them on baits such as PowerBait, cheese, spinners, spoons, and small jigs and flies. Crappie are slow to fair in flooded timber and brush piles on minnows and jigs, but far from great fishing right now.
GLEN ELDER (WACONDA LAKE): low 30s, stained, 1 foot low (600 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Lake is 80% ice covered as of Jan. 21. ALL BOAT RAMPS are frozen in and cannot be used. There have only been a couple of anglers attempting to ice fish near Boller Point. The ice is approximately 4 inches off the Boller Point boat ramp, but there are still open holes north of the ramp and anglers are advised not to venture out too far. The rest of the reservoir is not safe for ice fishing at this time. The park pond should be safe for ice fishing for trout, but as always, anglers are advised to use extreme caution when heading out onto the ice and always fish with someone else. Crappie are biting very well if you can safely find them.
HILLSDALE: 34 degrees, stained, 0.4 feet low Outlook: KDWPT reports: Crappie are fair in brush piles or near the heated marina dock using minnows and jigs about 20 feet down on minnows and jigs.
LA CYGNE: upper 30s, clear, normal Outlook: KDWPT reports: all ramps open. White bass are fair near the hot water outlet. Some wipers have been caught out over the bridge. They can be found chasing gizzard shad on the surface as well. Largemouth are very slow on deep side of riprap areas and weed beds. Crappie are close to brush in 5-12 feet of water on jigs or minnows. For information on the Linn County Marina boat ramps, call 913-757-6633.
MELVERN: 33 degrees, stained, 0.4 feet low (500 CFS) Outlook: Melvern Lake Marina reports: All boat ramps accessible. Crappie are fair over established brush piles and along the docks on minnows and small ice jigs. Smallmouth are fair lakewide on shallow crankbaits or minnows. White bass are fair on shallow crankbaits on wind blown banks. All other species poor or no reports.
MILFORD: 35 degrees, stained, 2.8 feet low (2500 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Channel catfish fair on cut bait, worms, and stink bait. Blue catfish fair on fresh cut bait. Target wind blown flats. Crappie fair 10-20 feet deep suspended near points, flooded brush, and ledges on jigs and minnows. Walleye good near rocky or wind-swept mud banks with jigs. White bass and wipers are fair on jigs in the river on the north end of the reservoir.
PERRY: 31 degrees, clear, 1 foot low Outlook: Don and Tom’s Bait and Tackle reports: There is quite a bit of ice in the coves. The agitators are on in the marinas and guys are still catching their limits. Crappie are very good around the docks and moving deeper 15-25 feet down. Bobby Garland plastic baits have been really popular in a variety of colors. Blue cats have been good recently in the channels.
POMONA: 34 degrees, stained, 0.7 feet low (250 CFS Tues) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Crappie are biting very well. Good sizes of 10-11 inches are being caught around the rock quarry, the heated docks and along Dragoon. Best baits are dark jigs and/or minnows. All other species slow.
TUTTLE CREEK: 32 degrees, clear, 3 feet low (3000 CFS) Outlook: Kansas Department of Wildlife reports: things are getting back to normal now. Crappie are good over brush piles with jigs and minnows 12-20 feet deep. The high release rates have moved a lot of saugeye from the Reservoir downstream which has led to some good fishing in the River Pond, the river below the dam or at Rocky Ford. So far this trout season, Willow Lake has been stocked with 4,100 trout. Anglers have been doing fairly well with traditional trout baits or power baits. A trout permit is required for fishing at Willow Lake during the trout season.
HUNTING
Missouri
South Zone (season closes Jan 31):
10 Mile Pond CA: Last report 1/23, roughly 18,000 ducks were observed. Week prior to 1/23, 36 hunters harvested 0 ducks.
Tyler Mahoney is a Rockhurst University-educated outdoors fanatic who works to support his hunting and fishing habits. Read more of his next-generation insight at mahoneyoutdoors.com.