Fishing report: Practice safe social distancing and head to a Missouri or Kansas lake

Here is the fishing report for lakes and reservoirs in the Kansas City area and regionally around Kansas and Missouri for April 1, 2020.

Missouri

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and the Missouri Conservation Commission announced they are temporarily waiving permit requirements for sport fishing and daily trout tags for Missouri residents and nonresidents whose fishing privileges are not otherwise suspended. The waiver of needing a permit or trout tag to fish will run from Friday, March 27, through April 15. MDC will reassess the situation at that point. All season dates, methods, and limits will continue to apply and be enforced.

BLUE SPRINGS: 50 degrees, stained, high Outlook: Lee’s Summit Area Fishing Facebook Group reports: marina is closed until further notice due to COVID19 precautions. Look for wipers near the blowhole if water is coming in from Jacomo. Crappie around standing timber is your best bet. Folks are still getting into them using jigs or minnows. No reports of wipers but should start moving in on the dam as the water warms. Wait until the wind is blowing in on the dam and you may have some luck.

BULL SHOALS: mid to upper 50s degrees, dingy to clear, 19 feet high and rising Outlook: Del Colvin Guide Service reports: access is becoming limited with high water. Fishing is good. Look at areas close to shallow flats using jerkbaits. Jigs on points 10-25 feet down and swimbaits are producing in clear water. Around shad, cranking or spinnerbaits are good if there’s wind. Target drains and channel swing transitions towards spawning pockets. A small group of fish are starting to move up on gravel points close to or on the bottom using Ned, shaky head or Finesse rigs. Check on steeper banks with big rock or ledge transition banks. Whites are moving up and walleyes getting caught towards dusk on jerkbaits. 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 has been Rim Shoals on lower flows. 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, like a combination pheasant tail nymph worm with a ruby midge suspended below it.

JACOMO: upper 40s/50s, stained, normal Outlook: Lee’s Summit Area Fishing Facebook group reports: marina is closed until further notice due to COVID19 precautions. Things are still slow overall. Look for crappie near brush in 5-10 feet of water or along the public docks using jigs or minnows. Walleye are spawning and you can find them at the dam or near the spillway. White bass will be moving up on the dam in big numbers very soon. Look for crappie to hit the banks in about 3 banks.

JAMES A. REED: 56 degrees, stained, normal Outlook: Missouri Dept. of Conservation reports: trout have ben slowing down. Several good reports of crappie being found on jigs and minnows fished slow near brush. Largemouth bass are being caught on crankbaits and bladed jigs. All other species slow. Due to public safety concerns from the coronavirus, MDC has suspended the channel catfish stockings for the Kansas City area park lakes until further notice. Also, the rental boats will not be available at the James A. Reed Area until further notice.

LAKE OF THE OZARKS: mid to upper 50s, stained, 5 feet low Outlook: Gier’s Bass Pro reports: fishing is still slow overall. Look for crappie 15 feet deep over brush. Some have been found on secondary points starting to move shallow. Jerkbait bite for bass is going to be your best bet.

LONGVIEW: 50 degrees, stained, normal Outlook: Longview Marina reports: Marina is closed until May 15th due to COVID19 precautions. No dock fishing is available. The gates are closed until further notice but the lake is open. Some reports of walleye at the dam. Crappie are biting well on jigs in the coves and down in the trees on the Blue River side. Join Lee’s Summit Area Fishing Facebook group for daily updates.

NORFORK: 60 degrees, muddy, 17 feet high Outlook: Bink’s Guide Service reports: stripers are biting stick baits after dark. Bass are trying to spawn. White bass are spawning back in the creeks as are walleye.

POMME DE TERRE: 56 degrees, stained, 7 feet high (3000 CFS) Outlook: Pomme Muskie Guide Service reports: Look for crappie over brush piles on jigs and minnows on the lake, and some are beginning to be found shallow. Some days have been hit or miss. Bass are slow, but hitting jerk baits and crankbaits. Walleye should be up trying to finish up the spawning process.

SMITHVILLE: 53 degrees, clear, 2 feet low (8 CFS) Outlook: Burton’s Bait and Tackle reports: the walleye are moving up to the face of the dam at night. They are not feeding but will bite out of aggression. When fishing from the bank, a floating Rapala or Rogue fished slowly will work best. An hour before dark till daylight. You just need to aggravate them into biting. The crappie are still fairly deep. With the water running the crappie are hard to find except at the docks and bridge pillars. Minnows or jigs are working. A few bass are being reported from rocky areas on suspending rogues. The cats are biting well in the upper parts of the lake on cut bait. The prepared baits are not as good in the cold water. 10 feet or less of water is your target. The white bass were biting fair in the river areas near Plattsburg.

STOCKTON: 52 degrees, clear, 9.5 feet high (5670 CFS) Outlook: Tandem Fly Outfitters reports: Bass are hitting a jerk bait, jig, and A-rig prior to that. Crappie are still suspended 15-35 feet down in water as deep as 65-70 feet and biting 1/8th oz jig head with a blue ice colored jig. Also, try white, silver, or clown colored ¼ oz Bink’s spoons. Walleye are hitting a jerk bait on main lake points, but are still intermittent. Still having to really work for them. They have also been biting on ¼ oz Bink’s spoon or Rapala Jig-N-Rap.

TABLE ROCK: 58 degrees, clear main lake (stained to muddy in rivers), 7.5 feet high Outlook: Eric Prey of Focused Fishing Guide Service reports: For bass, concentrate on the old bank line (9’ deep) with crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs. As the water stops rising, look for fish to move into the newly flooded ground where they can be caught on jigs, shaky heads and Ned rigs. Bass are moving into spawning pockets and can be caught on swimbaits and wacky rigged senkos. For crappie, the bite will likely be tough with the high water. Most of the fish are still relating to tree tops and brush moving up to spawn. Water clarity is going to be an issue so live bait will likely be your best bet. White Bass have the same water clarity issues as crappie. They have been moving upstream to spawn and should be on flats in the river arms. Bright white or chartreuse baits with a lot of movement fished shallow should work. There is a lot of debris throughout the lake but especially in the river arms, use extreme caution when running all over the lake.

TANEYCOMO: 47 degrees, clear, 20,000 CFS Outlook: Lilleys’ Landing reports: Starting Tuesday of last week, shad started pouring over the spill gates in Lake Taneycomo, which continued through Thursday. White jigs and shad flies started working well until fish finally had their fill. Things got a little tougher over the weekend but key was keeping the white 1/8th-ounce jig or the shad fly on the bottom where the fish were holding. Dragging small stick baits behind the boat is producing. Scuds and San Juan worms have really slowed down in production in the last week. If you’re jig fishing, try working the seam where fast and slow water meet and also in the eddy water.

TRUMAN: 54 degrees, stained, 10 feet high (30,000 CFS) Outlook: Richard Bowling Guide Service reports: Crappie bite is very good. Fish the creeks in 10 feet of water and more. Spider rigging is working well with double minnow rigs. One pole jig fishing or minnow fishing is working as well. Quality and quantity are being caught. Catfish are being caught on main lake flats in the upper end in 6-10 feet of water using fresh cut bait 2 feet off the bottom but has slowed down a bit overall.

Kansas

CLINTON: 51 degrees, dingy, 4 feet high (7 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Good reports of crappie in 10-20 feet over channel breaks and brush using chartreuse jigs. Minnows will work too. Channel cats are good near recent inflows on nightcrawlers. Walleye should be moving up to the dam now and can be targeted with jigs or jerkbaits from dusk to dawn. 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 some of the docks may not be in. The dock is in on the north Bloomington Ramp.

COFFEY COUNTY: 57 degrees north end, hot water outlet 71, upper 40s everywhere else, clear, low Outlook: KDWPT reports: the lake is officially closed as of 3/24 and remain closed until April 15th. This is subject to change depending on progress of coronavirus. Wipers and whites were biting very well leading up to the lake being closed.

EL DORADO: upper 40s, murky, 1 foot high (13 CFS) Outlook: KS Dept. of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism: Wipers are fair near breaks or humps early and moving towards shallow points and shorelines as the water warms up during the day. Jig and plastic or crankbaits work well. There are a lot of 4-inch shad in the lake that most game fish are feeding on so match the size of your baits to that. Crappie are slow and scattered right now. Walleye spawn is in full swing. Lots of males on the spawning grounds throughout the day. Females coming in after dark. Jerk baits are great choices this time of the year, but walleye can also be caught on jigs and live bait.

GLEN ELDER (WACONDA LAKE): mid to upper 40s, clear, 1 foot high (50 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Anglers have been catching fair numbers of crappie on the main lake brush piles including Swim Beach, Campground 3, and Walnut Creek. There have also been some fish caught on the river channel drops in 30-35 feet of water. Walleye are fair to good around Walnut Creek, along the dam, and along the river channel in the middle portion of the reservoir. They can usually be found in 5-10 feet of water in the evening and early morning and head to deeper water throughout the day. Spawn is taking off. White bass can be caught on the west end of the reservoir near the Cawker City causeway and up the river channels using slab spoons, crankbaits, and Kastmasters. There are also some fish to be caught along the dam and in the Walnut Creek area. Channel catfish are good and anglers have had best success drifting cut shad, shad gizzards, shrimp, and stink bait. Best areas to try include near the mouth of Oak Creek, off the Cawker City dike and golf course, and in Mill Creek. Black bass have been slow.

HILLSDALE: 48 degrees, stained, 1.7 feet high (80 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Crappie are fair in brush piles or near the heated marina dock using minnows and jigs anywhere from 10-25 feet down. White bass are fair off wind blown points. Jigs and shad imitation lures are the best baits right now. Some walleye have been caught while crappie fishing. Look for them to move up to the dam right now. All other species slow.

LA CYGNE: upper 40s/low 50s, clear, a little high Outlook: KDWPT reports: The crappie are moving into staging areas for spawning. Some have been caught off the wall gates where water is released at the dam. Quality fish are being reported on jigs/minnows near structure. Largemouth are slow to fair fishing the deep side of the riprap areas and weed beds. Use cranks, jerkbaits, or spinner baits like shad imitations. White bass are fair using shad imitations or silver spoons in the area of the hot water outlet. Most have been in the 1-2 pound range.

MELVERN: 52 degrees, stained, 1.5 feet high (20 CFS) Outlook: Melvern Lake Marina reports: Crappie are fair over established brush piles and along the docks on minnows and small ice jigs. Smallmouth are fair lakewide on minnows and shallow crankbaits. White bass are fair on shallow crankbaits and minnows. Channel catfish are slow to fair with a few caught near cleaning stations and in the outlet area on nightcrawlers. All other species slow or no reports.

MILFORD: 48 degrees, stained, 0.3 feet low (25 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Catfish are fair overall. Channel catfish can be caught on cut bait, worms, and stink bait. Look for fresh water inflows. Blue catfish are typically caught on fresh cut bait. Target wind blown flats and river channel ledges for catfish. Crappie are fair 10-20 feet deep suspended near points, flooded brush, and ledges on jigs and minnows. Walleye are fair near rocky or wind-swept mud banks with jigs or jerkbaits as they move up to spawn. Use a slow retrieve with significant pauses while throwing a jerkbait. White bass/wipers are fair along windy banks and points using jigs on the reservoir or target the river on north end of the reservoir.

PERRY: 52 degrees, clear, 4 feet high (60 CFS) Outlook: Don and Tom’s Bait and Tackle reports: Folks caught their limits of crappie all around the lake this past week, but fish are scattered. Even bank fishermen fishing around Slough Creek Bridge with slip bobbers caught limits. Fishing around the docks continues to produce. White bass have been hitting around Rock Creek Bridge. Some 3-pounders have been reported. Walleye and saugeye are being caught up at the dam recently.

POMONA: 47 degrees, stained, 4.5 feet high (500 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Walleye are up on the dam near dark and throughout the night. Try jerkbaits, crank baits or jigs tipped with nightcrawlers. White bass/wipers are slow. Good baits are minnows/live baits, cut bait, sometimes wipers hit liver and shad imitation lures. Crappie excellent with many over 10-inches being reported, especially around the rock quarry on dark jigs and minnows.

TUTTLE CREEK: 48 degrees, clear, 4 feet high (200 CFS) Outlook: Kansas Department of Wildlife reports: Crappie are excellent over standing brush piles with jigs and minnows 15-25 feet deep. Catfish fair on fresh cut bait on flats and channel swings. Look for fresh inflows of water. Saugeye are best in the River Pond or at Rocky Ford. Trout are slowing down at Willow Lake but still being found.

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.