Outdoors report: Prospects looking good for a long July 4th weekend. And what a fish!
Here is the fishing report for lakes and reservoirs in the Kansas City area and regionally around Kansas and Missouri for July 1, 2020.
Before we dive into this weekend’s prospects, check out what Tyler caught during a recent adventure on the lake ...
Missouri
BLUE SPRINGS: upper 70s/low 80s, stained, low Outlook: Lee’s Summit Area Fishing Facebook Group reports: White bass can be found lakewide. Trolling crankbaits for crappie should be a good way to find them on the main lake along channel cuts and drop offs. Bandit 200s and 300s are a good trolling option. Don’t be afraid to look for them more shallow near the timber on the south side of the lake. Largemouth have been fair in the last week. Topwater bite early and late has been decent recently.
BULL SHOALS: 82 degrees, dingy to clear, 32 feet and falling Outlook: Del Colvin Guide Service reports: Corp. limited access to ramps and parking, call first especially on weekends. Summer patterns are in effect. You’re going to work for them! Fish the conditions. Getting up early for topwater can make or break your day! Poppers and Berkley wake bait have been a staple. Try whopper plopper, buzz bait, or chatterbait for powerfishing. Smallies/Kentuckys are out on main and secondary points, sunken islands, humps, channel swings bluffs, and bluff ends biting well on a swimbait near shad balls. On cloudy days with wind, big worm in sunken trees, near ledges or 1/2 oz Jig in green pumpkin orange or GP blue in 18-28 feet is good. Jewel Special Ops jig or beaver flipping bushes in less than 10 feet where you can reach the shore will work. For smallmouth, gravel banks, boat ramps, and old roads are good places to drag baits like the ned rig, hula grubs, tubes, and puke lil MCMinnow. Drop shot bluff points, main lake points, and hump islands 24-36 feet deep. Check out Del Colvin’s online fishing report on YouTube. Below the dam: John Berry of Berry Bros. Guide Service reports: The White has fished well. Moderate generation and no wadable water. The hot spot has been the Catch and Release Section at Rim Shoals. 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 (my current favorite combination is a cerise San Juan worm with a peach egg) suspended below it).
JACOMO: low 80s, stained, normal Outlook: Lee’s Summit Area Fishing Facebook group reports: Look for crappie near brush in 10-15 feet of water or along the public docks using jigs or minnows. Trolling crankbaits should be a good way to find all species of fish. Look for bass along the weedlines in the coves and on points. Topwater early and late should produce. Bass bite has really been good in the last week. Later in the day look to go deeper with jigs off points. Bluegills have been very good lately on small jigs tipped with pieces of nightcrawlers or crickets.
JAMES A. REED: 82 degrees, clear, normal Outlook: Missouri Dept. of Conservation reports: largemouth bass fair on top water early and late in the day. Several anglers having good success walking a frog in and around weedlines. Channel catfish are fair on worms. All other species slow.
LAKE OF THE OZARKS: low 80s, stained, 0.8 feet low Outlook: bassingbob.com reports: best bite for bass has been the deep bite. Pulling deep diving cranks fast has been a great way to get a reaction strike. Find deep spots along current breaks and you’ll find them. Drop shotting in 30 feet of water has been incredibly productive recently. Throwing the 10” Berkley Power Worm has also been good on points. Crappie have been very good trolling Bandit crankbaits in 15-20 feet of water on main lake bluff ends to secondary points. Blue and channel cats are very good on main lake ledge points and deeper secondaries.
LONGVIEW: low 80s, clear, low Outlook: Longview Marina reports: lake will still be a little low due to required dam maintenance. No change from last week other than fishing has slowed a bit. Crappie are still good all over the lake. Check the timber near mouths of coves in 8-15 feet of water and shallower. Jigs have produced. Largemouth are fair. Check the weedlines and brush piles. Catfish are starting to pick up a lot more shallow. Trolling crankbaits in shallow water is picking up many species of fish including walleye. Fishing at marina is still closed but they do have minnows, worms, and chicken liver in stock. Dock fishing available 9-6 Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri. Normal hours are now 8am-8pm. Join Lee’s Summit Area Fishing Facebook group for daily updates.
NORFORK: 88 degrees, clear, 22 feet high Outlook: Bink’s Guide Service reports: Stripers are 60-80 feet down and hitting Bink’s Spoons. Bass are biting really well on topwater baits like spooks and poppers. Walleye have been fair to good hitting ¼ oz Bink’s Spoons.
POMME DE TERRE: 83 degrees, clear to stained, 0.7 feet high (50 CFS) Outlook: Pomme Muskie Guide Service reports: Crappie are biting well over brush piles but you have to hunt for them. Minnows and jigs are the ticket. Bass bite has been very good but you have to find them deep now. All other species slow or no reports.
SMITHVILLE: 81 degrees, clear, normal (8 CFS) Outlook: Burton’s Bait and Tackle reports: The crappie are in summer patterns. Main lake brush piles and deeper channels in the river arms of the lake, maybe 6-10 feet down in 15-20 feet of water depending on the area of the lake you are fishing. The minnow bite will just get better as the water warms more. Bass have been shallow overall. Topwater morning and evening has produced. Look for patches of grass on the main lake or shallow stumps and lay downs in the wooded coves. Catfish are moving into the shallows and feeding up getting ready to spawn. Use nightcrawlers, cut baits, shrimp and dough baits. For bigger fish and trot lines and limb lines, use goldfish and shad. Lots of white bass being caught while guys are trolling for walleye on the main lake points or folks fishing from the bank around the bridges. White rooster tails or any type of roadrunner with a white twister tail will catch them. White bass are surfacing early in the mornings right now as well. Quite a few walleye being caught on main lake points using a shad rap or flicker shad. Less than 10 feet of water is best. Long flat shallow points are best. If you are more patient you can drag a crawler harness and catch fish also. Lots of small ones being caught.
STOCKTON: 80 degrees, clear, 2.2 feet high (100 CFS) Outlook: Tandem Fly Outfitters reports: walleye are biting fair on main lake points fishing a 1/8th Jakked shooter head tipped with a nightcrawler. Start deeper in 25 feet or so work shallower until you find them. Walleye, crappie, and white bass are being caught trolling #7 flicker shad, Bandit 300s, or Arkie crankbaits. White bass are starting to surface some but have been mostly smaller fish. David McCormick of Fish30 Youtube Channel reports: bass have been deep recently. Look for deep brush or any kind of hump or rise on the bottom, you’ll find the fish. Football jigs (brown and PB&J) and straight tail worms fished with a bullet weight in the brush will produce. Move to the steep, deep stuff like bluffs and bluff ends later in the day.
TABLE ROCK: 82 degrees, clear main lake (clear to stained in rivers), 10.7 feet high and falling Outlook: Eric Prey of Focused Fishing Guide Service reports: Eric Prey of Focused Fishing Guide Service reports: For bass, the top water bite has slowed but a few fish can still be caught early and late. Look for fish to be on main lake and secondary points. Small jigs, shaky heads and Ned rigs are effective on gravel points close to the old bank line. A few fish can be caught in the flooded bushes and timber by flipping a tube or jig. Crappie are getting harder to find, trees topping out around 15’ are holding a few. White jigs, small tubes and live minnows are the best bet. The white bass are scattered and have moved out on gravel points and in main lake pockets, they can be caught on top water early and on spoons around 35’ deep later in the day.
TANEYCOMO: 49.5 degrees, clear, 2-4 units of water daily Outlook: Lilleys’ Landing reports: The days of no generation may be over for now. Fishing has been fair. Early and late is best time to fish. Get on the water by 5:30am. Drift a Berkley pink Powerworm just on a hook on the bottom or on a small jig head under a float. Anglers are catching mainly rainbows drifting nightcrawlers and power eggs. And we’ve heard all colors are good except red or pink. Best area to drift is Lilleys’ Landing down through the bridges. Stay in the middle when drifting because there’s a lot of old, sunken dead trees on the edges of the lake. Drifting minnows on the bottom should be productive as well. Trophy brown trout are still being caught at various areas of the lake on bait and lures. We’ve had reports of browns being caught on the pink worm, nightcrawlers, marabou jigs (white, sculpin/ginger and sculpin/peach), Doty’s custom painted jerk baits, MegaBass 110+ jerk baits, and smaller jerk baits drifted on the bottom, mainly in the trophy area. Trophy rainbows are also being caught, mainly in the trophy area though. They are being caught on scuds drifted on the bottom, jerkbaits, and marabou jigs (same colors).
TRUMAN: 79 degrees, clear, 1.2 feet high Outlook: Richard Bowling Guide Service reports: Crappie are biting well on main lake flats in 12 feet of water and more fishing 12 feet deep. Look for isolated trees, fence rows, and road beds. Best bite is on minnows. Catfish are fair and being caught on the main lake flats drifting fresh cut shad. Look for 8 feet of water and more drifting slow. Black bass are being caught on the main lake and secondary points using buzzbaits early and after sun up the big plastic worms have been producing.
Kansas
CLINTON: 81 degrees, stained, 1.4 feet high (21 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: All boat ramps, with the exception of Boat Ramp #4 in the Bloomington West Park, are open, with Bloomington Boat Ramps courtesy docks in the water. Crappie are hitting over brush piles mostly on jigs. Some good reports on steep rocky banks as well. Mostly on jigs. Channel cats are good on shad and cut bait. Walleye are on the flats now and can be targeted with jig and a nightcrawler or trolling with crankbaits. White bass are good. Casting crankbaits on the dam is working some days. Some action trolling with crankbaits. Wipers have been mixed in. Look for humps in deep water along channels to find wipers as well.
COFFEY COUNTY: upper 70s/low 80s, clear, normal Outlook: KDWPT reports: Restricted lake hours are from 7am-4pm. All boats are to be off the water by 4pm. All people and boats are to be off of lake property by 5pm. Fishermen should remain in vehicles at the gate during registration. Largemouth are fair on topwater near grassy and woody structure. Walleye are fair trolling crankbaits or spinner rigs with live nightcrawlers or minnows over points and humps. Catfish are biting very well on wind blown banks or creek channel swings and humps and should be up shallow right now as well. Crappie are moving around deep standing timber and brush piles or near the channel breaks. Using various colored jigs or minnows should produce some fish. Smallmouth are fair on crankbaits, swimbaits, and finesse plastics around rocky habitat. Fish should be up shallow, but don’t be afraid to go offshore and fish deeper around humps and dropoffs, using drop shot rigs. Topwater bite has been good lately. Whites/wipers are fair to good on shad imitation lures like small spinners, crankbaits or bucktail jigs. Look for schools of shad or focus on wind blown flats or rocky points. Vertical jigging slab spoons is also a good technique. Entrance gate phone number is 620-364-2475, call for lake conditions.
EL DORADO: mid to upper 70s, stained, normal (12 CFS) Outlook: KS Dept. of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism: Wipers/white bass 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. Still some crappie hanging in the shallow near brushy cover. Crappie also being caught on standing timber 12-15 feet deep. Jigs or minnows working well. Trolling with crankbaits is also yielding some success. Some blue catfish being caught on shallow windy points or shorelines with an incoming wind in the upper half of the reservoir. Fresh cut bait has been best. Look to fish near river channels as well. Walleye have been caught on the flats on jig and crawler combos 4-12 feet deep. Trolling crankbaits is also producing fish along wind blown shorelines, points, and old roads.
GLEN ELDER (WACONDA LAKE): 78 degrees, clear, 0.2 feet high (51.5 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: crappie are moving deep. Fish timber and other structure like the Georgia Cubes. You may find some in the river channel 20-25 feet down. Anglers should still be able to find walleye hanging out in the deeper river channel areas on the east half of the reservoir as well as toward the springs and Wally World. Other fish may be starting to move toward the flats south of the Cawker City dike or could even be found along the Cawker City causeway. Smallmouth bass fishing has been very good recently with anglers catching high numbers of spawning fish. They can be found along the dam, Granite Creek, the south bluffs, and along the state park shoreline using a variety of crankbaits, soft plastics, and Ned Rigs. Largemouth bass can also be caught in most of the main lake coves as well as in the state park using spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and Senkos. The channel catfish spawn is still underway and there are plenty of fish along the rocky shorelines along the Cawker City causeway, Granite Creek, and the state park points. Anglers continue to catch good numbers of large white bass across the reservoir. Slab spoons, white and chartreuse twistertails, roadrunners, and Rattletraps are all good bets to catch some white bass now. Look for river channel drops.
HILLSDALE: mid to upper 70s, stained, 1 foot foot high (50 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: some walleye are being caught on shallow flats and mud banks. Drifting live bait, jigging, trolling crankbaits, casting baits while targeting structure can all be effective methods right now. Most crappie have moved off shore now, but some can still be found in shallow brush on jigs or minnows. White bass are fair on wind blown points. Largemouth are fair near shallow water structure on plastics. Topwater early and late should produce around laydowns. Channel cats being caught lakewide. Common carp are spawning in abundance and should make for good bowfishing opportunities in the Big Bull Arm. There was a large carp die off recently and the cause may be a koi herpes virus. State wildlife and parks staff are collecting and testing samples from fish carcasses to verify. More info will be shared when we learn more.
KILL CREEK PARK: 82 degrees, clear, normal Outlook: Johnson County Parks and Rec reports: trout are fair on powerbait. Crappie and bluegill have been hitting very well on nightcrawlers. Bass have been fair to good on topwater and plastics. Catfish are fair on dough bait and nightcrawlers.
LA CYGNE: upper 70s/low 80s, clear, low Outlook: KDWPT reports: catfishing has been good from shore using sunfish or cutshad, worms, prepared baits, or liver. The creek mouth is a good area to look. Fish feeders are off. Crappie are on structure now. Some fish have been caught off the wall gates where water is released at the dam. Some fish caught off of marina coves and it’s usually good at the hot water outlet area. Try the Georgia Cubes as well. Largemouth are fair to good fishing the deep side of the riprap areas and weed beds. Use crankbaits, jerkbaits, or spinner baits like shad imitations. White bass are fair to good using shad imitations or silver spoons in the creek mouth area. Most have been in the 1-2 pound range. Some wipers have been found surfacing recently.
MELVERN: 78 degrees, clear, 0.62 foot high (20 CFS) Outlook: Melvern Lake Marina reports: Crappie are good lakewide. Check shallow established brush piles, and along the docks on minnows and jigs. Smallmouth are good lakewide on minnows, crankbaits, and jigs on rocky banks. White bass are fair to good on shallow crankbaits and minnows on wind blown points and along the dam. Channel catfish are good with a few caught near cleaning stations and in the outlet area on nightcrawlers. Blue cats have been good on mud flats and around the docks on crappie entrails or fresh cut bait. Lots of blues have been reported recently. Walleye are fair and being reported along the dam trolling nightcrawlers. Some larger ones have been reported over mud flats near west end of the lake.
MILFORD: 76 degrees, stained, 0.6 feet high (1000 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Catfish are biting very well overall. Channel catfish are biting cut bait, worms, and stink bait. Look for freshwater inflows. Blue catfish are typically caught on fresh cut bait on wind blown flats and river channel ledges. Big blues have been reported recently. Crappie are good 10-20 feet deep suspended near points, flooded brush, and ledges on jigs and minnows and should still be shallow, too, on warmer days. Walleye are fair. You should target rocky or wind-swept mud banks with jigs, crankbaits, or bottom bouncers or along dam. White bass/wipers are good along windy banks and points using jigs on the reservoir. Black bass are biting well. Look for smallmouth on gravel banks and points. Largemouth should be relating to woody cover and transitioning to deeper water. Topwater early and late should be good.
PERRY: upper 70s/low 80s, stained, 2 feet high (100 CFS) Outlook: Don and Tom’s Bait and Tackle reports: Catfish are still spawning off the banks so look for them shallow. Crappie are good in brush piles 12-15 feet on jigs and minnows. Water level is coming down but is backed up into the spillway due to the Kansas River level.
POMONA: 79 degrees, stained, 1.2 feet high (15 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: catfish are biting well. Good baits are worms, dip baits, sunfish entrails, cutshad, and stink/prepared baits. Both of the parks provide many good shorelines for bank fishing. Walleye are slow but moving into the flats after spawning. Try off the dam or along deeper steep banks on crank baits or jigs tipped with nightcrawlers. Crappie are in summer patterns but can be found shallower than you think. Work the shallow areas then move deeper. Some nice fish caught especially around the rock quarry on dark jigs and/or minnows. White bass/wipers have been slow.
SHAWNEE MISSION PARK: 83 degrees, clear, normal Outlook: Johnson County Parks and Rec reports: trout are fair on powerbait. Crappie and bluegill are hitting small plastics, worms, and minnow imitation lures. Catfish are fair on cut bait. Bass and wipers are fair on plastic baits.
TUTTLE CREEK: 77 degrees, clear, 6.3 feet high (12,000 CFS) Outlook: Kansas Department of Wildlife reports: Crappie are good lakewide on brush 8-12 feet deep. Minnows are most effective. White bass are fair but numbers are low. Catfish are fair on fresh cut bait on flats and channel swings. Look for fresh inflows of water. Be sure to check your catfish for any tags. Coves in southern third of the reservoir have some locally good largemouth bass populations but fishing has been fair lately. The McIntyre Cove has produced the best. Saugeye are fair to good and best in the River Pond or at Rocky Ford.
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.