Fishing report: Cooler nights have folks excited for onset of fall angling patterns
Here is the fishing report for lakes and reservoirs in the Kansas City area and regionally around Kansas and Missouri for Sept. 2, 2020.
Missouri
BLUE SPRINGS: low 80s, clear, normal Outlook: Lee’s Summit Area Fishing Facebook Group reports: White bass can be found lakewide. Keep an eye out for schooling activity early and late. Bandit 200s and 300s are a good trolling option that will get the whites, crappie, and hybrids. Hybrids have been hitting live shad near the dam. Look for the blowhole area to pick up if heavy flow is coming in from Jacomo. Largemouth have been slow in the last week. Try jigs or 10-inch worms dropped in tight to standing timber. Crappie can be found trolling or dipping trees.
BULL SHOALS: 85 degrees, dingy to clear, 22 feet high and falling Outlook: Del Colvin Guide Service reports: limited access to ramps and parking, call first especially on weekends. Summer patterns are in effect. You’re going to work for them! ACE has been pumping the water out which has some of the fish moving out on the points and there’s baitfish suspended deep off the points. 10-15 feet early, 20-28 feet later in the day. Find the bait, find the fish! If it’s hot, go deep. If it’s cloudy and windy, go shallow! Getting up early for topwater with poppers and Berkley wake bait has been good. Try whopper plopper, buzz bait, or chatterbait for powerfishing “shallow” if it’s cloudy or stormy. Target shallow flats close to old creek channels with runoff. As sun comes up, change tactics. Smallies/Kentuckies are stacked out on main and secondary points, sunken islands, humps, channel swings, bluffs, and bluff ends but are closer to main lake points in 26-32 feet. With shad present, fish position will change depending on sun, wind, current, clouds, etc. Docks and shade and have been good. Still a lot of places for them to hide with high water so keep it moving. The big worm in sunken trees is catching suspended fish in 20-24’ on points near ledges bluff ends or also try 1/2 oz jig in green pumpkin orange or GP blue. Smallmouth are on gravel banks, 28ft Check the last set of bushes off long points. Del Colvin’s online fishing report on YouTube. Below the dam: John Berry of Berry Bros. Guide Service reports: The White has fished well. The lower flows we have had in the morning have been extremely productive. The hot spot has been 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) suspended below it).
JACOMO: low 80s, clear, normal Outlook: Lee’s Summit Area Fishing Facebook group reports: you need to stick to fishing 15 feet or shallower. Look for crappie near brush in 10-15 feet of water or along the public docks using jigs or minnows. Having to weed through a lot of little guys lately. Trolling crankbaits should be a good way to find all species of fish. White bass are all over the lake, including out in front of the dam. Find them on your graphs. Look for bass along the weedlines in the coves. Find the bait, find the fish. Bluegills are very good on small jigs tipped with pieces of nightcrawlers or crickets.
JAMES A. REED: 75 degrees, murky, normal Outlook: Missouri Dept. of Conservation reports: Channel catfish are good on live bait, cut bait, and prepared baits. All other species slow.
LAKE OF THE OZARKS: mid 80s, clear, 1.2 feet low Outlook: bassingbob.com reports: flipping and skipping docks has been the best producer for bass. A better bite picking up in creeks, especially on the docks with brush. Targeting shady corners of the dock seems to be the ticket. You can still find them brush pile fishing is the way to go 12-15 feet deep. Crankbaits on main and secondary points have produced. Some decent reports of bass coming below Truman dam off the river channel along structure near docks. Fishing wave break walls has produced a lot of bites on a chatterbait recently. Crappie have been fair/good trolling Bandit crankbaits in 15-20 feet of water on main lake bluff ends to secondary points. You can find them in brush piles jigging minnows vertically as well. Blue and channel cats are fair to good on long flats, rocky secondary points, and main lake ledge points.
LONGVIEW: 81 degrees, clear, normal Outlook: Longview Marina reports: The corps. will begin drawing the lake down on Sept 8 at a rate of 50 CFS for 10 days to a target level of 890 to facilitate the EDG cylinder repairs starting on Sept 21 and the dive inspection on Sept 25. All species are fair right now. Crappie are your best bet lakeside, but especially in the standing timber. Marina open 8am-8pm and is stocked with minnows, worms, and chicken liver in stock but need a mask to enter.
NORFORK: 85 degrees, clear, 9 feet high Outlook: Bink’s Guide Service reports: White bass and black bass are hitting topwater baits early in the morning and this has been the best bite overall. Stripers are still deep and not feeding. Walleye are feeding at about 30 feet on ½ oz Bink’s Spoons.
POMME DE TERRE: 79 degrees, clear, 0.5 feet high (50 CFS) Outlook: Pomme Muskie Guide Service reports: Catfish are hitting trolled crankbaits and can be caught with traditional methods from docks. Crappie are biting well over brush piles but you have to hunt for them. Minnows and jigs are the ticket. Bass are hitting shallow recently but also look for brush piles and pull your baits through those to find them. Topwater poppers has been producing. Took 18 pounds to win in a recent 50 boat tournament.
SMITHVILLE: 85 degrees, clear, 0.3 feet low (8 CFS) Outlook: Burton’s Bait and Tackle reports: main lake brush piles 10-15 feet deep are key for the crappie right now. The minnow is a much better bait right now over the jig. Drop your bait to the top of the brush using your electronics and set a slip bobber. Bass are poor with lots of small fish being caught on the main lake around the grass. Buzz baits, frogs or senkos are good choices for the grass. Small crankbaits around rock are also producing fish. The catfish are good and biting in shallow bays in less than 10’ of water. Dough or dip bait, like Sonny’s, works great for channels. Some nice flatheads and blues are also being caught on trot & limb lines. Goldfish or cut shad are best for these methods. Watch for the whites busting the surface, chasing shad, in the morning or evening. You can throw almost anything when they are surfacing. A roadrunner with a white curly tail, rooster tail, small crank baits or rattle traps. During the day, when they are not surfacing, use small 1/4 oz spoons or small white twister tails on a 1/8 oz roadrunner head fished near the bottom. Walleye are poor. Your best bet is trolling a medium diving crank bait on main lake points. A few small ones are being caught but few keepers.
STOCKTON: 78 degrees, clear, 3.5 feet low (765 CFS) Outlook: Tandem Fly Outfitters reports: no changes. Walleye are still being caught but a lot of shorts still. Jigging crawlers or pulling bottom bouncers are good ways to get them. Look for them on main lake points using a 1/8th- 1/4oz jig tipped with a night crawler. With a bottom bouncer and a worm harness, target main lake points and main lake flats. The whites are schooling throughout the lake still around points surrounded by flats in the evenings but it hasn’t been nuts like a few weeks ago. Throw a 1/4oz silver spoon or a 1/4 white road runner. Crappie are still suspended in 12-25ft and can be caught trolling with flicker shad or near brush or standing timber with a jig or minnow. Very light bite and have to work through a lot of little guys. The bass are on main lake points eating a 10in worm or a jig. Dragging neds and tubes should pull a few smallies off rocky points.
TABLE ROCK: 84 degrees, clear main lake (clear to stained in rivers), 1 foot low Outlook: Eric Prey of Focused Fishing Guide Service reports: Bass: Most are being caught around 28’-35’ deep on long gravel points on the main lake with a drop shot rig. Casting a spoon for surfacing fish has been productive if you have the patience to wait for them to show themselves. A few fish are starting to show up on the brush piles in the river arms; 12’-20’ seems to be the most productive depths. 7” – 10” Texas rigged worms have been the ticket. There have been a few fish on steeper banks with a topwater early and late and all day when it is cloudy. Crappie: Most are coming off deep brush around docks in the rivers, live minnows below a slip float set at 15’ – 18’ has been the best option. White Bass: Are still tough to find, a few are being caught trolling flats with small crank baits 10’ - 15’ deep over 25’. Occasionally you will find them schooling on the surface in the river arms early in the morning.
TANEYCOMO: 56 degrees, clear, no generation in mornings Outlook: Lilleys’ Landing reports: generation finally shut off Tuesday at midnight and stayed off for 11 hours. We are hoping this will be the pattern for the next week. It will take about a day or so for trout to get used to the “new normal” and then should resume feeding normally. Nightcrawlers have been the best bait recently and you’ll need to inject them with air to float off the bottom with no generation. As water continues to clear up heading into the fall, you’ll need to start using 2-pound line. 4-pound is probably okay still for the next couple weeks. Dry fly fishing was very good in the mornings when 1-2 units were running but now will have to figure out a new pattern with water off. #14 tan scud and #16 primrose & pearl under a float 3-4 feet deep has caught some fish. The pink power worm under a float should still be good and pick up as trout get used to the new water pattern.
TRUMAN: mid to upper 70s, stained, 1.5 feet low (500 CFS) Outlook: trumanlakefishingintel.com reports: crappie are being caught in 10-25 feet of water fishing in all arms of the lake fishing anywhere from 8-17 feet down on flats and in brush piles. Minnows are your best bet. Focus on the flats and make them chase it if you have Garmin Livescope. They will chase almost all the way to the surface. Cats are slow to fair on flats in 8 feet of water out to 14 feet drift fishing using fresh cut bait. Bass are on main lake points with channel swings coming in on them or in brush piles off shore 6-12 feet deep. Pomme River arm has been productive. Took 20.77 pounds to win recent 103 boat Joe Bass Tournament over the weekend. Best bite for hybrids has been down by the dam when they’re running water. Use live shad. Stay on the move and use your electronics to find them! Trumanlakefishingintel.com is a newly launched membership website that offers in-depth, daily/weekly fishing reports for Truman Lake with many of the top guides contributing quality info.
Kansas
CLINTON: 80 degrees, stained, 0.4 feet high (21 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Boat Ramp #4 in the Bloomington West Park is closed. Crappie are hitting over brush piles and standing timber 10-20 feet deep mostly on jigs. Channel cats fair on shad, cut bait, or minnows. White bass fair/good casting crankbaits on the dam or windy points. Wipers have been mixed in. Look for humps in deep water along channel breaks to target wipers.
COFFEY COUNTY: upper 80s/low 90s, stained, normal Outlook: KDWPT reports: Largemouth are slow/fair fishing around shallow woody cover. Use jerkbaits, swimbaits, crankbaits, or rattletraps. Walleye are slow/fair on bottom bouncers, crankbaits, rattletraps, and twister-tail grubs worked along rocky shore line. Humps and points should produce some bites. Catfish have been fair/good on wind blown banks or creek channel swings and humps. Crappie are in deep standing timber and brush piles or near the channel breaks on jigs or minnows. Smallmouth are fair on crankbaits, swimbaits, and finesse plastics around rocky habitat. Offshore humps and dropoffs, using drop shot rigs should produce. Whites/wipers are fair/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. Entrance gate phone number is 620-364-2475, call for lake conditions.
EL DORADO: upper 70s, stained, 0.4 feet low (16 CFS) Outlook: KS Dept. of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism: no changes since last report. Wipers/white bass are hitting off the main lake points and deep water areas during mid-day hours. Trolling cranks in areas where the wind is blowing into or across is a great way to locate active fish. Crappie are in standing timber and brush piles in water 12-15 feet deep. Minnows are best bet but can also troll for them with small crankbaits. Blue cats are fair near river channels in the upper half of the lake on fresh cut bait. Walleye have been caught on the flats on jig and crawler combos in water 9-12 feet deep.
GLEN ELDER (WACONDA LAKE): upper 70s, clear, 1 foot high (100 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: There have been good numbers of crappie caught around the grate on the north end of the dam due to the high releases. Also look at submerged structure. Walleye are fair hanging out near the mouth of Mill Creek and Walnut Creek as well as toward the upper end in some cases all in 20 feet or less. Smallmouth bass fishing continues to produce with anglers catching some fish around the state park along the north shore and along the dam. Catfish are good and anglers have turned to chumming for channel and blue catfish. Fermented soybeans, wheat, and milo all work well. Large white bass are hitting across the reservoir on slab spoons, white and chartreuse twister tails, roadrunners, and Rattletraps.
HILLSDALE: 76 degrees, stained, 0.6 feet high (335 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: some walleye are being caught on shallow flats and mud banks drifting live bait, jigging, or trolling crankbaits. Search for crappie on structure and brush near channel ledges. Jigs and shad imitation baits are producing best now. White bass fair on wind blown points. Channel cats are fair/good being caught lakewide at dusk. All other species slow or no reports.
KILL CREEK PARK: 81 degrees, clear, normal Outlook: Johnson County Parks and Rec reports: trout are slow, try powerbait. Crappie and bluegill are good on nightcrawlers and minnows. Bass have been good on jigs. Catfish are fair on dough bait and nightcrawlers.
LA CYGNE: mid to upper 80s, sstained, normal Outlook: KDWPT reports: catfishing is good from shore using sunfish or cutshad, worms, prepared baits, or liver. Start at the creek mouth and look for water inflows. Set lines are working. Crappie are biting well on structure. Some caught off the wall gates where water is released at the dam and also on Georgia cubes. White bass are fair to good using shad imitations or silver spoons in the creek mouth area. Wipers are chasing shad at the surface and some have been found in the middle of the lake. Notes from area local: Best bass bite has been yum dinger green pumpkin red fleck rigged wacky style. Some keepers caught on green pumpkin tube.
MELVERN: 84 degrees, clear, 0.2 feet high (20 CFS) Outlook: Melvern Lake Marina reports: Crappie are fair to good lakewide in deeper water over established brush piles and along the docks on minnows and jigs. Smallmouth are fair lakewide on shallow crankbaits. White bass are fair 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 are fair on mud flats. All other species slow or no reports.
MILFORD: 79 degrees, stained, 1.8 feet high (800 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Catfish are biting very well overall. Channel catfish are biting cut bait, worms, and stink bait. Blue catfish are typically caught on fresh cut bait on wind blown flats and river channel ledges. Crappie are fair 10-20 feet deep suspended near points, flooded brush, and ledges on minnows. Walleye are slow to fair on rocky or wind-swept mud banks with jigs, crankbaits, or bottom bouncers. White bass/wipers are good along windy banks and points using jigs on the reservoir. Black bass are fair. Find the smallies on gravel banks and points.
PERRY: 81 degrees, stained, 1.3 feet high (25 CFS) Outlook: Don and Tom’s Bait and Tackle reports: crappie are in brush piles 8-14 feet deep. Anglers are catching their limits of cats everywhere on the lake using beans and Triple S dip bait, shrimp, or chicken liver. Whites are being found at the Devil’s Gap area.
POMONA: 81 degrees, stained, 0.1 feet high (15 CFS) Outlook: KDWPT reports: Catfish are your best bet here on worms, dip baits, sunfish entrails, cutshad, and stink/prepared baits. Both of the parks provide many good shorelines for bank fishing. Crappie are biting well on minnows in the rock quarry and in brush piles. All other species slow.
SHAWNEE MISSION PARK: 81 degrees, clear, normal Outlook: Johnson County Parks and Rec reports: trout are slow to 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 and squarebills.
TUTTLE CREEK: 80 degrees, stained, 2.3 feet high (57 CFS) Outlook: Kansas Department of Wildlife reports: Crappie are better and being found in brush 8-12 feet deep on jigs/minnows. There was a Cabela’s King Kat tournament at Tuttle Creek on 8/29/20. The anglers did very well with 8 to 20 pound channel catfish and a few 35”+ blue catfish. Winning weight of five fish was 117 pounds. Most fish caught very shallow. You’ll find bass in the southern third of the reservoir. 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.
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Fishing report: Cooler nights have folks excited for onset of fall angling patterns."