Welcome to our Lake of the Ozarks Fishing Home Page
Lake of the Ozarks is an extremely popular vacation destination in Missouri. It is only about a 3 hour drive from St. Louis, making it a convenient getaway destination for those living in and around the city. The lake spans around 54,000 acres with over 1,100 miles of shoreline. It is an enormous lake and it is very popular for fishing and boating. There are plenty of other things to do here such as golfing, shopping, dining and just relaxing around the lake.
Learn About the Fish
Primary Species of Fish
Largemouth Bass, Catfish, Crappie & Bluegill
This lake is a very popular lake in Missouri and the fishing can be very good, especially if you are fishing in the spring and fall when boat traffic isn’t at its peak. Most anglers come here to target the largemouth bass and fishing can be very good for them. Crappie fishing can give anglers a lot of action in the spring and fall, however, the summer months are tougher. Bluegill are here in good numbers and during the spawn, many anglers will be fishing for them. Some anglers target catfish here as well and report a lot of success for good numbers and some big fish too.
Secondary Species of Fish
Spotted Bass, Striped Bass, White Bass & Walleye
Anglers do also catch spotted bass, striped bass, white bass and walleye. The lake has been stocked with walleye for years and some of the locals who know how to target them are actually reporting some good success here. For most anglers, these fish are just bonus fish while targeting other species of fish. During the spawn, the white bass fishing can be very good in the creeks. Striped bass are common in the Truman Dam Tailwater.
This Lake is Huge
This lake is massive and to make it even more overwhelming, it receives a ridiculous amount of boat traffic in the summer. For new anglers, it may be tough to know where to start, but the good news is that the entire lake offers so many good fishing spots. Besides following the most recent fishing reports, your best bet might be to just treat certain areas like smaller lakes and try to figure out some patterns within those sections that may translate to other areas of the lake.
This Lake Receives Tons of Pressure
This lake is so popular and it is so developed that there is a ton of fishing and boating pressure on the lake. When the weather is good, there are going to be plenty of people out and about enjoying the water here. This can make fishing more difficult and less enjoyable at times for many anglers.
Lake of the Ozarks Tailwater (Bagnell Dam)
The Lake of the Ozarks tailwater Fishery is created from Bagnell Dam and this river below the dam is called the Osage River. This area gets a lot of fishing pressure, but even with all the pressure, it is a pretty good spot to catch some fish. Whether you are fishing from shore or from a boat, there are a variety of fish species to catch below the dam. There are a lot of catfish and carp below the dam. White bass, largemouth bass, spotted bass, smallmouth bass, crappie and striped bass are all caught below the dam.
Deep Water Fishing
Lake of the Ozarks has a lot of deep water throughout the lake. Once the spawn wraps up in the spring, you can still find a lot of fish fairly shallow until summer temperatures arrive. As the water warms up into the 70s and above, you will find a lot more fish moving towards deeper water. If you’re fishing here in the summer, you’re going to want to bring good electronics to help you find schools of baitfish in deeper water. This will be key to find a variety of bass and other species too.
Fish at Night
Night fishing is popular among some anglers during the summer months. With water and air temperatures getting so hot down here in the summer, the fishing can get tough during the day. Combine that with all the boat traffic here in the summer and the night bite can seem a lot more appealing to many anglers. The key to night fishing here is similar to other places. Scout out some of the areas you want to fish during the day. Find areas that hold schools of baitfish and come back to fish these spots at night. This lake is so developed with lake homes and boat docks that there are usually a lot of lights on around the lake which does help anglers see a little bit more than you would on lakes that aren’t very developed. The night bite is usually pretty good for bass, crappie and catfish.
Fish the Creek Arms
There are so many creek arms located on Lake of the Ozarks and many of these creeks arms are going to have boat docks all over the place. There seems like there are so many spots that look like awesome areas to fish and there are, however, this lake does receive a lot of fishing pressure. While you may pull off the main lake into one creek arm after another and so many of them look so awesome, but these fish are going to see a lot of lures, especially in the spring when bass move in to spawn. A variety of bass and panfish will be found in the creek arms throughout the lake. Spring and fall are definitely the best times to be fishing this areas of the lake.
Fish the Docks
Lake of the Ozarks has so many docks. In many areas, you literally can’t just go along the shoreline and cast since you will have to weave in and out of these areas that are lined with dock after dock after dock. If you like to fish docks, you will love fishing Lake of the Ozarks, however, it can be a lot more fun to fish these docks in the spring and fall during the week days since there will be much less recreational boat traffic on the lake. Anglers target a variety of bass, crappie and bluegill around the docks.
Fish the Points
Lake of the Ozarks has tons of points scattered throughout the lake to fish. There are a lot of good main lake points and tons of secondary points back in the creek arms. From spring through fall, you are always going to find some fish around these points. Some of them will be much better than others, so look for points that have some deeper water nearby and cover such as rocks, wood and weeds will help attract fish as well.
Fish the Rocks
Lake of the Ozarks is home to lots of rocky bottoms, so plan on fishing plenty of rocks while fishing here. There are a lot of nice rip rap shorelines as well located throughout the lake, especially now that many homeowners are using rip rap as a way to help prevent erosion around their beautiful lake homes. Since this lake was designed for producing power and not flood control, it has limited flood control capacity. Many of these rip rap areas can be very productive when the water is higher in the spring as many bass and other fish will move into these rocky areas to find an easy meal.
Fish the Wood
There is a lot of wood to fish throughout the lake. Whether you are fishing overhanging trees during high water times in the spring or laydowns, stumps and brush piles, you have lots of options on Lake of the Ozarks. There is a lot of obvious wood that you can see with your eyes as you move throughout the lake, however, some of the best wood to fish will be found in deeper water and you’ll need your electronics to find them.
