nomolites

Nice fish guys! Good on you fishing from a yak on LOZ; I did notice some on "NWW" but otherwise LOZ is ROUGH. Mike

They are not as numerous outside the Niangua area but yes, they can be found in the Glaize as well. I would try main lake points or bluff ends at a channel break late or early in the day. If there is current present your odds go up; when they are at minimum flows the fish tend to scatter or suspend. Shad or minnow imitators with the occasional (or lots of) pause(s). Mike

Suspended jerkbait said work well; try them late or at night right up close to the bank. #7 Flicker shads for trolling work well, try to find the depth the fish are holding and troll them there-the standard dive curve is on the package. Mike

Speaking of main lake points... Only got out for a couple of hours but it was NICE not getting tossed about. 5-O was on anybody above idle in my neck of the woods. Mike

Quietest summer weekend I have ever seen on LOZ....nobody was above idle that I didn't see stopped by 5-O today. I could get used to this....fished some real close water for a couple hours and picked up a nice 23" Walter I would have motored right by without the restriction. Mike

I don't have the big picture but I do believe us LOZ folks are spoiled rotten with regard to water levels. There are no other lakes in these parts managed like this one that I can think of. Money talks and all else gets to walk-from what I see that is all that separates the property and people here from those in the Osage River valley. I see essentially the same phenomenon every high water year when they hold water above St. Louis on the Mississippi. I am a very small fish and my struggles don't mean squat to the playas in Jeff City or Washington. I will personally enjoy the reduced traffic for a day or so until they pull it down. At this rate that will be tomorrow afternoon; others have had the right of it in suggesting it is cold beverage time. Hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. Cheers! Mike

I get it and agree; if you go on the cheap it will cost you double in the end as well in addition to the headaches. Hopefully traffic will be lighter!

I agree; cut power unless absolutely needed but never have it on with swimmers in! Most ramps are under a foot or more....

I was fishing bushes on main lake points and bluff pockets with deep water nearby. All you find at the backs of creeks are those green fish

I would like to see how they try to close the lake to boating; there are not enough prop cops to even consider that. Yes, there are some good bushes in the water now - looks like Bull Shoals is areas. I was pitching a suspended jerkbait on the outer edges yesterday and the tail end of the rain and had some good ones. Fun stuff!

'86 was the year I had in mind. I figure we were at 662 by the level on our sea wall this eve. All caught on deep diving cranks. Some day I'll remember to save some screen shots of one of these feeding frenzies although it would not do it justice; a video would be better. One of those heart stopping(for me anyway) instances you can actually see movement in sonar returns, and I mean A LOT. Looks like a screen full of crawling gummy worms. Mike

I love when they move water. Caught these this afternoon along with a 6# LMB and a 10# blue cat from this same school. I remember it being 2' higher than where she sits this evening; we shall see what comes tonight. I don't want to see any damage to docks, etc. but high and rising water makes for good fishing! Mike

Leadcore; I don't like fishing snaps with the lake this rough; the lead softens the bounce a bit. Stopped to talk with a gent with a rig like yours in blue and silver; he was doing okay on crappie running bandits shallow over deep breaks but hadn't found walleye either. Those are some fine vessels. Hope you are well! Mike

Got a late start this morning so bro and I fished 8 to noon looking for suspended fish; too darn rough to fish contours. Did not locate the walleye but caught 6 LMB(1 keep), 1 white bass, 1 blue cat, and 36 crappie. It started slow but once the clouds were burned off the fish got hungry. All fish caught on cranks 25-28 ft deep over 65-70 FOW. We kept some but no green fish, not because I worship them - I simply don't like the taste Mike

Yea, I've seen thems off me port bow a time or two. Shiver me timbers! This cool weather should help the shallow bite. I hope to get out today and see what's up, looked like a ton of vacationers headed down last nite....better take some Dramamine

I generally stop at the last channel break downstream of that bank about 1/4 mile, same side as I usually am not after bass There was quite a bit of green snot going already up there in April but I did catch a bunch of nice crappie prespawn from that drop off. The back end is certainly a popular spot early in the year and every Sat. AM you can watch the glitter sleds going by headed up to that mud flat. Good on you for fishing it this late, I am generally out deep from June-Oct. Mike

Nicely done. You can always go next weekend if you want the ultimate challenge.....at least I've found, as you did, that the fish don't much care about the boat traffic. That's why I love the spot lock button on my motor.... Mike

This time of year the best speed is 1.7 to 2.4 mph in my experience but experiment to see what they want. I either use a small outboard or the 24v electric or both. I do use rod holders but I normally fish 4 rods at a time although with help I will do 6 at times but all you need is ONE to catch fish. To start with just hang it over the side of the boat as you putt along. You can look up the dive curves on most lures on the internet which will tell you how deep the lure runs with a given length of line out. I use 10# braid(power pro) and medium action glass rods. You can "eyeball" the amount of line out and get close but if you want to give it a shot try some of the metered(colored) line which will change color at set intervals helping with that. I rarely run out over 150 ft of line. Flicker shads are a good bet but deeper than 18 ft they require weighting; my next deeper and easy to find suggestion would be a wiggle wart or deep tail dancer(#9)either of which can be fished at 24 ft. On the lower end we were getting a thermocline at 18-21 ft last week when I was down so those two ranges should be good. Deeper than that you need weight for most effective plugs. Start fishing pea gravel points and avoid rock until you get a feel for depth control and err on the shallow side to avoid hang ups. I have one of those lure retrievers on a rope(I made mine heavier trot line cord) they sell at BPS and that has saving me hundreds of $$ in lost plugs. once you explore an area and have the bass fishermans brush piles all marked hang ups go down significantly unless you do it on purpose. Evenings will likely be best. A map card showing lake cartography is exceptionally helpful in dialing in on fish and channel breaks. I don't know what you have but there are paper maps out there if you don't have the electronics. Trolling is quite relaxing and productive and my wife even enjoys it immensely. Your area is not too deep so you should be able to do it well without too much specialized gear. Good luck!! Mike

I chase walleye frequently on the lower end and to Wrenches point the best I have done on one outing is THREE(a few times) although they were all over 18". Still looking for my first LOZ "limit". While they run big and healthy on the lower end they are scarce as it is often open water fishing for suspended fish with more looking than catching; we get plenty of volunteer crappie and hybrids to keep things interesting while we search. The Niangua is where you want to be; it is the stocking point for MDC also has good natural recovery in both rivers. They are there Mark; start looking for channel breaks on the main lake points in the 18-20 ft range - if there is a flat associated with it even better. I would concentrate on depths at or just above the thermocline if you have one yet and troll cranks just above it or bottom bounce crawlers rigs although I usually catch 30 other species fish to one walleye on crawlers. #7 flicker shads will get down 12-18 ft and a wiggle wart will get you down close to 20 depending on your set up. Evenings have always been best for me. Mike

boat docks

Nice! It's a good day when the big uns are eating; I'm looking forward to some upcoming time on the water even if the ijits will likely be out as well...the fish never seem to mind much if the fisherman can handle it.

You gotta be back up in there to have grass in the water...

Most areas of the lake it is too subtle for me to actually see, but the fish definitely sense it. When generating above minimum flows at Bagnell it becomes a factor in where the fish set up to feed. There are no absolutes but fish will often be on the down current side of points or even better brush piles or other structure on those points. If the water color is mud like Wrenches picture above(and likely how it will get in your area if not already) I would look SHALLOW first, but on the down current side of points or better yet brush, logs, docks, etc. on those points. They may be relating in an entirely different way but when they are moving water you can often find a fishable pattern. I always check the current factor by calling the Ameren Lake Report(537-365-9205)before I head out and start looking with my electronics; today the report states they did pull the lake down .8 ft yesterday but plan to slow Bagnell outflow and open up Truman to hold or bring LOZ up slowly this weekend - fishing should be good.

Sounds like they will dump Truman if they aren't already. I was out Sunday and Monday and the fish I caught were either suspended eating fry or relating to current on points in the lower end; I caught them on crankbaits, jerkbaits, and plastics either suspended chasing fry or relating to current on the points. We still had decent water color at that time off the Osage channel a point or two but that won't last if they open the gates.

AND you will leave the dock with nothing but an assortment of Ned offerings... (That is a scary thought....)