Lake Erie's May Smallmouth Bonanza! Now's the time to go for some of the year's best smallmouth bass fishing. This world-class bronzeback fishery offers great action from shore or boat. Our expert has the story. (May 2007) ... [+] Full Article
Union Electric built the lake in 1931 in the Ozark hills southwest of Eldon to supply electricity to thousands of rural Missourians. It created more than 55,000 acres of fishing water, with a shoreline that stretches for 1,300 miles. The impoundment includes the mainstem Osage River Arm, Niangua River Arm, Grand Glaize Arm and Gravois Creek Arm.
Extensive development of homes, resorts and docks around the lake provides a lot of different bass habitats not found in other Corps lakes. Bass anglers can fish natural bass habitats -- bluffs, rubble, shallow bars, deep coves -- and the many boat docks and artificial fish-habitat bundles found on the lake bottom in front of and between closely spaced docks.
MDC fisheries surveys indicate that the 2001 year-class of largemouths is responsible for the heavyweight bass that continue to provide a lot of great action for LOZ bass anglers. This strong year-class has dominated the bass population for several years; individual fish will on average measure longer than 15 inches in 2006.
For maps of Lake of the Ozarks, call 1-800-769-1004 or visit
http://odd.net/ozarks/lakemap/. For additional information, call the MDC at (573) 346-2210.
About three of every 10 bass in Mark Twain Lake measure longer than 15 inches, and there are plenty of truly large bass to satisfy any bass angler.
MDC Community Lakes
The community lakes dotting the landscape of the Show Me State provide bass anglers with many opportunities to fish without having to cope with the heavy fishing pressure felt by most of our major lakes. Typically lightly fished, easy to fish and individually managed by MDC fisheries biologists, the community lakes don't require running miles upon miles in your bass boat to reach fishing areas. In fact, no-wake and/or outboard-motor horsepower restrictions are in place at many community lakes, and boating on some of the lakes is restricted to electric trolling motors only.
MDC fisheries managers tailor fishing regulations for each lake to maintain high-quality bass populations.
Duck Creek Pool No. 1 isn't on the front burner for most largemouth bass anglers in Missouri. However, they could be missing a good bet. Duck Creek Conservation Area is located in southeast Missouri in Stoddard and Bollinger counties, near Puxico, in what biologists call the southern Missouri lowlands or Bootheel region of the state. This 1,800-acre lake, once part of a great cypress swamp, features four boat ramps and six fishing jetties.
As part of its fisheries management efforts, the MDC cleared numerous 20-acre holes in the extensive aquatic vegetation that's prevalent in the pool, creating small "lakes" for anglers. Surveys show that more than a third of the bass in Duck Creek Pool No. 1 measure longer than 15 inches. The aquatic vegetation makes bass fishing difficult but provides great bass habitat and allows bass to live and grow to trophy size. Anglers in the know fish the vegetation and the holes using Southern bait-fishing techniques -- large minnows fished under bobbers -- to catch and harvest those large bass.
For more information about this lake, call the MDC at (573) 290-5739.
Hazel Creek Lake, in Adair County just north of Kirksville, has earned a reputation for producing large muskies. But special fishing regulations and the presence of the large toothy predator also created a lake that holds big largemouth bass. According to recent fisheries surveys, more than 40 percent of the bass measure longer than 15 inches, and 20 percent of the bass stretch to more than 18 inches long.
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