Electro-shocking surveys at Wappapello Lake indicate that good numbers of largemouth bass -- including some 4- to 6-pound fish -- are using manmade brushpiles for cover. Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

Nestled in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in southeastern Missouri is a gem of a lake known statewide for its great crappie angling. However, crappie are not the only fish in the 8,400-acre lake worth an angler's attention. There is a very nice bass fishery there as well, and it's only getting better.

Wappapello Lake has long been known as a crappie fishery, and most of the fishing effort at the lake is directed toward papermouths. In fact, surveys have shown as much as 65 percent of the angler effort is targeted toward crappie, with only about 18 to 22 percent focused on largemouth bass.

However, with ongoing improvements in the bass fishery here, those statistics may soon change.

The Missouri Department of Conservation fisheries biologists who oversee Wappapello believe the bass fishery is in good shape for this year. Biologist Mark Boone said they weren't able to sample the lake properly during 2007 and 2008 due to high water, but they haven't heard any negative reports from anglers. In 2006, when they sampled, some 23 percent of the bass measured longer than 15 inches.

For most lakes, the MDC has a target goal for the fishery to have 40 to 60 percent of the bass above 12 inches. From 2001 to 2006, Wappapello Lake has done exactly that -- maintained between 41 and 60 percent of the bass over 12 inches. Both Boone and fellow biologist Paul Cieslewicz said the bass population has been really good.

In the past, the lake exhibited a lot of stunted bass. This is the main reason the lake never gained a big reputation with bass anglers. The bass grew slowly, and there were large numbers of bass less than 12 inches in length.

However, once the bass reached 14 inches, they seemed to grow much better, and there were some real lunkers there.

Some anglers have suggested the need for a length limit on bass to improve the quality of the fishery. However, quite the opposite is actually true. Currently, there is no length limit on bass at Wappapello, and anglers are actually encouraged to harvest fish below 12 inches. The reason is because there is practically no bass harvest at the lake, as some 90 percent of the anglers practice catch-and-release tactics.

A creel survey done in 2001 and 2002 showed the bass catch rate to be two fish per acre, with the harvest rate at only .2 bass per acre. With harvests that low, there is absolutely no need for a length limit, and too low of a harvest can actually result in overpopulation and stunted fish.

Something that has really helped the bass fishery improve is a set of changes related to the management of the lake level during the time of the shad spawn, which, at Wappapello, is usually from mid-April until sometime in May.

The MDC did a research study on gizzard shad and found that the best spawns occur when the lake is steady or slowly rising. A sharp rise in the lake level would cause the shad to spawn all at once, which resulted in a huge spawn and overpopulation. The resulting fry over-ate the zooplankton and many didn't survive.