Photo by Ron Sinfelt

In a region dominated by rivers, Wappapello Lake stands out as the top destination for bass anglers in southeast Missouri.

Fed by the St. Francis River, this shallow impoundment contains 8,400 acres of water at its normal pool of 360 feet above sea level. During the construction of Wappapello in the late 1930s, the majority of the lake floor was cleared of its timber. The stumps that were left behind provide most of the cover for bass today. Bass also seek shelter in the numerous lay-downs strewn along the shoreline.

The lake contains some points and large coves on the lower end, but most of the reservoir's structure relates to the river with numerous channel bends and flats. Some steeper bluff banks can also be found in the upper end of the lake above Holiday Landing.

Wappapello's water clarity differs from most Missouri reservoirs'. In a typical Missouri lake, the water usually is stained in the headwaters and clear on the lower end, but Wappapello's lower section remains stained in stable conditions, and the water gets clearer the farther you move up the impoundment. The river above Greenville is as clear as the streams in the southwest Ozarks.

Once known as a big-bass lake, Wappapello now contains a large population of 8- to 15-inch bass. The lake experienced a population explosion of small bass in the 1990s, but larger bass are being caught more frequently again. Mark Boone, Missouri Department of Conservation fisheries biologist, reports that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' management of water levels in recent years has helped the bass and shad spawns and improved the fishery.

"Wappapello has pretty fair numbers of nice fish," asserted Boone, who conducts annual electrofishing samplings of the lake. "We sample fair numbers of big fish (up to 22 inches long) each year. I know there are bigger fish than that in there, though."

The 2005 electrofishing sampling revealed that 47 percent of the bass sampled were over 12 inches long, and 19 percent measured over 15 inches. Ten percent of the fish sampled were longer than 18 inches. "I'll take that any year," said Boone of the percentage of premium-sized bass measured in the sampling. (Continued)

Three local anglers who frequently fish for largemouths at Wappapello are Jeff Fansler, Ron Carnahan and Charlie Brotherton. Fansler and Carnahan are guides at the lake, and Brotherton is the owner of Sundowner Marina near the dam. The following patterns are their recommendations for catching largemouth bass in August.

SUNRISE AND SUNSET ACTION
All three anglers suggest throwing topwater lures early and late in the day. Fansler opts for a 1/4-ounce buzzbait (white or chartreuse with red head and silver blade) or Heddon Zara Spooks and Storm Lures Chug Bugs with blue backs and chrome sides. He targets the backs of pockets and stumps in the shallows. Fansler uses 15- to 17-pound-test for most of his lures at Wappapello, since he's frequently fishing around some type of cover.

"I fish way up the river a lot then mainly to get out of the boat traffic," said Fansler, who notes that bass tend to stay in the shallows even during the heat of the day on this riverine section of the reservoir. "On this lake you can catch bass shallow in either winter or summer."