By Ed Harp

If you're a Missouri bass angler, you're fortunate. No matter your prey - largemouths, smallmouths, spots or meanmouths - there's a venue just for you. Pick a place for big numbers, big bass or a combination of the two. The choice is yours.

If you want to take a long trip, it's here. If you want to fish near home, it's here. If you have a fancy fishing boat, there's a lake for you. If you have a smaller boat, or none at all, there's a lake for you, too.

Most of the lakes in this survey have site-specific regulations - minimum size, slot limits, creel limits, boat and motor restrictions - so be sure to check with the Missouri Department of Conservation in the local region before heading out to fish. You can get the telephone numbers, and other information, from their Web site at www.conservation. state.mo.us/.

Starting in the northeast corner and working our way around the state, here's a survey of 2005's bassing prospects.

Hazel Creek Lake (excellent numbers, excellent size) was at one time a secret known only to a few select local anglers, and they didn't talk about it much. It's not a secret anymore, recent national publicity having changed that. As a result, Hazel Creek is receiving increased fishing pressure, but is still a top producer of largemouths.

This 530-acre lake in Adair County about 4 miles north of Kirksville is one of the true hotspots in the state. Its numerous coves, complete with standing timber, riprap-lined banks and many islands, hold both high numbers of largemouths and good-sized fish.

The northeast portion of the state is also home to Thomas Hill Lake (excellent numbers, good size). This 5,000-acre body of water offers bass anglers good numbers of largemouths, although most are not as big as those in Hazel Creek.

Thomas Hill is a little more towards the center of the state but still in the northwest area. It's located in Long Branch State Park, six miles west of Macon. It's easily accessible from several major highways.

This lake offers anglers especially good fishing in the early season, owing to the warmwater discharge from Associated Electric's generators. This tends to warm the lake and cause the bass to stay active all year. It also accelerates the spawn.

Thomas Hill is a numbers lake and should be as one of your top prospects if you want to catch a lot of largemouths this year.

Moving south along the eastern half of the state, serious bass anglers must take a good look at Mark Twain Reservoir (excellent numbers, good size).

This massive impoundment is sited northwest of St. Louis and almost due north of Jefferson City. Several major highways provide rapid and efficient access to its waters.

Travis Moore, MDC fisheries management biologist for the lake, says Mark Twain is full of largemouths but can be hard to fish at times. "(The lake's) coming up," he noted. "The numbers and size are increasing."

The problem with Mark Twain is its watershed: It's unusually large, thus rendering the lake prone to high, muddy and turbid water. And once it gets that way, it stays that way, usually for a very long time. This scatters the bass and makes them very difficult to locate, especially when anglers only have a day or two to fish.

Still, Moore recommends that Missouri anglers give it a try when the water conditions are right. He points anglers towards the Lick Creek area of the reservoir as one of the top spots on the lake. "It clears a lot faster than the rest of the reservoir and is easier to fish," he said. Lick Creek is upstream from the dam at the lower end of the reservoir.

Other largemouth bass hotspots in the area include Hunnewell Lake (good numbers, good size) and Labelle City Lake (good numbers, excellent size). Hunnewell is approximately 15 miles north of Mark Twain and is 220 acres in size. Labelle is near Trenton. Don't let its small size - 112 acres - discourage you: It's full of big bass.

Photo by Ron Sinfelt

A.J. Pratt is the MDC fisheries management biologist for Bull Shoals. He's very enthusiastic about the largemouth population. He reports that largemouth bass fishing in the lake looks good after some down years. This improvement is due in large measure to a terrific spawn in 2002 - "the second-largest ... since 1972," as he described it.

That's good news - very good news - for 2005. Largemouths in southern Missouri will grow to 15 inches in about three years with a good forage base. And Bull Shoals has a good forage base. The largemouths swimming in its waters will easily make the legal 15-inch length limit by late 2004 or early 2005. They should offer anglers a huge number of keepers throughout the year.

Bigger largemouths, Pratt reports, will still be hard to come by, however. Summarizing lunker opportunities, he said, "It'll be a few years before good numbers of 5- and 6-pound fish start showing up in high numbers, but it will happen - no doubt about that."

Pratt suggests that anglers fish on the east side of the lake for their best chance at high numbers of largemouths. The 2002 spawn was especially successful in that area. That doesn't mean other areas of the reservoir should be neglected, however. He also reports good numbers of smaller spotted bass (good numbers, fair size) in Bull Shoals. "They aren't as good as at Table Rock, but the numbers of 12- and 13-inch fish are high," he said.

The smallmouth population (good numbers, good size) is more difficult to predict. Sampling is not very accurate, owing to the deeper waters that these brown fighters inhabit. Based on past years and anglers' reports, he rates the smallmouth fishing as pretty good.

Just a little west of Bull Shoals is Table Rock Lake. It may not be the state's best largemouth venue (good numbers, fair size), but it isn't bad.

Bill Anderson, MDC fisheries management biologist on the lake, reports a good bass spawn a couple of years ago. That spawn will offer anglers reasonable numbers of keeper largemouths in 2005.

Big largemouths are another story: They'll be hard to find in 2005. For reasons that are not clear, the fall of 1999 saw a huge die-off of largemouths over 3 pounds. It takes a long time for a reservoir to recover from something like that. The future for trophy largemouths looks bright, however. Said Anderson, "Tournament weights are going up. Some are showing a 4-pound average!"

Maybe the best way to describe the smallmouth fishing (excellent numbers, excellent size) on Table Rock is to say that it's on fire! Anderson points out that the smallmouth population has increased at an "unbelievable" rate since 1986. They're scattered throughout the lake. "They're everywhere," he replied when queried about local hotspots.

"A 5-pound smallmouth is nothing. Six-pounders show up regularly. We expect even bigger ones in 2005," he said in offering his enthusiastic summary of smallmouth fishing prospects.

The spotted bass fishing (excellent numbers, excellent size) might be even better than the smallmouth fishing. Anderson reports lots of spots over 4 pounds, with 3-pound fish being common. He has personally electrofished a 5.25-pound brute.

And for those anglers looking for something different, there's always "meanmouth" bass - a cross between a smallmouth and a spot - which exhibit excellent size and are present in fair numbers. For reasons unknown to the scientific community, meanmouths are occurring naturally in Table Rock at an increasing rate. One theory is that smallmouths and spots spawn near the same areas, at about the same time, on Table Rock.

These crossbreeds are mostly found in the lower end of the lake, where the water is the clearest and the cleanest. According to Anderson, they're "getting big," with some weighing 5 pounds or more.