The 225-acre lake hosts an interesting combination of coves, lots of vegetation, and an underwater hump, which is a good place to try for some post-spawn fish. Two shallow arms extend northwest and southwest off the main body of the lake, and conditions are ideal for chunky bluegills.

Lake Show-Me has a healthy population of big bass that keeps the number of smaller 'gills under control. During a recent MDC survey nearly a quarter of the lake's bucketmouths were 15 inches or better.

Careful boating is called for when you move in close to the spawners. They'll scatter if a boater is reckless, but will eventually return to the beds.

The fish are very aggressive in the spring, and will take a variety of live and smaller soft-plastic baits dragged through the nests or drifted just above them. The big bull 'gills are within 4 feet of the surface this time of the year and have little trouble bending any light-action rod.

The redear population is as impressive as those of the bluegills and crappie. Thornhill recorded several 10-inch fish and longer during the MDC surveys

The lake has a no-wake restriction in place for motors over 10 hp. Two concrete ramps, one on either side of the lake, give easy access to the water. The ramp on the east side near the dam has a nice courtesy dock that can be used on a first-come, first-served basis as well as a city-owned campground with very reasonable rates.

Lake Show-Me, a water-supply reservoir owned and operated by the city of Memphis in Scotland County, lies near the Missouri-Iowa state line west of Memphis off Highway 136.

For more information, contact the Northeast Region Office at (660) 785-2420.

STOCKTON LAKE
"Stockton is a pretty good bluegill lake," said fisheries management biologist Tim Banek. "Seven-and-a-half-inchers are considered keepers, and the larger fish run from 8 1/2 to 9 inches."

According to Banek, only 1 percent of the pressure results specifically from targeting bluegills; not a lot of people are fishing for them. Panfishermen can take advantage of a lake like this.

The big 'gills hang out around large number of brushpiles, riprap shoreline and the bridge pilings, said Banek. After the spawn, the bigger ones will sometimes spend time over open-water pilings and bottom structure, so locating them is a matter of randomly checking several areas.

And there are several areas to check on this 25,000-acre lake. The sheer size of the reservoir seems to disqualify it as a good bluegill water, and it exhibits few of the other characteristics considered favorable for bluegills, but it's not a problem.