Lake of the Ozarks Fishing.

Hello all.
Anybody have info on fishing Lake of the Ozarks?
Going there next week for family trip and want to get kids into catching something.
Bass?
Crappies?
Walleye?

We’ll be right in the middle of the lake in a finger.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I know the lake like the back of my hand for boating, bars, and restaurants. However, I don’t fish it too seriously… What mile marker are you staying on? Have you been to the lake before?

If you are planning on fishing on a weekend, good luck. Weekdays will be your best bet. A lot of the fish in the lake reside around the docks. It is a fantastic Largemouth Bass lake. Find just about any cove that is a little quieter and cast your typical bass baits in between most any docks, boat slips, etc. There’s also a good amount of sunfish/bluegill/crappie around docks. I have had a lot of fun catching some channel cats as well off of our dock while hanging out. Put on a wad of worms, stinkbait, chicken liver, etc. and cast it out as far as you can! I don’t know about any walleye fishing on the lake, other than there are a few of them.

Lake of the Ozarks is a pleasure boating lake for me (and thousands of others), I just don’t do any serious fishing while there. But there are great fish to be caught!

I grew up in central mo. stay away from lake o on the weekends it is party central. If you have smaller children cover their eyes buddy.Fish boat docks and the backs of coves the fish are post spawn so should be on points and docks.

It has been several years since I was there, I think we stayed on the Little Niangua Arm. Not sure if I spelled that right. Had a great time.

The resort we stayed at had lights on the docks for night fishing. The lights attracted baitfish and the baitfish attracted crappies.

The baitshop had photos of some nice walleyes so I asked for a little guidance on locations. I caught some nice catfish.

Never been on the lake before.
Staying at Holiday resort.
Hoping to stay away from crowds/idiots.

If crappies can be caught off the docks, I may just do that.

The women chose this lake for the social and shopping allure.

I’d rather fish a glacial lake with smallies and walleyes where you see 5 boats all day.

Thanks for the info.

If you have never been to the lake before, you are in for a treat or a terror. You are staying along a pretty busy stretch of the lake (almost all of the lake is busy though). During the weekends the water along the part you are staying will be very rough! What type of boat are you bringing/renting? We have a 28′ Cobalt that we run on the lake, and it is border line too small to handle the waves and traffic of some weekends. However with a little smart driving, you can drive most any boat on the lake, you may have to stay near shore and go fairly slow though. I don’t mean this to scare you, as this lake is one of my most favorite places on the planet. But don’t expect to fish on a weekend from the boat. You could early in the mornings. Or you could head up river a ways and get away from some crowds. The Niangua arm can be pleasant on the weekends. If you are in for the party of your life, you’re not too far from Party Cove by staying at the Holiday. The other great thing about the lake is that there are thousands of coves, and lots of them offer a great spot to get out of traffic and let the kids go for a swim, tube, anchor up, whatever.

Accurate description of the lake.
Wednesday thru Friday morning, lake was navigable with a few exceptions. After noon on Friday, not so pleasant.
Weekends after 10:00 am., just stay in the coves.
Serious wakes on a calm day. I saw 5-6 footers.

Lake of the Ozarks is great in the fall for largemouth… we usually use suspending baits… cheers!