Anthony Ford • 417-299-5714 • Warsaw, MO

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Truman Lake and Lake of the Ozarks

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Truman Lake: 

The lake and more than 100,000 acres of land surrounding the lake is managed for fish and wildlife. Agricultural leases, controlled burning, wetland developments, food plot establishment, and native grass re-introduction are a few of the land management techniques used at Truman Reservoir.

Over 55,000 acres are licensed to the Missouri Department of Conservation for fish and wildlife management and approximately 8,800 acres of timber was left standing in the lake to improve fisheries habitat.

Truman holds a good population of flathead catfish and several large fish. Fish up to 40 pounds are not common, but definitely not out of the question. We will be using live bait to target flatheads

Blue catfish are also plentiful. Blue catfish usually run up the rivers with spring rains and this is the time that larger blues are caught. Fresh cut bait is the best option for blue catfish. Blues readily bite on cut shad, carp, or drum. Worms or crayfish are also good bait for blues and smaller flatheads.

Truman and most of its tributaries have good populations of channel catfish. Channel catfish bite well on worms or prepared bait. Channels are more of a numbers fish, with 15 pounds being about as big as they get.

Lake of the Ozarks:

The Lake of the Ozarks is a large man-made reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in central Missouri in the northern part of The Ozarks. In addition, three smaller tributaries of the Osage which were also impounded include the Niangua River, the Grand Glaize River, and Gravois Creek. The lake has a surface area of 55,000 acres , over 1150 miles of shoreline , and the main channel of the Osage Arm stretches 92 miles from end to end. The total drainage area is over 14,000 square miles.

The lake was created by the construction of the 2,543 foot long Bagnell Dam by Union Electric Company of St. Louis, Missouri. Construction began August 6, 1929, and was completed in April 1931.

The three most popular species to catch at the lake are channel, blue and flathead catfish and we specialize in these fish.

The lake has a reputation for yielding big blue cats each year and has also produced the state record flathead catfish, a 66-pounder. Every year the lake produces a few 40- and 50-pound flatheads.