Missouri Mark Twain Lake

[bishoptf]

I know Mark Twain lake has had issues at least with the largemouth bass fisheries but it really is a pretty lake with no development on it and a lot less traffic. Went up there yesterday mainly to run my big engine to continue breaking it in and it really is a pretty lake. Tons of baitfish, I mean baitfish are everywhere so hard to understand along with the conservation folks why the bass are not doing well in the lake. Here is a video I think last year with one of the conservation folks discussing things - 

 

 I am looking for any insight if anyone here fishes it to how to break the lake down, I do not fish tournaments and just haven't found a lot of information about the lake. Anyone have any insight on how to break the lake down and maybe make it a little easier for me would be nice, thanks!

[Cuivre]

First off- War Eagle!  (M.S. 1990).  I fish Twain some from a kayak and bass boat.  There is no substitute for time on the water, of course and getting to know specific arms over time and fishing them.  The lake rises and falls a lot, so keep track of the water levels closely for safety and how deep key structure/cover that you find is.  I just fished a kayak tournament this past weekend and did well- the top finisher was about 80" for 5 fish and the big fish of the tourney was 19".  I believe he uses shaky heads quite a bit, but others during the cloudy pre-fishing days (Thurs-Fri) were catching them on crankbaits in the mid-lower end of the lake.  I saw shad migrating to a shallow cove Sat and caught several on top water and soft plastic jerk baits.  I was catching about 30 bass/day Thursday-Friday, but I only caught about 15-20 on Saturday, but they were better size.  You can't go wrong hitting the windy points first-that was my key for this tournament.  

[bishoptf]

6 minutes ago, Cuivre said:

First off- War Eagle!  (M.S. 1990).  I fish Twain some from a kayak and bass boat.  There is no substitute for time on the water, of course and getting to know specific arms over time and fishing them.  The lake rises and falls a lot, so keep track of the water levels closely for safety and how deep key structure/cover that you find is.  I just fished a kayak tournament this past weekend and did well- the top finisher was about 80" for 5 fish and the big fish of the tourney was 19".  I believe he uses shaky heads quite a bit, but others during the cloudy pre-fishing days (Thurs-Fri) were catching them on crankbaits in the mid-lower end of the lake.  I saw shad migrating to a shallow cove Sat and caught several on top water and soft plastic jerk baits.  I was catching about 30 bass/day Thursday-Friday, but I only caught about 15-20 on Saturday, but they were better size.  You can't go wrong hitting the windy points first-that was my key for this tournament.  

War Eagle! I put in at Rey Behrens ramp, and really have only had any luck hitting the conservation brushpiles with crankbaits but catch rate nothing like your catch rate. I have only fished small lakes and the larger lakes like oz and twain are a big mystery for me at the moment, not sure where to start. Usually I try to find the brush piles but its a large vody of water to side scan. I have found some interesting areas based on the contour map but still trying to figure things out, usually only getting up there once per week. When I have been up there I see shad everywhere and with the lake so deep I need to figure out how the bass relate in a highland reservoir, lake is deep and even back up in the creek channels not much shallow water before dropping off deep. Thanks for the information when you say mid to lower end of the lake, where is that in relation to Clarence Dam.

 

Thanks

 

 

[Cuivre]

Behrens is the lower end- it is close to the dam.  Midlake is around where the south, middle and north forks branch off from the main lake.  I think the fish are at the mouths of the creeks now- like Spaulding area, Indian Creeks, etc.  I'll fish a brushpile if I run across one, but I key on points and lay-downs along the bank- and shade when the sun is out.

[bishoptf]

16 minutes ago, Cuivre said:

Behrens is the lower end- it is close to the dam.  Midlake is around where the south, middle and north forks branch off from the main lake.  I think the fish are at the mouths of the creeks now- like Spaulding area, Indian Creeks, etc.  I'll fish a brushpile if I run across one, but I key on points and lay-downs along the bank- and shade when the sun is out.

Appreciate the information, I really like Behrens ramp, really nice facilities except for the hike up to the parking lot, lol. The conservation dropped a lot of brushpiles and I have founds and marked most of them but I assume so has everyone else. I am retiring in the next couple of days and have been using my vacation days for awhile and fishing 3 days a week when the weather cooperates and one of those days up at Twain. Twain is about hour and half away and Oz is right at 2hours so trying to decide which one I want to fish more, the plan is to fish year round when the weather permits and just try to learn more about the lakes.