He's been fishing Mark Twain Lake since it filled. "In the last four years, I've seen the schools of young shad so thick you felt you could walk on them," said Fred Withrow of Winfield. When water levels are high in spring and early summer, shad reproduction increases, providing more food for crappie. Gizzard shad are the primary forage species in the reservoir, but adult gizzard shad are too large for crappie to eat. Water levels directly affect crappie success at Mark Twain. And any time it rains, the lake comes up." CRAPPIE FISHING "It clears up during midsummer and fall," Dames said, "but it's turbid most of spring and early summer. The lake drains a large watershed and is notorious for fluctuating water levels and turbid-or muddy-water. If the crappie fishing is good, the parking lots are full." Around here, people's livelihoods rise and fall with the crappie. In addition to flood control, the dam and its reservoir provide hydroelectric power, wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation-especially fishing.Ĭrappie are the bread and butter fish here," said Ross Dames, the Conservation Department fisheries biologist for Mark Twain Lake. Clarence Cannon Dam, which holds back the Salt River to form the reservoir, was authorized by Congress in 1962. Whether you fish for crappie, bass or catfish, Mark Twain Lake seldom disappoints.Īt 18,000 acres, Mark Twain Lake is the largest reservoir in north Missouri. Stay near home and be unsuccessful, if you want, but you'll be missing out on fine fishing. ![]() ![]() No matter where you live in Missouri, however, a trip to Mark Twain Lake in Monroe County makes great sense. Mark Twain wrote, "There is no use in your walking five miles to fish when you can depend on being just as unsuccessful near home."
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