Mark Twain Lake Fishing Report

No matter where you live in Missouri, however, a trip to Mark Twain Lake in Monroe County makes great sense. Stay near home and be unsuccessful, if you want, but you’ll be missing out on fine fishing. Whether you fish for crappie, bass or catfish, Mark Twain Lake seldom disappoints.

At 18,000 acres, Mark Twain Lake is the largest reservoir in north Missouri. Clarence Cannon Dam, which holds back the Salt River to form the reservoir, was authorized by Congress in 1962. The lake filled in 1984. In addition to flood control, the dam and its reservoir provide hydroelectric power, wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation–especially fishing.

Crappie are the bread and butter fish here,” said Ross Dames, the Conservation Department fisheries biologist for Mark Twain Lake. Around here, people’s livelihoods rise and fall with the crappie. If the crappie fishing is good, the parking lots are full.”

The lake drains a large watershed and is notorious for fluctuating water levels and turbid–or muddy–water. “It clears up during midsummer and fall,” Dames said, “but it’s turbid most of spring and early summer. And any time it rains, the lake comes up.”