Fishing jigs tipped with plastics or live bait around Truman Lake’s trees and stumps is a surefire way to tempt crappies during spring. (Photo by Keith Jackson)
April 07, 2025
By Keith Jackson
When the redbuds begin to bloom in the southern Midwest, many anglers start focusing much more seriously on fishing. Spring in this part of the region is a time when waters begin to warm and fish become more active, and it can be a great opportunity to work out winter’s kinks.
While many northern lakes are still frozen, Missouri’s Truman Lake is ice-free by March. In fact, it usually doesn’t freeze all winter, aside from perhaps a few days during especially cold winters. As a rule, fishing never turns off on the state’s largest lake, with solid action available year-round.
Things begin to pick up in March. Walleyes are spawning or getting ready to spawn, as are paddlefish (aka spoonbills). Crappies are up on the flats chasing shad, and catfish are moving around, looking for their next easy meal. White bass—and hybrid striped bass—are chaotically feeding to help regain weight lost during winter. Largemouth bass, too, are moving up from their usual winter haunts to feed. Aside from trout, just about every sportfish in Missouri can be found in the lake, and all are thriving in these beautiful waters.
SPRING SWEET SPOT There are several reasons why Truman Reservoir offers exceptional fishing. For starters, it’s a fertile lake. The upper, western end of Truman is fed by rivers that drain cropland, and the high load of phosphorous from this results in greater algae growth—the food stuff of shad and other forage fish. Second, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) formed the lake in 1979, no trees were cut throughout most of the reservoir. Many of those trees remain as stumps and provide excellent habitat.
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Truman is the confluence of four major rivers—the Grand, Sac, Pomme de Terre and Osage. There are also many creeks that enter the lake, including one that’s nearly the size of a river, Tebo, on the northeastern end of the lake. While the main channel arms have deeper water, so do many of the creeks, and finding the comfort zone for fish is a matter of finding the channels.
This brings up an excellent point: If you’re a boater new to Truman, be sure to note where the channels are. Stumps and trees may provide some guidance as to channel edges, but they are only guides, and if you’re not careful, you can accidentally strike them with your boat. For this reason, running in Truman is always a bit chancy, but having an accurate GPS will help you identify the channels—important both for traveling the lake safely and for fishing.
CORRAL CRAPPIES While Truman offers fantastic fishing for a host of species, crappies are likely the lake’s biggest draw. In truth, Truman is perhaps the best crappie lake in the entire Midwest region. Both black and white crappies are available, and fish can be found almost everywhere in the lake, from the upper Grand River arm to the dam.
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Local guide Barry Morrow (660-723-2667) says that crappies often occupy the shallows on the upper end of the lake most of the year, if not year-round. In March, specifically, he says they’re often on flats in 8 to 10 feet of water.
“They probably will be close to the channels, though—say within 20 yards,” he adds. “That way, if it gets colder, the fish can slide into deeper water. They follow the water temperature that’s comfortable.”
Beyond guiding, Morrow also fishes in national and regional crappie tournaments. In these events and during guided trips, he frequently relies on forward-facing sonar. Being able to see what’s ahead and watch how fish interact with his lure helps in both instances.
Crappies feed heavily in spring as the spawn approaches, and fishing minnows in and around Truman’s stumps and trees is the traditional way to catch them. However, Morrow mostly uses lead-head jigs paired with soft-plastic bodies. He says that some days minnows garner more bites, while jigs and plastics perform better on others. When using jigs, though, the guide believes in adding scent to his offerings. Typically, this comes in the form of Berkley’s Gulp! Alive! Maggots in white or chartreuse.
Morrow selects jigs based on water depth and fish attitude but commonly uses 1/16-ounce jig heads . If needed, he’ll add a split shot on the leader or line above the jig for more weight. When crappies are fussy, he’ll use smaller, lighter jigs to match the smaller-sized plastics he must use. Morrow likes the Bobby Garland line of jigs and favors the Slab Slay’R , Baby Shad , Minnow Mind’R and the small Slab Hunt’R when it comes to plastics. Generally, he uses bright colors and especially likes chartreuse in combination with just about any other color—black, purple and June bug for instance. However, when the bite or conditions, are tough, he’ll rely instead on more natural colors—grays, blues, olives and blacks.
Morrow uses a selection of lines, but fluorocarbon in the 8-pound range is about right. For some setups, he’ll use super line (8- to 10-pound test) tipped with a short fluorocarbon leader. He also carries a fly rod to cast a small float rigged with a jig.
Anglers after spoonbills should bring heavy tackle, or hire a guide who already has such equipment, to tangle with these big fish. (Photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Conservation) SNAG SPOONBILLS The season for spoonbills, or paddlefish, starts March 15 and runs through April 30 in Missouri. Because spoonies are plankton feeders, they don’t take lures or bait. Snagging is the only way to hook one, and it is legal to do so. The key to this pursuit is finding the fish.
They run up the upper Osage River, and the Talley Bend area is a good place to start searching. Two methods are generally productive. The first is casting sharp, weighted treble hooks and ripping them back to the boat. The other is to troll using divers.
Using divers, such as Luhr Jensen’s Dipsy Diver , lets the angler control the depth of the presentation, and the “lure” of choice is two or three large, sharp treble hooks. Whichever technique is used, snagging for spoonbills will likely lead to anglers battling the largest fish of their lives, as spoonbills weighing more than 50 pounds are common.
For snagging, anglers will need heavy tackle—rod, reel, line and treble hooks. A super line heavier than 30-pound-test is recommended, and a longer rod (greater than 8 feet) will help shorebound anglers with casting distance. Treble hooks should be large (5/0 is a good starting place) and needle sharp.
In years with mild temps, white bass move up rivers beginning in March. Small underspins and plastics work great during these times. (Photo by Keith Jackson) WALLOP WHITE BASS If Missouri has experienced a warm winter, March may also see white bass and hybrids begin heading up the river arms to spawn earlier than the typical April run. If winter wasn’t so nice, expect to find fish staging in deeper water in the lower ends of major rivers and creeks. For staging fish, jigs and jigging spoons may be the best option. If they’re heading upstream to spawn, jigs, Rooster Tails and small crankbaits all seem to do well. White bass and hybrids are also suckers for a three-wire Alabama rig (all that’s legal in Missouri) trailing 1/8- to 1/4-ounce jig heads and white or pearl grubs.
Walleyes often make spawning runs up rivers feeding into Truman in March. Fish jigs and plastics downstream of gravel points and shoals. (© Daniel Thornberg/Dreamstime) ENTICE ’EYES Like paddlefish, walleyes begin a spawning run in March and April. Generally, the upper Osage, Pomme de Terre and Sac rivers are the best places to start the hunt. Current is key, and walleyes typically hold downstream of gravel points or shoals. Most of the spawning activity takes place at night, but eager males can be caught at any time.
Typical lures for the spawning run are lead-head jigs with a soft-plastic body, usually around 3 inches long. Walleyes are attracted to scented lures, and adding a short section of nightcrawler or a minnow to the jig can often turn fish on. While rivers are the focus of the spawning run, walleyes will also spawn on wind-prone gravelly points or shores in the main lake.
CORNER CATFISH Catfish are a bit behind when it comes to spring spawning, preferring—or perhaps programmed—to wait until May and June. Truman has ample blue catfish, as well as many channels and flatheads. The Missouri Department of Conservation encourages anglers to keep any smaller blues they catch to help control their numbers.
During cooler weather, anchoring and fishing live or cut shad is a good option, but as the weather warms, drifting the same baits over flats is more effective. Channel catfish respond well to worms and prepared baits, whereas flatheads like live bait, including green sunfish or goldfish, both of which are legal baits.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO Lodging options, bait shops, fishing reports and other considerations for traveling anglers. Truman is an angler’s paradise with its species variety, good habitat and solid fish numbers. Ample boat ramps and tackle shops make logistics easy. (© Tommy Brison/Dreamstime) Truman Reservoir is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) lake and has six campgrounds that the Corps operates. There are also campgrounds in Harry S. Truman State Park, as well as many private campgrounds and RV parks. While there are few accommodations directly on the lake—because those areas are under Corps of Engineers control—there is lodging available in Clinton and Warsaw and in between as well. Cody’s Bait and Tackle (codysbaitandtackle.com ) in Warsaw, which sells bait and gear and offers a guide service, also has cabins available.
In addition to Cody’s, Everharts Outdoor Store (no apostrophe) in Clinton, located on the northwest side of the lake, also offers minnows and other baits. Cody Vannattan, the owner of Cody’s Bait and Tackle, also guides and has a YouTube channel and Facebook page to which he posts weekly (or near-weekly) fishing reports. Another source of information is the Truman Lake Fishing Intel website (trumanlakefishingintel.com ), which also features updated fishing reports.
If you run into problems with your boat, there are three boat dealers in the area. Anglers Port Marine (anglersportmarine.com ) has a full-service shop and is the top Phoenix and Lowe dealer in the nation.
There also is a nearby Nitro/Tracker dealer, Pro’s Choice Marine, and a general marine dealer, Truman Lake Marine & Powersports, between Warsaw and Lincoln.
The daily launch fee at Corps of Engineers’ ramps is $5. America the Beautiful Senior Passes ($80) allow for unlimited lifetime launches, and yearly passes are also available through various national agencies. When you launch, you’ll see warning signs that Truman Lake has zebra mussels, so follow the drain-and-dry procedure before launching in another lake.
This article was featured in the March 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe
