Best Fishing Spots in Missouri: Five Ozark Waters and the Exact Place to Fish on Each

How these five were chosen

Every year the Missouri Department of Conservation publishes a fishing prospects report for each major water — survey numbers, what to expect, and where on the water to go. This page is built entirely from the 2026 reports. A water made the list if MDC forecasts at least one species as very good or excellent there and names a specific public place we could put a pin on.

That second test is why Truman Lake, Stockton and Mark Twain — all strong fisheries in MDC’s own words — are missing. Their reports name arms and bends, but none we could locate to a single public access with confidence.

Permits work differently here than in most states, and MDC’s permits page is the source. You need a fishing permit unless exempt — Missouri residents 65 and over are — plus, for trout, either a trout permit or, in the trout parks, a daily trout tag. Details are under each spot.

Lake Taneycomo — below Table Rock Dam

Why it is on the list. MDC calls Taneycomo “primarily a trout fishery”: about 90% of what anglers catch are rainbow trout and another 6 to 7% are browns, maintained by releases of roughly 560,000 rainbows and 15,000 browns a year.

Why this exact spot. MDC splits the lake at Fall Creek. From Table Rock Dam to Fall Creek, bait restrictions and a protected slot keep fish density higher than anywhere below — in the September 2024 survey, 77% of rainbows there were over 13 inches, 31% over 16, and several over 20. No trout are stocked in that reach; the numbers come from low harvest and fish moving in. The pin sits on the tailwater just below the dam.

Target fish (MDC best bets). Rainbow trout · brown trout · largemouth bass and redear sunfish in the warmer lower lake.

Techniques.

• Upper three miles (dam to Fall Creek): artificial lures and flies only; MDC says soft plastics and natural or scented baits are prohibited. Fly fishing is popular — scuds, sow bugs and soft hackles — and night fishing with streamers and stickbaits produces the bigger trout.
• Below Fall Creek: a put-and-take fishery where natural and scented baits are popular alongside lures and flies.
• Brown trout: abundant and large lakewide — 55% over 16 inches in the 2024 sample — but held to a high minimum length, so most are released.
• Fall: MDC asks anglers to keep fights short and handling minimal because dissolved oxygen is low below the dam at that time of year.

Read the water before you step in. MDC is explicit: the first 1.5 miles are heavily influenced by hydropower releases. During generation it becomes deep, swift water where safe fishing is limited to the shoreline and drifting in boats; at low flow it becomes shallow pools and riffles that nearly everyone fishes by wading or from the bank. Downstream, MDC lists covered, accessible public fishing docks at Cooper Creek Access, Rockaway Beach Access and Empire Electric Park. A trout permit is required for everyone fishing above the Highway 65 bridge near Branson.

Bennett Spring State Park — spring branch

Why it is on the list. It is a state trout park with an MDC hatchery on site and rainbow trout stocked from March 1 through October 31. MDC’s prospects call 2026 a good season. It is 12 miles west of Lebanon on Highway 64.

Why this exact spot. The spring branch itself is the fishery, and MDC divides it into three zones, each with its own tackle rule. That makes the zone you stand in the most important decision of the day.

Target fish (MDC best bets). Rainbow trout · brown trout.

Techniques and seasons.

• March to October: the stocked season. Pick your zone by your tackle — fly anglers upstream, bait anglers in Zone 3.
• Winter (second Friday in November to the second Monday in February): catch-and-release only, Fridays to Mondays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., flies only. MDC’s dates for the coming season run November 13, 2026 to February 9, 2027.
• Family days: Kids Free Fishing Day is the first Saturday in May (May 2 in 2026), with a children-only stretch from the hatchery outlet in Zone 2 to the Suzy Hole in Zone 3 and volunteers helping with knots and lures. Statewide Free Fishing Days in June need no permit or daily tag in the park.

Fishing here needs a daily trout tag, per MDC’s permits page, and hatchery renovation in 2026 means the hatchery complex is closed to visitors this season. Our fly fishing basics and trout fishing for beginners guides cover the rest.

Lake of the Ozarks — Truman Dam tailrace

Why it is on the list. MDC’s 2026 forecast is unusually upbeat: crappie fishing “will be excellent” after fall 2025 netting found about 60% of black and white crappie lakewide just under the minimum length, ready to grow into it. Black bass “will continue to be very good” on the Niangua and Glaize arms, with a solid share of three- to five-pound fish. MDC adds that the lake consistently produces a significant number of the paddlefish harvested in the state.

Why this exact spot. MDC names it: “the best locations for catching walleye are the Truman Dam tailrace in early spring,” and hybrid striped bass opportunities are good in the Truman Dam tailwater too. The pin is on the outflow below the dam at Warsaw, where Lake of the Ozarks begins.

Target fish (MDC best bets). Largemouth bass · white crappie · blue and channel catfish · walleye · white bass · paddlefish.

Techniques by species.

• Walleye: the tailrace in early spring; then the Grand Glaize, Niangua and Osage arms through summer and fall. Troll crankbaits on steep rocky points and humps, or jig with a minnow, nightcrawler or twister tail on the bottom — and go bright: MDC says walleye here prefer orange, white and chartreuse.
• Crappie: creek channels in the bays in spring; brush piles on or near points in late spring and fall. Small jigs of 1/32 to 1/8 ounce and minnows; troll small deep-diving crankbaits when the summer heat slows the shallows.
• Bass: spring and fall around points, brush piles and docks — topwater in low light, plastic worms, jigs, crankbaits, spinnerbaits. In winter, slow jerkbaits off points and gravel banks.
• Blue catfish: April to September is best; drift live or cut shad on light-breeze days, some distance off the bank with the bait a few feet off the bottom — cove mouths, deep flats and channel breaks. Note MDC’s protected slot for blues.

Truman Dam generates power. Check the release schedule before fishing below it, and our walleye fishing and crappie fishing guides go deeper on the two headline species.

Table Rock Lake — Campbell Point

Why it is on the list. MDC’s 2026 forecast for black bass is “excellent”: largemouth are plentiful after several high-water years, with good numbers in the 15- to 18-inch range, and smallmouth fishing should be good with plenty of keepers. Spotted bass are so abundant that MDC encourages harvesting them.

Why this exact spot. MDC says smallmouth bass make up a substantial share of the black bass in the main lake from the Highway 86 bridge to Campbell Point. The pin is on the point, at the end of that stretch, where the aerial shows a ramp and covered docks.

Target fish (MDC best bets). Largemouth bass · spotted bass · smallmouth bass · bluegill · paddlefish.

Techniques by species.

• Bass, summer: extended main-lake points, humps and bluffs — jigs, spoons and drop-shot rigs in 10 to 25 feet or deeper, depending on the thermocline. Largemouth and smallmouth on the bottom; spotted bass suspended over deep water following bait, where good electronics help.
• Bass, most of the year: outside the spring spawn, and again in fall, MDC says bass are often in deeper offshore water — fish a range of depths and water types to find them.
• Bluegill: late May to early July, gravel areas, points and pockets in 10 to 20 feet, on the bottom with live crickets or worms and light tackle. Goggle-eye hold around the same big rock as the smallmouth.
• Walleye: spring in the upper river arms and around the dam; summer near deep points and channel swings.
• Crappie: best in the James, Kings and Long Creek arms in spring and fall, on small plastic jigs and minnows around brush — MDC and partners placed over 1,400 habitat structures here, mapped on MDC’s site.

Our thermocline explainer covers why MDC ties summer bass depth to it, and the drop shot rig guide covers the rig.

Bull Shoals Lake — Theodosia (Hwy 160)

Why it is on the list. MDC expects good catch rates of largemouth bass over 17 inches and spotted bass over 12 in 2026, thanks to a big 2020 year class, and calls walleye numbers “very good” with a high share of 18- to 20-inch fish. Crappie fishing “has been very good” around the 171 habitat structures MDC installed.

Why this exact spot. MDC’s prospects list the lake’s public accesses by name and road; Theodosia Access is off Highway 160 in Ozark County, by the Highway 160 bridge. The pin marks that shoreline.

Target fish (MDC best bets). Largemouth bass · walleye · black and white crappie · spotted bass.

Techniques by species.

• Bass: crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs and plastic worms catch most fish. Spring, fall and early winter, they sit relatively shallow on rocky points, banks and channel swings; the rest of the year they drop to 30 to 40 feet. MDC’s rule of thumb: rain, clouds and wind mean better fishing.
• Walleye: jerkbaits, live bait and jigs in early spring; from late spring through fall, spoons, drop-shotted nightcrawlers, nightcrawlers on bottom-bouncers and slow-trolled crankbaits along flats and points at or just above the thermocline.
• Crappie: jigs and minnows in spring and fall on the habitat structures, whose coordinates MDC publishes for download.

Because Bull Shoals has a history of inconsistent bass spawns, MDC encourages catch-and-release of largemouth and smallmouth and harvest of spotted bass. The lake runs into Arkansas; a $10 White River Border Lakes Permit lets Missouri residents fish the Arkansas side. Clean, drain and dry your boat — zebra mussels are the reason.

Before you go

Permits. A fishing permit unless exempt; a trout permit for trout outside the parks; a daily tag inside them; the border lakes permit for the Arkansas side of Table Rock and Bull Shoals. MDC’s permits page sets out each — our licences and regulations guide explains where to look.

Dam releases. Two of these five pins are below dams that generate power. Rising water below Table Rock and Truman dams is the hazard MDC warns about first.

Pick the day. MDC’s own rule of thumb on Bull Shoals — bad weather, better fishing — is a pressure-and-light story; our barometric pressure and best time to fish pages explain it.