Fishing News with Phil

The crappie bite is up. You won't limit in 15 mins yet, but figure in a couple of hours you will be packing up to go clean your limit.

Paddle Fish: Remmember folks, only use gaffs to assist with landing fish of legal size. A few very small dead paddlefish have been spotted that were severely gaffed. Remember that the regulation states that sublegal fish must be returned to the water unharmed immediately after being caught. Before using a gaff please measure your fish to insure it is large enough to keep, when in doubt or if it is too close to the line, let it go. After all, there are plenty legal fish out there. Snagging continues to be good on Lake Ozark and is the best place to snag right now. Where as, continued rains and flooding has caused Truman to come up another 6-feet; the flooding and high flows continue to make snagging extremely difficult and poor to say the least. Water temperatures are up to around 50/51F. With all of the flows on Lake Ozark it appears that the fish are now starting to be influenced a little more by the increase in flow, and are making spawning runs. With all of the rain we've been having, please watch for changing water conditions; increased flows and logs and debris in the water. Please continue to use caution when launching and snagging - especially on Truman. Your best bet for snagging is on Lake Ozark, also be curtious of others on and off the water.