Lake Mozingo

Southeast of Council Bluffs is the town of Marysville, Missouri.  Just a few miles to the east is one of the prettiest lakes I have ever fished.  A man made reservoir, it supplies the water for the town of Marysville, and the state of Missouri has stocked it with walleye, crappie, bass and catfish.  It is an outstanding fishery.  The lake is very long and very narrow and of course, widens out at the dam.  Fed by a small stream to the north, fresh water is constantly flowing through and this helps keep the lake pristine.  Another important feature, it is deep.  From the face of the dam, it drops rapidly from five feet to thirty to forty feet.  Deep clean lakes have the ability to hold a lot of bait fish and game fish.  When the weather turns hot, and it gets hot in Missouri, the fish can go deep to cooler water. Click on the Lake Mozingo website to see all that is offered. (http://mozingolakemo.com/)

To reach Marysville from Council Bluffs, you take I-29 south to Rockport Missouri exit and go east.  Here the highway is really lousy.  It is narrow, rough and very hilly reaching the city.  I recommend you have everything secured inside your boat or outside as the road is old and really rough. You will have to go through a number of small Missouri towns slowing the trip.  I figure about two hours in total from my house to the lake. 

My trips are day trips and I key off of the weather.  I fish the lake only early in the spring as when it warms up the boat traffic picks up with a lot of pleasure boaters.  Besides an out- of- state day license which is nominal, you will need a park permit for the day. 

Before entering the park, there is a bait shop that opens at 6 AM, and the people are ready to help.  Licenses and permits can be purchased there and you will also get all the latest tips and spots to work.  These are really nice people and very helpful.  It is the only bait shop on the lake and their phone number is 1-660-582-3600.

I only go to this lake when there is a light south to southwesterly air flow.  Therefore, the day was picked and the trip was put into motion.  Leaving the house by 4:30 AM, and arriving at the bait shop by 6:30, it was a beautiful morning.  The bait shop owner said, "Minnows are the bait of choice and for walleye stay off the face of the dam and work into fifteen feet of water."  The second spot was a point near the face of the dam that sticks out into the main body of the lake.  It is on the east side.  The third spot was across from the boat ramps.  The plan was to work the bottom in thirty feet of water with a spinner on a bottom bouncer.  Big walleye have been known to hang out in this area. I also field glass other boats to see what they are doing when I am on a lake seldom fished.

The sky had a high overcast and I headed straight toward the dam.  The wind was now straight out of the south.  Starting in five feet of water, I let the boat be pushed into deeper water to about fifteen feet.  Turning right around, I back- trolled into the wind and into the face of the dam.  The plan was to make this in and out turning pattern from five to fifteen feet.  It did not take long before Wham! I got a good hit.  A nice fish was boated.  I then tried to stay in the general area for about thirty minutes to see if I could pick up another. It did not happen.  Moving eastward along the face of the dam, I picked up another walleye. These fish were running about 16 inches.  I kept moving along the face S turning in and out from five to fifteen feet.  The fish were all caught in about twelve feet of water.  They hit really nice and hard.  These were feeding fish.
 The fish I started picking up along the dam were small walleye that had to be thrown back.  Missouri has a 15" minimum length requirement and I was throwing fish back.  At this point in time, I was up to three fish over 16 inches.  The sun began to poke out from behind the clouds and the bite began to turn off.  I had fished for two hours.

I then moved off the dam and motored to points on the east side that stuck out and drifted from deep water into shallow water and back to deep over the point.  This produced nothing. I then moved into deeper water and dropped a bottom bouncer with a spinner and minnow attached.  I worked this method for about 90 minutes, but did not get one hit.  I was graphing fish, but nothing took.  All I needed was one more walleye for a daily limit, but it was not to be.  As noon approached, I gave up for the day, loaded up and took off to find a restaurant and then home.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank

There are some great buys right now at one of these fine outdoor suppliers.  You cannot have enough gear.  If your wife asks you where it came from, just say it appeared.  It works for me.

Find us on Facebook at "Outdoorswithhank"
wwww.outdoorswithhank.com

If you have a great story and pictures e-mail them to me and if published you will receive a $25.00 gift card to Bass Pro.