The trout parks' winter season, catch and release with flies only, runs from Friday, November 13 to Monday, February 8, and Lake Taneycomo above the U.S. 65 bridge takes a trout permit all year. Walleye, crappie, pike and muskellunge stay open all winter, every permit expires on February 28, and on March 1 the parks reopen for keeping trout as most southern streams close to keeping black bass.
What to fish for in early November
Missouri's winter belongs to trout and the big Ozark reservoirs. The trout parks turn to flies and catch and release, Lake Taneycomo fishes all winter on Table Rock's releases, the city lakes of St. Louis and Kansas City get rainbows for the winter, and the reservoir crappie and bass go deep. On the big rivers the blue catfish come in the cold months.
Rainbow Trout
Rises to small flies through the parks' winter season, feeds in Taneycomo on the shad that wash through the dam, and fills the winter trout lakes near the cities, where the fish may be kept again from February.
Where. Bennett Spring, Montauk, Roaring River and Maramec Spring, Lake Taneycomo below Table Rock Dam, and the city and conservation-area lakes of St. Louis and Kansas City.
The rainbow trout waters we forecast Water Forecast Lake Taneycomo Today's forecast Brown Trout
Grows large on Taneycomo's cold releases and feeds hardest when the shad come through.
Where. The cold upper lake below Table Rock Dam, and the trout areas below the big springs on the Ozark streams, under each area's own rules.
Crappie
Schools on deep brush piles and creek-channel bends, and on the cooling lake moves to the warm water of the discharge channel.
Where. Lake of the Ozarks, Truman and Table Rock, and Thomas Hill's warm-water channel in the north.
The crappie waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Lake of the Ozarks about 60F Best Thu, Nov 12, A+Today's forecast Mark Twain Lake about 57F Best Thu, Nov 12, A+Today's forecast Lake Wappapello about 62F Today's forecast Walleye
Begins pushing up the reservoir rivers late in the winter, ahead of the spring spawn.
Where. The rivers above Stockton, Truman and Bull Shoals.
Blue Catfish
The big rivers' biggest fish come in the cold months, when the blue catfish gather in the deep holes below the dams and along the outside bends.
Where. The Missouri from Kansas City to its mouth, and the Mississippi past St. Louis and Cape Girardeau.
The blue catfish waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Missouri River at Hermann about 53F Today's forecast
Usual water now is that water's normal for this point in the season: a lake's modeled seasonal curve or a river gauge's long-run average, not this year's reading. The forecast link reads this week's.
What changes soon
The next six weeks of this report's calendar for Missouri.
- Fri November 13Missouri's trout parks open their winter season: catch and release with flies only, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday through Monday at Bennett Spring, Montauk and Roaring River and every day at Maramec Spring.
Every date for Missouri from November to February (3)
- Fri November 13Missouri's trout parks open their winter season: catch and release with flies only, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday through Monday at Bennett Spring, Montauk and Roaring River and every day at Maramec Spring.
- Mon February 8Last day of the trout parks' winter catch-and-release season in Missouri.
- Sun February 28Every Missouri permit expires. From tomorrow Missouri's trout parks reopen for keeping trout and most southern Missouri streams close to keeping black bass.
This week's fishing reports
This report covers the season. For what was caught this week, read the people who report on this water.
MDC no longer publishes a weekly fishing report: its old address now leads to the annual Fishing Prospects. Its news releases still announce each winter's trout stocking in the city lakes. Lilleys' Landing reports Lake Taneycomo about once a month in winter, and Arkansas Game and Fish's report covers Bull Shoals and Norfork from the Arkansas side every two weeks. Lake of the Ozarks, Truman, Table Rock, Mark Twain, the trout parks and the Ozark streams had no winter reporter that could be found.
Where to fish in Missouri, area by area
Each water links to its live forecast. The engine outlook in these areas was generated November 3, 2026, for the 14 days from that date; good hours are the hours at or above a B+.
Lake Taneycomo
Lake Taneycomo · White River · Table Rock Dam
The river-lake below Table Rock Dam at Branson, the White River held back by Powersite Dam, filled from the bottom of Table Rock and so cold enough for trout all year.
Who reports here. Lilleys' Landing posts a report about once a month in winter, with the generation schedule, the flows and the shad coming through the dam; last winter its posts came on January 28 and February 10, and none from October to December.
Engine outlook
- Its best day in this outlook has passed.
The White River border lakes
Table Rock Lake · Bull Shoals Lake · Norfork Lake
The three big Corps reservoirs on the White River system that straddle the Arkansas line, Table Rock above Branson, Bull Shoals and Norfork: deep, clear Ozark lakes of bluffs and long creek arms, shared between the two states.
Who reports here. Arkansas Game and Fish's weekly report, every two weeks through February, carried guide reports for Bull Shoals and Norfork from the Arkansas side all last winter, with the lake levels and the dam releases. Table Rock had no winter reporter beyond a Branson guide's occasional posts on a booking site.
Engine outlook
- Its best day in this outlook has passed.
Lake of the Ozarks and Truman Lake
Lake of the Ozarks · Truman Lake · Osage River below Bagnell Dam · Truman Dam tailwater · Pomme de Terre Lake
The Osage River's chain of reservoirs in the middle of the state: Truman Lake, flooded timber on its Osage, Sac and Pomme de Terre arms, and below its dam Lake of the Ozarks, the long, crooked lake behind Bagnell Dam, lined with docks for most of its length, with Pomme de Terre and Stockton up the tributaries.
Who reports here. No winter reporter could be found for either lake. Bucksaw Marina on Truman posts its reports from March to July only, the newest last July, and Lake Expo's weekly Lake of the Ozarks report last ran in 2018. MDC's Fishing Prospects is the agency's own account of each lake, updated once a year.
Engine outlook
- Best: Thu, Nov 12, A+12 good hours67F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 6h
The trout parks
Bennett Spring · Montauk · Roaring River · Maramec Spring
Four spring-fed trout parks in the Ozarks, Bennett Spring, Montauk, Roaring River and Maramec Spring, each a short stream below a big spring that runs at an even temperature all year.
Who reports here. The winter season here is catch and release with flies only, from Friday, November 13 to Monday, February 8. No winter reporter for any of the four parks could be found, and MDC's annual Fishing Prospects is the agency's own description of each. The outlook leaves the parks out, for the reason they fish all winter: no thermometer we can read sits on their water, and a model built on the air would put it near freezing.
The Ozark trout streams
Current River · Eleven Point River · North Fork of the White River · Meramec River · Niangua River
The clear, gravel-bottomed rivers of the southern Ozarks, the Current, the Eleven Point, the North Fork of the White and the Meramec among them, whose upper reaches below big springs hold rainbow and brown trout in the Department of Conservation's Blue Ribbon and Red Ribbon areas, each under its own special rules, with smallmouth water downstream.
Who reports here. No winter reporter could be found for any of these rivers, after searches of the fly shops and by river name. MDC's Fishing Prospects describes each trout area once a year, and its special-waterbody pages carry each stretch's own limits and tackle rules. The outlook leaves the trout areas out: no thermometer we can read sits on them, and a model built on the air cannot see the springs that feed their upper reaches.
The winter trout lakes
August A. Busch Conservation Area lakes · Jefferson Lake in Forest Park · Carondelet Park Boathouse Lake · Suson Park lakes · Tilles Park Lake
Small city-park and conservation-area lakes around St. Louis and Kansas City, with a few in Jefferson City, St. Joseph and the towns of the southeast: bass and sunfish water for most of the year that runs cold enough in winter to hold stocked rainbow trout, a short drive from home for anglers in either city.
Who reports here. MDC's release of November 5, 2025, planned nearly 40,000 rainbows for eleven St. Louis city and county lakes, Union City Lake and five lakes at August A. Busch from November to February, and said some of the lakes are catch and release from November 1 to January 31 while others let anglers keep trout, with every lake open to keeping them from February 1. Kansas City's and the southeast's stockings come in their own releases, and a hotline is updated after each run.
Northern Missouri's lakes
Mark Twain Lake · Smithville Lake · Long Branch Lake · Thomas Hill Reservoir
The reservoirs north of the Missouri River: Mark Twain Lake on the Salt River southwest of Hannibal, Smithville north of Kansas City, Long Branch at Macon and Thomas Hill, the cooling lake of a power station. Prairie lakes, unlike the clear Ozark ones to the south, that ice over in the harder winters.
Who reports here. No winter reporter could be found, after searches by lake name, and MDC's page for Mark Twain Lake still points to the weekly report it has discontinued. Its Fishing Prospects for Thomas Hill says crappie and hybrid striped bass can be caught through the winter in and below the warm-water discharge channel.
Engine outlook
- Best: Thu, Nov 12, A+11 good hours63F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 6h
The Missouri and Mississippi rivers
Missouri River · Mississippi River at St. Louis · Chain of Rocks · Mississippi River at Hannibal · Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau
The two big rivers, the Missouri across the middle of the state from Kansas City to its mouth above St. Louis, and the Mississippi down the eastern line from Hannibal past St. Louis to Cape Girardeau, shared with Illinois, blue catfish water where the biggest fish of the year come in the cold months, with sauger below the dams.
Who reports here. No dated winter report could be found. MDC's Fishing Prospects carries both rivers, but as a forecast for the year.
Engine outlook
- Its best day in this outlook has passed.
The southeast lakes
Lake Wappapello · Clearwater Lake · Council Bluff Lake · Duck Creek Conservation Area
The two Corps lakes where the Ozarks meet the Bootheel lowlands, Wappapello on the St. Francis and Clearwater on the Black River, crappie water whose level swings widely from year to year, and the smaller waters around them, Council Bluff Lake in the national forest and the Duck Creek pools.
Who reports here. The Southeast Missourian prints a regular fishing report for both Corps lakes, but its pages refuse automated reads, so none from last winter could be dated.
Engine outlook
- Its best day in this outlook has passed.
The rules from November to February
Licenses, and which state's rules apply
- A permit runs from the day it is bought through the last day of February, so one bought since March 1 covers the whole winter. A fishing permit is $14 for residents and $57 for nonresidents, and a daily permit $9 for either. Anglers 15 and younger, and Missouri residents 65 and older, need no fishing permit.
- Keeping trout takes a trout permit as well: $12 for residents, $24 for nonresidents and $6 for anglers 15 and younger, the license-exempt included. In winter it is needed for any fishing at the trout parks, and all year for any fishing on Lake Taneycomo above the U.S. 65 bridge.
- On the border rivers a neighbor's license is good on Missouri's side: one from Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, Kansas or Nebraska on the Des Moines, Mississippi and Missouri rivers next to that state, Kentucky's on the Mississippi, and Arkansas's on the St. Francis. Missouri and Arkansas residents can fish the other state's part of Bull Shoals, Norfork and Table Rock lakes, except for trout, with a $10 White River Border Lakes Permit.
Bait, gear and fish you cannot keep
- Up to three unlabeled poles (two on the Mississippi) and no more than 33 hooks in all, every method counted (50 on the Mississippi); any more poles carry the angler's full name and address or Conservation Number. Tip-ups count as poles. A game fish not hooked in the mouth goes back at once, and set lines are checked every 24 hours.
Lakes, ponds and rivers
- Walleye, crappie, pike and muskellunge are open all year. Daily limits: four walleye and sauger, each at least 15 inches (at least 18 inches on Bull Shoals, Norfork and Table Rock and other listed waters; eight, with no length limit, on the Mississippi); six black bass; 30 crappie (15 on the big reservoirs, Lake of the Ozarks and Truman among them); one muskellunge, of at least 36 inches, or one northern pike; four trout.
- Black bass from a stream must be at least 12 inches. In most of southern Missouri, stream bass close to keeping from March 1 to the Friday before the fourth Saturday in May; the Mississippi, the streams north of the Missouri River and the southeast lowlands stay open.
- At the four trout parks the winter season is catch and release with flies only, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., from the second Friday in November to the second Monday in February: Friday through Monday at Bennett Spring, Montauk and Roaring River, every day at Maramec Spring. It takes a trout permit; the daily tag belongs to the March 1 to October 31 season. Felt-soled boots and waders are banned at the parks. On Lake Taneycomo only one brown trout a day may be kept, of at least 20 inches.
- The winter trout lakes in Missouri towns and cities run their own rules from November 1 to January 31. On the lakes the Code lists, among them Capaha Park Lake in Cape Girardeau, Cosmo-Bethel Lake in Columbia and Tilles Park Lake in St. Louis County, every trout goes back, and only flies, artificial lures and unscented soft plastics may be used. On some city lakes an angler may fish only one pole and may not chum with natural or scented bait, and on six St. Louis area lakes an angler holding four trout must stop fishing for anything. From February 1 trout may be kept at all of them, four a day, and keeping one takes a trout permit as well as the fishing permit.
Through the ice
- MDC's minimum is 4 inches of ice. It advises waiting until local highs have been well below freezing for several days, never fishing alone, and drilling a test hole every 50 feet: ice can be 6 inches thick in one spot and 2 inches a few feet away.
Read on these agency pages: Wildlife Code of Missouri, 3 CSR 10-5: Wildlife Code: Permits (PDF), MDC: Fishing Permits, Wildlife Code of Missouri, 3 CSR 10-6: Wildlife Code: Sport Fishing (PDF), MDC: Fishing Regulations, Wildlife Code of Missouri, 3 CSR 10-12: Wildlife Code: Areas Owned by Other Entities (PDF), Missouri Department of Conservation, news releases, MDC: Ice Fishing.
The season at a glance
What these months usually do
Each lake's own seasonal curve, the one the engine scores the lake on: what these dates usually do, modeled rather than measured, and not a forecast for this year.
| Water | Nov 1 | Dec 1 | Jan 1 | Feb 1 | Feb 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake of the Ozarks | 61F | 50F | 43F | 41F | 43F |
| Lake Wappapello | 63F | 52F | 45F | 43F | 46F |
| Mark Twain Lake | 58F | 47F | 41F | 38F | 41F |
| Table Rock Lake | 64F | 53F | 45F | 43F | 46F |
Each river's own gauge: its average for these dates across the years it has recorded, measured, and not a forecast for this year.
| Water | Nov 1 | Dec 1 | Jan 1 | Feb 1 | Feb 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri River at HermannMissouri River at Hermann, MO, 2006 to 2026 | 55F | 43F | 38F | 37F | 41F |
The moon from November to February
| Month | New moon | Full moon |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | Mon, Nov 9 | Tue, Nov 24 |
| December 2026 | Tue, Dec 8 | Wed, Dec 23 |
| January 2027 | Thu, Jan 7 | Fri, Jan 22 |
| February 2027 | Sat, Feb 6 | Sat, Feb 20 |
The U.S. Naval Observatory's dates, on local time.
Daylight in each area from November to February
Worked out for one place in each area, on its own clock.
| Area | Shortest day | Earliest sunset | Latest sunrise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Taneycomoat Lake Taneycomo | 9h 39m, Dec 21 | 4:59pm, around Dec 6 | 7:27am, around Jan 6 |
| The White River border lakesat Table Rock Lake | 9h 39m, Dec 21 | 4:59pm, around Dec 6 | 7:28am, around Jan 6 |
| Lake of the Ozarks and Truman Lakeat Lake of the Ozarks | 9h 31m, Dec 21 | 4:52pm, around Dec 7 | 7:29am, around Jan 5 |
| The trout parksat Bennett Spring | 9h 33m, Dec 21 | 4:54pm, around Dec 7 | 7:28am, around Jan 5 |
| The Ozark trout streamsat Current River below Montauk | 9h 35m, Dec 21 | 4:50pm, around Dec 7 | 7:23am, around Jan 6 |
| The winter trout lakesat St. Louis | 9h 28m, Dec 21 | 4:41pm, around Dec 7 | 7:20am, around Jan 5 |
| Northern Missouri's lakesat Mark Twain Lake | 9h 23m, Dec 21 | 4:45pm, around Dec 7 | 7:29am, around Jan 4 |
| The Missouri and Mississippi riversat Missouri River at Hermann | 9h 27m, Dec 21 | 4:46pm, around Dec 7 | 7:25am, around Jan 5 |
| The southeast lakesat Lake Wappapello | 9h 37m, Dec 21 | 4:46pm, around Dec 6 | 7:16am, around Jan 6 |