Fellows Lake Fishing Spot
- Elevation: 1262'
- Last Modified By: vinny60 on 09/17/09 09:15 AM
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Little structure in the lake except for 23 crappie beds, little standing timber. Fish attractors, constructed from deciduous trees, continue to provide good areas to catch fish.
Expect best fishing success on overcast, rainy days during the fall or early spring months when water temperature is below 70¡F. Fish large spinners, bucktails, or plugs near brush structure or weed beds. Muskie are occasionally caught as anglers fish for largemouth bass. Carefully handling both sub-legal and legal muskie at the water’s edge will increase their chances for survival. Channel catfish remain abundant throughout the lake and commonly run from 8-19". Preferred baits include chicken livers, nightcrawlers, prepared baits, and cutbait. Walleye and crappie anglers should expect fair fishing success in 2006. Walleye can be caught fishing gravel points in the spring, the backs of coves in the summer using crappie jigs, nightcrawlers, or minnows, and trolling deep-diving crankbaits across main lake points. The minimum length limit for walleye is 15". Minnows and tube jigs are the preferred baits for crappie anglers in and around brush piles and vegetation. Spring will provide the best opportunity for catching quality (10-13") fish. Both white and black crappie are present with most fish ranging from 7-9". Bluegill fishing will be fair this year but most will range from 3-5". Quality sized bluegill (>6") make up approximately 12% of the population. Small pieces of worms and a bobber make an excellent rig for children to catch this species. Numerous redear sunfish were collected during spring sampling. They will provide the opportunity to battle a larger sunfish species.
Fellows Lake Description
Fellows Lake, located just north of Springfield, offers diverse, close-to-home fishing opportunities. Springfield City Utilities owns Fellows Lake and requires an annual boat permit. Boat motors are limited to 40 horsepower or less. A disabled user accessible fishing dock is located on the northeast arm of the lake, and a 2-lane boat ramp with disabled access and courtesy dock is located at the marina area. Take HWY 65 north from Springfield to Hwy AA(take a left). About a mile you will hit farm road 197, take a right. About a mile you'll cross a land bridge across the upper end of the lake. Road swings around a big curve to the left. Handicapped fishing dock right on the curve. After the curve go about 3/4 of a mile, just past a church the marina turn off is on top of the next hill, turn left. Use requires the boat to be measured and buying a sticker at the marina. Times are posted but basically run sunrise to sunset. Bass, Muskies, Walleyes, catfish, crappie, white bass, bluegills common. Picnic area(s) and playground. Limited waterfowl hunting in the fall on the south arm of the lake. No swimming and limited water skiing on the north arm. Average depth 4 feet to 21 feet. Fished heavily for bass and crappie. Catfishing is under utilized. Muskies and walleyes are thick enough to make it worth fishing for them. White bass, spotty, mostly surface action.
Fellows Lake is an 860-acre (3.5 km2) source of water for the city of Springfield, Missouri. It is also developing into one of the states premier fishery of Muskellunge. Muskies approaching 50 inches (1.3 m) are occasionally caught, which is not matched by any other Muskellunge habitat in the state.