Marceline City Lake

This 176-acre lake recently had a new infrastructure installed around the lake. If fishing here you will see a new cover fish dock, courtesy boat dock, new concrete boat ramp, new privy and an expanded parking lot. This lake has limited bank fishing but what is available is very good. Largemouth bass fishing is excellent.  A 12- to 15-inch protected slot length limit continues to improve the bass population.  Bass anglers can expect the majority of their catch to be fish 12 to 15 inches long.  However, catches of large bass are increasing.  A high-quality channel catfish population exists in the lake with several fish longer than 20 inches.  Anglers should use night crawlers or prepared baits fished off the bottom.   During the summer, be sure to fish in water less than 12 feet deep.  Oxygen levels in many Missouri lakes get too low to support fish at depths below 12 feet.  Anglers interested in panfishing will find good numbers of bluegill.  At times, crappie anglers can experience great catches with most crappie being 9-10 inches in length, however they can be difficult to track down at times. Anglers should focus on removing crappie from this lake as the population rates are on an increase and the overabundance of crappie are leading to a slight decrease in overall size structure. This lake has lotus in it that comes on in late July so if you are planning on bank fishing, I suggest you do it early in the year before the lotus begins to grow.