Lake of the Ozarks - 3/26/2010

We started in 6-Mile Cove fishing the main point and hump. The water temp was 40 with a slight SE wind. We fished from the west side casting into the wind to drag our baits back at us. Fan casted all around the "hump" on this point and found no bites. With this being our first stop we decided the water was too cold for them to be up this far and headed to our next spot.

Our next stop was in Indian Creek, way up on right hand side fishing chunk rock in 20' of water pounding the shoreline with stick baits & lipless. We caught 0 fish.

Pulled back to a pocket short of the point and fished from there towards the point. This was smaller chunk rock (fist sized). We were in 12' of water casting parallel to the shoreline with a lipless letting it sink and pulling it across the bottom. We caught 1 largemouth 3.5# in 12' of water. We think this fish was roaming the area and not a pattern fish.

The overall weather was sunny skies with a slight wind. Air temp was in the 50s and water temp was in the low 40s.

After this we moved back to the very end of the Gravois Arm. VERY shallow water. The lake is down about 6' so when we powered down off the big motor we were in 1.5' of water. we worked the docks with jigs back to some deeper water. We finally found 3.5' of water and ran into 2 guys catching them on stick baits around docks. Jason had one fish to the boat that got off. It may have been a short but was caught under the corner of the dock. I just don't think they had moved up that far.

Water temp in this area was in the upper 40s and topped out at 48.5.

Ran back down the Gravois Arm to a couple of main points. Water temp dropped back down to the low 40s. We fan casted lipless cranks setting the boat in 20' of water and casting up to the shallows. We would let the bait sink and pull it from the shallows to the deeper water hoping some fish might be staging out close to deep water but found no fish.

Moved back up into another cove and fished some big docks at a marina. Switched to a jig and fished the large chunk rock along the shoreline. Water temps had moved back into the low to mid 40s. We didn't fish here long and decided to run to the dam.

Fished the north side of the dam from where the dam meets the shoreline west. We were throwing stick baits, lipless cranks and jigs. We actually threw quite a bit more than that, but those were our main choices. We fished west along the bluff into the first cove. The cove has quite a few transition banks so we kept working these areas. On the north side (back) of this cove we hooked up with a short on a stick bait. It was up on the shoreline right at a transition pocket. As we came around the secondary point, we started paralleling the shoreline with a lipless. In 8' of water with water temps in the low to mid 40s we hooked up another largemouth, but didn't land it. It was right at the 15" mark, or so it seemed. We finished working the cove and called it a day. We got off the water around 7:30.

Lewis Boats Fall Bass Tournament - 10/24/2009

Matt & I fished our first tournament on Saturday. We prefished on Friday and did pretty good. Our plan was to hit all of our spots to see what produced. We figure we had 4 keepers in the boat, and could have had more, but lost a couple because I&...#039;m stupid. The problem came with the High front that moved in over night. Fishing conditions changed dramatically. We had a lot ov 14 inch fish Saturday afternoon and one that was 1/16" shy of making the cut. Luckily we didn't quit fishing and with about 8 minutes to spare, Matt put one keeper in the boat. The big bass was 6+ pounds and first place was 16.5 pounds. It was a lot of fun. Thanks to the guys at Lewis that put it on and to Derek for all the help!

Lake of the Ozarks

This was the Tarlton Spring Bass Tournament. Shotgun start at 7:00 AM. Steve and I got to the ramp (Larry Gale CA) at 6:50 and had a 5 minute run to check-in. When we pulled up to the prep area there was a crappie tournament putting in. Luckily Dustin Norton was fishing a different tournament and was able to drive my truck in line while Steve and I prepped the boat. We made ran 5 miles in under 5 minutes and got there in time to hear the horn. A quick live well check at the dock and we were off. Air temp was around 35F it was windy and spitting rain. Water was still around 49F. Wind was out of the NNE at 10 with gusts up to 25. It was NASTY weather. We hit the first cove and caught a 15" bass on the same jerk bait we had been using. It was only 7:30 and we had a keeper in the boat. However, by 9:00 we were on our 3rd cove and had only caught shorts. Every place we pulled up to we caught fish, just nothing 15" or better. Then the rain, thunder, lightening and ice started. It poured and we waited it out under a dock. About 11:00 we were fishing again. Steve put a 2.6 pounder in the boat and that was our last keeper. We also caught one crappie on a jerk bait, but didn't keep him (11" crappie). Check in was at 4:00 and 15 pounds won the tournament. The boat ran great and toped out at 61.3 @ 5200 with both of us, all our gear, full tanks and soaking wet.

Lake of the Ozarks - Niangua Arm

Steve Moore and I fished this Friday afternoon as a pre-fish for the tournament we had on Saturday. We put in at Larry R. Gale Access, part of the Missouri Conservation Department. We ran up around the highway 5 bridge and started fishing a cove on the north side of the lake. We fished 4 coves over about 3 hours. It was partly sunny and the air temp was 45F. Water was right at 50F. A low front was getting ready to move threw overnight, so conditions were going to change. We were using crank baits in about 4' - 8' of water. Caught 4 fish between the two of us. Jerk bait (light green on top and white/silver on bottom) for 3 of them and a sexy shad for one. Only one keeper (Steve's fish). They were on small rock bottoms (pea gravel).