BFL
Lake of the Ozarks
March 28-29, 2008
Pre-Fishing
The water level rose about 5’ and really muddied up in the last couple weeks. The Grand Glaize arm resembled the clarity of chocolate milk. I decided to concentrate near the dam where I had success during the Weekend Series Event. The water had warmed up a bit to around 43/44 degrees but the visibility dropped to less than 18”. Upon pulling into a cove I caught a 15” largemouth on one of my first couple casts. Shortly after I caught another short bass on the same Matt Pumpkin Lucky Craft Slender Pointer. I figured that pattern was still working so I thought I’d work on a plan B and look around the lake for a little bit. I fished other points and coves in the area with little success. Then only thing I could get bit on was a jerkbait. Around noon I decided to take a little boat ride and check out other parts of the lake. I ran into the Gravois arm and found the water to be a little warmer around 46 degrees and maybe even a little clearer than the dam area. I briefly stopped to fish a couple points and smaller coves with not luck. I then made the run from the northern end of Gravois down to Lynn Creek. The water was about 48/49 degrees and pretty murky, but fishable. I stopped and fished 1 point and worked my way back into a cove with no luck. I was unable to come up with a plan B, but knew the jerkbait pattern near the dam would work.
Tournament Day
I met my co-angler at the ramp and we launched the boat and waited for the take off to begin at PB2. Out of 185 boats we were boat 7 so we didn’t have to wait long before take off. Once we took off I headed for my spot near the dam. When we arrived I noticed the water was a little more stained than it was the day before. I tied on a Mat Pumpkin Lucky Craft Slender Pointer and went to work. We started at the point and worked our way to the back of the cove. About half way down the bank I had a good bite, but it came off. As we continued down the bank I managed to catch a couple short bass. We continued on and worked around the next point and in the back of the cove I stuck my first keeper, a largemouth just over 15” long. We continued to fish out the cove with no other bites. With this area being one of a few places to find cleaner water there was a lot of boat traffic and fishing pressure. We moved and fished a couple other points and coves nearby with no success. I went back to the area I caught my first keeper and caught a short bass in the same location. We continued to fish the cove. As we were getting close to the location I lost a good bite I got bit. This time it was hooked pretty well with all three trebles in the bass. This bass measured about 15.5” and looked like it had swallowed a softball. After we fished the entire area we left that side of the lake. We ran down near mile marker 28. The wind had picked up and it started to rain. It continued to rain for about half an hour. We fished a couple secondary points and worked one of them all the way to the back of the cove with no bites. It was getting late so I thought it would be best to head back to the check in to make it back in time.
I finished the day in 60th place with 2 bass weighing 4.7 pounds. Again all of my fish were caught on a Matt Pumpkin Lucky Craft Slender Pointer. My partner didn’t catch any fish.