Tough Tourney in the Ozarks

Tough Tourney in the Ozarks

By Chris Yogerst

Last week marked the season opener for the FLW American Fishing Series at Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. The lake, which is known as a party lake during the summer, is quite calm during the cooler months. This provides a good opportunity for anglers to have a tournament as they have they lake to themselves.

After an unseasonably cold start to spring the fishing looked to be tough. This meant the jerkbait was the bait of choice for many pros. During practice the weather was in the forties and a drizzling rain was no stranger to the anglers. The fish in most of the creeks were positioned near the breaks around brush piles and were extremely tough to catch. The key was to catch a point or cove where the fish had moved up. The problem was that fish did not move up for long and a bite never lasted very long.

There was talk of people trying to find spotted bass in order to fill their limit, but they were also tough to come by consistently. I was able to pattern largemouth in many creeks on the north end of the lake. I got enough bites every day that I was confident that a daily limit was possible. After trying multiple techniques I was sure the jerkbait was going to be the ticket. Color didn’t matter much as I was able to get bit on almost all of them.

The first tournament morning gave us almost a two and a half hour fog delay. I was boat four which meant I had a very short fishing day being in flight one. The fog lifted and the sun came out and my fish were tight to the brush piles or gone completely. I also came to find out the water was dropped considerably overnight which didn’t help anything either. I ended up with two bites all day and I am very thankful that one was a keeper. At the end of the day almost forty pros came in with no fish.

Day two was a little warmer with no fog delay which meant I had a long fishing day being in the last flight. Similar to day one, the bite was slow. During practice there was a great morning bite but it didn’t hold for me during the tournament. I ran many points and creeks with minimal success. I had one morning bite, which luckily was a four pound fish.

About mid day I had a bite that made my heart stop. I threw my jerkbait towards a rock point, jerked it twice and left it sit. The line stretched out and my rod buckled. I felt two or three solid pumps…I thought I had big bass locked up with this one! It turned out to be a drum hooked in the tail…ahh!! Fortunately it came off in short order so I could get back to fishing for the right species!

The rest of the day was slow until the last hour when one of my points turned on. I caught a few fish that were just short of keeping, which is always aggravating at a tough event like this. I was worried because the fish I was getting were barely hooked on the outside of the mouth which meant they weren’t eating it and just slapping it with their mouth closed. Soon I was able to get two quality bites from suspended fish on my jerkbait.

Unfortunately they both pulled off about halfway to the boat, which is unfortunate but still didn’t surprise me. Even when fishing light line and a limber rod with a bait with treble hooks, it is tough to get fish to the boat when they don’t eat the bait well. I was fishing the Roland Martin Tournament Grade 6’6” medium action rods which are great for this application. I caught many big fish during practice and didn’t lose a single one!

In the end, I was disappointed but not discouraged about the event. I knew where the fish were and what they were doing. I followed them daily on the graph from brush pile to brush pile. After day one I knew the fish just shut down and those who did well were just going to be lucky enough to get the right bites. If I had to do it all over again there may be a few creeks I wouldn’t go back to, but my pattern would stay the same. It is crucial to have confidence in what you are doing, especially when it is tough.

After looking at the forecast for the final day, rain and snow, I was happy to be in the truck going home! I would like to thank the nice people at the Town and Country motel in Osage Beach for their wonderful hospitality! Now it is time to prepare for the next event at Lake Oachita!