RogueAgent

They should have been throwing a rooster tail My uncle caught this one Saturday around noon near Coffman Beach

I fished Sunday from 7am until just before sundown. Mostly from dam around the island up into the Gravois to Coconuts. Used a stick bait all day until it got lodged in my finger trying to remove a runt kentucky. Caught over 40 fish, mostly short kentuckies on points, dock corners and breakwaters in the wind. Ended with four keeper kentuckies that might have weighed 8lbs total, a 20 inch walleye, 4 white bass and two huge crappie. I love this lake, you never know what's going to bite next.

Champ, By Saturday the field will be cut to 12 boats in the BFL, I think.

Nice work! I got a top ten in my first BFL tourney earlier this year. My credit card hasn't been the same since.

@MattS, I've never fished for them in the Niangua, however, I tend to be one of those main lake point guys wrench mentions. Using spinning tackle and 6lb test line in the dam area, I usually throw a white 1/4 oz rooster tail all day long and have decent success from this time of year until December. I'll mix in some 3" paddle tail swimbaits and the occasional stick bait catches as well. I seem to have better luck when the weather is nasty, cold and windy.

Friends staying in the Gravois area are reporting a slow bite so far this week. Just wondering if any other part of the lake is seeing any numbers. Thanks!

Full write up on Bassfan here

I'm in. I'd stay away from the Gravois, Seth. Ain't no fish up there this time of year. Everybody be safe out there!

Throw a frog in there!!!

I fished it as well. This was my 2nd BFL event. I drew another class act Boater and had a fun day on the water. We caught lots of fish but very few keepers. I had a couple 14.5" smallmouth early and I also caught two 11" goggle eye early in the day, back to back, on the Ned, in the back of Cow Creek ramp cove. Later we started hitting main like gravel points and started hooking up with spots and smallmouth with the boat in 25' casting to the bank. Around 11, I switched to a PBJ ned from a green pumpkin/red flake on and on the first cast I hooked into a "get the net" fish. I fought her well and she came up twice and unfortunately came unbuttoned on the 2nd tail walk near the boat, just out of net reach. After losing the keeper smallie, I got to the point where I just wanted to have fun so I picked up a 6" swimbait and started working it like a dying shad. I finished 65th with a 2.6lb spot I caught on the corner of a main lake dock with the big swimbait. Had several large bass come up and inspect it and then fade back to the break line where it dropped from 4-8+ feet. We'd follow up those risers with a shakey head or Ned but no bites. We had a boat ask to jump to the back of a cove to sight fish and we obliged. They spooked the biggest smallmouth I've ever seen right to us. Talk about an adrenaline rush! When she was three boat lengths away my boater said "look at the size of that Carp", then two boat lengths away... "that's no carp, holy S$%t" She cruised up to our boat and then headed deep to the mouth of the cove. All in all, the tournament was very well ran and what a beautiful day on the water. We are blessed to have such a nice place to fish. Tight lines all!

I fished the BFL, my first ever, and ended up in 6th on the co-angler side. We fished around the 29mm in the Niangua. My pro was a class act and really made it a special day. He fished a shallow crank most of the day and a shakey head occasionally. He had 3 keeps, several shorts and lost two good fish on the crankbait. We had engine trouble which prevented us from making the run he had planned but we made the best of it. I had my first keeper near a brush pile between docks at near the mouth of a creek around 8:00 on a Megabass jerk bait and the bill broke on the next cast. I switched to a Spro 110 in Blue Bandit and caught a 5-5 on the point. Boat was in 17 fow and she hit halfway back from bank. Pro was right there with the net and a pair of pliers. I was shaking like a leaf. Ended the day with 9lb-10oz and I've been on cloud nine ever since. I caught one more keeper on the bandit and lost it soon after (should have retied). Switched to a 6th Sense jerk bait with a little blue in it. Caught several more shorts and a nice 18" walleye. Caught five or six shorts on a watermelon red zoom trick worm on a shakey head as well. Ended the day with ~20-30 bass with 3 keepers. Kyle's main concern was making sure we made it back to the weigh in to make sure I got to weigh my fish. If you get the chance to fish with Kyle Uptegrove you will have a blast.

I also fished 3/22 in the Aunt's Creek area. Got the old Cajun out of the garage and decided to blow the cobwebs out. A buddy and I launched around 4:30pm and fished till dark. We saw a few beds in the backs of the creeks and some largemouth cruising around, mostly bucks, but one nice female was up shallow too. 52.9 water temp. I couldn't believe how clear the water was. I had a 16" and 17" LM on a Spro McStick 110 in Norman Flake within sight of point 10 and my bud caught a 15" spot on the Ned back at the ramp. Beautiful evening on the Rock and a great way to start the year.

Does anyone have a reliable website showing LOZ water condition/level/temp? I used to use this one but it hasn't been maintained for a couple months now. Thanks!

Thanks evilcat!

I've had the toughest time trying to figure out the correct line setup to use with these giant lures. I've thrown off more $$$ than I care to admit. Brandon says he uses 25lb flouro to throw a 3-6oz swimbait. I tried 20 and then 25lb Seaguar 100% flouro with a 5" and 6" Bull Shad and used a palomar and braid knot respectively. Both threw off within an hour or two and the line looked like a split end - frayed in two or three strands and the lure sunk to the bottom of the lake. Should I be retying ever half hour? I'm using an ~8 foot med heavy Lew's rod and a Lew's BB1 pro. I've tried braid as well with the same result - cast and bait just goes bye bye when the rod gets to about 12 o'clock. I've been told recently to use big game mono in 25lb instead. I know I'm not generating that much torque with these noodle arms of mine What gives?

Thanks for sharing. Is that the Roman Made brand swimbait he's talking about at the end?

During and after. We got up there on Sunday during the snow and Monday it was windy and sub freezing so we had to stay in the cove where the resort was b/c the main lake had huge whitecaps. Monday we had to dunk our rods about every fifth cast to get rid of the ice, brutal, but the action was just enough to keep us out there. It gradually warmed up that week and we slayed the whites on the SPRO and the Gene Larew Long John minnow.

Yes, this was the Monday after opening weekend of firearms deer season in November near the dam. If you look closely you can see the ice in my guides. I posted about it in the LOZ fourm but never got around to sharing pictures. We caught several green fish on the bandit too but turned them all back. Broke one biggun off on a dock cable but this one didn't get away.

Blue bandit works on Lake of the Ozarks too!

Ohh, I LIKE that 2nd jig. Nice work on all these. That finesse hair jig looks like a winner too!

Good eats!

No, I'd say an average 5 out of 100 Whites were smaller than 10" in our fishing party this year. That's 6 boats with 2-3 anglers in each boat fishing from late October through last weekend in the Dam and Gravois area. Everyone has been remarking about how in years past we'd catch lots more "dinks". Not the case this year.

Most were within 10' of the bank. I'd throw as close to the bank as I could, give about 3-5 aggressive twitches of the McStick while reeling the slack and that was it, BANG!!. My cousin tried to catch them on a two hook rogue after seeing my success with the 3 hook stickbait but he couldn't get bit on it. The boat was in 10-15 fow most of the time.

Fished Gravois arm Saturday 7am - Dusk and Sunday 7 - 1. 1/4oz rooster tails in either Yellow or Red or the Gene Larew Long John Minnow on 1/8thoz jig in shad colors was the trick Saturday with two boats (5 anglers) limiting out. Fished points in crazy wind beating the banks all day. Sunday, I decided I wanted to fish for blacks while the other two in the boat wanted to continue fishing for whites. I ended up catching larger and more whites than the day before. Throwing a SPRO McStick Blue Bandit 110 on rocky banks between docks and timber they and the blacks were just hammering it. Will be back next weekend after we leave the deer woods, hoping for a crappie bite.

That is my go to bait for Whites and we were trying to get on them on the windy side of the lake. 1/8th oz seems to work good for me in that situation. We couldn't get a white bite so we took cover from the giant drug boat waves and headed toward the north side between point 2 and the dam. I switched to my bait caster and caught a few 14.999" bass on a black buzz bait. Meanwhile, my cousin started getting bit on his crappie tube. I dropped the baitcaster and since it was getting late I didn't want to retie.