Bass Fishing Report

[TravisHoneycutt]

I am hoping someone might be able to provide me with a report of how things are on Lake of the Ozarks. I have a Central Pro Am there on Saturday and I have never been on the lake. The forecast looks to have some wind and high temperatures. Any info anyone can provide is much appreciated such as water temp and what kind of bite has been best. Also how is the water clarity compared to say Bull or Table Rock as I primarily only throw Green Pumpkin and Watermelon type colors during the day on these lakes and I heard water is dirtier on LOZ and that some guys throw black and blue and darker colors.

[freelancer 11]

If you go to 7/24 outdoors they have alot of info that might be helpful. I'm either on Ozark Anglers or 7/24 for fishing info both have very good stuff.

[Fishin Fanatic]

How did the tourney go? I caught a ton of shorts on a shakey head yesterday, but most of my better fish came off black/blue or PB&J jigs depending on the water clarity. My biggest fish was 4.5 lbs and I lost another good one at the boat. I only bass fished for part of the day since the crappie are starting to spawn.

[Donna G]

Good for some folks, but not for me. I caught a 5 lb Saturday and a 5 lb Sunday. That was the extent of my good fishing. The wind howled, especially on Sunday. Usually a good thing, but it was so windy that fishing was a little difficult. Good thing was there was very little big boat traffic on Sunday. Guess the threat of storms kept them away.

Here's the top three Saturday and Sunday in the Central Pro-Am event. The winning co-angler, Seth Holder from Kansas, caught the biggest fish of the weekend - 8.53

Saturday top three

PL FIRST LAST HOMETOWN ST # FISH WEIGHT PAY OUT

1 SCOTT PAULEY HARTSBURG MO 5 22.06 $ 2,200.00 Seaguar Line

Lews/Rod Reel

2 JIM KOPFF OLD MONROE MO 5 21.85 $ 1,500.00 Seaguar Line

3 MARTY MCGINNIS GRAVOIS MILLS MO 5 19.54 $ 1,000.00 Seaguar Line

Sunday top three

PL BOATER NON BOATER # FISH WEIGHT $ AMOUNT

1 SCOTT PAULEY GAYLE JULIAN 5 24.04 $2,430.00

2 MIKE WEBB JEFF DURR 5 23.04 $1,730.00

3 MARTY MCGINNIS KYLE MCGINNIS 5 22.03 $1,086.00

[Fishin Fanatic]

Is anyone planning on fishing the Big Bass Bash this weekend? I've never fished one before, but I figured I'd give the one this spring a try.

[slothman]

Been catching them on spinnerbaits. Caught a few on topwaters in the evening too.

[Mike3004]

Fished Big Bass Bash this weekend. I will not be quitting my day job.

At least 4 bass over 7 pounds weighed in. It took 4.8 pounds or better to cash a check during the time slots. Yes, the weather Saturday was brutal, but people brought quality fish to the weigh ins despite the weather. Big bass was caught on I believe a crank bait on the bank, the next was on a green jig on the shady side of a dock Saturday afternoon, and the third was on a spinner bait. I do not know what area of the lake the bass were caught.

[Fishin Fanatic]

I feel your pain, the weights on Saturday were ridiculous it took at least 5lbs to make it in the top 20...I thought I might crack the top 20 on Sunday with a 4.52 lber I caught flipping brush, but I missed out by 3.8 ounces. A friend of mine also fell 2 oz shy of getting a 3.0 and $500...I still had a good time regardless, but I would have much rather gotten a check out of the deal.

[Jbrant]

We went down and fished Saturday and Sunday. We got on the water about 6:30 Saturday morning and went up the Osage. Weather was nasty - cold, windy, a little rain. We found the fish pretty shallow 1-2' on chunk rock banks and the transitions. Pretty much everything we caught came on a crankbait. We had one over 5 and a two more over 3 and 1/2. Went back to the cabin at about 1 and then went back out for a couple hours and caught one more good one (4-7)on a soft plastic under a dock. Ended up catching 15 keepers - 5 best going 19-7.

Sunday morning was much nicer. We didn't run quite as far up the lake. Found them in similar spots - just not nearly as big. Caught 8 keepers - 5 best went just under 10. Had one snap my line (or saw it off on a rock) that was a good fish but I never saw it. Talked to a guy fishing the BBB and he caught around 18#'s Saturday on a jig - including one that won him $400. He was strugggling Sunday morning too. We fished till mid-morning before going back to the cabin and fishing for some crappie (a few scattered on the banks all weekend).

Water temp was 55-59 most of the spots we fished. 6"-12" of visibility. The wind definately helped Saturday morning.