24hr learning curve Lake Ozark, Missouri: Lake Ozark is a very large lake in the beautiful state of Missouri, and shallower than other Ozark lakes in the region. Learning how to fish this lake can be a challenge to the novice fisherman, but persistence will pay off. Patience will result with an a livewell full of big largemouth bass.
My tournament day on Lake Ozark.
You’ll find spotted bass and smallmouth bass in Lake Ozark, but the bulk of the keepers will be largemouth.
Brief background on the water if you are unfamiliar.
Zoom in on the map, Bledsoe Ferry just below Truman dam is where we launched and almost to Hurricane Deck is where we fished.
The launch area is a river.
When the current from the hydro was going, a 109 lb MotorGuide was needed to fish it. On top of that if you could find a spot in between all the other boats flipping the trees then I guess you wouldn’t of had far to go. A lot of tournaments will continue to be won there but I would rather not be bumper to bumper.
Another note about the lake is the recreational boating.
There are some big yachts cruising those waters!
@ksbigbass
Combine that with shallow water and narrow channels and you get some mean, angry waves with nowhere to go. So be prepared if you go there, it can get rough.
With only having one day to practice on this massive lake we had to fish our strengths.
We arrived around mile marker 40 about an hour and half after launch. After stopping at one point halfway down, and bagging no keepers, the time crunch had begun. We were aware that it was a weekend on a notorious recreational lake and the rough ride down was only to get worse.
We had to allot another half hour to make it back in time for weigh in that meant we had to have our 5 fish in the well by 1:30 to make weigh in. A river system lake with current has been the life and death of a lot of patterns.
The closer you are to the source of the current the more the current means. There have been numerous tournaments won or lost because the power company does or doesn’t need electricity.
The Current Factor.
I didn’t want to live or die on current with only one day to fish, but I knew that the current was going to play a major role in the positioning of the fish. Even 50 miles from the source of the current the fish are still going to position themselves as if they are in a river with current.
MLF: Big Fish Galore: Raleigh
We fished main lake points and bounced around from one to another and had only managed to bag 1 keeper.
We had caught a lot of fish so far that day just couldn’t find the quality we needed to win. Our 1 15″ largemouth was not going to do it. We were junk fishing to say the least. Throwing baits that “should” work. We bounced to the back of a major spawning cove and I started throwing the Mattlures bluegill and my partner threw a frog. A hour later and we had caught 14.xx” fish but no keepers. Aaarrrggghhh! By now it is almost 11am……Tick Tock Tick Tock
Back to the main lake points.
We knew the current affected the fish, period. We busted out the map and did some quick follow up home work and Wham hit us like a brick. We both saw it at the same time, a special point, one not like the others.
Once we arrive we quickly boated another keeper, nice 17″ largemouth. We about fell into the trap, like some many do, fishing along the bank and down the point. We started to do this.
We got down about 2 or 3 docks and I turned around and told my partner ” Whoa WTH are we Doing? We Caught a keeper on that point and left? WTH?” I immediately turned that boat around and re rigged with a new bait. I rigged up a 10″ Zoom worm and as soon as we got back to the point another 18″ largemouth joined the livewell. We had a reloader. Tick Tock Tick Tock.
We beat the h@ll out of that point after that.
Only problem is that the clock was ticking and the point had to have time to recover for another big fish to move up. tick tock
24hr learning curve Lake Ozark, Missouri
All said and done we pulled up to the ramp for weigh in with 4 fish and 9.97 pounds. Good enough for 7th.
That extra 1/2 hr for the rough water ride could of been the difference, there are 6lb fish or bigger that feed on that point, no doubt in my mind about it, just didn’t get lucky enough to time it right….. this time.
- Notable Lures used
- Strike King Baby King Shad
- Mattlures U2 Bluegill flat tail floater
- Strike King crankbaits blue and citrus hues.
- Zoom Ol’ Monster 10″ worm red hues.
Check out this top 50 list of bass fishing lures.
never give up