3rd Place Finish USA Bassin Lake of the Ozarks

Just got back from competing in the USA Bassin Tournament on Lake of the Ozarks this past Sunday. I was able to manage a 3rd place finish with a 5 fish limit and a little over 16lbs of beautiful Lake of the Ozarks Bass! I had just made my way back the night before from getting a 7th place finish on Greer's Ferry Lake in the FLW BFL down in Arkansas. I had to swing by Waynesville, MO on the way back to pick up my boat from a friend. I got into Osage Beach at about 12 midnight and when I got in town I went and grabbed a drink at Fuzzy's Bar with my friend Russ. The music was bumping and I think there was about 2 teeth in the whole joint but it was a good time. Got to catch up with my buddy Russ for a bit then he went off to the gym and I went back to his place to try and get a couple hours of sleep. I got up at 5 am again and made my way to PB2.

Tournament morning started with a bang I was able to put 4 keepers in the boat in the first hour on a crankbait and then I came to a little point and managed to catch my biggest fish of the day which was a nice 4 plus pounder. I had 5 keepers about about 10 o'clock but had a hard time finding any upgrades. The cranking bite seemed to turn off so I had to pick up a jerkbait. The jerkbait started to put a couple of fish in the boat for me and I was able to cull out a fat spotted bass with a nice largemouth and put another 3lb largemouth in the boat in the last couple of hours working a jerkbait on some secondary points.

Overall it was a brutally cold day and the fishing wasn't as good for me as the previous weekend. I just couldn't get a big bite. Looking back I wish I would have switched to the jerkbait a little earlier in the day. I think that would have been the difference maker.

To my surprise my 16lb limit fell just a little short of second place which had 16lbs and change as well. First place had over 20lbs. While I was hoping to catch a bigger bag I was still happy that I was able to catch a decent bag of fish and get the last prize which was a gift card to Durham's tackle. I was fishing by myself and everyone else fishing had a partner. Most of these tournaments don't pay enough money to be able to even make any money if you have to split it with a partner so I guess that's what I get for being greedy. USA bassin does not allow the Alabama Rig which makes it a little tougher when the fish decide that they want to move off the banks. You're pretty much left with throwing a jerkbait at that point if you want to catch some fish.

I will be fishing the Big Bass Bash this upcoming weekend. Someone will catch a 100K dollar fish which is something to get really excited about. I'm guessing that the fishing will pretty good during the Bash and as always it will take doing something a little different to tempt that big fish into biting with over 3,000 anglers out on the water chasing her. Until next time good fishing.