41st Place out of 115 Pros Lake of the Ozarks PB2 FLW BFL

Coming into this tournament I had a day to get out and practice and I was able to figure out that there was an early morning topwater bite that would quickly go away and then I was able to catch fish either on plastics or by throwing a crankbait.

My gut told me that I should start pretty close to try and capitalize with some topwater and then go from there.

In the first half hour of the day I was able to catch a couple of keepers really quick off my first spot. It was good to get a couple of fish in the livewell quick but looking back the decision to stay close probably cost me a check because things quickly slowed down.

I ended up catching a nice keeper at about 9 o'clock and then that's when probably made the wrong decision to stick around the Glaize. The bite began to die and then it was too late to really run anywhere because the boat traffic was starting to really pick up and it was intense. I ran to a couple of spots close by and checked them and didn't get anything but a couple of short fish. I then at 10'clock wanted to pull the plug and make a run so I started on down the lake and the waves were so big that it felt like my motor was going to fall off my boat.

I decided that my boat was going to have a really tough time making it back from where I wanted to go so I had to turn it back around and head back into the glaize. At the end of the day I couldn't afford to have a broken boat to win a couple hundred dollars so made the decision to play it safe and head back to some calmer waters.

At about 1 o'clock I managed to catch my 4th keeper and final keeper of the day. My 4 fish ended up weighing a little over 8lbs which kept me in the top 5 for Angler of the Year points and punched my ticket to the Regional Championship to be held on the Mississippi River in La Crosse Wisconsin.