Sunday, March 13, 2011

Cold water and Ozark Lakes...tough combination for me

In typical fashion, last week's Everstart Series event on Lake of the Ozarks was a cold water tournament.  Unfortunately, my track record on Ozark lakes in cold water is not very good.  I usually end up around the middle of the pack if everything goes right.  I was able to find a couple of areas on the lake that were producing fish, but I really never was able to fine tune a definitive pattern.  I had been able to generate bites on a jerkbait, but never very many.  I also found that you could get bit on a small finesse jig, I used a 5/16th ounce Lunker Lure Body Lok round head finesse jig (available at http://lunkerlure.com/online-store ) in the peanut butter and jelly color.  Both of these baits caught fish for me, the biggest issue in my "middle of the pack" finish lies in my inability to properly identify what type of rocks the fish were relating to. 
Locating what type of rocks, and what geographical locations the fish are in (main lake, 3/4 of the way back in a cove, 1/2 way back in a cove, on secondary points, etc.) is imperative in being able to do well on Ozark style lakes.   I managed eleven pounds on the first day, good enough for 49th place, and could only add 4lbs and 5oz on day two, for a final finish of 67th place.  I'm going to have to pick up the pace if I'm going to make the Everstart Championship. 
All in all, I was very fortunate to have a decent first day and not get completly blown out in this event.
God Bless,
Duke

1 comment:

Rick Zimmerly said...

Keep your head up Duke, it was very tough fishing for most. I took out the college students Sunday. It was a great day on the lake but not many fish caught. I feel very thankful to be involved with the FLW Everstart series even on the Co-Angler level. It was great meeting you, thanks for all the advice. Good luck at Lake Lanier.

Rick Zimmerly