Well the 2011 season has started for me and not the way I envisioned. Lake of the Ozarks is turning out to be one of those lakes that just kicks you in the backside. Last year was a total bomb over there with nothing happening in practice and one small keeper for the tournament and a 98th place finish. Hoping that with some previous exposure to the lake this year would be a much better trip, in the end in one case it was. Arriving at our condo Friday afternoon it was shorts and t-shirt weather like was great and putting the boat in the water made it that much better. I would spend the week of practice with friend Chris Gable from right down the road in Eddyville. We stayed in the river arm by the condo as they were calling for rain this evening and with the ramp right there it would make it easy to bail off the water if need be. We ran about halfway back in the creek and started fishing a main creek point that fish should use to travel to the back of this bay to spawn. Chris set up on the first fish of the trip a short largemouth but it was a piece to the puzzle. A short way down the point I also boat a small keeper also on a jerkbait. We hopped around checking a different types of banks and cover without much luck. As we were running down the river I noticed two small rounded pea gravel points just off  the main river at the end of a bluff wall and decided to stop and fish them. Chris told me this was an area he fished last year that held lots of shad. Within a couple cast he bows up on a bigun a solid 6lb fish and a few short casts later I hang a nice 4lb class fish with Chris adding another one in the 3lb class on the next point. Not a bad start to week of prefishing on a lake that I could barely get bit last year. The next 5 days the weather changed back to winter and you couldn't put enough clothes on to stay warm. We traveled down river to practice some near the dam and around the Gravois Arm and began to put together a very strong pattern with jerkbaits on transition banks from chunk rock to gravel or pea gravel type areas. We then ran the pattern closer to the take off area around Grand Glaze arm and it held up there also. I wanted to spend one day up the river towards the Truman dam but it blew 30-40mph with T-storms and 34 degrees on Tuesday so we headed to Springfield to visit BPS. It's never fun to go there and just window shop but I did good and only spent $15 plus $10 on the Hemingway Buffet...mmm good. With one day left in practice I decided to scratch the up rive idea and stick with what we had found and find more areas that fit the pattern. With the wind howling and bitterly cold we pulled the ice covered cover of the boat and launched right there at the condo. We pulled into a pocket a couple miles down the river and found a bank like we had been catching fish on. It didn't take long and we boated a quick keeper and with boats on the rest of the same type bank we left looking for another bay. After pulling into a larger bay the first bank we went down we caught 3 short fish and 3 keepers. Hoping around in that bay we boated 3 more keepers on the same pattern and decided that was enough sticking fish and we were frozen half to death anyway. It was time for a warm shower get the rods new line and tied up and get to the meeting. 

    Tournament day one I'm boat 10 out and will be able to get on a good stretch of bank first rather than waiting to get in line. I made a couple passes down my favorite bank without a sniff, then my second stop nothing and the 3rd, 4th 5th! I am fit to be tied but keeping my head on straight I abandoned my down river stuff and headed back to the bay we caught fish in yesterday. The spot I pull up on I boat a small keeper spotted bass and have another nice keeper pull off. We moved over to another bank and I boat a nice 3lb fish on the same dock we caught one yesterday and things are starting to look a little better. I've still got an hour and half to fish plenty of time to get 3 more keepers. Well two banks, an hour and 20 mins, and two more lost keepers later it was time to check in. It was a very frustrating day to say the least and all I can do tomorrow is regroup and try to save face.

Tournament day two I am one of the last boats out and decided to start close were I had caught the couple fish yesterday. We spent 3 hours fishing the same banks that I caught fish on the past two days and nothing not even a short fish, what gives! The weather was at least nicer with sun shining and temps in the 60s I figured the fish would do one of two things pull up to the bank and enjoy the warmth from the sun or bail out into the brush piles. Both scenarios played out except I couldn't catch my ass with both hands even if I was sitting on them. After giving this down river stuff a chance for almost 4  hours I had to bail and go back to the bay I had caught fish in yesterday. We pulled up on the bank I caught my spot on and my co-angler boats the first keeper of the day on a shakey head. We bounced around the bay hitting the same banks but no other fish so it was time to move. I ran across the river and stopped on a main lake point getting pounded by the wind and on my first cast I boat a nice 3lber before my co-angler is even out of his seat, game on! Nope not so much not another bite in the next 45min and the day is done. 

I end this derby with 3 fish for a whopping 7.5lb good for 105th place out of 137 boaters, not the way I wanted to start the year. The part that sucks the most is I'm not even sure what I missed or did wrong. I fished the same pattern we fished all week and truly thought I could easily catch 15-18lbs a day with a possible 20+lb bag with the right bites. I fished the same areas as guys in the top 10 and many that made a check. It's one thing to do bad in a tournament and learn from it but I really don't know what I did wrong. Time to regroup and get after them on Kentucky and Barkley as the second stop of the Central Everstarts is here in 2 weeks, it's payback time...

Tight Lines,
B