FLW Qualifier – Lake of the Ozarks

The Tournament

First time fishing at Lake of the Ozarks, no practice prior to tournament day, and slept in the vehicle at the ramp in much colder than expected weather after an eight hour drive. Finishing 4^th out of 40 teams, we were able to bring 4 solid keepers to the scales weighing 9-12. We were even lucky enough to be in the hot seat for a small period of time before being knocked out by Southern Illinois. Murray State won the event with an impressive stringer of five fish for 17-05, as the top five teams advanced to the regional event at Kentucky Lake to be held October 31-November 2. With the 4^th place finish, we left the event with a $3,000 check for the club and scholarships.

How We Caught Them

We started off the tournament by finding a large cove which had both deep and shallow water, as well as docks and undeveloped shoreline. Starting in the back of the cove in shallow water, we threw topwater lures, crankbaits, and jigs while picking up a couple of short fish. We worked our way to a big secondary point with big boulders where we caught our first two keepers in a matter of minutes on a Lucky Craft G-Splash and Zara Spook. It wasn’t until around 1:00 before our next two keepers were caught on back-to-back casts on laydowns using spinnerbaits. Other than the four keepers and a handful of short fish, it was a slow day. However, we were able to execute on each bite and get the top five finish. For results, photos, videos, and more: College Fishing – Results

The Regional

The top five teams from the four qualifying events in the Midwest series will now compete on Kentucky Lake for club/scholarship money, a new Ranger boat, and a chance to compete in the championship. All 20 teams will compete the first two days, with the field being cut to five for the final day. It will be a great opportunity as Ranger boats will be provided and Versus will be televising the event. We will have two teams representing IU at the regional, as Jesse Shultz and Dustin Vaal qualified with a 3^rd place finish at the Kentucky Lake qualifier in May. For more information on the regional: College Fishing

1. Alonso Julsrud Says:
   June 24th, 2010 at 1:12 pm

   Hi This is a excellent site and found the post interesting,this will improve my tournament results especially when im fishing for smallmouth,I will check back for new updates. Should you ever find some newfound lures be sure to place then on your blog.