Weather is always a prime input to one’s tournament strategy, and the second event of the Lake of the Ozarks division proved that to be true. A winter storm raced through the area on Friday with remnants hanging around for the weekend. Sunday’s conditions started off deary and windy but finished under clear skies and nearly no wind at all. Such a radical shift impacted the fishing as only 5 limits were brought to the scales. However, for those that cracked the mystery, staggering weights resulted, while others pressed hard for a spot on the Window World Leaderboard and valuable qualifying points for the Joe Bass Invitational to be held next fall.
Cole McFarland and Ryan Jordan had a memorable day as they dropped a staggering 22.46 pounds of LoZ bass on the weigh-in scales. Cole noted they leaned on an umbrella rig to catch 15 keepers. Cole also noted their Window World Leaderboard approach wasn’t affected by the shift in weather conditions as they caught fish throughout the day.
Local stick Andy Newcomb and Kevin Freeze wrangled second place honors. They boated a super-stout 20.93 pounds of bass. They also reported a strong bite, putting over 20 keepers in the boat by slinging A-rigs. Similar to the leaders, they adjusted to the changing conditions to stay on an all-day bite.
Grant Akers and Tom Shewey rounded at the top three with a 15.99 pound limit. Grant shared they mixed a jig and jerkbait with an umbrella rig to catch their fish. Contrary to the others in the top three, the weather did affect their approach as they boated 7 keepers, having their final weight around noon.
Andrew Eisterhold and Kaden Zimmerman added to their 5th place money as they boated the NAPA big bass of the day, a monster 6.36 pounder that bit a jerkbait.
Mark and Markie Thompson took Top Skeeter honors. They fished umbrella rigs in the 15’-25’ range from Mark’s 2023 ZXR20 Skeeter boat.
The third event of the Lake of the Ozarks Division will take place Sunday February 4 with a 7:00am takeoff from beautiful Alhonna Resort.
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Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Cole McFarland – Ryan Jordan | 5 | 5.84 | 22.46 | 220 | $1,950.00 |
| 2 | Andy Newcomb – Kevin Freeze | 5 | 5.98 | 20.93 | 219 | $950.00 |
| 3 | Grant Akers – Tom Shewey | 5 | 4.11 | 15.99 | 218 | $600.00 |
| 4 | Brandon Hill – Rhett Hill | 5 | 5.56 | 15.58 | 217 | $220.00 |
| 5 | Andrew Eisterhold – Kaden Zimmerman | 5 | 6.36 | 13.85 | 216 | $342.00 |
| 6 | Eric Dearduff – Steve Varner | 3 | 5.67 | 10.37 | 215 | |
| 7 | Scott Danek – Scott Danek Jr | 4 | 9.52 | 214 | ||
| 8 | Chad Wagner – Logan Miller | 3 | 4.63 | 8.6 | 213 | |
| 9 | Adam Morrison – Chris Phillips | 4 | 8.51 | 212 | ||
| 10 | Mike Rogers – Bryce Henderson | 2 | 6.11 | 8.22 | 211 | $110.00 |
| 11 | Nick Luna – Cody Paxton | 4 | 7.79 | 210 | ||
| 12 | Mark Thompson – Mark Thompson II | 3 | 2.82 | 6.86 | 209 | |
| 13 | Zachary Cooley – Kent Whitaker | 4 | 6.54 | 208 | ||
| 14 | Mark Dunbar – Cliff Wolf | 3 | 3.38 | 6.48 | 207 | |
| 15 | Justin Maddux – *fished aalone | 1 | 5.74 | 5.74 | 206 | |
| 16 | Tom Herndon – Jason VanBeers | 2 | 4.51 | 205 | ||
| 17 | Tim Brennan – Daniel Brennan | 3 | 4.13 | 204 | ||
| 18 | Rocky Carden – *fished aalone | 2 | 3.81 | 203 | ||
| 19 | Brent Basler – Mike Smith 2 | 2 | 2.56 | 202 | ||
| 20 | Ryan Beals – Wayne O’Halloran | 1 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 201 | |
| 21 | Jacob Delong – | 0 | 20 | |||
| Noah Kelly – Noah Craig | 0 | 20 | ||||
| David McCormick – Evan Shartzer | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Jonathan Pimentel – Shane Skinner | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Joseph Provart – Dewayne Rich | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Bobby Roberts – Hunter Rushton | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Anthony Scoma – Greg Proffitt | 0 | 20 |
*alternate