Another February snow squall blasted through the lake area on the Friday prior to the fourth derby in the Lake of the Ozarks division. Although the skies cleared on Saturday, the passing front brought with it a big chill with temperatures at take-off way below the freezing mark. However, conditions improved as bright skies and temps in the fifties were enough to create a bit of optimism in the 24 teams that gathered at beautiful Alhonna Resort. All hoped for daily bragging rights with their names at the top of the Window World Leaderboard while garnering valuable qualifying points for the Joe Bass Invitational to be held next fall.
Mark Thompson paired with his youngest daughter Rachel, to wrangle up a win on a tough day. Their 5-fish limit locked in at 17.63 pounds. Their bag was anchored by Rachel’s NAPA big bass of the day, a 5.01 pound kicker. Mark and Rachel’s Window World Leaderboard approach was slinging A-rigs along a mile long stretch of channel swings and isolated docks, maximizing the number of casts they could make during the day. They padded their first place and big bass checks by taking Top Skeeter honors as they fished out of Mark’s 2023 ZXR20 Skeeter boat.
Cole McFarland and Ryan Jordan continued their domination of the division with a strong second place finish. They worked through 25 keepers on an all day bite to bring in 16.91 pounds to the scales. Cole noted they relied on a A-rig to catch their fish. With only one event left, they’ve put themselves in the driver’s seat for the points championship.
Brandon and Rhett Hill entered the event in third place in the points race, and definitely helped their cause with a third place overall finish for the day. They also tossed “the rig”, catching over 15 keepers, with the majority of their bag coming later in the day. Their best five pushed the scales to 14.65 pounds.
The final event of the Lake of the Ozarks Division will take place Sunday March 10 with a 7:00am takeoff from beautiful Alhonna Resort. Like us on Facebook & Instagram then send a Thank you to our sponsors.
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Mark Thompson – *Rachel Thompson | 5 | 5.01 | 17.63 | 220 | $2,200.00 |
| 2 | Cole McFarland – Ryan Jordan | 5 | 4.12 | 16.91 | 219 | $930.00 |
| 3 | Brandon Hill – Rhett Hill | 5 | 3.61 | 14.65 | 218 | $580.00 |
| 4 | Todd Miller – Mathew Miller | 5 | 4.08 | 14.11 | 217 | $224.00 |
| 5 | Kason Henderson – Joe Daughtery | 5 | 10.71 | 216 | ||
| 6 | Scott Danek – Scott Danek Jr | 5 | 9.97 | 215 | ||
| 7 | Mike Rogers – Bryce Henderson | 4 | 9.97 | 214 | ||
| 8 | Noah Kelly – Noah Craig | 3 | 4.53 | 9.8 | 213 | |
| 9 | Grant Akers – Tom Shewey | 3 | 7.03 | 212 | ||
| 10 | Justin Maddux – Jackson Stewart | 3 | 6.63 | 211 | ||
| 11 | Anthony Scoma – *Brock Dover | 2 | 3.71 | 6.2 | 210 | |
| 12 | Matt King – Mike Hoeudershell | 3 | 5.75 | 209 | ||
| 13 | Chad Wagner – Logan Miller | 2 | 3.34 | 5.62 | 208 | |
| 14 | Rocky Carden – John Campbell | 1 | 4.58 | 4.58 | 207 | $100.00 |
| 15 | Ricardo Guzman – *fished aalone | 2 | 4.05 | 206 | ||
| 16 | Tom Herndon – Jason VanBeers | 2 | 3.59 | 205 | ||
| 17 | Bryan Loseman – Gary Martens | 1 | 2.96 | 2.96 | 204 | |
| 18 | *Dave Waterhouse – Mike Smith | 0 | 20 | |||
| Tim Brennan – Daniel Brennan | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Shawn Crabtree – Dave Gaulden | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Terry Hutchison – Jason Coley | 0 | 20 | ||||
| *Trey Gustin – Fisher Mayfield | 0 | 20 | ||||
| William Oehring – *Tom Terrel | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Wayne Werle – Jim Lomax | 0 | 20 |
*alternate