The kickoff to the 2023 Motion Fishing Ozark Division Started out like a winter division!!! When the teams arrived at the Boat Ramp they were greeted with 18 Degree air temps and winds around 7 to 10 mph making the wind chill in the single digits. This didn’t stop the Joe Bass Anglers from still having a great day on the water with some big fish being caught as the temperatures went up throughout the day.
Our Champion team for the day went to Joe Wieberg and Lawson Hibdon. This duo is considered one of the best teams in the Ozarks and today proved why. They had a giant bag of fish for the brutal conditions the teams faced. They brought in a bag weighing in at 20.02lbs. Lawson and Joe stated that they stayed below Shawnee bend area all day with 43 to 45 degree water. They caught a few fish in the morning on a Jerkbait, then the team decided by mid-morning to change it up and switched to a small Dirks Jig and a BoJangle baits trailer to gather majority of the fish for the days Bag. The Team would like to thank some Sponsors for the continued support. BoJangle Baits, Dirks Jigs, Boat Wrx and Bait Wrx.
Our 2nd Place team for the day went to the Father Son Team of Tyler Bone and Mike Bone with a total weight of 13.87lbs. Tyler Stated they fished in the Gravois Arm of the lake and caught most of the days bag on secondary points with water temps in the 43 to 45 degree range. Tyler made mention they didn’t have a keeper fish until noon. He also said they threw a 6th sense rig all day to catch the teams limit.
In 3rd place for the opener was the Team of Brandon Rowland and Russel Nigh with a total weight of 12.69lbs. Brandon Stated they fished the Grand Glaize arm in 44 to 47 degree water that was lightly stained. Brandon also stated that all the fish came on a suspending jerk bait and a rig in 4 to 8 feet of water.
Our NAPA Big Bass of the tournament went to Joe Wieberg and Lawson Hibdon. Lawson said the 6.51lb fish came on the Backside of a dock in 6 ft of water on a Dirks Jig with a BoJangle Trailer around 11:30am with 44-degree water.
Our Top Skeeter award went to the very familiar team of Jeff and Justin Bottorff. Proving it always pays to be in the best boat on the water!
Our Next Motion Fishing Ozarks Division tournament will be on April 23rd out of Shawnee Bend with a take of time of 6:30am. Hope to see you all there!!
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Lawson Hibdon – Joe Wieberg | 5 | 6.51 | 20.02 | 220 | $1,640.00 |
| 2 | Tyler Bone – Mike Bone | 5 | 4.99 | 13.87 | 219 | $810.00 |
| 3 | Brandon Rowland – Russel Nigh | 5 | 12.69 | 218 | $596.00 | |
| 4 | Fred Jobe – Tom Shewey | 5 | 5.04 | 11.84 | 217 | $350.00 |
| 5 | Gary Martens – Bryan Loseman | 4 | 3.86 | 10.09 | 216 | $220.00 |
| 6 | Barry Huwar – Logan Dye | 2 | 5.16 | 9.56 | 215 | $280.00 |
| 7 | Bobby Roberts – Luke Routh | 3 | 4.65 | 9.28 | 214 | |
| 8 | Jody Hughes – Shelby Thacker | 3 | 4.8 | 9.27 | 213 | |
| 9 | Jacob Delong – Mike Eutsler | 3 | 8.33 | 212 | ||
| 10 | Jeff Bottorff – Justin Bottorff | 3 | 8.05 | 211 | $250.00 | |
| 11 | Chris LuAllen – Ben Sadler | 2 | 6.35 | 210 | ||
| 12 | Cliff Wolf – Adam Pritchard | 2 | 5.72 | 209 | ||
| 13 | Tyler Hibdon – Tyler Bartlett | 2 | 4.92 | 208 | ||
| 14 | Billy McMillen – Bryan Bock | 2 | 3.51 | 207 | ||
| 15 | Jason Rehg – Rustin Ryan | 1 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 206 | |
| 16 | Nick Morris – Mason Morris | 1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 205 | |
| 17 | Craig Lay – Memphis Lay | 1 | 1.83 | 1.83 | 204 | |
| 18 | Zachary Adams – *Alex Dwan | 0 | 20 | |||
| Richard Bower – | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Brett Fickle – *JR Loyd | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Brady Graves – Darryll Waller | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Scott Jackson – Randy Testerman | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Ryan Melcher – Christie Lanker | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Shawn Tiemann – Rick Tiemann | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Tom VanKeirsbilck – Brian Rodrock | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Justin Wright – *Fished Alone | 0 | 20 |
*alternate