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Top 10 baits from Lake of the Ozarks - Toyota Series by Phoenix Boats Plains Division

by Major League Fishing 2 Oct 21:24 UTC
What you were doing really didn't matter at Lake of the Ozarks, just so long as you were fishing docks with a jig or a worm © Major League Fishing / Jody White

If you want old-school fishing, there might not be a better place for it than Lake of the Ozarks late in the summer.

As usual when the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Plains Division visits the lake this time of year, the fishing was tough, and the docks were the place to be. Of course, with about 3.3 zillion docks on the lake, that leaves anglers with a lot of decisions to make.

Here are the jigs (and some other things) that worked best for the top pros.

1. Docks the ticket for Lintner

Lintner messed with flipping and swimming baits, using a 5/16-ounce ARK Wes Logan Swim Jig in blue magic with a white Zoom Z Craw trailer, a 1/2-ounce ARK Randall Tharp Flipping Jig in old-school brown and a 1/2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen Chatterbait Jack Hammer (white/gold blade) with a white Yamamoto Zako trailer or a Zoom Z Craw. According to Lintner, the mapping on his Garmin ECHOMAP Ultra 2 was key for fishing lots of new water all week.

2. Berhorst has the best final day

Sacking up more than 19 pounds on the last day, Dennis Berhorst rolled up from eighth to second, showing off his Ozark prowess in the process.

"I was swimming the jig — shallow, deep, it didn't matter," he said. "I was skipping it up in holes underneath docks and I'd swim it out. A lot of times they'd eat it; sometimes the big ones would just follow it. Then, I'd go back and flip a Brush Hog in and catch those fish. Well, sometimes — I probably saw two more 20-pound sacks the last day — but when they did eat it, they'd choke it."

His jig of choice was a 1/2-ounce Chompers Pro Skirted Brush Jig with a Keitech Crazy Flapper trailer. He followed up with a Zoom Brush Hog on a 1/4-ounce Texas rig. He used Lew's reels, 20-pound Gamma Edge line and St. Croix Victory and Legend Xtreme sticks.

3. Newcomb just short again

One of the most consistent anglers in the Plains Division when he fishes it, Andy Newcomb has had a number of close calls on Lake of the Ozarks. This week added another to the list.

Running docks all over the lake, Newcomb used a Bait Cave Customs Thick Stick on an 3/8-ounce Apex Tackle Bain's Pro Series Structure Shakey Head as his primary approach, along with a jig. He used a 7-foot, 1-inch Daiwa Tatula paired with an 8.1:1 Tatula Elite and 20-pound Vicious Pro Elite Fluorocarbon.

Newcomb got pretty fancy with location, which may have cost him a little on the final day.

"I practiced three days in three different areas and determined by the end of practice that every area sucked equally," he said. "The first day, I was boat 98, so I knew anything community was going to be taken. It was supposed to be sunny, so I ran up the lake, and I got five keeper bites. The second day, we had wind, clouds, spitting rain, so I figured I'd go down to the dam. Those fish tend to bite better in those conditions. The last day, I figured my best chance was up the lake. Down at the dam, the bite seemed maybe a little worse than it was up the lake. So, I decided to go for broke, and it didn't work out."

In hindsight, he may have chosen wrong.

"Knowing what I know now, and knowing where a couple of the other guys fished, I probably should have stayed in that 'four corners' region and fished a bunch of different docks," said Newcomb. "I feel like that was maybe the best part of the lake this week."

4. Big start carries Reinkemeyer

A past winner at Lake of the Ozarks, Brock Reinkemeyer started out with 19 pounds and the lead but faltered in the stretch run.

Fishing docks (of course), Reinkemeyer used a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm on a 1/4-ounce Owner Shaky Ultrahead. He used a Lew's reel, 15-pound Seaguar InvizX and a 7-foot, 2-inch T-Zack Classic rod.

"I tried a lot of offshore stuff in practice, and then I flipped some docks down lake, and that just wasn't happening," said Reinkemeyer. "I wouldn't even get five bites a day. So, I went up to the river on the second-to-last day of practice and just fished for a couple hours and caught two decent ones.

"So, I stuck with that the whole time," he added. "It was weird, because most of the time in September, I'll go to the very backs. But since they had the water down, that wasn't really the deal. Those 8- to 12-foot docks were the deal, on the sides and the backs of the docks."

5. Scanlon mixes and matches for a top finish

Always a threat on his home lake, Casey Scanlon put together one of the more diverse events. Fishing docks, shallow brush and dabbling with a glide bait, he ended up doing a little bit of everything.

For his jigs, he used a 1/2-ounce Trophy Bass Company Trophy Pro Jig, which he trailered with either a Bass Pro Shops XPS Crawdigy Craw or a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Creature Hawg. His glide bait of choice was a Swimbait Garage Hyper Shad. For the jig, he used 20-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS 100% Fluorocarbon, a Bass Pro Shops CarbonLite rod and a Bass Pro Shops CarbonLite reel to match.

Staying mostly in the Glaize area, Scanlon fished by his gut for much of the event. An interesting note was how he switched between jig trailers.

"When I was fishing deeper docks, I like the craw-type trailer with the kicking tails," he explained. "And I also felt like I could swim that better, so I let it sink around those deep docks and then would swim it back. When I was fishing shallower docks or shallower brush, I was throwing that beaver-style bait. One, for the MaxScent, and two, it skips really good, and they seem to really like that gliding action on the shallower docks."

6. Final day rally for Digino

Also fishing docks, Chris Digino had a big final day.

"Every day changed. Day 1, I didn't have much boat traffic fishing what I was fishing, which was main lake docks," said the Texas pro. "Day 2, there was more traffic, and the bite slowed down. Day 3, it was nonexistent, and I was fishing where other people weren't in the pockets mostly. Everyone was running to the back or fishing the front; I stayed in the middle zone."

His key baits were a 1/2-ounce Strike King Denny Brauer Structure Jig with a Strike King Rage Bug for a trailer as well as a 1/2-ounce swim jig made on a Dobyns Heavy Hook Weedless Swimbait Head with a Keitech Swing Impact FAT trailer. Like Lintner, Digino also mixed in a vibrating jig, using a 3/8-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait Elite EVO. For all his presentations, he used a Dobyns Extreme 746 rod, 20-pound Seaguar InvizX and a Lew's reel.

7. Brush and a Neko carry the weight for Lawrence

One of the few pros near the top that didn't live and die on docks, Jake Lawrence locked down the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title in the Plains Division and turned in his third Top 10 of the season.

For Lawrence, a Yamamoto Oki Worm got the call for his Neko. He cut it down to about 7 inches and used a 1/8-ounce nail weight. He used a Bates Hundo reel, a Dobyns Kaden 713 rod and 30-pound braid with a 20-pound fluoro leader.

Fishing brush around docks sometimes as deep as 25 feet, Lawrence had to be very methodical with his worm, often leaving it in place for a long time once it sank.

"It took a while to get it down there," he said. "Especially the last two days with the wind, I'd have to lay it way upwind to try to get it to float right into the pile. That really soft, natural landing seemed key."

8. Youth no obstacle for Bailey

Fishing his first Toyota Series event as a senior in high school, 17-year-old Corbin Bailey knocked it out of the park on his home pond.

He fished a jig on docks, a big shaky head on brush, and also threw a crankbait around shad a bit.

His jig was a 5/8-ounce Valor Baits Hibdon Hammer with a Zoom Z Craw for a trailer. He used a 5/16-ounce Crock-O-Gator Shaker Pro Head and a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm for his worm, and his crankbait of choice was a Berkley Frittside 5. He used FX Custom Rods and Sunline Sniper across the board.

Like many, Bailey stayed pretty mobile.

"I spent my whole first two days on the lower end of the lake, and I was strictly targeting bigger docks," he said. "Like, the bigger, the better, and typically around the main lake or a point. I also did a little bit of targeting schools of shad all the way in the back of the flat creeks with the Frittside.

"The third day, I actually made a big move and ran up the Niangua River," he said. "I actually live up there, so I know it well. I fished some of my stuff that I know well out there. I caught all my fish on the last day under ramps on real shallow docks up in the Niangua."

9. Moppin leans on specific docks

Jason Moppin had a lot going on the week of the tournament from volleyball games to boat breakdowns, but he ended up coming through with flying colors.

Throwing two jigs — a 5/16-ounce 5 Fish Lures Ultimate Finesse Jig and a 3/8-ounce Crock-O-Gator Zapper Flipping Jig — he used a NetBait Paca Chunk and a Zoom Fat Albert Twin Tail Grub for trailers.

Using his knowledge of the lake, Moppin ran "current docks" to increase his percentages.

"Sometimes a dock will stick out a little funny in the lake just because of the way the lake bends," said Moppin. "And the water doesn't always just follow the channel all the way down the lake. The water will cut across the flat and some docks will have strong current on them and some won't.

"We didn't really have any current, but the wind will create a current, too, and I'll fish current docks, and that may not make sense to a lot of people, but some people understand," elaborated Moppin. "Some docks just catch more current than others because of where they sit on the lake. And you have to key in on that because the bass will be under those current docks."

10. Docks also do the trick for Hibdon

Have you ever heard of a Hibdon doing well on Lake of the Ozarks? This week, it was Lawson Hibdon who got the job done, fishing a jig on docks for most of his weight.

"I was trying to key on some docks that were close to the main lake, but still the shallowest ones that I could find," said Hibdon. "Less than 5 foot of water on everything. It was pretty basic for me.

"I ran a lot of history — and I didn't do that the first day, and I should have," he added. "I kind of ran through a bunch of stuff the first day that I found in practice instead of just going and fishing a bunch of what I know to catch a big one. And I keep kicking myself for it."

The key bait was a homemade 1/2-ounce Hibdon Hammer skipping jig, which is not currently on the market. For a trailer, Hibdon went with a Bojangle Baits Nos Craw. Hibdon also mixed in an 8-inch Swimbait Garage Hyper Shad at times. For his skipping setup, he used a Dobyns Champion XP 735, a Tatula Elite P/F and 20-pound P-Line Ultimate.

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