Birds of a feather

Two Hawks fly into Lake of the Ozarks finale

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. – For Roy Hawk, the only thing better than leading the pro field into the final round of EverStart Series Central Division competition on Lake of the Ozarks is watching his son compete for the co-angler win.

The elder Hawk has led since day one, with weights of 22-6 and 16-4 for a 38-10 total. Sunny Hawk placed 16th on day one with 9-7 but charged up the co-angler standings on day two with a four fish bag that weighed 13-11 and landed him in fifth place with 23-2.

Roy said a father-son pairing would have been “interesting,” but he’s pleased to see his son in the hunt. As far as tips, advice and suggestions, Roy said none were needed.

“He has his own head and he knows how to do this,” Roy said. “He’s been doing this a long time. I could put him in the front of the boat he’d do just as well. I have all the confidence in the world in him and I’m very proud, for sure.”

Sunny said the statistical unlikelihood of the family connection makes the final round especially unique for him. “It’s a true blessing. When we showed up for prefishing, I didn’t think we’d be in the top 10 together. I knew he always has a chance of being in the top 10, but as a (co-angler) it fluctuates and you really don’t know how it’s going to go.”

Both Hawks will throw reaction baits today. For the past two days, Roy has worked a small backwater area with off color water that’s a few degrees warmer than the main lake.

“I’ll probably just stick it out there,” he said. “The fish tend to be shallow and that puts them where they need to be for me. There’s a lot fewer people there, and it’s a short run.”

Lake level has dropped about a foot on day two and Roy Hawk said that this may have accounted for the slower bite that most of the field encountered on day two. He’s expecting that today’s mostly sunny and calm conditions will yield good opportunities.

Second place pro Dan Brueggemann, of Antioch, Ill., has caught most of his fish on a 3/8-ounce Chompers Standup jig with a scented, brown trailer made by Hold On Hand Poured Plastics. He ran out of the hand poured bodies, so today’s he’s using a Chompers Hula Grub trailer. Brueggemann said he likes throwing crankbaits this time of year, but an inconsistent bite told him he needed to focus on a technique that put more control in his hands.

“With the water dropping, it’s a really fickle bite and I can make them bite that jig better,” he said. “I’m just working it really slowly and crawling it on the bottom.”

Bites, Brueggemann said, have been nearly undetectable. “I’ve never felt a bit this week – they’re leaves. I either catch a leaf or a 4-pounder.”

Starting the day in third, custom lure maker David Ryan hopes to put his hand painted jerkbaits in front of five big prespawn bass. Ryan said he looked for prespawn movement on day two and found some promising activity. Steep banks with deep water were the popular scenario for him.

“I checked a couple of places (on day two) and caught fish in those places where they’re going to go,” Ryan said. “It’s just about keeping your eyes open, keeping an open mind and being able to move with the fish.”

In fourth place, Peter Wenners of Galena, Mo. will also rely on a jig. Throughout practice, he wasn’t confident in the jerkbait bite, so he developed a solid pattern of fishing a 3/8-ounce jig with a Zoom Critter Craw trailer around heavy cover. Fifth place pro James Stamper will fish a jerkbait and a crankbait today.

Leading the co-angler division, 17-year-old Kenny McGar feels confident that his pairing with Roy Hawk will fit well with his affinity for shallow water fishing. He’ll be throwing a Spro Little John shallow diving crankbait.

“I know he likes shallow water fishing, so my game plan is to go right behind him with my crankbait and hopefully pick up what he doesn’t and put together a good enough limit to pull out the win.”

McGar is optimistic that the day’s mostly sunny forecast will benefit the top boat’s efforts. “I think (the sunshine) is going to warm up the water and push those fish up shallow so our baits will be right in their strike zone.”

Logistics

Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart, located at 4252 Highway 54 in Osage Beach, Mo. Saturday’s weigh-in begins at 4 p.m. Weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

Pros will fish for a top award of $35,000 plus a 198VX Ranger boat with 200-horsepower outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award consisting of a Ranger 177TR with 90-horsepower outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines are met.

The EverStart Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of four tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points in each division that could earn them the Angler of the Year title along with $5,000 for the pro and $2,000 for the co-angler. The top 40 pros and co-anglers from each respective division will qualify for the EverStart Series Championship that will be held on Kentucky Lake in Buchanan, Tenn., Oct. 27-30.

The EverStart Series tournament on Lake of the Ozarks is being hosted by the Tri-County Lodging Association.

Saturday’s conditions:

Sunrise: 6:31 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 42 degrees

Expected high temperature: 61 degrees

Wind: Northwest 5-10 mph

Humidity: 40 percent

Day’s outlook: Sunny to partly cloudy