Waggoner Worms for the W

Sloan grabs co-angler honors on Lake of the Ozarks

Joe Waggoner of Carthage, Missouri, caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 15 ounces, Saturday to earn top honors at the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Ozark Division tournament on Lake of the Ozarks. For his efforts, Waggoner pocketed $4,672.

“I focused on main-lake and secondary points with brush, from mid-lake down to the lower end,” says Waggoner, who earned his first career-victory as a boater in BFL competition. “I probably hit 12 areas and revisited the ones that were the most productive.”

Waggoner says his primary points were littered with bait after local authorities pulled water to bring the lake level down.

“My Lowrance units helped me see the bait on the points, which gave me more confidence to stop and fish them,” says Waggoner. “I caught almost all of my weight by 8 (a.m.) and after that it died off. They actually stopped pulling water the morning of the tournament, and I think that’s what scattered them.”

Waggoner caught his limit on a plum-colored Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm with a ½-ounce Bullet Weights tungsten slip sinker.

“In the afternoon I caught three good ones on points that were across from each other to finish out my day,” says Waggoner. “I guess I just ran the right points at the right time.”

The top 10 boaters:

1^st:          Joe Waggoner, Carthage, Mo., five bass, 18-15, $4,672

2^nd:         Stan Tucker, Festus, Mo., five bass, 18-11, $2,236

3^rd:          Brett Govreau, House Springs, Mo., five bass, 18-9, $1,492

4^th:          Jeremy Johnson, Kansas City, Kan., five bass, 17-14, $968

4^th:          Tom Alsop, Overland Park, Kan., five bass, 17-14, $1,068

6^th:          Bryan Tracy, Saint Peters, Mo., five bass, 17-8, $820

7^th:          Matthew Roberts, Osage Beach, Mo., five bass, 17-5, $745

8^th:          Mike Roller, Purdy, Mo., five bass, 15-15, $671

9^th:          Drew Sanford, Springfield, Mo., five bass, 15-12, $596

10^th:        Wesley Myers, Raytown, Mo., five bass, 15-9, $522

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.  

Roger Fitzpatrick of Eldon, Missouri, caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 9 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $650.

Sloan wins co-angler title

Jacob Sloan of Paola, Kansas, won the Co-angler Division and $2,436 Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 13 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers:

1^st:          Jacob Sloan, Paola, Kan., five bass, 17-13, $2,436

2^nd:         Derrick Tyree, Owensville, Mo., five bass, 16-4, $1,168

3^rd:          Kory Ries, Union, Mo., five bass, 15-3, $745

4^th:          Matt Wertheimer, Arnold, Mo., five bass, 15-2, $522

5^th:          Daniel Ashby, Independence, Mo., five bass, 15-1, $447

6^th:          Chris Dale, Chanute, Kan., five bass, 14-1, $410

7^th:          Rich Carpenter, Parkville, Mo., five bass, 12-11, $373

8^th:          Quenten Reed, Osage Beach, Mo., five bass, 11-13, $335

9^th:          Alan Quick, Springfield, Mo., four bass, 11-10, $298

10^th:        Brandon Hecker, Camdenton, Mo., four bass, 10-11, $261

Charles Frick of Saint Louis, Missouri, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 5 pounds, 11 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $325.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 5-7 BFL Regional Championship on Kentucky Lake in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.