Despite a pile of pressure from the Costa FLW Series anglers and last week’s Big Bass Bash, Lake of the Ozarks is holding up well through day two. Presented by Evinrude, the final event of the Central Division is a barn-burner, with everyone in the top five less than 3 pounds off the lead.
In practice, many pros said the bite was closer to summer than fall, but that’s changed to a degree during the tournament. Perhaps spurred on by a cool front that rolled through Wednesday and Thursday, it seems like at least some of the bigger fish have headed toward the bank to chase big gizzard shad. It’s not wide open, but so far the fall topwater bite has been the way to go.
2. James Dill – Sunrise Beach, Mo. – 35-10 (10)
Just an ounce away from the lead, Dill brought 17-12 to the scale on day two, which was the third biggest bag of the day. Dill says he fished a fairly varied game plan on day one, but he dialed in to the big bite a little more on day two.
“I started out flippin’, and I flipped up a couple, but they were just keepers,” says Dill. “Then I went back to my topwater deal and I lost two big ones, just giants, and it’s hard to overcome that. But I shook it off and went on and then I went down one bank and caught two 5-pounders and a 3-pounder.”
Like Fitzpatrick, Dill is fishing right on the bank looking for bass that are pulling up to eat gizzard shad. He says he’s throwing a Crock-O-Gator Head Knocker Buzzbait for most of his fish.
“That’s where all the big bites are coming from,” says Dill. “I’m looking for main lake flats next to deep water. These fish are wanting to come up and chase these shad on the bank.”
Dill didn’t catch many keepers on day two and struggled as the day wore on. It seems like most of the topwater-centric anglers are running very thin margins so far.
3. James Watson – Lampe, Mo. – 33-15 (10)
Watson cemented his reputation as one of the best fall anglers in the country last year in the FLW Tour Invitational on Norris Lake, and he’s looking to add another win to his resume this week.
Exclusively throwing a River2Sea Whopper Plopper, Watson has been burning up the bank and catching just a handful of the right fish each day.
“They just didn’t eat, I had four other real good blowups, but you can’t even call them good blowups because they don’t hook up,” says Watson. “I need 11 or 12 bites to catch five bass, and I just did not get that today.
“I’m just running and gunning banks,” says Watson. “I’m fishing history, just banks I’ve caught them on in the past.”
Watson caught a 5-pounder in the last gasp of day one and says he got lucky to limit today. We’ll see if his “luck” can hold for one more day and a charge at the leaders.
4. Andre Dickneite – Freeburg, Mo. – 33-4 (10)
Andre Dickneite has put together a pair of remarkably consistent 16-pound bags for fourth place by not throwing a topwater.
“I’m catching them on a jig, shallow,’ says Dickneite. “You’ve just got to pay attention to what you’re dealt. It was a different deal today because they ran water and that positioned those fish differently. I’m fishing up the river, and it makes a difference up there when that water starts running.”
Dickneite says he caught about 10 keepers on day one and seven on day two. He says most of the docks he’s fishing end in less than 10 feet of water.
5. Casey Scanlon – Lake Ozark, Mo. – 32-15 (10)
Fresh off an excellent debut season on the FLW Tour, Casey Scanlon is one of five FLW Tour pros in the top 10 and is looking for his first win with FLW.
“I did pretty much the same routine, but I hit a lot of new water today,” says Scanlon, who boxed up 14 pounds and change on day one and 18-13 on day two. “I’m really mixing it up, I’m fishing some key docks, fishing some topwater and fishing some deep stuff, and a lot of those places have brush.”
Scanlon says he caught two of the fish he weighed shallow and the other three deep, and put about 10 keepers in the boat overall on day two. Of the top five, he certainly seems to have taken the most versatile approach thus far.
“I think the bite’s getting better, and I’ve got a lot more water to run tomorrow,” says Scanlon. “But it’s super tough, I needed every second I had to get what I had today.”