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East Ozark
Date: 4/15/2007 - 4/15/2007
Location:
Pomme De Terre
Reported by: Larry Merseal
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Tournament Conditions |
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Water Level |
About 3 feet into the bush's |
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Water Temperature |
49 to 53 degrees |
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Water Color |
clear by the dam, stained in the
Lindley,clear to muddy in the Pomme |
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Air Temperature |
32 early to around 56 at weigh-in |
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Skies |
blue-bird early to slightly cloudy
later |
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Wind |
10 to 15 w-nw |
Reported by: Larry Merseal , Larry is sponsored by: Anglers Pro Shop and Omega Custom Tackle Inc.
McKinney and Hulsey Load the Boat Early!
Two weeks ago, the bass were
about ready to go on beds. But two weeks of nasty weather and temperatures well below normal had pushed most of the bass back
out into deeper water.
The day before the tournament brought rain and sleet changing over to snow. The skies
cleared out over night and Sunday the East Ozark club was faced with blue-bird skies and temperatures warming from 33 to around
56 degrees.
Nineteen teams showed up at the Hermitage ramp, and only two teams managed to catch a limit. One
of those limits was weighed in by the winning team of Randy McKinney and Randy Hulsey. Randy McKinney and Randy Hulsey of Park Hills capitalized
on an early morning bite to win it by three pounds. Their five fish limit weighed 13.06 lbs. They also cashed in on big bass
with Hulsey’s nice Pomme Hog weighing 6.80 lbs.
McKinney reported that they caught all of their fish
between 6:30 and 7:30am within sight of the Hermitage boat ramp. With the lake on the rise and the water getting dirty in
both arms of the lake, McKinney said they fished the dam area, preferring to fish clearer, more stable water.
They caught all of their fish on suspending rogues (blue/chrome & clown). They keyed on suspended bass in pea gravel pockets.
McKinney and Hulsey are sponsored by hard work, and their wives.
Randy McKinney and Randy Hulsey take 1st
and big bass Second place went to Larry Merseal
and Don Politte of DeSoto. Larry and Don weighed in 4 fish weighing 9.80 lbs. Don and I really struggled, fishing the Pomme
and the Lindley arms, trying to scratch out a limit. We caught two keepers early on a deep secondary point in the Pomme. After
that we had trouble fishing jigs and carolina rigs because of the moss (snot grass). Every cast we had to clean our baits.
So we traveled up around Haverstick in the Lindley arm to find stained water and also to get away from the
snot grass. We keyed on windy main lake points and caught all of our keepers in ten to seventeen feet of water. Don and I
used a carolina rigged watermelon french fry and a brown 7/16 Omega jig to catch our fish.
Larry Merseal and Don Politte take 2nd Third place went to Reggie Crabdree of Farmington and Greg (Bunsy) Ragsdale
of Park Hills. Reggie and Bunsy had three bass that weighed 7.14 lbs.
Reggie said that they fished within
a mile of the ramp and caught their fish on 5/16 Eakins jigs tipped with green pumpkin speed craws. They fished main lake
channel banks. With the boat in 20 feet of water, their bite came at 15 feet.
They didn’t have many
bites, but when they did get bit it was a good thump on the jig. One of their three keepers deserves an honorable mention,
as it was a nice 5.02 lber!
Reggie Crabdree and Bunsy Ragsdale take
3rd
Right now the water is up in the bush’s about 3 feet and stained water is really moving up the
Pomme arm. With the warm weather predicted for this week I would bet the bass will move back into the coves again, staging
on points and channel swings. They should be moving into the flooded bush’s too.
Well, good luck to you!
The
next East Ozark tournament will be at Clearwater on April 29th. There will also be a Guys and Gals tournament on
April 21st at Wappapello.
See Ya on the Water!
Larry Merseal
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