A Good Afternoon – 5.7 And 3.6 Pounder Today

24mm of the Osage on rocky transition banks, jerk bait presentation was a 6 count between twitches, the jig was slow on the bottom with a very slight hop.

After a weekend that included fishing two tournaments with only 1 keeper in each tournament and running to the extreme areas of the lake, 70-80mm of Osage and 12-14mm of the Niangua (had some good practice days in those areas), I stayed close to home today in the mid lake area where I am more familiar with the area. This area has not been producing well the past several weeks, however over the last two weekends, it seems that the stick bait and jig bite are finally on. This part of the lake seems to be getting bit now in a typical late winter way, with the stick bait and jig close to the bank on transition rock and secondary points. We had another small cold front come through this afternoon, including a bit of spitting snow. Both quality fish that I caught today were in 3-6 feet of water, the 3 pounder on a transition bank just inside of a small pocket and the 5.7 pounder was laying under a wood/tree lay down on the edge of the branches in about 6 feet of water. The jig that I used is a custom made jig by a great LOZ tournament fisherman, simply called Dirks Jig. They are exclusively available at Fitz Fishing in Osage Beach. This jig has been producing very well in the past two tournaments at LOZ as has the Crock-o-Gator jig and Crock-o-Gator Swamp Bug, all available at Fitz Fishing.