Missouri TBF’s Second State Qualifier is a Success

After dealing with a 2-month weather delay the Missouri TBF held its second state qualifier at Truman Lake on August 10^th and 11^th.  The lake had receded from its near record crest in June to a more fishable level of about 12 feet over normal pool.  The good news is that the flooded bushes and trees along with the steady current had the fish feeding aggressively for most of the day.  Several anglers were able to read the current and figure the proper points and ledges that positioned the fish to find strong limits each day. 

The weather conditions for the 2-day event was fortunately not as hot as usual but with plenty of good ole Missouri summer humidity.  Temperatures on Saturday started at 72 degrees and peaked at 91 under bright skies with SSE winds at 5-7 mph.  Sunday was a variable day with clouds and a few showers.  Temperatures started out at 78 degrees and hit 89 later in the day with winds shifting from the West at 6 mph to the East at 9 by weigh-in.  Anglers who could adjust their bait color and presentation to the wind and cloud conditions were able to keep the bite going all day while other anglers complained about an “on and off” bite throughout the day.

Leading the pack on the boater side was Jeff Barrickman from Crane, Missouri.  While primarily fishing his local Table Rock, his modest familiarity with Truman did not hold him back as he had strong 5 fish limits each day. He led the field Saturday with 5 fish for 18.82 and followed that up with a Sunday sack of 16.89 for a total two-day weight of 35.71.  This is even more impressive when you consider that we were fishing under Missouri’s no-cull rules, which resulted in Jeff finishing each day by earlier morning.  Jeff capitalized on the current and used Texas rigged plastics to find concentrations of fish on key current swept points on the main lake. 

Kenny Shinn lead the “local” anglers with a very strong two-day total of 32.26 pounds for second place.  Kenny had a very steady approach to the tournament catching several keepers each day for 15.4 pounds on day one and 16.86 on day two.  He concentrated on the shallow bush bite using a buzzbait early and a jig and wobble head later in the day.  His bite was mostly on the main lake area with a few fish coming up the Grand River arm. 

Finishing just behind Kenny was another Truman Lake expert (and Ranger Cup winner), Don Heiser with 31.12 pounds. Like the other two leaders, Don had strong 5 fish limit each day of 17.21 and 13.91 respectively.  Don also concentrated on the main lake and Grand River arm probing brushy points primarily with a Carolina rig.  Like all our top three anglers, Don proved to be a generous guide, helping each of his co-anglers to 5 fish limits each day too!

Rounding out the top boater spots was Robert Hime (our Table Rock Lake Champion) with 28.81 pounds, Dennis Maggart with 27.52, Tom Kauffmann with 26.96 and Tom McGovern with 25.47.  Overall 113 fish were caught for 342.19 pounds by 30 anglers!  

The Co-Angler side was dominated by some very familiar faces. Taking first place with two very impressive bags was one of our strongest co-anglers, Gary Martin.  He sacked 16.93 pounds on day one and then followed that up with an even bigger sack of 17.58 on day 2 for a total of 34.51 pounds.  Gary drug a Carolina Rigged brush hog (in his secret color) along with a DH Shaky Head to catch most of his fish.  Gary is used to the winner stand with consistent top 5 finishes including his 2^nd place finish this spring in the MO TBF Qualifier at Table Rock.

Finishing second was our Table Rock co-angler champion, Jason Morisaki.  Jason also had an early 5 fish limit each day with 15.46 and 10.34 for grand total of 25.8 pounds. While he caught multiple keepers each day, he was not able to cull up significantly after his initial 5. Most of his fish came on a Texas rigged green pumpkin brush hog but a couple fell to a Carolina rig, dragging a hump with a green pumpkin creature bait. He had to make a bit of adjustment on day two as his boater concentrated on secondary points, so he supplemented the Texas rigged brush hog with a mag finesse worm on a shaky head proved just as effective for his early limit.

Our final winner was also a regular on the podium, Jon Small.  Jon is very familiar with Truman and was able to overcome a slow start on Saturday (7.91 pounds) to finish strong with 13.71 on Sunday for a two-day total of 21.62.  He caught most of his fish by pitching a 10-inch June Bug worm to bushes or dragging a shaky head on points. 

Since both of our top co-anglers had already qualified for the TBF National Semi-Final our 4^th place co-angler Grant Hinton (21.19 pounds) and 5^th place John Williamson (15.35) both secured a place on the Missouri State team!

With these weights it was no surprise that several big bass were brought to the stage each day.  On the boater side Saturday saw multiple 4 pounders weighed and 4 over 5, the largest being Greg Lampton’s 5.92.  To prove that it was not a fluke, Greg followed that up with the day 2 big bass on the boater side of 5.59! Both bass came off the same point in about 10 feet of water and fell to brush hog on a wobble head (secret color).  The big bass on the co-angler side on day one went to Jason Morisaki with a 5.4-pound toad that bit on a brush hog on a main lake point near a deep channel.  Day two co-angler big bass (5.11 pounds) went to our overall winner Gary Martin who caught it early on a brush hog.

The MO TBF Board would like to thank all the participants for the patience and support this year.  The high water made for a scheduling challenge and we appreciate everyone’s understanding and cooperation.  It has been a great year for the Missouri TBF with significant growth in clubs and individual membership.  We simply could not succeed without the help of our membership and the great attitude.  The State Team and Club Champions will now be preparing for the TBF National Semi-Final September 21^st and 22^nd at Wilson Lake. We have an exceptionally strong team this year and I am sure we are going to be able to return the favor to the Kansas TBF and bring the District 7 crown back to Missouri.  

Early Spring Weather presents Anglers with additional Challenges

As we all know, early spring fishing can be tough at any lake but especially at Table Rock.  As a clear water Ozark highland impoundment, it hosts all three native Missouri species in good numbers.  This adds a new variable for anglers, do they concentrate on the larger Black Bass, the more aggressive Spotted Bass or the more predictable Smallmouth.   Practice proved tough for most of the anglers, with some large fish being caught but numbers hard to find.  Anglers explored all parts of the lake from the deep, clear water bite near the dam to the dirtier water up the Kings and Long Creek.  In the clearer water temperatures ranged from 44-48 degrees with temps as high as 54 degrees in the more stained water up the rivers.  Alabama rigs, Wriggle Warts and Swim Baits proved to be the most reliable baits, but some jerk bait fish were caught in the clear water with spinner baits and jigs working in the stained water.   

Typical of early spring tournaments, the weather proved to be a variable for all the anglers.  Our cold spring has delayed the normal spring migration but the warm up the week before our event had the fish moving daily.  Saturday started cool but clear skies and bright sun quickly warmed the participants.  The shifting winds foretold the incoming front and unfortunately the heavy rain hit us just as weigh-in began at about 3:00 o’clock.  Sunday’s weather also was a challenge with shifting winds and warmer temperatures.  Since most fish were positioned on primary and secondary points, the wind turned the bite on and off as the wind shifted hourly.   

The boater side was won by one of our perineal front-runners in Robert Hime. He led the event from wire to wire with a Saturday bag of 17.42 pounds which he followed up with 15.32 pounds on Sunday for a total of 32.74!  Like many anglers Robert struggled finding numbers in practice with only 3 keepers on Friday, but like all good anglers he made the right adjustment on Saturday and hit some new spots. His first two keepers came on Commemorative Creations wart style bait and followed it up with a swimbait fish.  This still left him with only 3 keepers at noon, so he made his second adjustment and it proved to be key.  Over the next 2 hours on his new location Robert boated 11 more keepers on swimbait!  Obviously, Robert started Sunday on his hot location but also saw some schooling fish in the back of a nearby cut and picked up additional fish to allow him to cull up to the winning weight.  The small swimbait he used was small Table Rock shad color on a ¼ oz jighead. 

Second place was won by an old friend of Missouri TBF, Cole Finley. It was nice to have Cole fishing with us again and it was no surprise that he found two limits on Table Rock lake even in tough conditions.  His Saturday bag was 12.53 which he followed up with 16.56 on Sunday for a total of 29.09.  Cole worked hard each day with an A-rig to entice bites from deep trees.  His local knowledge allowed him to focus on the most productive individual trees and used his electronics to quickly determine if active fish were present and willing to bite.  By working his A-rig erratically, he triggered fish that were following his bait to bite throughout the day in varied conditions.

Rounding out our qualifying field was a new TBF member, Justin Layton. He followed up his first day bag of 12.05 with 13.92 on Sunday for a total of 25.97.  Justin spent practice time in the dirtier water throwing a crankbait but was not satisfied with the bite and made an adjustment for tournament day.  Electing to fish the cleaner water on the main lake he concentrated on deep trees with an A-rig.  Location was key for him, concentrating on bluff walls and/or channel swing banks.  His bite was deep, so he had to count his rig down 15 feet and patiently retrieve the rig at a very slow speed. 

Our strong boater field proved that good anglers can always find fish, even in changing conditions.  We had 3 other boaters find a limit of keepers every day with Scott Hill, Brad Tyer and Chris Embry each sacking 10 fish.  Tom Kaufmann had a strong showing on Saturday, culling through multiple keepers to sack 17.28 pounds which included the big bass of the tournament of 7.14 pounds.  Each of these anglers used the A-rig as their primary bait, including the big bass for Tom.  The A-rig contributed the most fish for this event but since the fish were deep, several of the submerged trees now have new ornaments hanging from their limbs all over Table Rock Lake.

The Missouri TBF has one of the strongest co-angler group of any circuit in the country and they did not disappoint at Table Rock.  Fishing behind a quality group of boaters can be tough, especially when the bite is on an A-rig but these co-anglers figured it out.  Leading the field with a late charge on Sunday was Jason Morisaki.  Not being deterred by a tough day on Saturday, Jason brought 11.41 pounds to the scales on Sunday that included 5.99 big bass!  He found his fish by concentrating on steeper, wind blown secondary points with an A-rig and a jerk bait. 

Finishing second was one of our consistently competitive co-anglers, Gary Martin. He caught a mixed bag of Black, Spotted and Smallmouth fish each day with a total bag of 11.20 pounds.  He focused on the 10-25 foot depths around Kimberling/Shell Knob area.  He used a jerk bait for the shallower fish and an A-rig to probe the deeper depths.

Sean McBee returned to the Missouri TBF to add to our already strong co-angler field and took the last qualifying slot with 9.79 pounds.  Like most anglers Sean tried several baits in practice but focused almost exclusively on the A-rig during the event.  He found the smaller bladed rig with 3-4 inch baits produced the most bites.  Color was also key in the clearer water so he used fat swimbaits in the darker colors without additional flash/glitter.  Unfortunately, his fish were also in the trees so he donated several A-rigs over the two days to the lake.

Table Rock is our first Qualifying event which leaves all boaters and co-anglers with 3 more opportunities to qualify for the National Semi-Final.  The next chance to qualify is at our second annual Buddy Bass event at Lake of the Ozarks on May 19^th at Pa-Ha-Tsi (see website for Entry form).  At this event the winning team qualifies for the National Semi-Final as long as both members agree to participate at the event.  The next traditional Qualifier tournament will be at Truman Lake be June 8-9^th.  Finally, each club in good standing with a minimum of 6 dues paid members on April 1^st will be eligible to send their club champion boater and co-angler to the event (all dues must be paid to Missouri TBF by 4/1/19). We look forward to seeing everyone at the upcoming events and want to thank you for your support of the TBF.

For full results check out our results page