Jan 03

The 2019 Season is set for Missouri TBF!

             At the December Board meeting the Missouri TBF voted on an exciting schedule for 2019.  Once again, the schedule will include 2 separate solo tournaments along with the annual Team Championship, providing each member with 3 opportunities to qualify for the National Semi-Final events.  The first qualifier will be held at Table Rock Lake (Mill Creek Ramp) on March 23 & 24th.  The second event will be at Truman Lake (State Park Marina) on June 8 & 9th.  If mother nature cooperates anglers should have the opportunity to catch some big sacks at each event.  With the clear water of Table Rock and the cover rich environment of Truman lake anglers will be challenged to show their mastery of a wide range of techniques if they are to produce the kind of bags necessary to reach the top of the field.

               Missouri TBF’s two-tournament schedule gives anglers twice as many chances to qualify for the National Semi-Final.  Unlike some circuits, the Missouri TBF has two separate statewide tournaments which helps clubs and their anglers avoid family and other commitments each year and still have an opportunity to qualify for advancement to the TBF National Championship, BFL All-American and even the Forrest Wood Cup. This is not a “series” format, instead the top 3 anglers and 3 co-anglers from each event will move directly to the TBF National Semi-Final this fall.  This means that anglers can fish the Qualifier, the National Semi-Final and the TBF National Championship all in a matter of 12-16 months!

The Qualifying tournaments are a traditional “draw” format, with boaters and co-anglers being scored separately.  This means boat partners will not be fishing against each other during the day, which creates a friendly experience for everyone (see Tournament Rules for full details). For 2019 the new lower entry fees will be maintained with an optional side pot available for those that wish to take a chance on a cash prize! At the Qualifiers anglers and co-anglers will be fishing for daily big bass payouts, trophies and expense paid trips to the National Semi-Final.  Additionally, annual Angler and Co-Angler of the year prizes and trophies will be awarded to the top point getters over both tournaments.

               In order to participate in the Qualifiers anglers must have annual dues and individual entry fees paid at least 7 days prior to the event. Entry forms for the Qualifier are available on the website or from your club President.   Clubs or individual anglers who are interested in joining the Missouri TBF should contact Tom Kaufmann at (573)216-4980 or Dennis Maggart at (816)718-0335.  We have clubs across the state that are looking for boaters and co-anglers so if you are an experienced tournament angler or a weekend guy wanting to have fun and learn more about how to catch big bass please give us a call. 

See 2019 Missouri TBF Bass Federation Tournament Qualifier Entry Form on website

The Second Annual Missouri TBF Team Championship

The Missouri TBF is excited to announce details for the Second Annual Missouri TBF Team Championship May 18th at Lake of the Ozarks (Pa He Tsi Ramp).

This event is open to all anglers, allowing us to introduce non-TBF members to the advantages of participating in our programs.  The winning team from this event will have the opportunity to fish the 2019 TBF National Semi-Final. 

Cash awards, trophies and lots of draw prizes will be available along with special prizes for TBF Members that bring a new TBF member to this event.  Further details and entry forms for this exciting new tournament will be available soon but please put this date on your calendar. For more information on this exciting event please contact Joe Hughes at (573)216-4232.

See 2019 Missouri TBF Bass Federation Open Buddy Bass Tournament Entry Form on website

Apr 24

Record-Breaking 272 Teams at 2018 SAF Missouri High School State Championship on Truman

27 SAF Teams Advance to National Championship Held in Conjunction with the 2018 High School Fishing World Finals

The Missouri TBF hosted the 2018 SAF Missouri High School State Championship on Saturday, April 14 at Truman Lake.  A large field of excited anglers were greeted with a cruel trick from Mother Nature.  A warm week of spring weather was followed up on Saturday morning with a blast from old man winter with air temperatures at launch in the low 40’s.  Temperatures continued to drop all day with winds switching to the north and blowing at 15-25 mph.  This made for a tough challenge for our field and scratched many anglers plans of making any long runs up the Grand or Osage arms to find warmer water and early spawning fish. 

While the weather may have been unpleasant, it did not deter a huge field of young, enthusiastic anglers from hitting the water in search of largemouth and spotted bass.  With the help of  Missouri TBF’s new partners, National Youth Fishing Association (NYFA), the event attracted a field of 272 teams! This was truly an amazing turnout and a testament to the enthusiasm for high school fishing in Missouri and the quality of the event.  The event had outstanding support from the TBF national office, NYFA staff, local TBF volunteers and Long Shoal Marina.  With the generous support of TBF National sponsors (Lowrance, Ranger Boats, Hummingbird, Minn Kota and Cabelas), state sponsors (Lews & Dobyns Rods) and individual TBF members (Ken Whitfield, Don Heiser and Patrick O’Neal) Missouri TBF was able to give every participant the opportunity to enjoy the fishing and take home several additional prizes.

Topping the field was the team of Zak Hobbs and Tristian Konenik from Seckman High School (Imperial) with 5 nice keepers for 16.62 pounds (anchored with a 4.67 pounder).  They caught their fish using a white spinner bait (Indian and Colorado blades). The cold-water temperatures (48-49 degrees) made fish lethargic but they were able to trigger strikes by working the bait slower. They paired the spinnerbait bite with a white bladed jig using a swim bait trailer. Slow rolling the bladed jig triggered some of their bigger bites.

They concentrated on water 4-8 feet deep, focusing on secondary points in a specific cove near the dam. This cove had several wind-blown secondary points which attracted staging fish moving in looking for early spawning spots. They stayed in the same cove all day, bouncing from point to point covering all angles of the point.  Since this was the only place on the lake they found active fish they decided to grind it out.

Both anglers wanted to say a thanks to their boat captain for sitting out there all day in the cold and helping to keep them focused in very tough conditions.  In addition, they wanted to thank their sponsors 13 Fishing, The Rod Glove, Duns Sporting Goods, and Woo Tungsten.

Coming in second was a team from Mansfield High School of Dawson Barnett and Holden Dennis, bagging 4 fish for 16.11 pounds anchored by a big bass of 6.31 pounds.  They caught all their keepers using a spinner bait and home-made jig.  They had a total of 6 keepers and several shorts mostly fishing up the Tebo Arm.

The third-place team was made up of Devon Rathbun and Caleb Haines from Parkview High School (Springfield) with a sack weighing 15.45 pounds. They used a citrus shad and chartreuse/black square bill to catch most of their fish but also threw a spinner bait and rock crawler. 

Bites were tough with only 8-9 fish but 6 were keepers and proved to be the right size.  They ran up the Grand arm to some dirtier water and found a warm cove with 55-degree water.  They would like to thank their sponsors and especially their boat captain, Russel Hand, for making that long 20-minute run on a very cold day.

Finishing fourth,  was local favorites Rider Smith and Austin Hansen from Lincoln High School with 4 fish for 15.25 pounds (big bass of 6.32).  Finishing fifth,  was River Clunn and Zack Pierce from Ava with 5 fish weighing 13.99.

The big bass of the tournament was caught by Cater Fletcher & Jesse Anthony with a 6.51-pound lunker.  The big female hit a Megabars Jerk bait in pocket on a transition bank from chunk rock to gravel.

The outstanding turnout and commitment by the anglers means that Missouri will be able to send 27 teams to the High School Fishing National Championship.  This outstanding event will be held at beautiful Pickwick Lake in Florence, Alabama from June 26-30.  Contestants will not just be competing for a national title but also for scholarships and prizes such as laptops, gift cards, big screen TV’s, rods/reels and more.  Check out our website to register and learn more at: www.highschoolfishing.org/2018-high-school-fishing-world-finals-and-national-championship-combined-event/.

 The Missouri TBF would like to thank all of the participants for their support and cooperation.  The anglers showed great sportsmanship and patience, which is required with such a large field of contestants. We are sincerely looking forward to having this next generation of anglers advance through the college ranks and into our adult TBF clubs. 

FULL RESULTS

Apr 24

Missouri TBF Holds Final Qualifier at Stockton Lake

Strong Field meets the Challenge of Variable Spring Conditions, Ladehoff and Driver take home AOY Honors

 

Spring fishing can be a fickle challenge for anglers and Stockton Lake presented a full range of variables for the second Missouri TBF Qualifier.  Dock talk from practice had rumors of 10-pound bass and a wide range of patterns producing large numbers of keepers being caught in many areas of the lake.  Alabama rigs and Wiggle Warts seemed to be the dominate pattern, but wobble head jigs and spinner baits were in play with the seasonable weather on Thursday and Friday.  Water temps ranged from 50-57 degrees during practice with moderate winds from the West, great conditions for all the anglers to find a pattern for the weekend. 

As so often happens in the spring, mother nature had one last trick up her sleeve for the anglers to overcome.  This spring has had several severe cold fronts and Saturday started with clouds and wind, which can make Stockton a rough lake to navigate.  Several practice spots were blown out on Saturday, forcing anglers to adjust both their locations and lures.  As is always the case, some of the anglers made the adjustment and lead the way in the standings in a very tight race.

Leading the boater side was our defending Missouri TBF champion, Ken Whitfield.  After an exhausting week at the TBF National Championship Ken came to Stockton on short rest to find a pattern that would produce the winning sack.  Ken stayed in the main lake area and the Little Sac arm and used a wide range of baits (surprise) to bag a 10 fish limit of 24.61 pounds.  With few big females being caught Ken waded through multiple keepers each day to slowly upgrade his bag by ounces each day.  He primarily used an Alabama Rig and spinner bait but supplemented the catch with some Rock Crawler fish each day.

Finishing second in the event was Tim Merkh with 10 fish for 23.78.  Tim really worked hard to upgrade his bag, wading through 10-15 keepers each day. Even with changing conditions his bite was consistent, using a Wiggle Wart fished parallel to the bank.  He fished near the take-off and dam staying in the clearer water to catch all his fish.

Our third-place angler was perennial qualifier, Brian Maloney.  After just missing the top 3 at Lake of the Ozarks Brian met the challenge at Stockton with 10 keepers for 23.49 pounds.  Like our other qualifiers he caught multiple keepers each day, upgrading his sack by ounces throughout the day.  He started each day in the main lake area dragging an A-Rig in 8-12 feet of water to get a quick limit.  In an effort to upgrade his bag later in the morning he would run up the Big Sac arm and throw jigs and jerk baits on bluff wall ends, finishing his day up back at the dam area looking for another big fish like he caught in practice.

Leading our Co-Angler field was Troy Richter with an extremely strong performance with the only 10 fish limits of 20.68 pounds.  Troy culled each day, moving up critical ounces several times. As a co-angler Troy had to adjust to his boater locations but used an Alabama Rig effectively each day to catch his fish.

The second-place co-angler was one of our more consistent back-of-the-boat anglers, Jon Small.  He followed up a strong 4 fish performance on Saturday with 5 keepers on Sunday for a total weight of 17.42 pounds.  He overcame the stress of boat problems on Sunday and continued to use his Alabama Rig to catch his fish. 

Rounding out the co-angler field was one of our new friends from Kansas, Darrin Jones. Like all the qualifiers Darren caught lots of fish between 14-16 inches and were able to piece together 8 keepers for 16.68 pounds. 

Overall Big Bass honors went to one of our co-anglers, Tim Biondo, who presented a 7.25-pound lunker to the scale on Sunday.  Also finding quality fish, and cashing checks, were Brad Tyer 5.47 pounds, Trace Hannaford 5.63 pounds and Jeff Finch 2.85 pounds.  Winning the coveted Presidents Award for the boater with the best co-angler bag were Troy Ladehoff and Faron Morris. Taking home, the Ranger Cup bonus was our second-place boater, Tim Merkh. 

Since Stockton represented our last Qualifying event it also was the end of a very tight Angler of the Year race.  Squeaking out the win on the Boater side in a tie breaker was Troy Ladehoff (17 fish), tying Brian Maloney (16 fish) with 390 total points. Finishing first on the Co-angler side was John Driver with 388 points, ahead of Jeff Finch with 384 points.  Congratulations to all our Angler of the Year contestants and thanks for such an exciting race!

 

FULL RESULTS

LOZ STANDINGS

 

 

 

 

 

Mar 22

Lake of the Ozarks hosts Missouri TBF for 2018 Opener

Cold & Dirty Water Challenge’s Anglers to Adjust

Over the last few years Lake of the Ozarks has a reputation for being one of the best options in the Midwest for spring anglers suffering from cabin fever.  Unfortunately, mother nature (and the Corp of Engineers) had a little trick up their sleeves as anglers gathered for the first Qualifier of the year on March 17th & 18th.  Due to heavy rains and a rapid draw down of the Lake the normal clear to slightly stained water of LOZ was replaced with cold dirty water from the dam to mid-lake.  The only options for anglers was either to adapt to the cold, dirty water or limit their efforts to the clearer areas of the lake in the Gravois arm or in the back of the larger creeks.   Adding to these tough water conditions was the usual variable spring weather that delivered sunny skies with highs of 70+ degrees for practice and cloudy days with lows of near freezing at take-off for the tournament. 

These conditions we met by large field of strong field anglers which included local experts like Brian Maloney and Jody Hughes along with many veterans of the TBF events with impressive resumes like Don Heiser, Roger Edwards, Farron Morris, Ken Whitfield, Mick Maples, Tim Merkh, Trace Hannaford, Darren Woebke, Greg Lampton and Jerry Lovell.  The co-angler side was also loaded with past Qualifiers in Gary Martin, Patrick O’Neal and Troy Richter just to name a few.  In addition to the strong field of Missouri TBF veterans we were excited to welcome our new member clubs from Owensville Anglers, Osage Valley Bass Anglers and Show Me Statewide.  While these were new clubs to Missouri TBF they included several experienced tournament anglers like Tom McGovern, Wes Proctor, Kaleb Chockley and Andrew Schoenekase. As a result of the solid turnout from current members along with the addition of the new clubs, we were able to field 21 boaters and 20 co-anglers for the event!

The first practice day on Thursday was sunny and warm with highs in the low 70’s followed by colder, damp weather on Friday.  The official two-day event began Saturday with strong North winds for take-off with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees.  This made for rough water which further limited anglers who may have been considering big runs to get to clearer water up the Osage.  Several nice fish were brought to the scales, led by Troy Ladehoff (5.49 lbs) and Tim Merkh (4.96 lbs) on the boater side and Kaleb Chockley (4.26 lbs) and Shelby Thacker (3.34 lbs) on the Co-angler side.  These big fish pushed Jerry Lovell (13.53 lbs) and Kaleb Chockley (9.57 lbs) to the top of the day one leader board.  Sunday started out even colder but with lighter winds and less boat traffic.  While this may have made the anglers more comfortable, the new conditions changed the bite requiring everyone to adjust their patterns again. Big bass was won on day 2 by Brian Maloney (6.05 lbs) and Thomas Kaufman (5.96 lbs) as boaters and John Driver (5.35 lbs) and Wes Proctor (4.91 lbs) on the co-angler side. 

Topping the field on the boater side after day 2 was one of our new members, Robert Hime.  While Robert may be new to Missouri TBF, he is a proven veteran tournament angler who is very familiar with Lake of the Ozarks.  He used this local experience and a pair of crankbaits to sack 28.03 pounds of bass under very tough, variable conditions.  On Saturday he fished from the takeoff towards the dam taking advantage of a good early bite.  He focused on the cleaner coves/cuts, but had lots of boat traffic to compete with for the key spots. On Sunday he concentrated on areas around Grand Glaze which presented a different challenge with it’s dirtier water. He used a classic Ozark-pattern custom painted Wiggle Wart by Commemorative Creations along with another crawdad colored medium diving crankbait to land his fish.   The key to his success was his consistency and patience, as the only angler to bring 5 fish to the scale each day. 

Finishing second on the boater side was Brad Tyer who used an A-rig and Rock Crawler to bag 19.35 pounds.  He focused on channel swing backs in the Gravois arm, looking for clean fishable water.  He remained focused through a tough morning bite, catching most of his fish in the afternoon.  The tough bite also meant that Brad had to make every opportunity count and was able to land all of his 8 keeper bites in the 2-day event.

Completing our boater team was veteran boater and co-angler Troy Ladehoff (18.03 lbs). He connected on an early bite on Saturday using a KVD jerkbait and was able to land 3 keepers by 8 AM.  After a pause in the bite he finally boated his 4th keeper at about 1:30 on a Rock Crawler.  Sunday followed a similar pattern with an early bite followed by a lull, landing his last 2 keepers at about 1:30 only 5 casts apart!  Troy said he had several other keeper bites, but as we know it’s tough to land spring fish on jerkbaits and cranks.  By keeping his cool and staying focused he was able to nip local legend Brian Maloney who finished just .63 pounds behind. Troy used his Lowrance graph to locate schools of shad from the mouth of the Gravois to the dam.  He covered lots of water looking for key areas to find active fish

On the Co-Angler side was won by a dominating second day performance by Wes Proctor.  After a solid first day with 3 fish put him in 6th place, Wes was able to land the largest co-angler bag of the tournament on day 2 (13.07 lbs) pounds giving him a total of 18.78 pounds. As with all co-anglers Wes showed his versatility by catching both spotted and largemouth bass on both a jig and hot vintage Wiggle Wart.  Sadly, the bait died a hero and was lost to an old metal dock on his last cast of the event (but I think he knows a guy that has another one for sale!).  Wes not only had to adjust to 2 different boaters but had to fish 2 separate areas, catching his fish near Shawnee Bend on Saturday and near the dam on Sunday.

The second-place co-angler, John Driver, used 2 different strategies too.  On Saturday he delivered a solid 3 fish bag and decided to follow the “fewer is better” strategy on Sunday with only two big fish that weighed 9.67 pounds on Sunday giving John a total of 15.81 pounds.  On Saturday he followed his boaters pattern and threw a jerk bait to land his fish early with a late fish caught in the PM to round out his sack.  On Sunday he was sitting on a “zero” at 11:30 when he pulled out the A-Rig on a dirty water bank and caught his 5.35 and 4.32 pound females on the same point!

Finishing 3rd on the co-angler side was Shelby Thacker with 5 quality keepers for 15.63 pounds.  He used his local knowledge to team up with some less experienced Ozark boaters to find fish in familiar spots in the Gravois.  He used a shaky head worm (yes, I said shaky head) to catch fish on an uncommon bait in uncommon spring water in depths up to 20 feet! Now we just need to work with him on some truck driving issues I am told?

We would like to thank all the boaters and co-anglers for competing at our first Qualifier.  As with any event, not everything goes as planned and the Board appreciates everyone’s support and patience.  I received several compliments from new members on our boater and co-angler sportsmanship which should make everyone proud to be a member of the Missouri TBF.  greatly appreciated.  We are excited about the rest of the 2018 schedule and hope that all of you can join us at Stockton for our second Qualifier and at Truman Lake for our First Annual Team Championship!