OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Sept. 16, 2019) – At the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Ozark Division super-tournament on Lake of the Ozarks, Boater Roger Fitzpatrick of Eldon, Missouri, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 36 pounds, 3 ounces, to win Sunday. For his victory, Fitzpatrick earned $6,891 for his efforts.
“My home is in the Gravois arm, so I like to fish on the north shore,” said Fitzpatrick, who earned his seventh career BFL victory. “I had two different patterns going – I’d fish docks in the morning with a black and blue jig, then later in the day I’d move out to the ledges.
“The deeper ledge fish were the key,” Fitzpatrick said. “They were bigger, but they didn’t bite in the morning – it had to be later in the day. It also takes heavy boat traffic for me to catch them, so I had to be patient and not go to the ledge fish too soon. Those morning docks ended up giving me some very key fish.”
Fitzpatrick said his key bait was a black-and-blue-colored Omega Pro Mega Structure jig tipped with a BioSpawn VileBug, as he weighed in nine of his 10 keepers on the jig. He also weighed in one keeper on a white Berkley Choppo that came on a seawall.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 10 bass, 36-3, $6,891
2nd: Lawson Hibdon, Versailles, Mo., 10 bass, 31-9, $3,345
3rd: Donovan Hensley, Nixa, Mo., 10 bass, 30-11, $2,329
4th: Marcus Sykora, Osage Beach, Mo., 10 bass, 29-10, $1,561
5th: Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., 10 bass, 29-2, $1,338
6th: Kirk Smith, Edmond, Okla., 10 bass, 28-4, $1,227
7th: Rob Bueltmann, Osage Beach, Mo., 10 bass, 27-4, $1,115
8th: Andre Dickneite, Freeburg, Mo., nine bass, 26-4, $1,004
9th: Tom Silber, Labadie, Mo., 10 bass, 26-3, $892
10th: Shonn Goodwin, Moore, Okla., 10 bass, 25-15, $1,031
Chuck Austin of Saint Peters, Missouri, caught a 5-pound, 11-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $960. Dillon Saffle of Ballwin, Missouri won the Co-angler Division and $3,545 Sunday after catching a two-day total of six bass weighing 15 pounds, 13 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Dillon Saffle, Ballwin, Mo., six bass, 15-13, $3,545
2nd: Bill Amis, Shawnee, Kan., five bass, 14-8, $1,673
3rd: Paul Davis, Battlefield, Mo., five bass, 14-7, $1,166
4th: Paul Jung, Cuba, Mo., six bass, 14-4, $781
5th: Joe Tucker, Osceola, Mo., seven bass, 14-4, $819
6th: Ray Larson, Springfield, Ill., four bass, 13-6, $613
7th: Ryan Hopping, Lake Saint Louis, Mo., four bass, 13-6, $558
8th: Scott Parsons, Rogers, Ark., seven bass, 13-3, $502
9th: Vi Nguyen, Pevely, Mo., five bass, 12-12, $446
10th: Brandon Hecker, Camdenton, Mo., four bass, 12-8, $870
Hecker caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $480.