BRANSON, Mo. (March 18, 2019) – Boater Dustin Lippe of Lampe, Missouri, caught five bass weighing 17 pounds, 15 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Ozark Division tournament on Table Rock Lake. Lippe earned $6,229 for his efforts and 250 points in the Ozark Division presented by Bassing Bob standings. Should he go on to win the division’s Angler of the Year title, he will earn another $3,000. Lippe said he spent his day fishing deep points, mid-lake, up the Long Creek, White River and the James River arms.
“I was targeting standing pole timber in the 25- to 35-foot range,” said Lippe, who now has back-to-back victories in BFL Ozark Division competition on Table Rock Lake. “I decided to fish out deep on the main-lake and main-river points because of the weather we had on Saturday – bluebird skies and no wind.
“I had around 13 keepers on the day. I ran a lot of spots and I probably burned around 40 gallons of gas,” continued Lippe. “I weighed a mixed bag – one smallmouth, one Kentucky bass and three largemouth.”
Lippe used 2.8- or 3.3-inch, Tennessee Shad-colored Keitech Fat Swing swimbaits on a ¼-ounce, shad-colored Jewel Gem Shad Swimbait hook on a 7-foot medium-action Denali Lithium drop-shot rod and Lew’s spinning reel.
“The rod was pretty crucial – you could really feel them load up on it,” said Lippe. “Once the wind picked up I also caught a good one – a 5-pound, 1-ounce largemouth – on an umbrella rig with [Albino Shad-colored] Zoom Super Fluke Jr. swimbaits.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Dustin Lippe, Lampe, Mo., five bass, 17-15, $6,229
2nd: Austin Lowrey, Webb City, Mo., five bass, 16-4, $2,614
3rd: Brent Algeo, Ozark, Mo., five bass, 16-3, $2,045
4th: Wes Endicott, Joplin, Mo., five bass, 15-14, $1,220
5th: Chris Macy, Diamond, Mo., five bass, 15-4, $1,046
6th: Andy Newcomb, Camdenton, Mo., five bass, 15-1, $959
7th: Jeremy Medina, Camdenton, Mo., five bass, 15-0, $1,686
8th: Steve Gregg, Florissant, Mo., five bass, 14-13, $940
8th: Steve Grizzle, Edwardsville, Ill., five bass, 14-13, $740
10th: Bryan Tracy, St. Peters, Mo., five bass, 14-7, $710
Medina caught a bass weighing 6 pounds even – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $815. Mark Peterson of Bethalto, Illinois, won the Co-angler Division and $2,614 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 17 pounds, 4 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Mark Peterson, Bethalto, Ill., five bass, 17-4, $2,614
2nd: Josh Rushing, Point Lookout, Mo., five bass, 13-9, $1,307
3rd: Brent Luers, Johnston, Iowa, five bass, 12-0, $872
4th: Jonathan Jones, Grain Valley, Mo., five bass, 11-11, $710
5th: Crosley Welch, Branson, Mo., four bass, 11-1, $573
6th: Ryan Jobe, De Soto, Kan., five bass, 11-0, $479
7th: Paul Davis, Battlefield, Mo., four bass, 10-14, $436
8th: Jeff Moss, Oronogo, Mo., five bass, 10-11, $392
9th: Derek Henderson, Saint Charles, Mo., four bass, 10-8, $349
10th: Carl Breeden, Valley Park, Mo., three bass, 9-15, $305
Johnny Ward Jr. of Waynesville, Missouri, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 6 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $407.