OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (March 6, 2006) - Boater Marcus Sykora of Osage Beach, Mo., earned $6,000 Saturday as winner of the Bass Fishing League Ozark Division bass fishing tournament on Lake of the Ozarks. The tournament was the first of five regular-season Ozark Division events and featured a full field of 200 boaters vying for the win, which earned Sykora 200 points in the Boater Division.
Sykora's winning catch of five bass weighed 19 pounds, 2 ounces. He threw a bone-colored stickbait on a shallow flat to catch his bass.
Rounding out the top five boaters are Doyle Isam Jr. of Bourbon, Mo. (five bass, 18 pounds, 2 ounces, $3,000); Lawrence Bean of Union, Mo. (five bass, 17 pounds, 6 ounces, $2,000); Tim Fleetwood of Forsyth, Mo. (five bass, 16 pounds, 10 ounces, $1,300) and Tim Taylor of Nixa, Mo. (five bass, 16 pounds, 10 ounces, $1,300).
Doyle earned an additional $500 as winner of the Ranger Cup award. Greg West of Lake Ozark, Mo., took Boater Division big-bass award honors, earning $1,000 for a 6-pound, 6-ounce bass.
Tim Busey of Rogers, Ark., bested 200 Co-angler Division competitors to earn $3,000 as the co-angler winner, thanks to four bass weighing 15 pounds, 14 ounces that he caught on a Smithwick Rogue and a brown jig. One of his bass weighed 5 pounds, 6 ounces, good for the big-bass award in the Co-angler Division and an extra $500.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jamie Fisher of Battlefield, Mo. (five bass, 10 pounds, 6 ounces, $1,500); Mark Madison of Valparaiso, Neb. (three bass, 9 pounds, 1 ounce, $1,000) Jeffrey Risinger of Bridgeton, Mo., (three bass, 8 pounds, 12 ounces, $700) and Ron Mclain of Blue Springs, Mo. (four bass, 8 pounds, 3 ounces, $600).
Ozark Division anglers will next visit Table Rock Lake in Kimberling City, Mo., April 1 for their second regular-season event, followed by an event on Grand Lake in Grove, Okla., May 20. The division's fourth qualifying event will be held at Lake Truman in Clinton, Mo., July 22. A two-day Super Tournament, the division's fifth and final event, will be held on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach Sept. 16-17.