Bass Fishing Report, Lake of the Ozarks, April, 18, 2012.

On the Lake of the Ozarks, over the last week, the bass have started biting again. I’ve caught three 16 inch large-mouth over the last 3 days and these are the first bass I’ve caught this year. I’ve been fishing the lake 5 days per week for the last couple months plus I discuss fishing with locals just about every day and my experience seems to be coinciding with a  that of other anglers. With the water temperatures rising early and the lake levels still being relatively low the normal spots may be non-productive. So definitely consider the fact that you may need to look a bit harder than normal.

I’ve been using a 3 inch popper, green and gold, that looks like a minnow. Casting along the shoreline I let the ripples die out then tick the popper in a random fashion. It seems to work. A local old timer told me that 7-9 inch watermelon seed lizards on a Carolina rig are working too. Use a tube weight about a foot up the line from the lizard.

I’m strictly a catch and release fisherman and I like to get the fish back in the water quickly, so I rarely take pics, but, I’ll take a few pics and expand upon this post in the near future.