Lake of the Ozarks Memorial Day Weekend 2000

Lake of the Ozarks
Memorial Day Weekend

Gotta a Little Bass?

There may be more than one rule about fishing Lake of the Ozarks that we violated this weekend, but it was fun anyway. More on that later. Fort Leonard Wood has a recreation area on the Glaize Arm of the lake right smack in the middle of the Lake of the Ozarks state park. Nice area with cabins and trailers for rent. The fishing was poor to very poor, but we were able to catch a few now and then. Since variety is the spice of my fishing life, I was fairly happy with the assortment of fish biting my flies - bluegill, sunfish, large mouth bass, and white bass.

My neighbor and I rented a trailer for Memorial Day weekend. Thought it would make a great four day weekend and a chance to fish this relatively famous lake. Right on both accounts, but the weather and recreational boaters created unique challenges. We planned to counter the boaters with early morning and late evening forays onto the lake. Thunder storms on Friday and Saturday morning drove the fish down. Sunday's high winds restricted fishing to sheltered coves that concentrated fishermen, jet skiers, and ski boats.

We caught a few fish everyday, but on Monday morning - our last chance to fish - things actually got better. I caught two decent large mouth bass, and Rob caught a couple too. Now to some of our fishing violations.....

1. Decided to try to fish Lake of the Ozarks on Memorial Day Weekend - one of the busiest recreational boating weekends of the year.

2. Didn't go deep early and tried to fish the shallows for bass that were seeking relief from the jet skiers and ski boats. Wasted effort initially using the wrong line, fly, and techniques.

Regardless of these setbacks, there were some good things. Sight fishing for white bass was fun! We would spot little groups of bait fish fleeing in terror and send in a fly. A couple of quick strips and FISH ON! White bass put up a nice little fight!

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