National Crappie League held an Open Division two day national qualifier on Lake of the Ozarks on April 7th & 8th.  Sponsored by the Business district of Camden and Miller County and the Tri-County Lodging Association, anglers competed for $21,700.00

Temperatures overnight dipped into the lower 30’s, keeping anglers chilled until the temperature rose to upper 60’s during the day.   Light winds with gusts remained for both competition days.

Jake Wyatt and Matthew Beckman took the top prize. The team came into day 2 sitting in third place having weighed in 9.08 lbs. on day 1.  Day 2 they weighed in the largest bag of the tournament, bringing 9.60 lbs.. to the scale to place first.  Their two day total was 18.68 lbs. and earned them $7,500.00.

Wyatt and Beckman did the opposite of what others were doing.  They stated, “We found fish way up river and we stayed off them during practice.  We just grind it out in the same area, never leaving it. The big fish were there, we just weren’t seeing them all the time. We would go an hour before we would see one. We were fishing 18-22 foot of water, the fish were around 2 to 4 foot deep in the morning and would sink down to 12 to 16 foot during the afternoon.”

The winners stated that covering as much water as possible was the name of the game for them. “We also been busting it for 2-3 years learning this Livescope and its coming together. We used Jenko rods, chartreuse and silver hair jigs, we couldn’t get minnows to work.”

Trevor Warlen and Brian Scott were in second place after weighing in 9.16 lbs. on day 1.  The team weighed in a little less on day 2 with a weight of 8.66 but it was enough to finish the tournament in second place with a total of 17.82 lbs., earning them a check for $3,200.00.

Warlen and Scott were by themselves and they weren’t there on day 2. “We just didn’t see the big fish. We used a double wide minnow jig, pitching in 12 to 20 foot waters. We kept the fish 16 foot away as they were easily spooked.”

Day 1 leaders were Jon and Mike Gillotte.  Sitting on top of the field after day one with 9.22 lbs., the team weighed in last on day 2.   They were a little light on day two weighing in 8.56 lbs. giving them a total17.78 lbs for the tournament.   They earned $2,200.00 for their effort.

“Yesterday we had a great day. This is our second time on this lake and it has a lot of fish. We had fun, its always fun if your at least catching fish and we caught a lot of fish. I prefished a 10 mile strip on the Osage and found two creeks that were productive but other boats found them too. We stuck to our guns and fished those creeks both days.”

“I was using a mini muddy water, white and chartreuse jig or a two inch hair jig. I used Vicious line and BnM Rods. I tried to step up the size of our bait but the fish would run off, so I stuck with the smaller baits.”

Fourth place went to Justin Neuman and Daniel Pemberton with a two day total of 17.58 lbs. winning $1,500.00.  The team had a 2.30 lb. crappie that was the second big fish of the tournament winning an additional $300.00.

Fifth place was Michael Parker and Christopher Parker with a total of 17.53 lbs. earning $1,200.00.  The team also won the $2,000.00 Carzone Big Fish bonus with a 2.44 lb. slab.

Sixth place went to Mike Valentine and Jesse Shoemake who moved up from 12th place on day 1 earning $800.00 with a total weight of 17.50 lbs.   Lance Sullentrop and Ivan Williams finished with 17.41 lbs winning $750.00 for seventh place.  Kyler Beckman and Dillon Stocking took eighth place with a total weight of 17.21 lbs winning $650.00.  Ninth place was the top male-female team of Cliff and Alissa Bammes who had a total of 17.19 lbs earning $550.00 for ninth and $300.00 for top male-female.  Rounding out the top ten was Dillon and Glenn Meyer with 16.69 lbs. The team earned $450.00 for their finish.  Top senior team went to Charlie Bunting and Mike Baker with 15.10 lbs. winning $300.00.

Special thanks to the local sponsors:  Lake of the Ozark’s Business District of Camden and Miller County, Captain Ron’s, Frontier Metal, Lake House Inn, Versailles Chamber of Commerce, Town & Country Supermarket, Hawthorn Bank of Warsaw, Deepwater inn, Truck Country, Chances R Restaurant, The Bank of Versailles, Ozark Bait & Tackle, KS 95.1 Radio, Lake TV, Veracruz Mexican Restaurant, Bay Bridge Resort, Lake Liquor & Tobacco, Walmart Supercenter, Bryants Osage Outdoors, Whiskey Dick’s Bar & Grill.

Special thanks to the national sponsors:  Carzone, Crappie Monster, HH Rods & Reels, Fisherman’s Haven, Power Pole, Rockport Rattler, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Pro Control, Outlaw Lithium Batteries, Ludwig Marine, Morris Marine, Team Crappie, TTI Blakemore, Crappie Brakes, Everharts Outdoors, Hook & Bullet, BnM Poles, Midsouth Tackle, Charlie Brewer Slider, Sore Mouth Tackle, Quality Heating & Plumbing, Crappie Customs, Swamp Gear, Crappie Magnet, Slab Crazy Outdoors, Jenko Fishing, Crappie Now, Crappie.com, Snacky Lures, Millennium Marine and Pro Dezigns.

Special thanks to Crappie Central for the tournament pictures.

The next National Crappie League open division tournament is May 6-7 on Ouachita River. West Monroe, LA.  The next division one tournament is May 13 on Salamonie & Mississinewa in Wabash, IN