Lake Level - 707 & rising
Beautiful Sunny Day, low 45, high 70
Wind. calm until noon, then east 5 to 10 mph
Water Temp -  56 - 62 degrees
Clarity - main lake clear, rivers and creeks stained
259 Boats


After a chilly start, a beautiful spring day, greeted this big field as they fished in hopes of winning a Pro Team 175 Tracker  with a 40 HP Mercury, Motorguide Troller and Hummingbird Locator valued at $10,000, a $10,000 Fishin' Hole Transferable Certificate for a Nitro/Tracker, or a 17 Foot Nitro NX 750 with a $1000 Mercury Certificate (winners had their choice of these three options).   

The Concord Lion's Club of South St. Louis have been putting on this event for the last 13 years, and it just keeps getting better and better.  Last year, the event raised $46,000 for the Lion's Eye Care Committee!  In addition to the tournament proceeds, an auction is held during the weigh-in with many great prizes auctioned off at great value.  In addition a Budweiser Grill valued at $1700 was raffled off.  The prizes are donated by the event's sponsors, and all the money raised goes into the donation.   Raffles are also held to help raise money.  Contestants are treated to a full course fish-fry on Friday night, and brawts, chicken breasts, and more are available to contestants during the weigh-in.  The fine folks at Sterett Creek go all out to make the event run as smoothly as possible.  This event is held on the last Saturday of April each year, so mark your calendar's now for next years event!  Details will be posted on MWBT and on www.fishforsight.org when they become available.

Sponsor's of this great event include The Fishin' Hole, Tracker Marine, Kutis Funeral Homes, Union Planters Bank, Budweiser, Midwest Bank Center, St. Anthony's Medical Center, Grey Eagle Distributing, and Outdoor Guide.  www.fishforsight.org has a complete list of sponsors. 

The fishing results reflected the blue-bird type day that it was, as only 15 limits were brought to weigh-in trailer which was provided by The Fishin' Hole.  First place was taken by team of Richard Depriest and Dennis Lauer with a nice limit of 5 Truman Lake Bass weighing 17.64 pounds.  Richard is from Maryland Heights, Missouri and Dennis Laur is from Luebbering, Missouri.  The key to their win was fishing main lake pockets on the lower Osage with black/blue, 3/8 ounce jigs tipped with a #1 pork frog.   Unlike many competitors who caught many short fish, Richard and Dennis had six keeper bites and didn't catch many short fish at all.  Their first three keepers came before 10 a.m. in 3 feet of water or less, but as the sun and calm conditions took over, the duo moved their boat out to to about 20 feet of water and cast their jigs toward shore and worked their jigs deeper for their final 3 keepers.  They felt these fish were in the 6 to 8 foot zone.  Their last keeper came to the boat at 2:25, just minutes before they had to return to the 3:00 weigh-in.  The excited duo had not yet decided which of the great first place options they were going to choose, but they were obviously very happy fisherman!

Second place and a nice $2000 check went to Darrell Reach and John Bennett for a 15.18 pound limit.  Darrell, who hails from K.C., and John who calls Joplin home, both grew up on the upper end of the Osage Arm of Truman, so they concentrated their efforts in the waters that they were familiar with.  Running "quite a ways" up the Osage, Darrell and John concentrated on shallow, spawning banks and utilized a black/chartreuse jig with Uncle Josh trailers, a spinnerbait, and a Bomber 7A fire-tiger colored crank bait.  They indicated there was no real solid pattern to their day, as they covered a lot of water, catching fish off both flat points and chunk rock.  Overall they boated 7 keepers and about 10 short fish.  Darrell Reach is sponsored by Stratos Boats, Smithville Marine, Evertroll Batteries, Motor Guide, and Jim Rush GMC.  John Bennett is sponsored by ProCraft Boats and Mercury Outboards.

Scott Finley and Brad Sayre from Washington, MO and O'Fallon, MO, took third place and $1500 with 15.16 pounds.  These guys also fished the lower lake area, and culled through 15 keepers by fishing brown jigs.  They concentrated on 8 to 10 foot depths on points and about 1/2 way back into coves.  They are sponsored by West County Sprinklers and Finley TBA.

Fourth place and a $1250 check went to Andy Larowitz of High Ridge, MO and Dan Grunzinger of Eldon, MO.  Andy and Dan fished a jig with a zoom trailer and a Carolina Rig Zoom Lizard for their 14.92 limit, and the day's second place Big Bass which weighed a hefty 6.58 pounds (caught on the jig by the way).  They also went up the Osage, past the second bridge.  Andy and Dan are sponsored by The Fishin' Hole, Highway 54 Marine, and Budweiser. The second place big bass was worth $622.50.

Fifth place and $1,000 went to Dwayne Blankenship of Fenton, MO and Jeff Lazendorf.  Their limit weighed 14.89 pounds, just .03 pounds out of fourth!

Big Bass of the day was netted by Ben Goldberg and Al Noble. Their lunker tipped the scales at 7.14 pounds, which put $1618.50 in their pockets for one bite!  The big fish bit at 11:30 a.m. in a main lake, clear cut, pocket up the Pomme arm, and was caught on a plum colored jig with a matching craw trailer.  Ben, who is from Gladstone, MO and Al, who calls Lake Lotawana, MO home, are sponsored by Bass Cat Boats, Bass Assasin and Poes.

Ed and Nanette Mathews took the Guys and Gals Division with 4 fish weighing 11.45 pounds, which was also good for 17th place. The Pro's Choice Marine, Shoreline Fiberglass, and Triton Boat sponsored team caught their fish on a jig & pig.

Notes from the weigh - in line:

The 10th place team of Tim & Steve Casey from Columbus, Kansas caught their fish on 7 inch black plastic worms with a 1/8 ounce slip sinker fishing points in 7 to 10 feet of water.

The K.C. area team of Terry Case and Greg Askew finished in 16th place used mostly TX rigged lizards to boat 40 fish, with 6 being keepers in 57 to 59 degree water.  They are sponsored by Jack Miller Marine, Skeeter/Yamaha, Price Chopper and Dannen Yogurt.

The 12th place team  of Dave Waller and Bob Elder only had 3 fish, but two of them were 5 lb plus twins.  They stayed in one spawning cove all day and dragged Carolina rigged Zoom lizards all day on little points.