Hey all,

Going to be fishing a tournament on Lake of the Ozarks (hopefully) for the FLW collegiate  tour, just wondering what are some of your go to baits for this body of water?

When is the tournament?

The tournament is in spring either march or April I think

I think another member here, Koopa? maybe, showed the schedule and the tournament date is in the latter part of march.

Depending on how the winter goes, water temps that time of year are typically in the mid to upper 40's.  Sometimes bumping 50.  Typically it's a jerkbait pattern going on that time of year as there is normally a shad die off.  Another bait to think about is chomper type spider grubs or a regular 3-4" grub fished on a jig head. 

You'll probably want to check in closer to the tournament date to get a little more accurate idea of the actual pattern but those are pretty strong lure choices for that lake.  LOZ has no natural cover in it but it does have thousands of boat docks (literally).  Those don't really come into play as much in the early pre-spawn as they do as the spawn progresses.  Also think line in the 8-10lb test category, flourocarbon or clear. 

Agree with Cart on everything.  Bright colored jerkbaits have always done good there in the spring for me.  One more weapon to have tied on would be a bitsy bug or some other small jig and trailer in black n blue or some variation of brown.   

I heard rattle traps are also good cold weather baits, any particular colors of baits they prefer on LOZ?

Rat-L-Traps are not a cold weather bait.  They're a warmer water, reaction bait.  It's also a bait that has never worked really great on that lake even when the water temps were warmer.   

During the jerkbait bite,  clown color works well as does chrome blue back or black back.  LOZ has always been something of a predominately "green" lake as far as color.  That's not set in stone though. 

I used to spend a week there every year during that time period, march = jig and pig in coves and off points in coves, I used to worker them from deep to shallow dragging up slopes. In April if the weather has been stable , I alloways would connect with crankbaits, around the docks in the coves or working out from the shore with crankbaits, soft plastics around shallower cover. also try throwing spinnerbaits at bluffs on the main lake. At that time of year, bring some warm clothes, one year I got down there on the last Saturday of March and it was in the 70's, woke up the next morning and it was in the 30's, never got out of the 30's untill the next Friday and there was not a piece of warm clothing to be found in any of the local stores. Froze our buts off running the river from cove to cove, but caught quality fish on the jig and pig.

Thanks for the tips, lets me know what i have to buy for next season

You may run right into the Wiggle Wart primetime bite. If this happens, hold on. Make sure you bring some craw colored warts, and you should be set.