Lake Ozark 2/17-18

Felt like April both days with the highs in the 70's. Watched all the ice melt on Wed. evening and fished both Thurs. and Fri. Water warmed to near 41 in the coves with the bright sun.

Bass still lethargic coming out of 8-15 feet with weighted jerkbaits. Best to keep boat over 20 -30 feet of water depth. Water has dropped to 655 so the steeper banks about 1/2 way backs in the creeks hold the most shad and the most bass for jerkbait fishing. Did not try a jig.

Keep moving until you locate decent shad ball on your electronics.  All of our quality bass were caught within 50 feet of the shad schools which primarily were over 20-30 feet deep suspended about 10 - 20 feet down.

Probably best to parallel the banks with a bigger lipped jerk or ones with a bit of extra weighting to get it to sink. Water is fairly clear by the dam and gets some color in the creeks due to snow run off, and maybe wind as one get to the 10-14 mile marker.

In the dirtier waters the louder colors with chartreuses and orange bellies worked better.  Generally at least a five second pause followed by a pretty aggressive snap tended to trigger strikes. We caught mnuch better quality on Fri, with the bigger fish coming in the a.m. Good luck if you get a chance to take advantage of the warming temps.