Last week saw the third and final champion crowned for Division 3 of the 2023 St. Croix Bassmaster Open Series. This week, Open 3 of Division 2 will take place on Lake of the Ozarks.
The Opens EQ (Elite Qualifier) Pros that are still vying for one of nine 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series berths hit the road right after competition wound down on Watts Barr Saturday, and made the 10-hour drive to Missouri for the start of five days of official starting Sunday.
Due to the scheduling of back-to-back events, competition days for Lake of the Ozarks will be Friday through Sunday, as opposed to the typical Thursday through Saturday structure of Open competition.
Robert Gee of Knoxville, Tenn., sits in fifth place in point going into the next to last stop of the 2023 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens season. We caught up with Gee after the second day of official practice to see how Lake of the Ozarks is shaping up.
“It’s a lot of nerves cause you kind of have to practice a little different,” Gee said in reference to his position in the standings. “I’m practicing for the win and also practicing to be consistent, too.”
Gee has fished himself into a good position in regards to earning an invite to the Elite Series. The top nine finishers in the Opens EQ race will earn a berth into the Elites. This was Gee’s main goal when signing up to fish all the Opens, and he’s just two decent finishes away.
“I wish I was a little bit lower so I could kind of fish more aggressive. Cause I’ve kind of got to play it safe. I can’t go make long runs anymore. I kind of just have to fish more near the crowd.”
Though Gee doesn’t plan to fish scared, he feels like he does have to be more conservative than he’d like. Fishing the more populated areas of the lake where anglers have traditionally done well here in the past is one way to do that. And fishing in the crowd doesn’t really phase Gee anyway.
“I fine with that. I fished in college and there were so many boats in those tournaments that it kind of trained me well for it,” he said.
So Gee’s game plan looks pretty simple, run around and catch a decent limit early and then try to add a kicker.
“I feel like, when the sun comes up, it positions the big fish up under the docks and that’ll probably be the way you can get a big one this week,” Gee said.
The Tennessee native had never fished Lake of the Ozarks until this year, traveling here after the St. Lawrence Open to put in a little time pre-practicing.
“From a month ago to now, the lake’s down a little bit. They’re just starting the fall transition. They’re just doing everything.”
The first few cool nights have fallen upon Central Missouri. The water is beginning to cool and the baitfish are on the move, with the bass in tow.
“There are still some out deep. There are still some roaming out in the middle of the lake. There are some on brush. There are some in the backs of the creeks chasing bait. There are some in the middle chasing bait,” he said. “They’re kind of doing it all right now. I haven’t really pinpointed the way to go exactly yet.”
With the bass and bait scattered throughout this 54,000 acre fishery, it’s shaping up to be a junk fisherman’s paradise the best Gee can tell. Forward-facing sonar will play a factor, but just fishing will too.
“I guess now, people find a way to scope anything,” he said. “There will be people who catch them using scope. And there will be people that catch them without it even turned on.”
It doesn’t sound as though Gee plans to rely heavily on his electronics. His eyes will no doubt spend some time on his screen while scratching together an early limit, but the rest of his day will consist of a more traditional, visual way of fishing.
“Somebody will do really well just locking a topwater in their hand,” he said.
Reading between the lines a bit, it sounds as though Gee’s hopes are that he’ll be one of the anglers that does just that. Putting a buzzbait, Plopper or Spook in your hand and throwing at every dock, treetop and seawall that looks good is a great way to catch a big bass in the fall. And it’ll take a couple of those big bites each day to do well this week.
“I think 13 pounds a day would cash you a check (Top 40). To get you a Top 10, it’s like 15 to 17 pounds,” he said.”
Gee gave his best guess, but when dealing with a tournament like this where one 4-pound-plus fish can make or break an entire day, it’s much harder to predict the weights than if the fishery were jam packed with 2- and 1/2-pounders. One bite is the difference between having an 8-pound bag and 100th place after Day 1 and a 13-pound bag and 40th.
The fall turnover is always a threat to be considered when looking at a September tournament. As the water’s surface temps cool, that water becomes denser and heavier than the water below it. Inevitably, these two volumes of water flip flop or “turnover”. Sediment is stirred up, oxygen levels are thrown all out of whack, and the fishing can really get rocked by all of this. Gee was asked if this was a concern.
“I don’t think there’s a risk of it turning over cause we’re going to have some pretty hot days. I think everyday it’s supposed to be in the 80s,” he said. “It’s been cold the last two mornings, in the low 50s. But I think we’re going to have a little bit of rain and a warming trend.”
These are the best conditions the anglers could hope to have for a tournament in September. Cooler temps, stable waters and a low-pressure front moving through the area that should activate the topwater bite.
Before we let Gee go so that he could get back out onto the water and wrap up his practice, we asked if he had figured out what places he needs to finish in these last two events to have a good shot at making the Elites.
“I’m kind of old school. I just want to go fish and let the chips fall where they may,” he said.
And fall they will, one way or the other for Gee and the rest of the Elite hopefuls. You can tune into bassmaster.com starting Friday to follow along with all the action out on the water. There will be Bassmaster LIVE coverage on the final day, which will be again be held on Sunday this week.
