Early Summer Sizzler on Truman

The third stop of the 2022 MoYak Lake Series was a scorcher! Sixty degrees at launch and a forecast of mid 90’s greeted 89 MoYak anglers at this early June event on Truman Lake.

With the lake flooded 11 feet and a quiet practice for many, this one was set up to be a grind. The numbers bore this out as we had an FPA (fish-per-angler) of 3.72 and 46% of the field submitting a limit of bass. By comparison, at our2021 June Truman event 82 anglers were fortunate to put 4.02 (FPA) on the leaderboard with, again, 46% of the field fielding a limit. It’s the start of a troubling trend for Truman in June if you look back to 2020 where we had 58% of the 78 yaks with limits, Jim Harding breaking 100″ and an FPA of 4.97.

Not only did we have to deal with the elements and a fish population in transition, but connectivity issues plagued most of the field all day. Several anglers reported their inability to get fish submitted—even though their phones showed bars of 5G service!

The top of the field found a way to overcome these obstacles—with yours truly coming out on top. Here are your top ten for the 2022 MoYak Stop #3 Truman Lake presented by Everhart’s Outdoors and hosted by Bucksaw Marina.

  1. Troy Enke 87″
  2. Lance Irwin 82″
  3. Trevor Motzkus 81″
  4. Chad Davison 80.5″
  5. Johnathan Dominguez 79.75″
  6. Jeremy Truitt 79″
  7. Chris Robbs 78″
  8. Frankie Dailey 77.5″
  9. Joe Hayes 77.5″
  10. Cole Armer 77.25″

Team Winners

  1. Burrito Banditos (Richie McMichael & Troy Enke) 162.5″
  2. COMO Crushers (Chris Robbs & Chad Davison) 161.25″
  3. Shake & Bake ( Lance Irwin & Tommy Probst) 150″
Three 20’s were caught with Broc VanTassel coming away with Big Bass Honors for his 21.5″ largemouth.

Let’s see how the top five figured it out;

What was your strategy going into the day.

Troy – Truman has always been a mystery to me so this time I just decided to enjoy the fact that we were not dodging lightning bolts and hailstones and instead just go fish.

Lance – Fishing shallow in a small area for less bits but bigger fish

Trevor – My main strategy going in was to ride out the topwater bite; throwing a buzz bait and popper, until it quit, and then junk fish after that. The top water bite didn’t pan out, so I picked up my flipping stick and went to work.

Chad – Start off early with Head Knocker buzzbait on flooded grassy areas – my topwater bite from practice wasn’t there. Caught 2 on a fluke.

Johnathan – I really had no strategy. Just came with an open mind set and was going to fish as hard as I could.

Were you able to prefish and did you find anything that helped you on game day?

Troy – I usually fish the Pomme arm but with the lake up so high and lots of muddy water, I decided to try spots nearer the dam area.  I only had a few hours to practice, with most of that visiting ramps and checking water clarity.

Lance – I pre-fished the weekend before the tourney. I was able to find fish but was unsure how much the water would drop before the tournament. My pre-fishing did help my confidence but didn’t help me to replicate the same bite.

Trevor – I was not able to pre-fish due to work, but I did come up the night before and look at boat ramps, along with attempting to find cell service opportunities for a few hours. Where I chose to put in, I knew it would be more of my style of fishing, and I ran with it.

Chad – Absolutely – found an area that was holding some better fish – caught 2 in practice and left so I didn’t know what it’s full potential would be.

Johnathan – I fished Truman 2 weeks prior to the event. Other than that there wasn’t much prefishing.

What was your best finish before this one?

Troy – I’ve never had a top twenty here before this. 24th out of 79 in 2020 was my previous best.

Lance – 7th in 2020

Trevor – I had never fished Truman in my life before Saturday morning. This was only my third MO-Yak live tournament.

Chad – 1st in 2021

Johnathan – Before this event there has been no best events. It’s been more like catch one fish and go home with your tail between your legs. Truman is a different animal.

What was the general tackle you used to win?

Troy – Funkbuster buzzbait (white) with gold blade, Jackhammers 1/2oz white with white trailer and 3/8oz green pumpkin with blue swirl rage menace trailer

Lance – Megabass top water and Blaukat jig

Trevor – I flipped numerous baits but the only things I could get a bite on was the trusty Brush Hog and Pit Boss. Most catches were on heavy braid and a big tungsten weight. I did catch a pair on a big worm and a flipping jig.

Chad – All of best 5 fish caught flipping a Crock-O-Gator Muskrat in GP/Blue Swirl

Johnathan – I started early with a Buzbait and was able to get a couple bites. Quickly switched over to a bladed jig. My best bite came flipping a secondary point with a MOtion Fishing HawgIlla.

Anything else special about the day? Big Bass Story?

Troy – Special? Can’t beat the outcome. Nothing better than being able to share a win with family over the phone on the drive home. My biggest bass came at the very back of a creek in about a foot of water under a rootwad of an inside channel swing. She crushed the chatterbait soon as it hit the water.

Lance – My big bass was DQ. I took three 1 second videos instead of photos. This is a good reminder for everyone to check your photos before you release your fish. Other than that, I fished clean.

Trevor – I was fortunate enough to have my wife along on the trip, and it was great to do well after I got her up at 4 AM. I know the day was hectic for everyone as far as service and submitting fish, but my plan to get off the water early and find service worked in the end. I was able to fish fairly clean, only losing one keeper
and a spinnerbait. Not really any big bass, but I did catch a 22’’ walleye flipping bushes.

Chad – I feel like current flow had changed. My area dirtied up overnight, bite changed, and more trash in the water. I think they may have slowed or stopped flow temporarily and backwashed into my area.

Lost my 2nd biggest fish – was in the boat and then it wasn’t. Funny video of it on my FB/IG pages

See any wildlife worth mentioning?

Troy – I was visited by a 4lb drum at around 2 pm on the end of my chatterbait as I drug it past a laydown. My heart can’t take that kind of crap. #Gooooooooo

Lance – No

Trevor – I saw more carp than I had ever seen in my life.

Chad – Nope

Johnathan – No

Lose any bigguns?

Troy – I lost one at the boat that would have probably given me 90+

Lance – Just the DQ

Trevor – Just one small one, possibly 12”. I was very fortunate.

Chad – Yes, see above

Johnathan – No

How far did you have to travel to find your fish, what depth range did you target and are you willing to share the general area of the lake you chose?

Troy – Dam area. Tried to fish shaded cover in 4 feet or less. My spot was about a half mile from the ramp.

Lance – I caught all my fish within 300 yards of where I launched in 1-5 ft.

Trevor – I fished the southern end of the lake, most of my fish were within a mile or so from my ramp. But I covered almost 7.5 miles. I wasn’t too worried about depth; I was more worried about finding bushes that were submerged up by the bank, or any bush/brush that had the top out of the water. Most of my fish all came off of bushes that had a few leaves out of the water, or I could visibly see the top just underneath the surface. With the water clarity I was dealing with, I had to have dropped it right on some of them.

Chad – Lower lake, dam area in 3-6′

Johnathan – Grand River arm. Typically fishing the creek I was in is like playing plinko with kayak but since the water was so high I was able to save some time crossing a peninsula. Early I was just staying in an area where I was seeing fish bust. I was in about 11ft of water fishing a shallow area with flooded brush.

Did the weather affect your bite?

Troy – It forced me to the shade and luckily the bass were there too. I caught fish steadily—about every 20-30 min—throughout the day with my last ~3″ upgrade coming in the last 5 minutes.

Lance – I would say yes. Bluebird sky had me fishing a jig for the last four hours of the day. I would normally not do that. I caught three upgrades with the jig.

Trevor – I believe so, I had a decent limit by 7:30 and then the heat turned up. I went almost 3 hours after that without any bites. I caught my last fish around 1:15. I only managed 8 Bass, a walleye and a white bass, the heat definitely affected the bite.

Chad – As sun got higher bite got tougher.

Johnathan – Yes, once the sun came out the bite slowed down alot. Later in the afternoon the wind picked up and that seemed to help the afternoon bite.

Do you plan to fish the remaining MoYak schedule?

Troy – Only if Josh delivers perfect weather and feeds us properly. We’ve suffered long enough. 😛

Lance – Absolutely

Trevor – I currently plan on fishing all Monthly and live MoYak tournaments the rest of the year.

Chad – 100%

Johnathan – I am hoping to make all the events this year!

Derby Stats
Anglers 89
Fish caught – 331
Total limits – 41 (46%)
Margin of victory – 5″
Smallest Bass Award – Zachary Armstrong 8.5″
Air temp at launch – 60
Air temp at takeout – 93
Water temps reported – Mid 80’s

Trash Fish Winner – Jake Johnson

Results — Truman Lake

TeamInchesBig BassPlacePoints
Troy Enke871300
Lance Irwin822295
Trevor Motzkus813290
Chad Davison80.54285
Johnathan Dominguez79.755280
Jeremy Truitt796276
Christopher Robbs787272
Frankie Dailey77.58268
Joe Hayes77.59264
Cole Armer77.2510260
Joe Walters76.7511257
Kerry Evans75.7513251
Richie McMichael75.514248
Cody Huffman75.2515245
Broc Van Tassell7516248
Jacob Pruett7517241
Preston Maples74.7519237
Brandon Heimericks73.2520235
Tyy Ward71.7522231
Danny Johnson7123229
Joe Mersky70.7524227
Jason Shifflett70.525225
Eric Easter6927221
Levi Cline68.7528219
Tommy Probst6829217
Michael Cornelius6830215
Erik Fischer6731213
Garrett Reid66.2532211
Steve Earls6633209
Ryan Reed65.2534207
Kyle Savner65.2535205
Sam Young6536203
Zachary Armstrong63.7537201
Michael Sandlin63.538199
Dave Neal63.539197
Stony Floyd6240195
Darian Beedle60.541193
Nathan Head6042191
Scott Kroger59.2543189
Jay Harman5644187
Jacob Johnson54.2545185
James Iken52.546183
Ryan Groeller50.2548179
Michael Smith48.549177
Christopher Moyher4850175
Jerry Cornelius44.551173
Anthony Brown39.7552171
Robert Bruewer38.2553169
Lance Burris37.7554167
Josh Keatts35.555165
Shannon Jernigan33.2556163
Frankie Miller3257161
Adam Witte2958159
Mason Brock28.559157
James Wilson27.7560155
James Curtis27.561153
Brandon Locke27.2562151
Donald Schwartz25.564147
Matt Yates24.2565145
Stacy Jordan19.7566143
Jacob High1567141
Ryan Mackey14.7568139
Christopher Cramsey14.569137
Mike Tichenor13.2570135
Chad Hartman12.7571133
Jason Payne1272131
William Atchison073129
Jake Bollinger074129
Anthony Byers075129
Angela Carman076129
Clifton Crib077129
Mike Dent078129
Dorman Hughey079129
Mike Keafer080129
Andrew Leotaud081129
Aaron Noble082129
Nicholas Robinson084129
Phil Schaefer085129
Billy Schlobohm086129
James Shoemaker087129
Jennings Sirmon088129
Brett Walker089129

Results — 2022 Truman Team

TeamInchesBig BassPlacePoints
Burrito Banditos162.51300
CoMo Crushers161.252295
Shake & Bake1503290
The Midwest Sticks148.254285
Slappin Da Bass146.55280
Wet Hookers1396276
Honorable Mention1397272
Double D’s138.58268
BassAckwards136.259264
The Chatter Boys135.2510260
Hookset Ninjas127.7511257
Bassless Chaps117.2512254
Motor Promoters113.2513251
Crankin & Spankin112.514248
Dink Whisperers107.2515245
Eco Fanatics94.7516243
Anchor Management 294.7517241
Western MO Sticks51.7518239
Bourbon and Bass48.7519237
Wiggle Wart Warriors40.2520235
Team Bonafide37.7521233
Reel Amateurs022231