Osage Beach, Missouri – The 2025 EcoFishing Shop Stop #1 on Lake of the Ozarks greeted 81 MoYakkers suffering from cabin fever to a lake that had been rocked the week prior with 50+ mph winds, forest fires, and a tough mid-March bite. After a windy start to the morning, we had a brief window of decent spring weather before getting snow the night after the derby. After the smoke cleared (literally), with 84″, Ozark’s Troy Enke emerged victorious with a one-inch lead over his fellow EcoFishing Shop team member, Aaron Gardner.
The Burrito Banditos (Richie McMichael 51.75″ and Troy Enke 54″) took top honors on the team side with 105.75″ of Lake of the Ozarks bass. In 2025 each team member contributes their longest three fish to the six bass team total. The Reel Food Guys (Michael Buvid 51″ and Patrick Bowman 45.75″) notched 2nd place honors with 96.75″.
The big bass contest was very tight as six anglers caught 20+” fish and Tyy narrowly beat Michael Buvid with the 20.5″ tiebreaker by catching his before Michael’s (another new rule this year).
Here are your top ten for the 2025 MoYak Stop #1 Lake of the Ozarks presented by Eco Fishing Shop.
Troy Enke – 84″
Aaron Gardner – 83″
Robert Swearngin – 81.75″
Russell Bergeron – 81.25″
Richie McMichael – 81″
Rylan Sommer – 80.5″
Zachary Woolverton – 80.25″
Jared Fosnow – 79.5″
Chris Woehl – 77.5″
Mike Tichenor – 77″
Let’s take a closer look at the top five finishers and hear how they solved the puzzle in their own words:
What was your strategy going into the day?
Troy – I hadn’t been on LOZ since the Winter Series event in December so I wanted to junk fish my way until I found something that worked.
Aaron – The bite had been super tough around the whole lake so my best chance of finding some fish was finding the warmest water possible.
Robert – I had planned on fishing main lake points and bluff ends. The water temp tanked 6 degrees on me overnight on the place I was planning on spending most of my time on. I couldn’t hardly ever get on the points I wanted to fish though. Every time I would get close, a bass boat would run in and cut me off.
Russell – no report
Richie – The bite was tough the last several weeks so my plan was just to get a limit. I like throwing crankbaits in the spring and have done well at LOZ in the past cranking. My strategy was to target wind-blown points and rocky banks.
Were you able to prefish and did you find anything that helped you on game day?
Troy – I had originally planned to take Friday off to prefish but the Hobie doesn’t do well in 50mph winds.
Aaron – No prefishing. Just watched conditions unfold leading up to tourney day and made a gutsy decision.
Robert – I was able to get in about 4 hours of prefishing on Friday. The wind caused me to have to get off the water around noon. Places I caught fish on Friday, I couldn’t get bit on Saturday and areas I never had a bite on Friday were my most productive areas on tournament day.
Russell – no report
Richie – The plan was to prefish Friday but decided not to because of the high winds. Should have checked out the ramp I decided on because it was closed in the morning and had to scramble to find another launch close to the area I wanted to fish.
What was your best finish at LOZ before this?
Troy – I got 2nd in the October 2023 contest and our team won that event.
Aaron – This was my best finish so far on LoZ in the main MoYak series. I did win a Sunday series last year on here.
Robert – 1st Place in the 2023/2024 Moyak Winter Series.
Russell – no report
Richie – My best finish was 3rd in 2020.
What was the general tackle you used on game day?
Troy – Frittside 5 in Red Craw, 1/2oz Accent River Special spinnerbait (Charteuse & White), Jackhammer (White with white 4″ Rage Menace).
Aaron – Majority of my fish came on Berkley dime 4 in Special Red Craw, paired with my FX XAS 6’6” Medium rod. 8lb CXX P-Line. I also caught a couple on the BaitCave 4” Flat worm in MVP.
Robert – Old beat up wiggle wart on a Megabass Ororchi Diablo Rod. My 18.25 came on a homemade jig, but that was the only bite on the jig all day.
Russell – no report
Richie – Frittside 5 crankbaits in multiple colors.
How far did you have to travel to find your fish? If you are willing, please give the general area(s) of the lake you fished.
Troy – I fished the Glaize and went upriver from the ramp about 3 miles and did a circle back.
Aaron – I had to travel a ways due to limited ramps. I put in the big Niangua and traveled as far as I could above HaHaTonka.
Robert – I fished the Glaize arm of the lake and didn’t travel too far. In fact, I never caught a fish out of sight of the boat ramp.
Russell – no report
Richie – I started fishing only a few minutes from the ramp. I fished the southeast part of the lake.
Troy – I tried to stay under 6ft and caught most everything by bouncing the Frittside along the rocks all day. The water was perfectly stained the way I like it for a chatterbait or jerk bait but I couldn’t get anything going on either except for one ~15″ on the chatterbait.
Aaron – I was unsure my depth going into the day but after about the first 20 minutes of fishing, I found I needed only bout 3-5 feet of water depth. Clarity was about a foot. Water temp started at 56.1 and had 57.8 by the end of the day.
Robert – Water had a good stain to it, 1 1/2 to 2 ft of clarity, where I really like it. All of my fish came in 4 to 10 foot of water. Water temp started off in the mid 50s on Friday, but dropped after the storms Friday night to 47-50 on Saturday.
Russell – no report
Richie – I was concentrating on 2 to 10ft. The fish were getting shallower throughout the day. Water temps were low to mid 50’s.
Did you lose any fish that would have made a difference or do you have a story to tell about your biggest bass of the day?
Troy – I fished clean. I pulled into a small pocket around 10am to get out of the wind. There was a laydown in the back and I thought it looked like a spinnerbait needed to be pitched back there. After the first few turns of the reel handle, the line got heavy and she headed for deeper water. It took several seconds for me to see her and I actually thought I had my usual trash fish but she came up and made my heart start pounding! I few seconds and the worst net job ever and the 20 was on the board!
Aaron – So I did lose another small mouth that may have bumped me up more but probably not enough to catch Troy. My big fish I think was out to give me a stroke. Starting about 1430 I had another strong wave of bites. Then about 1515 it stopped. I was a few casts away from calling it done. There was this seam I kept throwing to and had a big rock about half way back to the yak that if I hit it just right, I would get hit. At 1520 give or take I smacked that rock and she about pulled the road out of my hand. I thought I snagged a gar because they had been moving in but luckily it wasn’t. She came flying out of the water and sent me into panic mode because I knew I had only a few minutes to get the picture snapped. Thankfully she choked it and I able to hoarse her in a little faster than usual.
Robert – I fished pretty clean, only lost one that may have moved me to 2nd place. No big bass stories to tell, but I did take a run at the trash pot. Late in the day, I hooked something on a wart that at first I thought was BassQuatch. However, I quickly realized that it wasn’t a bass as it dragged me about 100 yards out into the middle of the lake and spooled me. No clue what it was, but it cost me an expensive wart and about 200 yards of FC Sniper Sunline.
Russell – no report
Richie – I tried to flip a fish around 15-16″ at the end of day which would have been an inch or two cull but wasn’t hooked good and came off. Had a few other opportunities but couldn’t keep them hooked.
See any wildlife worth mentioning?
Troy – Lots of feathered friends and one very well-fed otter.
Aaron – About 11:00 I had a big ol otter surface about 10 feet in front of me.
Robert – Lots of squirrels, ducks, and the Canadian Air Force (geese)
Russell – no report
Richie – A few bald eagles flying around.
What are your tournament fishing plans for 2025?
Troy – I think I have a tournament every weekend for the rest of the season, lol. I plan to fish as many MoYak events as possible, ECO BB 250, AAKC on Truman in May, some AAKS and any other local events that might help me prepare for any of those. I enjoy jumping into NSKA events from time to time and I’ll try Oklahoma and Kansas if the timing is right.
Aaron – I plan on fishing the whole MoYak elite series, the river series, hopefully get a couple Sunday series in and the occasional BrockPots on Wednesdays.
Robert – I think I will make all of the Moyak Elite Series events except for Mark Twain. I’m really looking forward to Truman in June, that can be some of my favorite fishing that time of year. The All American Classic on Truman should be a great event I plan on attending as well.
Russell – no report
Richie – I plan on fishing most of Mo-Yak, A couple Bassmaster and an All-American or two in 2025.
Do you have any sponsor or personal shout-outs you’d like to give?
Troy – EcoFishingShop
Aaron –Huge thanks for all my sponsors.
- EcoFishingShop
- BaitCaveCustoms
- FX Rods
- Woo Tungsten
- YoloTek
- QuickBaits
I wouldn’t be able to excel without their help along the way. Also a big thank you to Josh Boothe.
Robert – Ellis Battery in Ozark kept me powered up all day! Although I didn’t go far, the way I was fishing, I kept the trolling motor going non stop. The wind was rough the first few hours of the day. Despite all of that, I never had to switch to my backup batteries. If you need any kind of battery, I highly recommend getting ahold of Steve at Ellis Battery located behind Lamberts in Ozark, Mo.
Russell – no report
Richie – Mo-Yak for running a great tournament series and Kistler Rods. Kistler makes excellent rods and reels that help put fish in the boat.
Derby Stats
Anglers 81
Fish caught – 274 (FPA – 3.38)
Total limits – 29 (36%)
Margin of victory – 1″
Twenty+ Club – Tyy Ward (20.5″), Michael Buvid (20.5″), Troy Enke (20″), Zachary Woolverton (20″), Darian Beedle (20″), Jesse Payne (20″)
Trash Pot – Sam Young – 23″ Blue Cat ($180)
Smallest Bass Award – Eric Easter 9″
Air temp at launch – 49
Air temp at takeout – 72
