Truman Reservoir, Missouri – Stop #4 of the 2023 MoYak Fishing Series Kayak Bass Trail sponsored by Old Town Kayaks welcomed 85 anglers to an unusually low Truman Lake. Fluctuating lake levels on Truman are just part of figuring out the puzzle for these Ozarks flood control lakes. In 2021 we had three feet more water with the lake at nearly 708′ and in 2022 there was a 11.5′-foot rise compared to Saturday’s 705′.

The fish-per-angler ratio of 4.38 was an improvement over the steady decline we saw from 2020 (4.9 FPA) to 2022 (3.7 FPA). There were seven more limits uploaded than in 2022 with 58% of the field submitting a limit of bass this time around. Just like Stockton earlier this month, the competition was tough with only 10.5″ separating the top 20! However, Stockton wins the race when it comes to the number of fish caught in June with nearly 100 more bass taken during our derby a few weeks ago.

Jared Fosnow continued his dominance over Truman by taking the crown. Fosnow secured an 84.5″ bag, narrowly edging out his closest competitor, Mason Brock who nearly went back-to-back! The ROY year race continues to tighten as rookie sensations Zachary Woolverton and Pat Lassek each clawed their way to another top-ten finish. Chad Davison wrestled a 20.25″ bass out of a stump field to take home Big Bass honors along with a $600 check.

On the team side, Everharts A-Team, consisting of Chad Davison and Chris Robbs, secured a back-to-back victory with a combined total of 97″. With this win, they take a 27-point lead in the Team AOY (Angler of the Year) race into stop #5 at Wappapello in August.

Here are your top ten for the 2023 MoYak Stop #4 Truman presented by Everhart’s Outdoors.

Jared Fosnow – 84.75″
Mason Brock – 81.75″
Zachary Woolverton – 81.5″
Robert Swearngin – 80.75″
Aaron Shimmel – 78.75″
Pat Lassek – 78.75″
Tyy Ward – 78.5″
Chad Davison – 78.25″
Jake Pruett – 78″
Chris Gilbert – 77.75″

Team Winners
Everharts A-Team (Chad Davison & Chris Robbs) 97″ (Best 3 from each angler)

Let’s take a closer look at the top six finishers and hear how they solved the puzzle on Truman in their own words:

What was your strategy going into the day?

• Jared – Throwing topwater as long as I could then switch to looking for suspended fish along with hitting brush piles and beds.
• Mason – Rely on what I found in practice.
• Zachary – I started by working a bluff point with submerged timber and I hoped to find fish shallow early and then slow it down and just pitch trees all day long.
• Robert – Not to run around, stay on the main lake.  I found some fish while prefishing and I planned on staying on them all day.  I went old school and used a big purple paddle tail worm Texas rigged 95% of the day.
• Aaron – Keep it simple and stick to the plan.
• Pat – My strategy was to get a limit early no matter what the size and try to upgrade thru the day.. I seem to fish better once I have 5 out of the way.

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

• Jared – Due to a lower back injury I elected to not prefish for this one.
• Mason – Yes, found bass relating to Bream on key banks.
• Zachary – Nope
• Robert – Yes, I was able to prefish on Thursday.  I was told that the river arms were dead.  I was able to confirm that.  I moved to the Osage Bluff/Fairfield area and located some fish and lots of baitfish.
• Aaron – No prefishing, just showed up to fish.
• Pat –  I pre fished my all american spot, which was terrible

What was your best finish on Truman before this?

• Jared – This was my first MOYAK tournament on Truman Lake. But this made my 4th kayak win this year here and I think 7th Truman win in a kayak.
• Mason – 30th of 179 in the last classic. Big bass in June, Moyak 2021
• Zachary – This was my first.
• Robert – This was my first Kayak tournament on Truman.  I have won several club events and have a couple top 5 finishes in the Fish For Sight tournament years ago.
• Aaron – 79th in the 2023 AAKS. This was my fourth time ever fishing Truman.
• Pat – my best finish at Truman was 2nd in the inaugural All-American classic 2020.

What was the general tackle you used?

• Jared – Crock-O-Gator head knocker buzzbait, ARK 110 suspending jerkbait, Crock-O-Gator 6” Junior COG worm on a drop shot, Crock-O-Gator 7.25” COG worm on a 5/16 Shaker Pro jig head, All on ARK rods with Daiwa Tatula reels spooled with Seaguar line.
• Mason – Finesse jig
• Zachary – 5in Spark Shad by mega bass, 6″ Senko pb and j, Strike king white Buzzbait, Bass pro tungsten Jig pb and j
• Robert – Big purple paddle tail worm with a 3/16 weight
• Aaron – 4 of 5 keepers were caught cranking, the other was on a whopper plopper.
• Pat – I was able to get a dinky limit in an hr fishing shallow using a Rapala brat, then, a wacky worm and a jig.

How far did you have to travel to find your fish – General area of the lake you chose?

• Jared – I covered several miles but most of it for nothing as once you found one fish there were usually several others with it.
• Mason – Small creek, 2 miles from the ramp
• Zachary – I fished toward the north end of the lake fishing the cleaner waters instead of the muddy waters at the south end. I traveled the duration of the morning 30min launch time to get to the point I wanted to start at.
• Robert – I stayed fairly close to where I launched.  I fished between Osage Bluff and Fairfield all day.
• Aaron – Launched from Bucksaw Marina.
• Pat –  I went to an area mid-lake about 20 min pedal from my launch I’ve never fished before and was able to find a few small fish where I decided to fish tourney day, which I had to myself

What depth range were you looking for (what was your water temp/clarity)?

• Jared – Shallow early in less than 5’. Then moved out to 10’-14’ casting to suspended fish. But all the better fish ended up being in 18’-24’ and right on the bottom.
• Mason – 4-8ft
• Zachary – The morning was super shallow around 4 to 5ft in the timber and right off the bluff walls then transitioned to deep low and slow all day with jigs and worms around 12 to 15ft.
• Robert – I was fishing for suspended fish that were 5′-8′ deep.  They could be over 15′ deep or 45′ deep, or anywhere in between.
• Aaron – Initially, Top Water. then 0-8 ft.
• Pat – 10-15′ range off points and timber bluff walls.

Did the weather affect your bite?

• Jared – I don’t think it affected the bite but did affect the way I was hoping to get to fish for them. I really like throwing topwater to cover water. So I was wanting to see the thunderstorm they were calling for. Rain and heavy winds can make for a killer topwater bite on Truman this time of year.
• Mason – Something changed from practice to tournament. Practice day was an early morning bite. On tournament day, they bit better late, very late in the day.
• Zachary – The afternoon storm looked threatening but it pushed out and didn’t cause any problems then the wind picked up which made it difficult to fish without being blown into trees.
• Robert – Yes, it became cloudy during the middle of the day.  I think that caused my fish to scatter and not hold so tightly to the trees.
• Aaron – The Wind picked when I got my second 18″er.
• Pat – Once the sun came out I was able to upgrade a few times.

Anything else special about the day?

• Jared – Beautiful sunrise with us starting early for this one.
• Mason – Fish bit all day long. Was one for the memory bank that I will never forget! The last 3 casts of the day moved me from a 15th place finish, to a 5th place finish, then to a 2nd place finish.
• Zachary – No report.
• Robert – No report.
• Aaron – No report.
• Pat – Luckily I had a spare pedal drive because broke a fin rod off in practice.

Big Bass Story?

• Jared – My biggest was only 18 3/4” and was a pretty boring catch. It hit a COG worm on the first hop after dragging it past her. It felt just like the other 15”-16” fish I had been catching as it must have just swam towards the kayak.
• Mason – 3rd to last cast, flipped my jig on a shallow wind-blown tree. Couldn’t have fallen more than 4-5 inches and she picked up the jig. Ended up being a 19-inch last-minute kicker!
• Zachary – My big bass of the day came on a buzzbait. I saw the fish crash on baitfish right off the shore and I threw what I had in my hand at the time that being a buzzbait and as soon as it passed where he was the fish came up and swiped it under.
• Robert – I lucked out and caught a 19″ at 1:55 which made all of the difference in my day.
• Aaron – My biggest came after I’d just gotten back in my kayak from a brief (super refreshing) swimming excursion.
• Pat – No report.

See any wildlife worth mentioning?

• Jared – Had a beaver come up and slap its tail at me. A 29”-30” flathead and lots of “Mr. No Shoulders” snakes!!!
• Mason – No report.
• Zachary – No report.
• Robert – Had some trash pandas (raccoons) follow me down the bank for about an hour.
• Aaron – Raccoon
• Pat – No report.

Lose any bigguns?

• Jared – Nothing of any real size. I fished pretty clean other than two fish in the 16”-17” range.
• Mason – Thank goodness, no.
• Zachary – Early that morning the bass where chasing shad around me and I saw some nice fish blowing up 4 and 5in shad. I did have a couple of really nice blow-ups and some that completely blew my spark shad out of the water but I didn’t hook into that fish.
• Robert –  Luckily no!
• Aaron – No, But did have two mid sized rip the cord and eject off my catch board.
• Pat – I missed a nice upgrade late that jumped me off a stump working my way back to my ramp.

Do you plan to fish the remaining MoYak schedule?

• Jared – I am going to try to after seeing the updated AOY points and that I am sitting in 18th even with missing the Table Rock event. I think I will try to make the rest of the schedule to try to make my first Taney20 next spring. I would really like to make the top 10 in AOY points to be able to represent MOYAK again on the team side of the AAKC!!!
• Mason – Yes sir, excited for the rest of the events!
• Zachary – Yes, possibly missing Lake Wappapello due to the distance needed to travel.
• Robert – For sure!
• Aaron – Absolutely! So fun.
• Pat – I’m hoping to fish a couple more events.

Derby Stats
Anglers 85
Fish caught – 373
Total limits – 49 (58%)
Margin of victory – 2.75″
Trash Pot – Kolton Dauber (23″ Blue Cat)
Smallest Bass Award – Zach Armstrong, Lando Mitchel 9.25″
Air temp at launch – 75
Air temp at takeout – 89
Water temps reported – Mid to High 80’s