Camdenton, Missouri – The first stop on the MoYak Kayak Bass Trail Series found 104 of us on a windy and muddy Lake of the Ozarks. April showers had an effect on water clarity but that didn’t stop one of MoYak’s newest anglers, rookie Troy Nydegger, from dropping over 90″ on the board and taking the win!

Lance Irwin and Chris Moyher of Team Purler Performance 2.0 grabbed their first team victory of the year. Their six bass tallied 99″ – beating out Shane Coon and Tyler Myers of Team AAFC by 2.25″.
Team AAFC’s bag was anchored by Shane Coon’s 21.75″ beast which won Big Bass honors on the Solo side.

Here are your top ten for the 2024 MoYak Stop #1 Lake of the Ozarks presented by Eco Fishing Shop.

Troy Nydegger – 92.25″
Corey Jackson – 90.75″
Tyler Cokely – 86.25″
John Stickley – 85″
Robert Swearngin – 83.25″
John Denton – 83″
Lance Irwin – 83″
Corey Sims – 82.25″
Spencer O’Neal – 81.75″
Patrick Troutman – 81.50″

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

What was your strategy going into the day?

Troy – The strategy was just to target boat docks.
Corey – I have fished Lake of the Ozarks in the spring for as long as I can remember. This tournament was all about locating the large females and where they were relative to spawning areas. I’ve always had good luck throwing a jig this time of year and this tournament was no different. When the conditions got too windy, I just grabbed my spinnerbait and found the closest structure.
Tyler – Just simply go fishing. Don’t be set on what I want to catch them on. Just let the fish tell me what they want.
John – I haven’t had a lot of time on the water this season between work and family life and had planned this weekend as a way to recharge. With that mindset, tournament results weren’t terribly important, so I was just looking forward to a great day on the water and putting as many bass in the yak as I possibly could. If some good ones happened to show up, all the better!
Robert – I had a certain size of rock that I was looking for.  I felt like if I could stay on the right size and type of rock, I would be able to put together a solid limit of fish.

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

Troy – We drove down from KC on Friday morning and started fishing around 10:30 AM. I found that there were some smaller males biting behind the boat docks (between the bank and the docks), but didn’t really find any larger females in practice.
Corey – No prefish
Tyler – No prefishing. Left the house at 2 am and went straight to the boat ramp.
John – Prefishing Friday went great. I didn’t catch anything huge, but had over 30 fish in the eight hours I was on the water with the big five going somewhere just north of 75 inches. Everything that worked for me in prefishing produced again on tournament day, except that there were some bigger fish mixed in with the 12-14″ bass that were everywhere.
Robert – Yes.  I was able to figure out a pattern very quickly that I felt good about.  I caught a 17″ in the first 5 minutes of pre-fishing and was able to find a lot of similar locations and caught fish on most of them.

What was your best finish at LOZ before this?

Troy – First LOZ tournament.
Corey – I finished the last two LOZ Moyak events (Solo series & Winter series) with 81″.
Tyler – 6th place in the first Eco Shops Big Bass 250
John – Lake of the Ozarks has been good to me in the few times I’ve been here before. I was fortunate enough to take 4th in my first MoYak event here in 2021.
Robert – I won the last tournament at LOZ, the Moyak Winter Series stop #4 while having the flu.

What was the general tackle you used on game day?

Troy – All of my fish were caught on a black and blue 1/2 oz jig.
Corey – Almost all my fish were caught on a jig and a spinnerbait.
Tyler – Started the day throwing spinner baits and square bills and glide baits only finding fish in the 11-13” range. Found a better quality fish on the new PB&J Kyle Hall Crock-o-Gator jig and decided to keep throwing it for the next couple of docks then return to the moving baits in the wind but they just kept thumping the jig the entire day.
John – I caught good fish on a Spro RkCrawler, and used finesse fishing techniques for the remainder (shaky head and Neko rig). No Ned rig this go around!
Robert – The most beat-up, old-school wiggle wart in my tackle box.

How far did you have to travel to find your fish?

Troy – I was pretty much within eyesight of the boat ramp the whole day. Fished in the Grand Glaize arm.
Corey – I had to travel about 4.5 miles (without a motor) to my spot. I was fishing in the Osage Arm of the lake.
Tyler – Never had to travel really far. Found some areas I just bounced back and forth on and fish were moving in.
John – I covered about 8 miles of water, but most of that was going back and forth over about a 1.5-mile section of docks just off the main lake. Close enough to big water to keep my eyes peeled for the big boats, but not far enough out that I had to worry about them too much.
Robert – I fished both sides of the lake from Pa He Tsi to the 54 bridge and back.

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

Troy – The water was very muddy, which I was originally concerned about, but the fish didn’t seem to care. Temps ranged from 52-57 throughout the day. I was typically fishing in 1′-4′ of water. Super shallow.
Corey – I was looking for structure in about 6-8 ft of water. Water clarity varied a lot, but most 2-4 ft.
Tyler – All of my fish came from in between the dock and the shoreline. Skipping the jig up under the cables targeting shade under the walkways. I was fishing clear water.
John – Most of my fish came in the 6-15′ range. The water seemed super clear (at least to this northwest Missouri guy that thinks 3′ is pretty amazing), with temps in the 52-54 degree range.
Robert – 5 to 8 feet always seems to be a key depth when throwing a wart.  I did my best to stay in that depth.  Water temp ranged from 53 to 56 depending on the time of day and visibility of 1 1/2 to 2 feet.  There was a nasty mud line just above PB2 that blew on to some of the areas I was fishing later in the afternoon.

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 did lose one that was around the 5-pound range right next to my kayak that I thought was going to cost me the tournament. She shook off just as I tried to net her and I about went into the water trying to lunge for her! It would have culled a 13″. It took me until about 2:45 to finally cull that last fish, with a 14.75″.
Corey – I had a really clean day of fishing, but I lost one fish that might have helped me an inch or two.
Tyler – I fished really clean only losing one good fish probably around the 18” mark. I did have the craziest catch I’ve ever had from my kayak. Hooked into a 17” fish that got wrapped up in brush so I sat and played him for a few minutes when he never freed himself I started pulling and the whole brush pile started coming up…. Somehow I was able to pull the entire pile up grab the fish and break the line letting the brush pile fall back to the bottom of the lake!!
John – Thankfully I was able to fish pretty cleanly, and only lost a couple small fish all day. Nothing that mattered.
As for stories, I’ve gotta admit that I enjoyed outfishing some of the tournament guys who kept passing me by all day. I had one glitter rocket crowd me a bit on a point I was preparing to fish, so landing a couple of keeper fish right in front of them was pretty sweet. I’m pretty sure that’s one of every kayak fishermen’s guilty pleasures.
Robert – I fished pretty clean, I did hook something right at the end of the day that made 2 super hard pulls and broke my wart off.  I was fairly certain it was a drum and not a bass.  I was more upset about losing the wart than the fish.  As far as my big fish goes, I was doing a lot of point hopping.  I was almost to a point and a bass boat rushed in and cut me off by about 30 yards.  I could hear them cussing about all of the kayaks when I caught my 20.00″ right behind them!

See any wildlife worth mentioning?

Troy – Bald eagles
Corey – Spotted a river otter, red fox, and a lot of Pileated Woodpeckers
Tyler – Just some wild drunks swimming….
John – Aside from a couple eagles and an osprey, there was a group of humans hanging out on a dock that were pretty entertaining. LOZ man… it’s something else.
Robert – There was a bald eagle I saw on Friday that I got a couple good pictures and videos of.

What are your tournament fishing plans for 2024?

Troy – I plan on fishing a few more MOYAK Series tournaments and some KKA tournaments. Not sure if I will get to any of the National level tournaments this year (Hobie, KBF, etc)
Corey – I plan on fishing as many Moyak events as I can, but with my wedding being in early summer, I already can’t fish Stockton and Truman.
Tyler – Going to try and win the river AOY for the second year in a row,  then fish what lake events I’m able to this year I’m going to be building a house and will be busy!
John – My top goal every year with tournament fishing is to qualify for the All-American Classic. I won’t be able to fish enough events with any local club to be in the running for AOY this year, so I decided to focus on All American Kayak Series events this year with a couple of MoYak and other local events along the way.
Robert – I’m going to try to fish all of the Moyak tournaments.  Probably a few of the Western Missouri Kayak tournaments.  I’m most excited about the All-American Classic on Truman next month.  Anyone who knows me knows that Truman is my favorite lake and the Classic is during my favorite time of the year.  I am looking forward to that more than anything.

Do you have any sponsor or personal shout-outs you’d like to give?

Troy – No sponsors, but I’ll shout out my travel partner for the weekend, Kyle Savner. It was his idea to go fish that area of the lake!
Corey – Always a thanks to my family and the man upstairs.
Tyler – Eco fishing shops for always taking care of all my kayak needs.
John – You bet. I’m proudly sponsored by the bank account my employer deposits checks into every two weeks and by my family which reminds me that it’s okay to spend a little bit of that on myself fishing every now and then. Special thanks to my wife Nancy, who has been my biggest encourager for nearly 25 years.

I’d also like to give a huge shout-out to my unofficial fan club, the awesome college anglers from the Northwest Fishing Club! Looking forward to supporting your benefit event on April 20th, the Spring Bearcat Classic: https://tourneyx.com/leaderboard/standings/spring-bearcat-classic. (That’s open to everyone, so if you’re looking for a fun event to fish in northwest Missouri, come fish with us at Pony Express Lake here in a couple of weeks!)
Robert – A big thank you to Ellis Battery in Ozark Mo.  They have been helping me out with some batteries this year.  I couldn’t have fished in the conditions I did for 3 days without some good power.

Derby Stats
Anglers 104
Fish caught – 546 (FPA – 5.25)
Total limits – 61 (59%)
Margin of victory – 1.5″
Twenty+ Club – Troy Nydegger (21.5″, 20″) Corey Jackson (20″) Robert Swearngin (20″), Corey Sims (20.5″), Shane Coon (21.75″)
Trash Pot – Robert Swearngin – 20″ Drum
Smallest Bass Award – Andrew Leotaud 8.75″
Air temp at launch – 33
Air temp at takeout – 71
Water temps reported – Low to Mid 50s