Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Voted #1 Fishing Guide on Lake of the Ozarks for 2025!!

 So happy to share with everyone that I was voted the best Fishing guide on the Lake of the Ozarks. I've been doing this a long time, long before they even had such of an award. I try to focus on a variety of species as each one has their best time of the year in addition to my staple which is bass fishing. We've had a busy first few months of the year but not a bad few months, just busy. The spring crappie season is done. Paddle fish season was really, really good this year. Right now, it's the bass spawn and we have been whacking them!! Soon enough the white bass and catfish will pick up. Those are a lot of fun too. I really look forward to catfish nuggets. I eat a ton of fish from crappie to paddlefish to whites and catfish. Most fish I cook in a pan or air fry but blue cats I usually deep fry. Our blue cat fishery is awesome. Several people have told me that our catfish taste way different and way better than other areas. I am sure it is because our lake is so full of shad, and it is very deep and very rocky. The water down deep is still cold. Memorial Day weekend is just about here. Summer tourist season is here. Be careful out there on the weekends. Lots of Drinking going on. Boat traffic will be picking up but that doesn't mean the fish will disappear. I look for the bass fishing to remain strong for a while still. June is typically one of our best months of the whole year. Mornings, evenings, are usually good but don't overlook afternoons because the dams create current through the lake more often in the afternoon than the morning. Current makes for easy feeding opportunities for fish that like to school up. This is a big deal and if you only fish up north or in ponds it's not something that people take advantage of. 

If you have any questions, feel free to text me. texting is probably the best way to reach me. phone calls and emails are fine to. Last minute trips are very possible this time of year too as the days are so much longer that I can fit more trips in per week. 

Tight lines everyone. 

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Another New Season has started.

I've been doing this for a while, I started taking guide clients on a regular basis in 2003. 6 years before that I started working in the fishing industry. In 1997 I was a skinny 16-year-old that walked into a tackle store looking for a job and knew I loved to fish. I started at the bottom. Counting and sorting out dead night crawlers, cleaning the live bait tanks, sweeping, moping, taking the trash out, you name it. Some things have changed since 1997, but a lot of things stay the same.  Gutting paddlefish is pretty gross. March is here, Spring breakers, families, and up and down weather. A month ago, we had a huge artic blast that made our winter fishing not very good. 8-10 inches of snow followed by a lot of ice on the lake. We've had some big warmups since then and several stretches of nice weather. Every week we'll have a cold snap with 40mph winds and that is normal for this time of the year but very difficult to work with. Mid-April things will settle down, and May is one of my favorite months to fish for bass. May is good for crappie too, but we do a lot of trolling in May. June is typically the best month of the whole year to book a trip. July is fine, august is fine, September is fine, October is getting rough, November is tough, December is great. 

This year I won a contest for best Fishing Guide on the Lake! Pretty excited for that. I've had 2 Wired2Fish videos come out this winter. I was quest on 2 different podcasts, a fishing radio show, plus my weekly fishing report on Thursday mornings and I did another you tube video with Mike Baker. All the promotional stuff is done and I'm trying to do as many trips as mother nature will allow me to do. 

Most things are the same but I am doing more paddle fish trips than before. My new fish finders are even better than ever. We are tracking them down and casting at them. It's very difficult if you're a beginner but if you can pitch somewhat accurately you should be able to catch on. That season is only 45 days so if you're interested don't waste any time getting on my schedule. 

I'm very active on social media. Jack Uxa, Jack's Guide Service, or any of the Lake of the Ozarks Facebook fishing pages. Find out information, research what's hot.