Story by Ken Duke | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
Even before practice was over, Nick Brown was telling friends that he was going to win the Chompers/NPFL Stop #5 on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Bait-Wrx. He just didn’t realize how tough it would be.
Backstory
“I had a terrific practice,” the 49-year-old Texan said. “I really thought I could catch 17 pounds a day, and the fish I was seeing in practice kept getting bigger. I thought 20-plus pounds a day was possible. When I heard that a lot of guys were struggling, it made me even more confident.”
Practice
Brown started practice in the mid-lake area and found water temperatures ranging from 67 to 72 degrees — warmer than he was hoping to find, but not unexpected since the region was in the midst of a historic heat wave. He caught some fish on the first day of practice, but wasn’t satisfied with what he found, so he decided to try a different area on the second of the three practice rounds.
“That’s when I went to the Gravois Mills area,” Brown said. “I found 62-degree water, which is what I wanted. I had five keeper bites in the first 12 minutes!”
A keeper at LOZ was any bass measuring 15 inches or better, and they were very hard to come by. In fact, almost as many anglers zeroed as brought limits to the scales over the three competition days.
“I found about 30 good targets in that Gravois arm — logs that had washed onto sandbars that also had some mixed rock,” Brown explained. “Everything was in about 2 to 7 feet of water and there was about a hundred yards between each log.”
The fish there were feeding on shad, which were active around the wood cover. Brown felt so confident about his area and pattern — casting a buzzbait over the logs — that he stopped fishing early on the final practice day.
Competition
With such a stellar practice, Brown hoped to fish the tournament on cruise control, rotating between the logs on the sandbars and picking up solid keepers throughout each round. Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way.
The fishing slowed … and the fish weren’t engulfing his buzzbait. Sometimes they were jumping completely out of the water to come down on the bait, only to miss it completely.
“I only caught three keepers on Day 1, but I missed several big ones,” he said. “If I had caught what bit, I probably would have had about 18 pounds. Instead, I had 11 pounds, 11 ounces, including one bass that weighed 4-06.”
It was a disappointment. Brown trailed Day 1 leader Michael Stout by 6-01, but he had seen enough action from quality fish that he knew he needed to do the same thing on Day 2. That’s when he took command.
“I basically won the tournament on Day 2 and fought to stay in contention on the first and third days,” he admitted. “The sun positioned the bass in the shade of the logs, and the bite was on. Even though quite a few good fish missed my buzzbait, I still managed a limit weighing 21-08 and feel like I could have had 25 pounds if a couple of better fish had connected.”
His catch was the heaviest of the round and the tournament and enough to take the lead after Stout stumbled with just 7-07. Naturally, Brown had a lot of confidence going into the last day.
And the final round started well. He put a 4-15 in the boat early, but there was a problem. The area he had mostly to himself on the first two days was now crowded. His limited number of targets were covered up with locals in their bass boats and with kayak anglers practicing for a weekend tournament. Instead of 30 targets he could move between without interruption, he had about five that weren’t occupied by other anglers not competing in the NPFL event.
“I lost a 6 pounder, and had several blow-ups from quality fish that just missed the buzzbait,” he said. “With just three keepers, I certainly didn’t think I had a chance to win.”
But of course, he did win. His three keepers weighed 12-10, enough to hold off Joseph Webster by 5 ounces and Drew Cook by 12 ounces.
In the process, Brown became the first Texan to win an NPFL event and the first angler to win without catching a limit on each day of competition.
Lake of the Ozarks was that tough! In fact, it was statistically the toughest tournament in NPFL history. The average angler brought just 2.32 bass to the scales each day.
Luckily, Nick Brown loves “grinder” tournaments, and we can see why.
Takeaways
The great majority of the bass Brown took the scales came on a 1/2-ounce buzzbait — the noisiest one he could find.
“The Rowdy Buzz is a really noisy bait. It squeaks, it gurgles, the blade bangs against the head,” Brown explained. “I wanted to throw something other than a plopper-style topwater since the bass see so many of those on Lake of the Ozarks. I also thought the buzzbait would get better quality fish because it might aggravate them more than a plopper.”
A straight, consistent retrieve that maximized bait noise worked best for Brown and caused the fewest missed strikes. The fish concentrated around the logs best when the sun was out. Otherwise, it was tough to get bit … even for the champ, who was quite a tear.
“I’ve had an amazing October,” said Brown. “On October 17th, I became a grandfather. My son and his wife had a baby boy named Levi. Then, just a week later, I won the biggest tournament of my career. I am blessed.”
Gear
Most of Brown’s bass came on a buzzbait:
Bait: 1/2-ounce Rowdy Lures Rowdy Buzz Single Prop Buzzbait with a black blade (replaced skirt with black Zoom Horny Toad)
Line: 50-pound-test Power Pro braid
Rod: Kistler Helium 7-foot medium-heavy casting rod
Reel: Daiwa Tatula Elite casting reel (7.1:1 gear ratio)
Brown also caught a key fish on a 5-inch Scottsboro Tackle Company glide bait — a 4-15 that struck on Day 3.
