For 50 years the Big O Charity Bass Tournament has raised funds for The Shriners Crippled Children’s Hospital in St Louis, Missouri. Last Saturday the tournament was once again held on Lake Wappapello and hosted by Chaonia Landing Marina. The Chaonia Landing Store/Restaurant opened early to provide the Angler’s with a hot breakfast and provide ice and snacks for the day. Wayne McSwane owner of Chaonia Landing provided a pontoon boat and served as the Big O blast off official promptly getting all the boats out on time. With brutal hot weather finally giving way to cooler nights, many Anglers found that their fish had moved or were not eager to bite. Water temperatures had dropped 5 degrees over the few days before the event requiring the fishermen to adjust to the changing conditions.
As the weigh ins started it was obvious that several teams made the necessary adjustments. Winning the Tournament with a total weight of 19.81 was the team of Aaron Grainger and Nathan Griffin. Nate said he had been on good fish in the flats and found they had moved the morning of the tournament to the channel ledge, these guys made the necessary adjustments to capture the victory.
Coming in 2nd place was the team of Curtis Black and Matt Allison with a weight of 16.93.
Rounding out the top 3 with 15.90 pounds was the team of Hunter and Spreull.
Big Bass of the event was a 5.17 pound Largemouth caught by the team of Manion/Manion.
The host marina provided a fish fry for all the contestants and spectators after the event, raffle prizes were given to all the participants and some money was raised for a really good cause.
Jeff Jewell
RB Bass Outdoors Angler
