For Immediate Release Media Contact: Pam Jones or Marjorie Beenders
June 28, 2010 Phone: 573-636-8282 « Email: pam@tbwgroup.net
Learn to Fish or Sharpen Your Skills
at Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks
LAKE OF THE OZARKS, MO – The fish are biting—bass, crappie and catfish—at Central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks. But if you don't have a boat or don't know where to find the fish, or if you want to fine-tune your fishing skills, consider hiring an experienced, licensed fishing guide.
Several professional guides operate throughout the Lake area, each with a slightly different specialty or approach. They all offer half-day or full-day trips, and provide a safe, comfortable boat, reliable rods and reels, and the proper bait and tackle for the type of fish you want to catch. Most important, Lake-area guides offer their expertise and skill; they know what depth of water to fish in, what lures or bait are most productive, and how different fish act at different times of the year. Above all, Lake-area guides love to fish and teach others how to do it right.
One hard-working Lake-area fishing guide is Jack Uxa of Jack’s Guide Service, based at Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach. Uxa, who comes from a family of fishermen, opened his guide service at the Lake in 2003. “I’m one of the younger guides here but I think I’m the best one,” Uxa says. “This is my full-time job and I take it very seriously. The proof is in the pictures of the fish my customers catch, posted on my website.” Being a fishing guide is hard work, he notes. “It takes many, many hours to do it right,” he says. “A lot of guides may be good fishermen but that doesn’t necessarily mean they can teach people how to catch fish. I have caught thousands of fish, but I always get more enjoyment out of watching someone else catch a fish than I do catching them myself.”
Uxa says his customers mostly are “guys looking to catch bass,” but he also guides “fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, grandpa, grandma, couples, honeymooners, people practicing for a tournament, corporate groups and kids wanting to catch their first fish.” Every child on his guided trips receives a lure pack to take home. Customers come from Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota and “all over the country,” Uxa says.
But no matter who he’s guiding, “we don't go out and not catch fish,” Uxa says. “Even on the occasional tough day, we still manage to put together a pattern by the end of the day.” He has a No Catch/No Pay policy, “but that has rarely happened,” he says. “If one species isn’t biting, we’ll go where another species is biting. That’s one of the benefits of being a multi-species guide and being on the water every day. On days off I’m out looking for fish. That’s my job!”
Uxa picks up customers at Tan-Tar-A or at a pre-arranged location. Fees are $225 for four hours, $275 for six hours and $325 for eight hours, for one or two people; a third person is $50. Contact him at (573) 434-2570 or www.fishinglakeoftheozarks.com.
Uxa notes, “I strongly encourage catch and release of large bass over four pounds. I will gladly fillet bass weighing one to three pounds for my customers. I view those fish as their fish that they caught, so if they want to keep them, I will clean them.” He also urges customers to catch, photograph and release large catfish. “The biggest fish deserve to be let go,” he says. “The younger fish are better eating anyways.”
Another busy fishing guide business is Ben Blankenbeker’s Hawg Stump Lures & Guide Service, based at The Lodge of Four Seasons in Lake Ozark. “You call a big bass a hawg, and they like to hang out under stumps, so the name came from that,” he explains. A native of the Lake area, Blankenbeker’s father, John, a freelance guide, taught him to fish, and later he started competing in tournaments. “After I got back from the military in 2000 I bought a bass boat,” he says. “One day dad called and said, ‘We need another boat. Come help us.’ Seeing the happy faces of the customers, people who don’t get to fish much, got me hooked on guiding.” He’s been a professional guide for ten years.
Blankenbeker says more than half of his customers want to fish for bass; the rest are after crappie and catfish. He guides families, couples and a lot of multi-boat corporate retreats (with the help of other guides, including his father).
“I’m one of the few guides at the Lake who offer a kids’ fishing trip, because kids are the future of the sport,” he says. “We go out with a bunch of live worms and teach the kids to focus. Typically they’ll catch 50 to 100 bluegills.” Blankenbeker notes, “these trips are a lot of fun, but they’re also the hardest. Kids can get pretty excited!” The two-hour trip costs $125 for two kids under age 12 and one adult.
Blankenbeker is a strong proponent of catch-and-release bass fishing. “The reason is, I am trying to keep sport fishing strong. The majority of the time my customers are fine with it,” he says. He’ll clean crappie and catfish for customers who want to keep them.
His fee is $225 for four hours, $350 for eight hours for one or two people; he charges an extra $50 for a third person. That includes top brand-name equipment and a fully rigged tournament bass boat. Contact him at (573) 216-6567 or www.hawgstumpguideservice.net.
“People are amazed that there is so much skill involved in fishing,” Blankenbeker says. “There are thousands of books out there about the ‘science of fishing’ and that’s true. The fact that we can take a chunk of lead and a piece of wire and a plastic worm and put it all together and catch a fish really is amazing!”
Not all Lake-area guides focus on the Lake itself. Alfred Chapman of Rolla is the owner of Lake Ozark River Fishing Guide Service, which offers guided fishing trips on the Osage River below Bagnell Dam, as well as on the Lake of the Ozarks in the spring, fall and winger. “I offer my customers my knowledge of fishing the back waters and the more quiet areas on the Osage River,” he says. “I hope to break the stigma about fishing in the river. You can catch just as many fish there as you can on the Lake, and it’s much more relaxing, especially in the summer.”
Now in his first year as a professional guide, Chapman primarily offers guided fishing trips for bass, including small mouth, large mouth and Kentucky bass. He also guides for crappie, walleye and white bass. “We’ll try to fish for anything,” he says. Like other Lake-area guides, Chapman also has a catch-and-release policy regarding bass. “All the taxidermist needs is a photo and girth and length for mounting a trophy bass,” he says. “They all work off pictures to make plastic molds, so there’s no need to kill a fish to hang it on the wall.” Customers can keep any crappie, catfish, white bass or walleye. “It’s not like it was 40 years ago when people fished for food,” Chapman says. “Today it’s more for relaxation and to see what you can catch.”
Chapman says his customers include “everyday people who enjoy the outdoors.” He notes, “It’s fun to watch little kids catch their first fish. And I think women pick up fishing techniques pretty quick and can be just as good fishermen as men. The fish don’t know the difference!” He teaches customers how to run the river and read the water, and how to work the lures in the current. “You need a specialized jet boat that’s designed for running the river and that’s what I have,” Chapman says. He uses a champion bass boat when fishing on the Lake.
In addition to great fishing, Chapman notes, his guided tours offer scenic adventure. “For example, there’s a big eagle’s nest along the river with young birds in it now,” he says. “We always see a lot of wildlife on the river.” His rates are $250 for four hours, $350 for eight hours for two people, plus $75 for a third person and $50 per child. He’ll pick up customers at their resort or meet at the boat ramp below Bagnell Dam. Contact (573) 465-3810 or www.lakeozarkriverfishingguide.com.
At the Lake of the Ozarks you’ll also find fishing guides who specialize in catching catfish, guides who offer night fishing trips and guides who serve the occasional undercover celebrity. However, every Lake-area guide will agree with Chapman’s philosophy: “Fish but have fun first.”
To find out more about fishing guide services at the Lake of the Ozarks -- and for complete information about Lake-area lodging, dining, attractions and events -- call the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitor Bureau at 800-FUN-LAKE, or visit www.funlake.com.
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Note to News Media: For your convenience, you may download an electronic version of this article. Simply go to www.funlake.com. At the top of the home page, click on “Professional Media” to access this article and other Lake of the Ozarks news.
