Big buck$, not so big ba$$

A big crowd was on hand Sunday for the FLW finals on the Ouachita River

The Ouachita River is chocked full of bass. The ones that are biting right now aren’t that big, but Koby

Koby Kreiger and one of his five-fish limit Sunday

Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla., caught 20 bass weighing 38 pounds five ounces the past four days that ended up being worth $2,500 each.

The catch, four straight five-fish limits, won him $50,000 in cash, a Ranger Z518 with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor and a berth in the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup as champion of the FLW EverStart Championship out of Monroe. Kreiger beat second place Kent Ware of Wadmalaw Island, S.C., by 3 pounds, 15 ounces. The top 10 anglers ended up bringing 324 pounds of bass to the scales. A majority of the fish were released back into the river alive. There were loads of fish caught, but the big fish were in hiding, or so it seemed.

“It took a lot of hard work to get here,” said Kreiger. “I was predominantly fishing the river for as many

Buzz Craft of Vidalia caught this nice keeper, but didn’t make the finals

bites as I could get, it was tough catching anything big. I tried fishing the bayous a little bit but the quantity of bites was not there and knew I would be better off on the river.

Here’s Kreiger’s winning fishing report:  He headed south all the way to the Columbia Lock and Dam, the worked his way back north fishing key spots of wood just off the river channel. Kreiger said he found shad on just about every piece of wood in his fishing area and he targeted then with War Eagle spinnerbaits, CP1 or CP2 crankbaits and a Mini-Frenzy umbrella rig. The fish were suspended 7-8 feet deep.

The field of 200 was narrowed to 20 anglers Saturday, then the top 10 fished today for the top prizes. Here’s how they finished:

1st:       Koby Kreiger, Okeechobee, Fla., 20 bass, 38-5, $50,000 plus a Ranger Bass Rig
2nd:      Kent Ware, Wadmalaw Island, S.C., 20 bass, 34-6, $16,500
3rd:       James Stricklin Jr., Texarkana, Texas, 15 bass, 32-8, $8,500
4th:       Joseph Kremer, Osteen, Fla., 20 bass, 32-0, $7,500
5th:       Casey Martin, New Market, Ala., 20 bass, 31-13, $6,600

Jim Dillard of West Monroe was a local favorite in the championship, but also didn’t make the finals.

6th:       Bill Chapman, Salt Rock, W. Va., 19 bass, 31-11, $5,700
7th:       Larry Jones, Acworth, Ga., 20 bass, 31-4, $4,900
8th:        Brandon Medlock, Lake Placid, Fla., 13 bass, 30-14, $4,100
9th:        Robbie Dodson, Harrison, Ark., 20 bass, 30-14, $3,300
10th:      Kettle Brand Chips pro Dan Morehead, Paducah, Ky., 20 bass, 30-9, $2,500

A complete list of results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.

NEWS ALERT:    The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is the proud new owner of Wham Brake and Bussey Brake reservoirs thanks to a donation by International Paper. The outdoor recreation areas are valued at nearly  $8 million dollars and cover more than 8,000 acres in Morehouse and Ouachita parishes. More importantly, the reservoirs will now be aggressively managed and be available for public access in the future. The donation is being announced at a press conference at the Bussey Brake Boat Dock Monday. We will bring you all the details in Tuesday’s post.