Hunter Baughman: Ouachita

Where do I begin? When I entered all the Central Stren tournys back in January I had mixed emotions. These would be the highest level derbies I had fished, and out of the 3 lakes on the schedule I had never seen Lake of the Ozarks or Kentucky Lake. The ray of hope was the derby on Ouachita. The lake is about 90 miles from my home here in Arkansas. I have a mixed history there, but seem to usually do fair on that pond. When I left Missouri last month, with a finish way down in the 90's, my next goal was Ouachita. I arrived in town on Sat. evening and began practice on Sun. My first day of practice I had Around 13.5lbs and followed it up on the second day with near 16lbs. My pattern was a weightless zoom trick worm rigged wacky style until the sun got high. Hopefully by then I would have a strong limit and could go look for 1 or 2 big bed fish. Tues. I went back into town for my college classes, so that only left me with one more practice day. On Wed. I cut my hook tip off and went to my primary area and shook 11 bites in about an hour. From what I could tell, the fish I shook would have weighed 13-16 lbs. I honestly felt like I was in very good shape to make the top 10. Derby day 1 began in my primary area and I struggled to have 4 swimmers by the time the bite died. Went looking and found a 3lb bedder to finish my limit. Ended the day with 8.5lbs...not exactly what I was expecting. Day 2 I swung for the fences and stayed on the main lake in areas that have produced well in the past a search of a 20 lb bag to make up ground. Luck didn't swing my way and I lost 5 solid keepers and 1 big head on a jerkbait and floating worm. Weighed in 2 swimmers for 4.5lbs and ended the derby in 89th. Honestly not sure of what I should have done differently, not a happy camper with the outcome. On a side note I did have fun hangin out with Mike Haggerty and Eric Pinter. My next big derby is the weekend series on Greers Ferry in a couple of weeks and I will try to keep everyone updated.