“I’m going to be fishing in this tournament,” said Chevy pro Dion Hibdon of Sunrise Beach, Mo. “And I’m really torn about how I’m going to approach it. The bite is really good right now, both shallow and deep, and there are a few different patterns in play for this event. You can find them summertime fishing out deep and the shallow-water fall patterns are starting to emerge as well. There are no sophisticated secrets on this lake right now; the fish are biting everything.”

     Hibdon, who has two FLW tournament wins on Lake of the Ozarks, suggested crankbaits and big worms for anglers looking to fish the deep, clear water and shad-oriented spinnerbaits, crankbaits and jigs for the shallow patterns.

     “In certain areas of the lake, the water is very clear right now,” he said. “Or you can move up the river to find the dirty water. The shad are very thick right now and the most important factor will be just keying in on where the fish are.”

     Hibdon said it was hard to predict the winning weight in this event because of changing seasons.

     “If the tournament happened today, I’d be predicting that it would take 20 pounds a day,” the Chevy pro continued. “However, we’re at the weird point of the year where the patterns will be changing very soon and the weights could come down a bit. Because of that, I’ll predict that it’s going to take 15 pounds a day to win this event.”

     Anglers will take off from the Grand Glaize Recreation Area located at 711 Public Beach Rd. in Osage Beach, Mo., at 7 a.m. daily. Weigh-in will be held at the takeoff site on Thursday and Friday beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at Walmart located at 4252 Highway 54 in Osage Beach beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

     Pros will fish for a top award of $35,000 plus a Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award consisting of a Ranger Z117 with 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines are met.

     The EverStart Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of four tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points in each division that could earn them the Strike King Angler of the Year title along with $5,000 for the pro and $2,000 for the co-angler. The top 40 pros and co-anglers from each respective division will qualify for the EverStart Series Championship that will be held on the Ouachita River in Monroe, La., Nov. 1-4.

     The EverStart Series tournament on Lake of the Ozarks is being hosted by the Tri-County Lodging Association.

     For complete details and updated information visit FLWOutdoors.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the EverStart Series on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.