"I completely stay away from what everybody else does," Berry said. "The success I've had came from fishing in some of the cuts and coves right off the Osage River. I went into some of the pockets and looked for transitional areas like chunk rock to pea gravel, and pea gravel to sand.

"I used Terminator SnapBack soft jerkbaits; I always throw white. You have to weight those baits, so I throw a No. 3 Gamakatsu hook with a cone-shaped weight."

Berry does, however, do quite a bit of experimenting with presentations before he finds one that works. "When I go out there for practice, I go to chunk-rock and pea-gravel areas and rip that SnapBack jerkbait as fast as I rip a buzzbait," he explained. "I won't even let it get underwater. I rip it as fast as I can with an erratic motion, and sometimes fish will explode on it. If I'm not getting a touch or a sniff, I jerk it back with pauses. If they're swirling at it but not hitting it, I put a trailer hook or a stinger hook on it."

Another method that works is dead-sticking the soft jerkbait. "There have been a lot of times when the fish weren't as active, and I'd just let it fall down the bluff wall," observed Berry. "That's a good way to pick up subtle strikes. If you have a good pair of sunglasses, you can see a fish swirl on it after it falls 4 or 5 feet. Or you might see your line moving off."

THE AUTHOR'S APPROACH
While I only fish recreationally at LOZ, I've never had a bad day there. In the spring and early summer, my favorite tactic is to throw a large fire-tiger-colored floating Rapala minnow near boat docks and transitional rock structure, and over main and secondary points. I retrieve the bait by jerking it erratically, making it dart, dive and roll. I reel only to take up slack.

Later in the summer, I always catch fish by Carolina-rigging 6- to 8-inch worms off the short, sharp main-lake points near the dam. Current is strong off those points when the generators are running at Bagnell Dam, and it keeps the bass frisky even during the brightest, hottest part of the day. Worm color doesn't seem to matter. I've caught them at both ends of the spectrum, but I'm most confident with blue; I also like pumpkin with red metalflake.

From early June through August, I catch my biggest bass in this area from about 3 to 9 p.m.; this pattern usually tapers off at sunset. Another worthy summer pattern is one overlooked by almost everybody but crappie anglers. In fact, I stumbled on it while crappie-fishing a couple of years ago. I use light crappie jigs, either 1/16-ounce or 1/32-ounce, on 4-pound-test line spooled on an ultralight reel mated to a Falcon Ultralight rod. I fish the jigs under a slip-bobber right under the bluffs. It's very simple: Just cast it and wait. When the bobber goes under, just lift the rod. More often than not, you'll hook a bass instead of a crappie, and chances are good that it'll be a nice one.

For a comfortable change of pace, I also recommend fishing the big tributaries in the upper end of the Osage arm near Truman Dam. One of my favorites is Cole Camp Creek, which as it narrows becomes a series of deep pools separated by narrow runs and wide mudflats. Rocks line the banks and the bottom, serving as comfortable cover for bass in the heat of the day.