Big Bass Boost! Spring Bash Brought Nearly 4,000 Anglers, $2M Impact To Lake Of The Ozarks (2024)

LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. — “We couldn’t ask for a better weekend.”

Charlie Terrell, co-founder of the Big Bass Bash, says he’s still recovering after helping pull off the Lake’s biggest fishing tournament, but he says it with a smile on his face. This year’s Bash was an especially good one.

By the numbers...

3,800

Approximately 3,800 anglers entered the Bash.

$100,000

The big winner (as always) brought home $100,000 for a single fish.

7.63

Shane Tinsley took home the grand prize, by catching a 7.63-pounder.

60s

The weather — often unpredictable in the spring —was perfect: sunny skies and temps in the 60s.

2x

The Bash’s food drive for Hope House — now in its second year —doubled what it brought in last year.

There’s no event quite like the Big Bass Bash. It’s an amateurs-only tournament, so professional anglers (who fish pro tournaments and make money) aren’t allowed. And anglers across the country know about it: this year, Terrell says participants came from at least 35 different states.

While the big winner gets $100,000 for the biggest fish of the weekend, the event has bi-hourly payouts throughout the tournament, so plenty of anglers bring home sizable cash prizes.

And the Bash has grown substantially over the years. Terrell and his family — his dad, his sister Sherie, and his sister Marie —started the event in 2006. Back then it only lasted one day and offered a $68,000 payout; the first year saw about 500 participants. This year, Lake of the Ozarks State Park’s Public Beach #2 —where registration occurs —was swarming with anglers for registration on Friday, April 19. Between the spring and fall bash and the other tournaments the family runs, Terrell says it’s “an all-year process.”

Terrell said he was especially pleased with the event’s food drive to support Hope House. “The truck was stacked full at the end of the weekend,” he said. “They said the truck would barely move, to get it back to the shelter!” One woman, the coach of a high school fishing team in Minnesota, brought 1,400 food items.

She held a “fill up the boat” event at home, and filled her boat with food donated from her local community. Then she drove the boat to Lake of the Ozarks and fished in the tournament. For every four food items donated, participants get a ticket to enter in a drawing for $5,000. So her team ended up with about 350 tickets and — unsurprisingly —won the drawing. Terrell said she planned to donate the money to the fishing team she coaches.

“At all of our events, we try to help the community too,” Terrell said of the food drive.

He added that the Bash has conducted an economic impact study, to measure the event’s estimated benefit to the Lake area’s economy. “Each event — spring and fall — brings in right at $2 million to the local community,” he revealed. “It’s during an off-time at the Lake, and it definitely helps the community.”

The 2024 Fall Big Bass Bash is set for Oct. 5–6. Learn more:midwestfishtournaments.com/big-bass-bash