Californian Jarred Lintner holds the Bassmaster Opens Championship trophy high on Saturday. 

RIDGEWOOD, Mo. — An otherwise pretty high, bluebird sky — tell-tale sign of a major cold front’s recent passage — was an ugly sight to see for most bass anglers fishing for the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Championship title Saturday at Table Rock Lake.

Conditions on the sprawling lake in the Ozarks of Missouri changed drastically from the day before when Caleb Sumrall of New Iberia forged a second-day lead going into Championship Saturday. The post-cold front conditions smiled on some of the 12 finalists and crippled other patterns, like Sumrall’s.

Jarred Lintner of Arroyo Grande, California, took advantage of the conditions to rally from the runnerup spot Friday to the championship with five bass weighing 10 pounds, 15 ounces, for a three-day total of 37 pounds.

Brandon Lester of Fayetteville, Tennessee, grabbed second with 34-11, and Derek Hudnall, of Baton Rouge, was third with 34-1. Bobby Lane Jr. of Lakeland, Florida, was fourth with 32-7 and Scott Suggs of Alexander, Arkansas, took fifth with 32-3.

Lintner caught his limit by 8:30 a.m. The n came the bright sunshine, the wind  calmed and the bite shut down.

“The low light compensated for the lack of wind, which made the pattern really click,” he said told Bassmasters’ Craig Lamb. “Without wind, the fish could see lures from farther away in the clearer water.”

By midday the wind picked up but the bite did not for Lintner, which made the early morning bite the saving grace for the Californian.

Lintner used  a Spro Mike McClelland RkCrawler 55 crankbait and a Jackall MC/60. He also used a 3/4-ounce jig with a Strike King Rage Bug. He flipped the latter setup when encountering isolated cedar trees near transition areas.

As the tournament progressed, he found greater concentrations of bass holding on steeper tapering shorelines used as migration routes.

Sunrall finished ninth with 28 pounds, 15 ounces. He had a two-day total of 27 pounds, 4 ounces.

The 31-year-old Sumrall was fishless until approximately 1:15 p.m. Saturday when a 1-pound, 11-ounce bass  short-struck hard and broke the spinnerbait he was using. He did put it in the livewell but it was his first and only keeper of the day.

That was the way the bright, sunshiny day went. Bad break after bad break.

“I had four bites today and caught one,” Sumrall said on the weigh-in stage at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Missouri.

He had a shot at a much larger bass around midday but misfortune ruled. He flipped a white spoon into one of the many boat docks on the lake, felt the tick of a bite and set the hook on a heavy bass.

The scene was caught live on camera as a Bass Live cameraman was in each of the 12 boats for Championship Saturday. 

Sumrall anticipated trouble right away. The bass was hooked near the middle of the dock and he was on the outside.

The fish was tangled in something under the floating cover.

“Come out of there,” he said softly.

“Gawd, dude. … Oh, my goodness. Ah, dude, there’s nothing I can do. … C’mon. No, she’s gone. I feel my jig flopping. Yep, it pulled right off,” he said, crestfallen.

“That’s the biggest bite I had doing that all week. That’s the risk of doing this. You might, you’re not going to get every one of them out. It’s all right. It’s early.”

Sumrall was fishing in a borrowed boat for the third straight day, a Phoenix that Brock Mosley of Collinsville, Mississippi, who was eliminated from competition in the field of 28 anglers, let him use for Championship Saturday.