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Luke Karg and his mentor Gary Foree fish together at Peaceful Valley Lake in Owensville in 2021 (Photo submitted).<\/p>\n
The water on Truman Lake was colder and muddier than normal this April, making for some tough fishing conditions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Luke Karg, of House Springs, had one last shot before graduating to win the Missouri TBF High School Trail Super Tournament for bass fishing \u2013 which he and his then 16-year-old fishing partner, A.J. Massa, had won the year before.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s the last tournament of the season for the Missouri student program of The Bass Federation, and it\u2019s also the final opportunity to earn enough points to be named Team of the Year \u2014 the top-scoring duo in the state.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe tournament itself meant a lot to us, with it being our last state tournament together,\u201d Karg said. \u201cIt was very tough. There was, at most, two inches of visibility in the water, but a lot of fishing is just adapting to the changes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Karg and Massa headed out on the water for two days for eight hours each. At the end of each day, they weighed their top five fish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe first day, they caught almost enough bass to win the tournament,\u201d said Gary Foree, Karg\u2019s mentor and family friend, who is a former professional fisherman. \u201cThey had almost 19 pounds, which is insane. There hasn\u2019t been a tournament in three years over 17 pounds on Truman Lake.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n They brought in 16 pounds on the second day, which would have brought their total up to nearly 35 pounds. But unfortunately it didn\u2019t count. Their boat malfunctioned, making them miss the weigh in.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was pretty heart-wrenching,\u201d Karg said. \u201cIt was one of our best bags as a team on one of the most difficult days.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t all lost.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Karg and Massa ended up taking second place at Truman Lake with one day\u2019s worth of fish, and they still had enough points to be named Team of the Year, just as they were last year.<\/span><\/p>\n Karg has been part of the Team of the Year five years in a row, including as an incoming high-school freshman.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That title also sent the team to the TBF Student Angler Federation High School National Championship, which was held at Oklahoma\u2019s Grand Lake O\u2019 the Cherokees in June.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Only the top two high-school teams from each state can compete, and Karg is the only person in Missouri to have qualified for that opportunity five years in a row, according to officials for the national championship.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTo be one of the top two teams in Missouri for five consecutive years is pretty freaking amazing,\u201d said Karl Buck, who previously led the federation\u2019s high school program in Missouri and was also Karg\u2019s team leader. \u201cI\u2019m just so proud it\u2019s unbelievable. I mean, I can\u2019t believe that I was involved in his upcoming as a fisherman.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Karg began competitive fishing when he was 12 and participated in dozens of individual and team tournaments as a teen. Through it all, he struggled with an autoimmune illness that made him miss numerous days from school, he said, but he\u2019s proud he still managed to graduate on time in May and continue fishing.<\/span><\/p>\n While it was grueling standing on a boat for hours under the hot sun, Karg said the national championship was exhilarating because some of the world\u2019s top fishermen were watching.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the biggest tourn of the year, and a lot of people only get to go to it once, if even,\u201d Karg said. \u201cIt really could be the biggest tournament of your life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n \t<\/p>\n Karg has loved to fish ever since he could hold a rod, said his father Rick Karg. Even as early as 5, he said Karg could catch fish when the adults around him were coming up empty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a magic,\u201d Rick said. \u201cMy scientific brain says, \u2018Is there like a vibration from his heartbeat that travels down the line because he\u2019s got his finger touching it, that the fish like?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Foree met Karg because of a life-changing promise he made to Karg\u2019s mother, Becky Rumley.<\/span><\/p>\n Rumley was the nurse administering Foree\u2019s chemotherapy treatment at St. Claire Hospital, and one day, she told him how much her nine-year-old son loved to fish. At the time, Foree thought he only had a few months to live.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI ended up telling her that if I survive this, I\u2019ll take him to Lake of the Ozarks and get him a five pounder because I used to be a [fishing] guide on the lake,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Foree did pull through, and when they went out fishing, Karg didn\u2019t just catch one five-pound bass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI caught three five-pound bass and two six pounders, and like a bunch of big fish,\u201d Karg said. \u201cIt is probably the best day of fishing in my life. And ever since then, he\u2019s just dedicated a huge part of his life to help teach me and my partner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Foree was equally amazed after Karg pulled out nearly 40 pounds of fish that day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe just had the best day of fishing anybody could have,\u201d Foree said. \u201cThat\u2019s how I got him hooked on fishing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Over the years, Foree taught him about tracking fish through the different seasons and how to read the water and the banks. He also helped him get his first boat.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, Foree said, Karg\u2019s instincts are his fishing superpower.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo many times they won a tournament when the fishing was really tough, and Luke said, \u2018Let\u2019s try over here. That bank looks good,\u2019\u201d Foree said. \u201cAnd they\u2019ll go over, and they\u2019ll catch enough fish on that bank to win the tournament.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Karg believes his instincts have developed with the dozens of tournaments and countless hours of fishing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOver time, it\u2019s become more of an instinct, than having to think about, \u2018Oh, I should make a change,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIt just naturally comes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n For instance, at both the Truman Lake and national championship, Karg said he was painting his own custom lures while he was on the boat.<\/span><\/p>\n At Truman, he made the decision to color a half-inch chartreuse line on his spinner bait, he said, and he ended up catching much bigger fish, but less fish. If his lure had a straight tail, the catch was better as well, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about how the bait works in the water,\u201d he said. \u201cThe smallest little detail that can just trigger the fish to eat. That\u2019s where a lot of the fun comes into it for me, is all the difficulties and fun little changes you can make. You can go from catching no fish for hours on end to catching your limit in a minute.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n \t<\/p>\n Karl Buck remembers meeting Karg when he was about 12 on a dock at the Peaceful Valley Lake in Owensville, where Karg\u2019s grandparents have a lake house. Buck used to run a student program called the Owensville Anglers, and they were finishing up a tournament that day.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen we were doing our weigh-in down at the dam, they came down to the boat ramp to inquire,\u201d Buck said. \u201cHe\u2019ll probably hate this, but he was the most bashful young man, super quiet and reserved.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Owensville Anglers is how Karg got his start with tournament fishing, which Buck says is much different than regular fishing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In a tournament, Buck said the first rule is \u201cfind five.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re fishing for five fish,\u201d Buck said. \u201cDoesn\u2019t matter what they weigh, they just got to be keepers,\u201d meaning they are big enough to keep.<\/span><\/p>\n The fish go in the box where they\u2019re kept alive and healthy, which is a standard conservation practice in the high-school tournaments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAfter you have five, then you\u2019re going to change your game,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s now no longer about just catching fish. You\u2019re looking to upgrade the fish that you already have. Big fish get big for a reason. They\u2019re hard to catch.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Big fish know how to hide, and that\u2019s where casting skills come into play, Foree said. He called Karg\u2019s casting skills \u201cinsane.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe can skip jigs and lures and put them in places nobody else can,\u201d Foree said. \u201cThat\u2019s why he\u2019s so good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But he wasn\u2019t always that good, Buck remembers, which is why Karg earned the nickname \u201cOops\u201d after fishing with Buck and his son one day.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLuke throws this cast \u2014 I believe it was a spinner bait \u2014 and it winds up on the roof of this dock, stuck,\u201d Buck said. \u201cSo we go up and we get it. A little while later, he makes another cast and it gets stuck on somebody\u2019s dock.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n After each time, Karg would just say, \u201cOops\u201d and the nickname was born. Buck said when they fished together this past summer, he was blown away at his talent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Karg and Massa ended up placing 56th out of more than 200 teams in the national championship in Oklahoma.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nA promise<\/h4>\n
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\u2018Find five\u2019<\/h4>\n
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