February and early March are historically when the largest bass in the state are caught. Lake of the Ozarks has large shad schools form off some of the major points. They formed in December and will stay together until mid March. The schools are huge and the big bass move to them to feed over the winter. The big bass are lazy and underneath the shad, waiting for injured or stunned shad to fall to them. Vertical jigging works best for these bass. I jig large 8-10 inch grubs and 3/4 oz. jigging spoons. The grubs are rigged on 1/2 oz. ball head jigs with a long shank 6 or 7 (0) hook.