by Nathan Bechtold“A change in the winds,” Captain Ron Duggan muttered under his breath. He adjusted his course bearings and steadied his grip on the helm; he knew what this strange shift foretold.Years ago Captain Ron had piloted the fastest ship on the...

Lake of the Ozarks is the Midwest’s favorite playground, and between Memorial Day and Labor Day, vacationers abound and business is booming. But when October hits, locals and boaters know plenty of waterfront places close for the winter. Not so at Redhead...

The alarm screeched from two docks in the same cove. It was the week before Memorial Weekend 2018 — not a good time for electricity to scorch through a cove close to one of the Lake’s hottest pool bars. It turns out, the source was from a most unusual...

by Nathan Bechtold   Boaters love Missouri. Besides being home to the number one recreational lake in the country—Lake of the Ozarks—Missouri also boasts several other very popular lakes for recreational boaters and anglers, as well as the Mississippi...

1950s — Tourism Takes HoldFiberglass. Links Landing. Century Boats. Bridal Cave. Major Hull Innovations.The Lake of the Ozarks came into its own in the 1950s, thanks to post-war prosperity and revolutionary advances in technology. The period brought...

John and Julie Figura spent their dating years boating on the Mississippi. John, an electrical engineer by trade, worked in satellite communications. He has been a boater since before he had a driver's license, and tells a lot of great stories about skiing...

by Michael Gillespie (posthumous) and Nathan Bechtold Don’t read this if you are squeamish about cemeteries. Especially don’t read this if you dread the thought that there might be burial sites under the Lake of the Ozarks directly in front of your property. You see,...

The Lake of the Ozarks has evolved from a rustic hunting and fishing destination to the boating Mecca of the Midwest. Here’s a peek at the Lake's second decade: the 1940s.1940s — Boating Grows With Post-War ProsperityDisposable Income Increases. Vacations...

While very little of the Netflix series Ozark was filmed at the lake where the story takes place, the show still resonates with those who live at Lake of the Ozarks or love to visit. Not all Ozarkians appreciated Ozark’s magnification of the drug and crime elements,...

The pared-down expansion of the No-Wake rules went into effect at the very end of last year’s boating season, and can be a bit confusing. Let’s cut to the chase.

Award-winning outdoors writer Brent Frazee knows every fish tale isn’t a whopper, and the best ones happen when you least expect them.

Before the dam was built, what would one day be Lake of the Ozarks was a largely undeveloped area, with tiny communities scratching out a living in the rocky Ozark soil. Through the years, people arrived to play at a Lake built first for power, but whose...

“A change in the winds,” Captain Ron Duggan muttered under his breath. He adjusted his course bearings and steadied his grip on the helm; he knew what this strange shift foretold.Years ago Captain Ron had piloted the fastest ship on the seven seas: The...