03/12/2026
Congratulations Bill!
Bill Davenport – Fishing: A 1963 graduate of Waynesville High School, the 82-year-old Davenport is known around Lake of the Ozarks as “The Legend,” in part because he has won more than 161 tournaments of various types and sizes – club tournaments and team tournaments. In fact, a 2024 issue of Lake of the Ozarks Fishing Guide — a popular area tabloid — has a photo of the affable angler on the cover with a blurb that reads “The Legend: Bill Davenport.” Additionally, Chompers, a bait company based in Missouri, named a jig skirt color after him in 1995. It’s called the “Davenport Special,” and it’s a combination of brown and green flash. That basic pattern has been responsible for 90 percent of his 161 wins over the years, with most of those coming on the Chompers’ skirted brush jig. Davenport won three Charger bass tournaments, earning new boats each time and thousands in prize money. His victories have not been confined to Lake of the Ozarks, either. He’s also won at Table Rock Lake and Truman Lake, proving that Davenport knows how to adapt and compete on lakes where he’s not a regular.
