Charlie Bunting

Charlie Bunting is from Jefferson City, Missouri, and started fishing as a kid with a cane pole from the bank. His early fishing eventually led him into the crappie world through the Capital Crappie Club, where he was introduced to competitive crappie fishing and began building the foundation for a long and successful tournament career. Charlie began fishing competitive crappie tournaments seriously in 1998. He started with the final year of the Crappiethon tournament trail, then moved into Crappie USA and several other major crappie tournament organizations that followed. Since then, Charlie has become one of Missouri’s most accomplished crappie tournament anglers. Fishing with Travis Bunting, Charlie won his first national championship in 2005 with Crappie USA. The team later added more major national titles, including an American Crappie Trail national championship and a National Crappie League national championship. Along the way, they have won roughly 35 qualifying tournaments, building one of the strongest competitive crappie résumés in the region. Charlie primarily fishes Truman Lake and Lake of the Ozarks. On Lake of the Ozarks, he and Travis became especially known for their success fishing structure they had put in the lake themselves. Charlie says they are the only team he knows of to win on the same lake three years in a row, winning three qualifying tournaments on Lake of the Ozarks by fishing those carefully placed areas. Charlie’s favorite ways to catch crappie include casting, corking when the season is right, and single-poling with a 14-foot B’n’M pole held dead still over the fish. His approach is built on years of patterning fish, learning how crappie use structure, and understanding how to adjust as the bite changes. One of Charlie’s strengths is his willingness to help other anglers. Whether someone stops him at the ramp or asks how to find fish on their own, Charlie enjoys pointing people in the right direction, helping them understand brush piles or conservation beds, and giving them practical advice that helps them enjoy the outdoors more. Charlie also has a strong perspective on sponsorships and professionalism in fishing. He believes sponsorships should be treated as a responsibility, not just a logo on a shirt, and that anglers should work to create real value for the companies that support them. Charlie’s longtime sponsors and supporters include B’n’M, Power-Pole, Phoenix Boats, Amped Outdoors, Angler’s Port Marine, BeatDown Outdoors, Mercury Motors, and other companies that have helped support his tournament fishing over the years. As a Missouri Fishing Intel contributor, Charlie brings championship-level crappie knowledge, decades of experience on Missouri waters, and a practical, generous approach to helping anglers catch more fish. His reports and insight are especially valuable for anglers wanting to better understand Truman Lake, Lake of the Ozarks, brush piles, conservation beds, crappie movement, and how to make small details matter on the water.