No more moderate temperatures and balmy days…below freezing temps ushered in the new year as 32 teams huddled at Buck Creek Marina for the third event of the 2018 Joe Bass Team Trail Bull Shoals Division. Despite the cold temperatures, numbing boat rides, and chilly wind, more than half of the field boated a five bass limit while competing for the Joe Bass Team Trails Championship at Table Rock Lake in October. The strength of Joe Bass anglers is becoming recognized nationally as the Trail is proud to send an angler to the BASSMASTER Classic for the second year in a row, with Ryan Butler winning the 2018 honors on the heels of Scott Clift’s visit in 2017.
Topping the field was Gary Daniel and Jay Oliver. Their tournament best bag settled the scales at 16.41 pounds. The team explained their Sport Boats USA Key to Success was slinging umbrella rigs in 20-25’ of water along channel swing banks. To pad their earnings, they also secured the $1000.00 Sport Boats USA Skeeter Bonus as they fished from Gary’s new ZX250!
Close behind in second place was Kelly Jones and Roger Satterfield. They too chose to fish umbrella rigs throughout the day. Their 16.11 pound limit was taken from 15’ along steeper banks.
Third spot went to Fred Hale and Quinton Gannon. They broke the a-rig mold, choosing jigs as their main lure. With 15.62 pounds to show for their efforts, Fred shared they fished their jigs slowly in 35’ of water along steeper banks.
Proving it pays to fish to the last minute, the Ozark Chevrolet Big Bass of 4.79 pounds fell to an umbrella rig tossed by the veteran team of Buck Comstock and Greg Blair. They noted the big fish hit within sight of the Buck Creek weigh in at 2:45!
The next event in the Bull Shoals Division is February 3 at 7:00 am, Buck Creek Marina. Special thanks to the fine folks at Buck Creek Marina for the hot coffee and the fresh breakfast burritos.
Welcome Blue Waters Resort in Protem, MO as our Official lodging for Joe Bass Team Trail while fishing the Bull Shoals Division. Visit Blue Waters Resort at www.bluewatersresort.net
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | Pnlty | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout | |
| 1 | Gary Daniel – Jay Oliver | 5 | 4.34 | 16.41 | 110 | $2,290.00 | Top Skeeter | |
| 2 | Kelly Jones – Roger Satterfield | 5 | 4.58 | 16.11 | 109 | $870.00 | ||
| 3 | Fred Hale – Quinton Gannon | 5 | 4.18 | 15.62 | 108 | $520.00 | ||
| 4 | Larry Hurtt – Chris Adams | 5 | 4.74 | 15.6 | 107 | $430.00 | 2BB | |
| 5 | Dustin Blevins – Eric Blevins | 5 | 3.37 | 15 | 106 | $200.00 | ||
| 6 | Mark Thompson – Jim Smith | 5 | 3.96 | 14.4 | 105 | $152.00 | ||
| 7 | Michael Cox – Tommy Skinner | 5 | 3.7 | 13.3 | 104 | |||
| 8 | Ed Young – *Lynn Luther | 5 | 3.1 | 13.18 | 103 | |||
| 9 | Jacob Garrett – *Bo Burtrum | 5 | 3.89 | 12.97 | 102 | |||
| 10 | Don Parkin – Rodney Shockey | 5 | 2.72 | 12.94 | 101 | |||
| 11 | Laryme Campbell – David Rogers | 5 | 4.2 | 12.77 | 100 | |||
| 12 | Buck Comstock – Greg Blair | 4 | 4.79 | 12.38 | 99 | $190.00 | 1BB | |
| 13 | Darrin King – Mark Mahaffey | 5 | 2.82 | 12.29 | 98 | |||
| 14 | Matt Layman – Casey Brotherton | 5 | 3.02 | 11.93 | 97 | |||
| 15 | Max Atkinson – Kenny Gipson | 5 | 2.85 | 11.73 | 96 | |||
| 16 | David McCormick – Blake Hart | 5 | 11.61 | 95 | ||||
| 17 | Jeff Epley – Kelly Greer | 4 | 11.49 | 94 | ||||
| 18 | Jason Davidson – Darren Tilley | 5 | 3.13 | 10.73 | 93 | |||
| 19 | Richie Huebner – Brandon Lowry | 5 | 9.57 | 92 | ||||
| 20 | *Matt Loveall – Shannon Loveall | 5 | 0.5 | 9.24 | 91 | |||
| 21 | Rick Jones – Jeremy Gilbert | 3 | 3.08 | 7.05 | 90 | |||
| 22 | Roger Harp – Bill Fair | 3 | 6.83 | 89 | ||||
| 23 | Bryan Barnard – *fished alone | 3 | 6.46 | 88 | ||||
| 24 | Cody Ellison – *Zach Woods | 1 | 3.83 | 3.83 | 87 | |||
| 25 | Rory Preis – | 1 | 2.62 | 2.62 | 86 | |||
| 26 | Tom Mason – Chris Reese | 1 | 2.05 | 2.05 | 85 | |||
| 28 | Luke Bradley – Trey Huff | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Myron Dixon – Pat Thurman | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Arthur Fortin – Marvin Whisnant | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Aaron Hodge – James Bailey | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Mark Taylor – *Scott Cantrell | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Mike White – Matt White | 0 | 10 |
*alternate