Weather conditions were once again the elephant in the room with unseasonably mild temperatures the week prior to the event being replaced with a full blown snow storm in the days leading up to the event. A warming trend late in the week made the air temperatures tolerable for tournament day. With the roller-coaster of weather, fishing proved to be tougher than normal as 31 teams brought in 15 limits to the Buck Creek Marina weigh-in. As always, every fish weighed proved valuable for qualifying points for the Joe Bass Invitational to be held Stockton Lake next fall.
Team Blevins continued their amazing season with Eric and Dustin dropping five fish on the scales for an event-best 19.94 pounds. Dustin shared they ran a bunch of spots and varied techniques to boat 15 keepers for the day. Their Mid America RV Key to Success included an A-rig coupled with spoons and ice jigs on suspended fish.
Rodney Shockey teamed with Greg West to anchor the runner-up position. Their best five bass weighed a stout 18.90 pounds. Rodney noted they used a jig and A-Rig, concentrating on deep spots. Rodney also explained the change from sunny skies to overcast in the afternoon didn’t seem to affect their bite as they scattered 14 keepers throughout the day.
Eric Toliver and Zach Lawrence boated a solid 17.32 pound limit, good for third place on a tough day. Eric shared they leaned on an A-rig along with a jerkbait, stating most of their bag came later in the afternoon as their bite strengthened with the cloud cover and wind.
Taylor Surly and Drew Sagely padded their 6th place finish with the Top Skeeter honors for the event. They fished deep shad schools with a swimbait and jerkbait, slinging them from Taylor’s 2019 ZX250 Skeeter.
Richie Huebner and Brandon Lowery leveraged the NAPA Big Bass of the event, a 6.25 pound lunker, to anchor a 16.83 pound bag, good enough for a fourth place finish. The toad hit a jig pulled off a shallow ledge early in the day.
The Bull Shoals Division wraps up with the season finale taking place February 18th with a 7:00am takeoff from Buck Creek Marina.
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Dustin Blevins – Eric Blevins | 5 | 4.91 | 19.94 | 220 | $1,850.00 |
| 2 | *Rodney Shockey – Greg Wood | 5 | 5.49 | 18.9 | 219 | $1,170.00 |
| 3 | Eric Toliver – Zach Lawrence | 5 | 4.03 | 17.32 | 218 | $700.00 |
| 4 | Richie Huebner – Brandon Lowry | 5 | 6.25 | 16.83 | 217 | $590.00 |
| 5 | *Aaron Hodge – Jay Oliver | 5 | 4.99 | 15.93 | 216 | $226.00 |
| 6 | Drew Sagely – Taylor Surly | 5 | 3.83 | 15.08 | 215 | $430.00 |
| 7 | *Tyler Duggins – Bo Burtrum | 5 | 3.72 | 14.67 | 214 | |
| 8 | Kelly Jones – Roger Satterfield | 5 | 3.73 | 14.22 | 213 | |
| 9 | David Honey – Zech Honey | 5 | 3.23 | 14.08 | 212 | |
| 10 | Roger Harp – Jeremy Brewer | 5 | 3.12 | 14.04 | 211 | |
| 11 | John Campbell – Brock Rogers | 5 | 13.04 | 210 | ||
| 12 | *Devin Yarborough – Bobby Paul Jr. | 5 | 13.03 | 209 | ||
| 13 | Jason Davidson – Darren Tilley | 5 | 12.62 | 208 | ||
| 14 | Tom Mason – Chris Reese | 5 | 11.57 | 207 | ||
| 15 | Paul Persson – Ryan Persson | 3 | 4.43 | 9.88 | 206 | |
| 16 | Mark Thompson – *Luke Thompson | 5 | 2.76 | 9.6 | 205 | |
| 17 | Brady Graves – Darryll Waller | 3 | 2.94 | 7.22 | 204 | |
| 18 | Justin Sanders – | 3 | 2.95 | 7.04 | 203 | |
| 19 | Cledas Manuel – Ben Jones | 3 | 3.56 | 6.76 | 202 | |
| 20 | Jacob Delong – *Mike Eutsler | 2 | 3.62 | 6.45 | 201 | |
| 21 | Dewayne Weeks – Rocky Carden | 3 | 5.4 | 200 | ||
| 22 | Tony Mayfield – Fisher Mayfield | 3 | 4.77 | 199 | ||
| 23 | Roy Bryant – Lee Bryant | 1 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 198 | |
| 24 | Luke Bradley – Frank Williams | 0 | 20 | |||
| Laryme Campbell – David Rogers | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Matt Franke – Arthur Fortin | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Darrin King – Mark Mahaffey | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Craig LaPointe – Chris King | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Wyatt Marler – *Lyndon Edwards | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Landon Snelson – Rick Snelson | 0 | 20 | ||||
| *Fished Alone – Brock Tabor | 0 | 20 |
*alternate