Change continues to be the constant for the 2020 Joe Bass Team Trails Bull Shoals Division season. With highs nearing 80 degrees the weekend before the penultimate tournament, the roller coaster shifted to heavy rains followed up by high pressure and high skies. It seems cliché to repeat, but the quality of the anglers in the Bull Shoals division is unrivaled, proven by the results turned in by the 25 teams that assembled at Buck Creek Marina to compete for daily bragging rights and points towards qualifying for the Joe Bass Invitational to be held on Truman Lake in October.
Making it a three-peat, Drew and Brock Tabor relocated their fish under the changing conditions to take another win. Their five bass limit weighed 18.60 pounds, anchored by a 5.57 pound kicker. Their Sport Boats USA Key to Success purportedly centered on working spoons in the 35-40’ depth range around scattered shad schools, although there appeared to be some reluctance to divulge too much info with the 3rd and 5th place teams in close proximity during the interview!
Ron Foss and Mike Smith narrowly missed a victory, finishing in second place. They weighed a five fish limit for 18.22 pounds. The team shared they caught their fish on umbrella rigs along steep banks, boating around a dozen keepers for the day. They both noted the need to “bump the rocks” in order to get a bite.
Buck Comstock and Greg Blair brought 16.34 pounds to the scale to secure third place. As noted above, there seemed to be some inconsistencies with pattern details, as buck Buck claimed they threw a 4XD (perhaps a one-of-a-kind prototype?). When asked about colors, a shoulder shrug was given, but when asked if it was a parrot color, a quick smile with a head nod suggested that to be the case.
Matt Garrett and Caleb Rook only got one keeper in the boat, but it was the right one as their 5.66 pound largemouth took the Ozark Chevrolet Big Bass honors for the event. The pair reported losing several others but got the big fish in after it hit a Senko tossed to a bluff-end point.
Matt Layman and Randy Colter as they took the Sport Boats USA Highest Finishing Skeeter again, boating 12.81 pounds of bass from their 2002 ZX250 Skeeter boat.
The final Bull Shoals Division event will be March 14, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. Be sure and show up a bit early for breakfast burritos and coffee compliments of the crew at Buck Creek Marina!
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Drew Tabor – Brock Tabor | 5 | 5.6 | 18.6 | 110 | $1,330.00 |
| 2 | Ron Foss – Mike Smith | 5 | 4.2 | 18.22 | 109 | $840.00 |
| 3 | Buck Comstock – Greg Blair | 5 | 5.6 | 16.34 | 108 | $690.00 |
| 4 | Darrin King – Mark Mahaffey | 5 | 3.7 | 16.08 | 107 | $290.00 |
| 5 | Dustin Blevins – Eric Blevins | 5 | 3.6 | 15.95 | 106 | $160.00 |
| 6 | Landon Snelson – Rick Snelson | 5 | 4.9 | 15.4 | 105 | |
| 7 | David Crisenbery – Keith Hannaford | 5 | 2.7 | 15.04 | 104 | |
| 8 | *fished aalone – Ron Weiss | 5 | 3.3 | 14.57 | 103 | |
| 9 | Don Parkin – Rodney Shockey | 5 | 3.1 | 13.33 | 102 | |
| 10 | Cledas Manuel – Dave Austin | 5 | 13.12 | 101 | ||
| 11 | Blake Edwards – Casey Martin | 5 | 12.81 | 100 | ||
| 12 | Jason Davidson – Darren Tilley | 5 | 12.47 | 99 | ||
| 13 | Matt Layman – Randy Colter | 5 | 12.19 | 98 | $250.00 | |
| 14 | Aaron Hodge – James Bailey | 5 | 12.15 | 97 | ||
| 15 | Jeremy Montgomery – Devin Pino | 4 | 5.1 | 12.07 | 96 | |
| 16 | Roger Morris – Gregg Sapp | 5 | 10.7 | 95 | ||
| 17 | Jacob Garrett – Kem Wallace | 5 | 9.87 | 94 | ||
| 18 | Tom Mason – Chris Reese | 4 | 9.15 | 93 | ||
| 19 | Mark Thompson – Jim Smith | 5 | 8 | 92 | ||
| 20 | Jackson Roberts – Erik Stewart | 3 | 7.17 | 91 | ||
| 21 | Rory Preis – Mark Politte | 4 | 6.82 | 90 | ||
| 22 | Justin Brand – Brien Vaughn | 3 | 6.76 | 89 | ||
| 23 | Matt Garrett – Kaleb Rook | 1 | 5.7 | 5.66 | 88 | $150.00 |
| 24 | Laryme Campbell – David Rogers | 0 | 10 | |||
| Kelly Jones – Roger Satterfield | 0 | 10 |
*alternate