Roller-coaster weather conditions presented a major obstacle to anglers participating in the 5th event of the Bull Shoals Division. Temperatures rose and fell like Highway 125 with highs in the 80’s on Thursday followed by 30’s to low 40’s the next two days. Although the conditions put the bass in a funk, the talent level of the Ozark anglers showed as it took a massive weight to win and super-solid bags to finish in the money. Braving the roller-coaster, 20 teams assembled at Buck Creek Marina in search of daily accolades and much needed points towards qualifying for the Team Championship at Table Rock in October. The strength of Joe Bass anglers is becoming nationally recognized as the Trail is proud to send an angler to the BASSMASTER Classic for the second year in a row, with Ryan Butler representing at the 2018 event on the heels of Scott Clift’s accomplish in 2017.
Lapping the field was the local juggernaut team of Jason Davidson and Darren Tilley. The only issue this stout team encountered was selecting between a pair of lunkers to weigh for big bass. Their bag of 23.41 pounds was anchored by the Ozark Chevrolet Big Bass of the event. The bass pushed the scales to 6.91 pounds and was a clone of another fish in the limit. Jason shared their Sport Boats USA Key to Success was hurling umbrella rigs followed by Rock Crawlers to brush along steeper channel swing banks.
Securing second place with a weight that would take top honors on a typical day was the consistently strong team of Dave Crisenberry and Keith Hannaford. Their five fish limit weighed in at 18.28 pounds. Dave explained their areas were a bit shallower than normal as they whittled away at their tournament weight on an all-day bite with umbrella rigs.
Completing the top three was Kelly Jones and Roger Satterfield. They brought a five bass limit to the scales which locked in at 15.90 pounds. Kelly noted they also threw umbrella rigs to shallow points to catch their bag. However, rather than an all-day bite, they caught their limit early with the bite faltering as the day wore on.
The Sport Boats USA Skeeter bonus went to Kelly as he fished out of his 2015 Skeeter FX21.
The final event of the Bull Shoals Division will take place March 10th 2018 at 7:00 from beautiful Buck Creek Marina. Host lodging for Joe Bass Team Trail on Bull Shoals is Blue Waters Resort.
Photos
Final Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout | |
| 1 | Jason Davidson – Darren Tilley | 5 | 6.91 | 23.41 | 110 | $1,180.00 | 1BB |
| 2 | David Crisenbery – *Keith Hannaford | 5 | 4.49 | 18.28 | 109 | $500.00 | |
| 3 | Kelly Jones – Roger Satterfield | 5 | 4.19 | 15.9 | 108 | $580.00 | Top Skeeter |
| 4 | Dustin Blevins – Eric Blevins | 5 | 3.14 | 14.3 | 107 | $150.00 | |
| 5 | Roger Harp – Bill Fair | 5 | 3.44 | 12.64 | 106 | ||
| 6 | Jeff Epley – Kelly Greer | 5 | 4.64 | 12.44 | 105 | $80.00 | 2BB |
| 7 | Michael Cox – Tommy Skinner | 5 | 12.35 | 104 | |||
| 8 | Laryme Campbell – David Rogers | 5 | 3.92 | 12.15 | 103 | ||
| 9 | Luke Bradley – Trey Huff | 4 | 4.36 | 10.45 | 102 | ||
| 10 | Arthur Fortin – Marvin Whisnant | 4 | 9.76 | 101 | |||
| 11 | Don Parkin – Rodney Shockey | 3 | 2.31 | 5.84 | 100 | ||
| 12 | Larry Hurtt – Chris Adams | 2 | 3.31 | 5.6 | 99 | ||
| 13 | Jacob Garrett – Kem Wallace | 2 | 2.8 | 5.04 | 98 | ||
| 14 | Max Atkinson – Kenny Gipson | 0 | 10 | ||||
| Richie Huebner – Brandon Lowry | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Matt Layman – Casey Brotherton | 0 | 10 | |||||
| *Westin Reese – Chris Reese | 0 | 10 | |||||
| *Randy Barnes – Ronnie Curry | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Mark Taylor – Justin Reed | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Mark Thompson – Jim Smith | 0 | 10 |
*alternate