The roller coaster that has been the weather patterns for the 2024 Joe Bass Team Trail Bull Shoals Division rolled into the final station after being rescheduled from earlier in the year due to frigid temperatures. Throughout the season, anglers have faced conditions that changed from the week prior to the event to radically different conditions on the day of the tournament. The season finale proved no different, as highs early in the week pushed the thermometer to over 80 degrees, followed by a 40-50 degree swing midweek, then rebounding for derby day. The 17 teams that gathered at Buck Creek Marina for the best breakfast burritos on the lake looked forward to seeing their names at the top of the Window World Leaderboard while accruing valuable qualifying points for the Joe Bass Invitational to be held next fall.
Wrapping up the season with a win, Eric and Dustin Blevins topped the field with a 18.66 pound limit. Based on their best four of five events, all wins, Team Blevins retained a tight grip on their string of Points Championships (unofficial pending final data entry). Dustin smiled as he said their Mid America RV Key to Success was banging olive green crankbaits on larger chunk rocks banks. Having deeper water and/or a channel swing nearby was critical to finding fish. They added to their first place check by boxing the NAPA big bass, a 4.50 pound largemouth.
Landon Edwards and Cody Ellison wrapped up a tremendous season with another second place finish, they’re fourth of the season. Their five fish limit pushed the scales to 18.64 pounds, just a tick off the lead. Landon noted they slung A-rigs at brushpiles for an all-day bite. They also padded their finish position checks as they took Top Skeeter honors again as they fished from Landon’s 2012 ZX21 Skeeter.
True to form, Wyatt Marler and Nick Lawler finished their strong season with another third place finish. Their best five for the day weighed 17.62 pounds. They also worked A-rigs to catch 10 keepers throughout the day.
Special thanks to Darren and the crew at Buck Creek Marina for another fantastic winter division!
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This being the final Bull Shoals tournament for 2024 the top 3 teams qualify for the Tournament of Champions held inconjuction at the fall Invitational.
1st Dustin Blevins & Eric Blevins qualify for the Tournament of Champions.
2nd Wyatt Marler & Nick Lawler qualify for the Tournament of Champions.
3rd Landon Edwards & Cody Ellison qualify for the Tournament of Champions.
Photos
Results
Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
1 | Dustin Blevins – Eric Blevins | 5 | 4.5 | 18.66 | 220 | $1,460.00 |
2 | Landon Edwards – Cody Ellison | 5 | 4.04 | 18.64 | 219 | $1,000.00 |
3 | Wyatt Marler – Nick Lawler | 5 | 4.36 | 17.62 | 218 | $422.00 |
4 | Eric Toliver – Zach Lawrence | 5 | 3.71 | 16.18 | 217 | |
5 | Mark Mahaffey – Sam Mahaffey | 5 | 4.35 | 13.8 | 216 | |
6 | Brady Graves – Darryll Waller | 5 | 3.71 | 13.37 | 215 | |
7 | Richie Huebner – *fished aalone | 5 | 3.58 | 13.14 | 214 | |
8 | Tom Mason – Chris Reese | 5 | 3.26 | 13.04 | 213 | |
9 | Billy Elmore – Trevor Donovan | 5 | 2.88 | 12.16 | 212 | |
10 | Rocky Carden – *fished aalone | 5 | 2.82 | 11.09 | 211 | |
11 | Bob Neff – Gregg Wood | 5 | 3.88 | 10.78 | 210 | |
12 | Mark Thompson – Mark Thompson II | 5 | 3.6 | 10.51 | 209 | |
13 | Roger Harp – Lucas Madison | 5 | 2.82 | 10.05 | 208 | |
14 | Adler Odle – *Alex Avery | 5 | 9.82 | 207 | ||
15 | Laryme Campbell – David Rogers | 0 | 20 | |||
15 | John Campbell – *Logan Welch | 0 | 20 | |||
15 | Mark Jenkins – *Paul Clavey | 0 | 20 |
*alternate