Anglers were finally treated to a tournament where weather conditions leading up to and including derby day remained consistent. 43 teams fished under clear skies and warm conditions as they battled for points in the final Joe Bass Team Trail Table Rock Winter division event sponsored by Blackbeard Marine. Results from a pair of tournaments the previous weekend suggested it would take a heavy bag to see one’s name at the top of the Window World leaderboard. Such prognostication proved to be spot on as it took a whopping sack to win and north of 19 pounds to break the top 7 and more than 17 pounds to cash a check. 31 five fish limits were brought to the scales with a total weight of nearly 525 pounds dropped on the scales. Thanks to the Taylor Grubaugh Chevrolet, Buick & GMC release boat, every fish is back in Table Rock Lake!
Nick Lawler and Aaron Hodge set the standard for the day with a monster bag of bass that strained the scales to a staggering 26.44 pounds. Their kicker fish, a 6.51 largemouth, was the Wilson Truck Sales big bass of the event. Nick shared their Blackbeard Marine key for success was working a jerkbait in small mainlake pockets. They didn’t boat a lot of keepers, catching 7 for the day, but the ones they put in the boat were obviously the right kind!
Kyle Burke and Brian Walkup pulled in a second place finish. They dropped a 22.44 pound bag on the scales. Leaning on a historic prespawn pattern, Kyle and Brian cranked a Rock Crawler along channel swing banks to work through over 20 keepers for the day.
Zack Honey and Dylan Jones garnered third place honors. They worked a minnow bait on an all day bite to catch their fish. They parsed through a dozen keepers to get to their final weight of 21.41 pounds.
Colin Wolinski and Garrett Weiss bolstered their 5th place check by taking Top Skeeter honors. They found fish biting a Damiki rig scattered through several coves to put 10 keepers in Colin’s 2023 ZXR21 Skeeter.
Special thanks to Taylor Grubaugh Chevrolet, Buick & GMC for sponsoring the newly rewrapped release boat!
Bring your empty packages of Rapala, Crush City, Storm, VMC and Suffix with your name and phone number to your next Joe Bass Tournament for a chance at a tackle pack. Drawings are done monthly throughout the tournament season.
Clear Cast marine electronics repair is continuing to support Joe Bass Team Trail. Their support of the Tournament of Champions and Staff Shootout opportunities at the Invitational is paramount to it’s success. SUPPORT their efforts! Be sure and visit their website for details for your repair and setup needs!
For trail updates, schedule changes and results Like us on Facebook & Instagram.
The next Table Rock tournament will be the kick off for the Antique Division April 8 at Mill Creek 6:30am take off.
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Nick Lawler – *Aaron Hodge | 5 | 6.51 | 26.44 | 220 | $2,660.00 |
| 2 | Kyle Burke – Brian Walkup | 5 | 5.75 | 22.44 | 219 | $1,240.00 |
| 3 | *Zack Honey – Dylan Jones | 5 | 4.98 | 21.41 | 218 | $960.00 |
| 4 | Justin Garner – Jacob Wade | 5 | 5.17 | 19.95 | 217 | $500.00 |
| 5 | Colin Wolinski – Garrett Weiss | 5 | 4.96 | 19.94 | 216 | $650.00 |
| 6 | Caleb Coleman – Robert Moody | 5 | 5.45 | 19.74 | 215 | $358.00 |
| 7 | Easton Pendagrass – Ethan Enochs | 5 | 4.75 | 19.04 | 214 | $180.00 |
| 8 | Drew Sagely – Brock Becks | 5 | 4.86 | 17.37 | 213 | $180.00 |
| 9 | Jacob Christeson – | 5 | 6 | 17.08 | 212 | $170.00 |
| 10 | Josiah Ennes – *fished aalone | 5 | 4.78 | 16.96 | 211 | |
| 11 | Eric White – Gavin White | 5 | 4.43 | 16.76 | 210 | |
| 12 | *Camden Kozikoski – Dayne Kobridger | 5 | 16.68 | 209 | ||
| 13 | Taylor Surly – Jacob Bennett | 5 | 3.87 | 16.5 | 208 | |
| 14 | Jacob Wisecup – | 5 | 5.36 | 16.33 | 207 | |
| 15 | John Cates – Mike Edwards | 5 | 4.67 | 15.67 | 206 | |
| 16 | *Brain Mendenhall – Kent Whitaker | 5 | 4.44 | 15.37 | 205 | |
| 17 | Jay Oliver – Mike Smith | 5 | 4.86 | 14.3 | 204 | |
| 18 | Scott Lippe – Evan Villines | 5 | 14.1 | 203 | ||
| 19 | Dakota Millican – Leif Millican | 5 | 3.36 | 13.6 | 202 | |
| 20 | Mark Thompson – Luke Thompson | 5 | 13.48 | 201 | ||
| 21 | Greg Askew – Terry Case | 5 | 3.79 | 13.37 | 200 | |
| 22 | Sam Grace – Henry Matuika | 5 | 12.87 | 199 | ||
| 23 | Kyle Power – | 5 | 12.66 | 198 | ||
| 24 | Dallas Beasley – *Dustin Kimrey | 5 | 12.56 | 197 | ||
| 24 | Jason Rice – *Michelle Rice | 5 | 12.56 | 197 | ||
| 26 | Jared Essary – | 5 | 12.55 | 195 | ||
| 27 | *Ryan King – Eddie McMasters | 5 | 3.19 | 12.35 | 194 | |
| 28 | Tyler Frahm – Austin Frahm | 5 | 12.25 | 193 | ||
| 29 | Ed Larson – *James Brown | 5 | 12.04 | 192 | ||
| 30 | Robert Hime – Paul Huse | 5 | 3.23 | 11.83 | 191 | |
| 31 | Harvey Horn – Jim Ford | 5 | 11.62 | 190 | ||
| 32 | *Paul Martin – Brad Martin | 4 | 10.16 | 189 | ||
| 33 | Jack Stack – *Tom Olivo | 4 | 9.54 | 188 | ||
| 34 | *Mike Hogan – Michael Hogan | 4 | 8.41 | 187 | ||
| 35 | John Williams – Jim Williams | 2 | 4.36 | 6.92 | 186 | |
| 36 | Darrell Barlow – Ethan Barlow | 0 | 20 | |||
| Jeff Donovan – *fished aalone | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Cole Findley – Dan Stone | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Wrays Raash – Ethan Thoeli | 0 | 20 | ||||
| David Rice – | 0 | 20 | ||||
| *Justin Pruit – Peyton Rose | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Larry Selig – | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Danny Smith – *Glen Farmer | 0 | 20 |
*alternate