Following several days of nice warm spring weather, the 2022 Antique Division kicked off under cloudy, rainy, windy, cold conditions. While the calendar says it’s time for the bass to start moving shallow, the strong cold front likely kicked that into neutral for a bit. However, the skill of the Ozark anglers shined through bright and clear on a dreary day as 39 teams brought 26 limits to the scales to start the season while in search of daily bragging rights and valuable qualifying points for the Joe Bass Invitational to be held Stockton Lake next fall.
Besting the field for derby #1 was the team of Larry Walker and Justin McCelland. Their best five bass pushed the scales to 19.66 pounds. Their bag was anchored by the Ozark Chevrolet Big Bass, a stout 5.86 largemouth. Larry and Justin shared their Catch ‘Em All Key to Success involved covering a ton of water with a Spro Rock Crawler in the Red River Craw and Spring Craw patterns. The duo padded their take home pay with Top Skeeter honors as they put nearly 30 keepers in Larry’s 2014 FXR21 Skeeter boat.
Jeff Epley and Kelly Greer narrowly missed top honors as they brought 19.64 pound of T-Rock bass to the weigh-in. Their strategy involved chasing the wind and presenting umbrella rigs, jerkbaits and crankbaits to catch their bag. They noted the bite was better early and slowed as the day went on.
Jay Oliver, fishing with Brad Shultz in part due to the unexpected passing of longtime partner Gary Daniel, rounded out the top three. Their tournament limit came in at 19.26 pounds, just a tad off the lead. Jay shared that he too chased the wind, finding it critical to trigger bites on an umbrella rig on the deeper ledges he fished.
Special thanks to MAYBEE INSURANCE & SMITH ELECTRIC for the support of the division, as well as all the sponsors, including Catch ‘Em All Bait and Tackle where one can utilize a 10% discount by presenting a Table Rock weigh-in slip to the Cape Fair tackle shop. Be sure and keep your receipts for a chance at $1000 at the Joe Bass Invitational this fall at Stockton.
The next Joe Bass Antique Division event will be Wednesday April 20th with a 6:30 am takeoff from Ahoy’s.
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Larry Walker – Justin McCelland | 5 | 5.86 | 19.66 | 220 | $2,390.00 |
| 2 | Jeff Epley – Kelly Greer | 5 | 5.14 | 19.64 | 219 | $1,180.00 |
| 3 | Jay Oliver – Brad Shultz | 5 | 5.47 | 19.26 | 218 | $780.00 |
| 4 | Aaron Stanphill – Jeff Cook | 5 | 5.66 | 18.68 | 217 | $450.00 |
| 5 | Jeff Farquhar – Gary Hazell | 5 | 5.33 | 18.33 | 216 | $240.00 |
| 6 | Terry Hutchison – Jason Coley | 5 | 5.47 | 17.08 | 215 | $180.00 |
| 7 | Pat Leonard – Eric Olliverson | 5 | 4.76 | 16.86 | 214 | $160.00 |
| 8 | Harvey Horn – Les Cowan | 5 | 5.85 | 16.39 | 213 | $150.00 |
| 9 | Ken Gross – Daniel Pueppke | 5 | 4.63 | 16.35 | 212 | |
| 10 | Cody Huff – *Larry Pierce | 5 | 15.7 | 211 | ||
| 11 | Shane Boyd – Douglas Nickle | 5 | 4.08 | 14.95 | 210 | |
| 12 | Rusty Darnell – Timmy Newberry | 5 | 4.23 | 14.78 | 209 | |
| 13 | Shane Harms – Tom Harms | 5 | 5.26 | 14.63 | 208 | |
| 14 | Don Sanders – Josh Shiley | 5 | 5.19 | 14.32 | 207 | |
| 15 | Kevin Crossland – Geoff Blair | 5 | 3.87 | 14.29 | 206 | |
| 16 | Kevin Jackson – Bryan Jackson | 5 | 3.62 | 14.16 | 205 | |
| 17 | Mark Thompson – Shawn Crabtree | 5 | 3.64 | 14.11 | 204 | |
| 18 | Mike Herbst – Shane Mooneyhan | 5 | 4.03 | 14 | 203 | |
| 19 | Ron Foss – *fished aalone | 5 | 4.62 | 13.07 | 202 | |
| 20 | Greg Snider – Tim Lane | 5 | 12.92 | 201 | ||
| 21 | Jeff Fletcher – Gavin White | 5 | 12.84 | 200 | ||
| 22 | Dewayne Weeks – Mike Pierson | 5 | 12.64 | 199 | ||
| 23 | Mike Smith – Kavan Maybee | 5 | 12.21 | 198 | ||
| 24 | Paul Angelakos – Justin Brand | 5 | 11.86 | 197 | ||
| 25 | Ethan Grubaugh – Jim Phillips | 5 | 11.67 | 196 | ||
| 26 | Jacob Wade – Denny Malone | 5 | 3.66 | 11.21 | 195 | |
| 27 | Jack Stack – Dick Moger | 4 | 11.13 | 194 | ||
| 28 | John Huffman – Robert Waggoner | 4 | 10.1 | 193 | ||
| 29 | Dan Hankinson – Keith Hankinson | 3 | 4.34 | 9.9 | 192 | |
| 30 | Tyler Matlock – Mark Billings | 4 | 8.73 | 191 | ||
| 31 | Charles Rogers – Jeff Rogers | 3 | 3.96 | 8.39 | 190 | |
| 32 | Robert Oster – Brad Weiss | 3 | 3.74 | 7.38 | 189 | |
| 33 | James Irvin – Steve Hoffman | 3 | 6.46 | 188 | ||
| 34 | Keith Landdrum – | 2 | 4.55 | 187 | ||
| 35 | Sam Smith – Steve Lackey | 1 | 2.72 | 2.72 | 186 | |
| 36 | Jim Dopp – Harlin Husky | 0 | 20 | |||
| 36 | Tim Fisher – Aaron Fisher | 0 | 20 | |||
| 36 | Kelly Jones – Roger Satterfield | 0 | 20 | |||
| 36 | Philip Milam – *fished aalone | 0 | 20 |
*alternate