Cabin fever can officially be dismissed for those that convened at the Shawnee Bend Boat Ramp on Truman Lake for the first event of the 2017 divisional season. Volatile weather had been the norm for the week preceding the event with wide swings in temperatures, high winds, and scattered storms sitting the stage for the event. Except for a brief presentation of the sun early in the day, anglers battled cloudy skies, cool temperatures, and sporadic winds. 62 teams departed takeoff seeking the winning bag of bass and the associated points towards qualifying for the 2017 Championship next October on Table Rock.
Winning the first event out of the gate was Todd and Cameron Miller. On a day that saw nine bass over five pounds come to the scales, Todd and Cameron topped their 21.52 pound sack with a 4.86 kicker, showing their entire bag was stout! The duo amassed their weight on jerkbaits as they culled through 17-20 keepers on an all day bite. Their SPORT BOATS USA KEY FOR SUCCESS was working their jerkbaits on flat to 45-degree banks with the boat sitting in 15 feet of waters. They noted it was critical to have their bait as close to hardwoods as possible to entice a bite.
Mark Thompson and Mark Thompson II landed second place honors with a 17.38 limit, bolstered by Markie’s 5.17 bass landed on an umbrella rig, which bookended a 4.5 pounder Mark caught on a jerkbait on the first cast of the morning. Their fish were the result of staying on the trolling motor while tossing spinnerbaits and swimbaits in addition to the rig and jerkbait on a wide variety of banks. Their runner up finish also netted them another Joe Bass Highest Finishing Skeeter Award as they fished from Mark’s Sport Boats USA Skeeter ZX225.
Rounding on the top three was Wayne Garrison and Robbie Plowman. Also fishing from a Skeeter, they ran above Berry Bend to work jigs and crankbaits to catch a tournament limit weighing 16.25 pounds. Wayne noted they found their fish in small pockets off the main channel.
The Ozarks Chevrolet Big Bass of the event weighed a monstrous 7.70 pounds. Chris Callahan and Justin Wasmer explained they had made a long run up the river without much success. After returning to a spot near the takeoff, they tricked the lunker into biting a jerkbait worked with 5-6 second pauses.
The next tournament will be April 30th at 6:30 at Shawnee Bend Ramp.
Photos
Final Results
Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout | |
1 | Todd Miller – Cameron Miller | 5 | 4.86 | 21.52 | 110 | $1,600.00 | |
2 | Mark Thompson – Mark Thompson II | 5 | 5.17 | 17.38 | 109 | $1,640.00 | Top Skeeter |
3 | Wayne Garrison – Robbie Plowman | 5 | 16.25 | 108 | $860.00 | ||
4 | Greg Miller – Mike Rowland | 5 | 4.82 | 16.12 | 107 | $600.00 | |
5 | Michael Simons – Jacob Simons | 4 | 6.42 | 15.94 | 106 | $720.00 | 2nd BB |
6 | Kevin Smith – Jerry McCutchen | 5 | 3.52 | 14.75 | 105 | $312.00 | |
7 | Charley Thomas – Chris Thomas | 5 | 3.77 | 14.58 | 104 | $240.00 | |
8 | Sean Bowling – Brandon Brown | 5 | 3.38 | 14.5 | 103 | $220.00 | |
9 | Bryan Baker – Darren Baker | 5 | 3.87 | 14.32 | 102 | $200.00 | |
10 | Nick Luna – Jacob Desselle | 5 | 13.87 | 101 | $180.00 | ||
11 | Shane Ottjenbruns – Terry Hussey | 5 | 4.55 | 13.37 | 100 | $150.00 | |
12 | Roy Butler – Anthony Scoma | 5 | 13.15 | 99 | $130.00 | ||
13 | Tom McGovern – Bob Bradley | 5 | 3.73 | 13.14 | 98 | ||
14 | Justin Hosler – Kyle McAdams | 4 | 5.36 | 13.06 | 97 | ||
15 | Kevin Johnston – Roger Waters | 5 | 3.13 | 12.93 | 96 | ||
16 | Jared Knuth – | 5 | 4.49 | 12.9 | 95 | ||
17 | Eric Zuk – Ben Zuk | 5 | 3.86 | 12.88 | 94 | ||
18 | John Bennett – Paden Bennett | 4 | 5.91 | 12.85 | 93 | ||
19 | Jason Swarnigan – Carl Scott | 5 | 2.96 | 12.85 | 92 | ||
20 | Greg Askew – Terry Case | 4 | 4 | 12.69 | 91 | ||
21 | Don Heiser – Jim Sells | 5 | 12.68 | 90 | |||
22 | Bill Dennis – Todd Pyle | 3 | 5.3 | 11.64 | 89 | ||
23 | Shane Bakken – Todd Bruders | 4 | 11.55 | 88 | |||
24 | Ronnie Rush – Rick Rush | 4 | 11.19 | 87 | |||
25 | John Williams – James Brown | 3 | 4.44 | 10.55 | 86 | ||
26 | Chris Callahan – Justin Wasmer | 2 | 7.7 | 10.49 | 85 | $400.00 | 1st BB |
27 | Chad Bush – *fished alone | 4 | 3.66 | 9.81 | 84 | ||
28 | Jonathan Evans – Bradley Dillon | 3 | 3.51 | 9.64 | 83 | ||
29 | Bryce Rieder – Mike Edrington | 5 | 9.44 | 82 | |||
30 | Ron Peek – Grieg Engel | 4 | 9.41 | 81 | |||
31 | Mark Simmons – Terry Lawhon | 3 | 4.62 | 9.07 | 80 | ||
32 | Mark Riegel – JR Shinn | 5 | 9.06 | 79 | |||
33 | Ed Matthews – Gus Beitz | 3 | 8.23 | 78 | |||
34 | Thomas Kite – Dale Gregston | 4 | 8.2 | 77 | |||
35 | Ricky Clemen – Stacy Howell | 3 | 7.5 | 76 | |||
36 | Phillip Schwartz – Colby Schwartz | 3 | 7.44 | 75 | |||
37 | Richard Evans – Terry Close | 3 | 7.28 | 74 | |||
38 | Tony Powers – John Brewer | 2 | 5.4 | 7.24 | 73 | ||
39 | Stephen Smith – Garen Hunt | 2 | 5.74 | 72 | |||
40 | Donnie Reynolds – Mark Reynolds | 1 | 5.65 | 5.65 | 71 | ||
41 | Jack Young – Bill McAvoy | 2 | 5.37 | 70 | |||
42 | Doug Wallace – Ozzie Wallace | 2 | 5.21 | 69 | |||
43 | Edward Robinson – Kyle Morse | 2 | 3.29 | 5.12 | 68 | ||
44 | Chris Flood – Brandon Flood | 1 | 5.01 | 5.01 | 67 | ||
45 | Michael Baker – Kennith Mason | 2 | 5 | 66 | |||
46 | Nick Morris – Mason Morris | 2 | 4.58 | 65 | |||
47 | Shawn Crabtree – *Shawn Crabtree | 2 | 4.21 | 64 | |||
48 | Danny Carter – Chris Carter | 1 | 3.44 | 3.44 | 63 | ||
49 | Jesse Gardner – Mark Glover | 1 | 3.19 | 3.19 | 62 | ||
50 | Patrick ONeal – John Driver | 1 | 2.35 | 2.35 | 61 | ||
51 | Lennie Becker – Elmer Becker | 0 | 10 | ||||
Junior Fiedler – Cody Fielder | 0 | 10 | |||||
Matt Gunter – Bobby Williams | 0 | 10 | |||||
Paul Hager – Phil Allen | 0 | 10 | |||||
Richard Johnson – Charles Cadenhead | 0 | 10 | |||||
Tom Littleton – Jonathan Pimental | 0 | 10 | |||||
Glen McCrary – Sondra McCrary | 0 | 10 | |||||
Timmy Newberry – Rusty Darnell | 0 | 10 | |||||
Russell Potter – Rick Potter | 0 | 10 | |||||
Darrell Reach – | 0 | 10 | |||||
Jay Roe – John Bollinger | 0 | 10 | |||||
Marty Watson – Doug Long | 0 | 10 |
*alternate