Our First stop on the Burton’s Bait & Tackle Smithville Lake Division was EXTREMELY WINDY!!!!! Our Teams that braved the wind on Saturday found themselves with giant bags of fish to be caught! The Joe Bass Team Trail anglers arrived to winds in the 25 to 30 mph range with gusts up to 45 to 50mph with windchills in the teens to start the morning. By afternoon the teams had better conditions and the bags really showed what this lake has to offer.
Coming in First place for the day is the Team of Nick Hallbeck and Todd Knaack, they had a Giant Bag of largemouth weighing in at 24.16lbs. Nick Stated that the team caught most of the days fish on a jerk bait with a depth range of 8 to 10 feet of water in 45-degree temps off of the main lake. He also noted that the teams’ fish were caught around balls of bait and that the live scope was very key to helping them find that combination. Nick said they roughly caught 30 keeper fish to come up with this Giant Bag of fish! They would like to thank Elite One Exteriors for their continued sponsorship.
Our Second Place team for the day was Kevin Dull and Tim Green. Kevin and Tim also had a great bag of fish weighing in at 21.39lbs. Kevin stated that they fished up the camp branch arm of the lake in 45 to 47 degree water with decent water color. Most of the bag of fish came in 4 to 8 feet of water on a jerk bait with a few being caught on a Motion Fishing Jig. The Team is Sponsored by Heartland Outdoor Group and Motion fishing.
Rounding out our top 3 today is the team of Wes Willett and Clint Cochran with another great bag of fish weighing in at 20.86lbs and our second big bass at 7.16lbs. Wes stated that the team focused on early season jerk bait spots that they relied on in the past as neither of them had been on Smithville this year. The first fish of the day for them was the 7.16lb fish. After that they went on and caught the rest of the days fish in 5 foot of water mid-way back inside of cuts relating to cover in 45-degree water.
Our NAPA Big Bass of the Day went to the Team of Kevin Dull and Tim Green! Kevin caught the 7.23lb Largemouth on a Jerk bait inside of a point at 11.05am. Kevin said he could believe how big the fish was after Tim netted it and had to sit down for a moment to catch his breath. Kevin also said he never catches big fish with his weekly teammate soooo…
Our Top Skeeter of the tournament went to a familiar team of Tim and Chris Randell. Tim has ran his Skeeter for years now and has shown why they are truly a great built boat.
WE would like to thank our Guest MC for the day Dewey Stebbins!! Dewey you are always welcome to come weigh fish with us! The guys loved seeing you at the ramp.
Our Next Burtons Bait and Tackle Joe Bass Tournament on Smithville lake is April 22 with a take off time of 6:30am out of Little Platte Boat ramp.
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Nick Hallbeck – Todd Knaack | 5 | 5.32 | 24.16 | 220 | $1,290.00 |
| 2 | Kevin Dull – Tim Green | 5 | 7.23 | 21.39 | 219 | $940.00 |
| 3 | Wesley Willett – Clint Cochran | 5 | 7.16 | 20.86 | 218 | $650.00 |
| 4 | Thomas Alsop – Keith Leftridge | 5 | 14.24 | 217 | $220.00 | |
| 5 | Chris Randell – Tim Randell | 5 | 14.19 | 216 | $250.00 | |
| 6 | Anthony Scoma – Johnny Arial | 5 | 13.06 | 215 | ||
| 7 | Dylan Sousley – Seth Carleton | 5 | 10.42 | 214 | ||
| 8 | Jason Farmer – Jeff Tripe | 3 | 4.8 | 9.75 | 213 | |
| 9 | Kyle Alsop – Lance Maldonaldo | 3 | 9.02 | 212 | ||
| 10 | Jeff Bottorff – Justin Bottorff | 3 | 8.9 | 211 | ||
| 11 | Corey Murphy – Adam Almohtadi | 2 | 6.04 | 210 | ||
| 12 | Mark Mathis – Chris Macey | 2 | 5.51 | 209 | ||
| 13 | Josh McIntire – Robert Carleton | 2 | 4.99 | 208 | ||
| 14 | Travis Day – Tim Stout | 1 | 3.65 | 3.65 | 207 | |
| 15 | Greg Harris – Kevin Soutter | 1 | 3.53 | 3.53 | 206 | |
| 16 | Casey Flood – Dan Flood | 1 | 3.06 | 3.06 | 205 | |
| 17 | Michael Dugger – Tim Goliglee | 0 | 20 | |||
| Ryan Leahy – Jennifer Leahy | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Bill Lee Jr – John Pileggi | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Aaron Vaughn – Parrish Vaughn | 0 | 20 |
*alternate