Fortitude. Determination. Perseverance. All traits required to be a successful bass tournament contestant. Traits expressive of the 55 teams that launched out of Old State Park to kick off the 2018 Joe Bass Stockton Division brought to you by Mitchem Tire. Water temps in the high 40’s countered air temps that never made it out of the 30’s. Add in a stiff east wind and the conditions were set for a tough derby. The skill of the Stockton Division anglers rang through loud and clear as there were 6 fish over 7 pounds fish weighed, include 3 over eight pounds. Imagine landing an 8.04 pound lunker and thinking you’ve wrapped up a big bass check only to find your trophy won’t even hold up for second big! All of that set the stage for what was a stellar kickoff event with teams gunning for a season opening win and qualifying points for the Joe Bass Team Trails Championship at Table Rock Lake in October.
The strength of Joe Bass anglers is becoming recognized nationally as the Trail is proud to send an angler to the BASSMASTER Classic for the second year in a row, with Ryan Butler winning the 2018 honors on the heels of Scott Clift’s visit in 2017.
Lapping the field was Jay Carter and Troy Ayres. Their unbelievable bag of 29.08 was anchored by an 8.47 giant. What is more incredible, the kicker wasn’t enough to secure big bass for the event! Jay shared the Sport Boats USA Keys to Success which centered on an early limit followed by a huge upgrade streak between 12:30 and 1:00 where a jerkbait and jig fished in 8-12’ depths provided 3 crucial culls.
Seth Glynn and Kelly Hughes anchored second place with a stellar bag weighing 21.64. As with the winners, they topped their stringer off with a 7.55 brute, normally the kind of fish to get a plaque. However, on a day when the giants were willing to bite, their big fish had to settle for the “also ran” category. Seth explained they leaned on an umbrella rig and jerkbait along steeper ledge banks in the 15-25’ range to catch their fish.
Veteran angler Jim Davidson teamed with Mike Ashbacher to round out the top three with a strong 18.54 pound take. Jim described their day centered on working umbrella rigs in mid depths of 15’. They worked through 15 keepers to amass their final weight.
Robert Cowan fished with Dallas Beasley to catch the Ozarks Chevrolet Big Bass of 8.53 pounds. A bit reluctant to share too much information, Robert offered the big fish bit an umbrella rig in medium depth along a channel swing bank.
Taking another Sport Boats USA Skeeter Bonus, Rick Fishback and Denny Carver took the highest finishing Skeeter award by catching their 9th place weight of 13.99 pounds from Rick’s new 2018 ZX 250 Skeeter bass boat.
The next Stockton Division event will launch from Old State Park May 6thth at 6:00am.
Photos
Final Results
Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout | |
1 | Jay Carter – Troy Ayres | 5 | 8.47 | 29.08 | 110 | $1,660.00 | 2BB |
2 | Seth Glynn – Kelly (KJ) Hughes | 5 | 7.55 | 21.64 | 109 | $1,064.00 | |
3 | Jim Davidson – MIke Ashbacher | 5 | 7.46 | 18.54 | 108 | $876.00 | |
4 | Robert Cowan – Dallas Beasley | 5 | 8.53 | 18.31 | 107 | $930.00 | 1BB |
5 | Justin Delk – Brandon Rummel | 5 | 7.01 | 17.22 | 106 | $420.00 | |
6 | JR Williams – Lee Jordan | 5 | 8.04 | 17.05 | 105 | $300.00 | |
7 | Luke Routh – *Tyler Weaver | 5 | 6.55 | 16.28 | 104 | $250.00 | |
8 | Chris Macy – Tim Lawyer | 5 | 6.37 | 15.39 | 103 | $200.00 | |
9 | Rick Fishback – Denny Carver | 5 | 13.99 | 102 | $1,180.00 | Top Skeeter | |
10 | Robert Shackelford – Greg Blair | 5 | 4.46 | 13.79 | 101 | $150.00 | |
11 | Steven Bain – *Shane Harris | 5 | 4.91 | 13.7 | 100 | $130.00 | |
12 | Scott Kennedy – Dan Choate | 5 | 13.67 | 99 | |||
13 | Keith Hurd – Jeff Nelson | 5 | 5.48 | 13.62 | 98 | ||
14 | Frank Flack – Jeremy Montgomery | 5 | 5.83 | 13.5 | 97 | ||
15 | Scott Tassi – Glenn Harrison | 5 | 3.51 | 12.88 | 96 | ||
16 | Lonnie Gray – Brian Gray | 5 | 12.82 | 95 | |||
17 | Jordan Garner – Kyle Carpenter | 5 | 3.16 | 12.61 | 94 | ||
18 | Mike Hagensicker – Dillon Brock | 5 | 12.53 | 93 | |||
18 | Jeremy Powell – Brad Tyer | 5 | 12.53 | 93 | |||
20 | Matt Garrett – Kaleb Rook | 5 | 12.34 | 91 | |||
21 | Kelsey Conard – *fished aalone | 5 | 4.14 | 12.32 | 90 | ||
22 | Sean Bowling – Brandon Brown | 5 | 2.73 | 11.95 | 89 | ||
23 | Tom Amershek – Paden Shaffer | 5 | 3.07 | 11.66 | 88 | ||
24 | Bobby Waggoner – John Huffman | 5 | 11.62 | 87 | |||
25 | Scott Clift – Ashley Medley | 5 | 11.61 | 86 | |||
26 | Randy S Robinson – Kathy Robinson | 5 | 11.47 | 85 | |||
27 | Matt Francka – Farin Jump | 5 | 2.54 | 11.42 | 84 | ||
28 | Kelly White – Kenneth White | 5 | 11.29 | 83 | |||
29 | Justin Angel – Scott Angel | 5 | 11 | 82 | |||
30 | Austin Morris – Paden Bennett | 5 | 2.9 | 10.94 | 81 | ||
31 | Tanner McMillen – Jared Cloyd | 5 | 10.74 | 80 | |||
32 | Shawn McHaffie – Greg Bohnsack | 5 | 9.71 | 79 | |||
33 | Nelson Putnam – Scott Lawson | 3 | 9.17 | 78 | |||
34 | Edward Nelson – Tony Zaharsky | 4 | 2.7 | 9.1 | 77 | ||
35 | George Hance – Rob Norvall | 4 | 8.83 | 76 | |||
36 | Rick Reinkemeyer – Brock Reinkemeyer | 4 | 8.24 | 75 | |||
37 | Matt Hickman – *Matt Hyde | 3 | 6.91 | 74 | |||
38 | John Cates – Justin Stevens | 4 | 6.47 | 73 | |||
39 | Justin Borum – Jake McKinnis | 3 | 6.47 | 72 | |||
40 | Mark Thompson – Luke Thompson | 3 | 6.42 | 71 | |||
41 | Jeff Bear – Quenton Bear | 3 | 6.16 | 70 | |||
42 | Steve Teske – John Jones | 2 | 3.61 | 5.87 | 69 | ||
43 | Rick Bowman – *Garin Hunt | 3 | 5.49 | 68 | |||
44 | Mitchell Blehm – Dominic Cavitt | 1 | 2.8 | 2.8 | 67 | ||
45 | Phillip Schwartz – Colby Schwartz | 1 | 1.88 | 1.88 | 66 | ||
46 | John Aleshire – Travis Aleshire | 0 | 10 | ||||
Zach Baldwin – Robin Baldwin | 0 | 10 | |||||
Todd Choate – Kent Whitaker | 0 | 10 | |||||
Ronald Decker – Ronald Decker JR | 0 | 10 | |||||
Leonard DeClue – Kelton Morris | 0 | 10 | |||||
Troy Hardie – Tommie Hutchenson | 0 | 10 | |||||
Chris Hovey – Allan Hovey | 0 | 10 | |||||
Floyd Ross – Shane Henson | 0 | 10 | |||||
Greg Seiner – Kevin Ingle | 0 | 10 | |||||
Danny Shinneman – Mike Cooley | 0 | 10 |
*alternate