Hessling and Darnell Win Snowfest!
As the saying goes in the Midwest “If you don’t like the weather wait 10 minutes!” When the alarms went off Sunday morning our anglers were greeted to cold temperatures and SNOW! Not just a few flakes mind you but near White out conditions, making many of the teams go right back to sleep. However, 15 teams braved the elements and after a 40 minute delay of take-off, I watched as boat by boat set out on the lake in hopes of winning the season opener at Mark Twain Lake sponsored by 154 Marine. Later in the day the sun came out and temps made it to over 50 degrees by weigh-in.
Taking the top spot today was the team of Todd Hessling and Tom Darnell. Todd and Tom made a short run in the morning and began fishing deep diving crankbaits on main lake and secondary points, putting two quality keepers in the boat. Later after the precipitation quit the team made the move to Lick Creek and continued cranking points. The team reported having only 5 keeper bites on the day but talk about the right 5! Todd and Tom dropped 22.72 pounds of bass on the scales for the WIN! Included in their bag was the Ozark Chevrolet Big Joe Bass weighing 6.16 pounds. Todd would like to thank J&J Marine in Quincy For helping him get his boat ready in time to fish the tournament.
Taking the second spot today was the always Salty team of Keith Hendrix and Greg Zumwalt. Keith and Greg were disappointed in their practice and decided to “put all their eggs in one basket” and settled into a channel swing bank and “camped their all day”, The team fished chatter baits, spinnerbaits and jigs in 2 to 4 feet of water and had an impressive day on the water catching 10 keepers on the day with their best 5 weighing 14.97. Keith and Greg are sponsored by 154 Marine, Hobbie Hut, HPW lures, JC Auto and Truck Parts, Crop Rotation Service, Dyna Gro Seed, Gene Larew, and Jack’s Harbor Marine.
Taking the third spot today was the team of Mike and Mack Tucker Jr. Mike and Macker reported fishing 45 degree banks in the mid-lake area. Their lure of choice was a jig. In the morning the team had to down-size to a finesse jig to get bites. However later in the day when the sun came out the team went to a larger jig and caught the majority of their keepers, bringing 4 keepers to the scales weighing 7.98 pounds. Mike also won the Skeeter incentive as the highest finishing Skeeter owner fishing out of his 2014 TZX195. Mike and Macker are sponsored by 154 Marine.
Photos
Results
Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
1 | Todd Hessling – Tom Darnell | 5 | 6.16 | 22.72 | 110 | $1,180.00 |
2 | Keith Hendrix – Greg Zumwalt | 5 | 5.18 | 14.97 | 109 | $520.00 |
3 | Mike Tucker – *Mack Tucker Jr. | 4 | 7.98 | 108 | $430.00 | |
4 | Dave Strutman – Denny Lambert | 2 | 5.85 | 7.82 | 107 | |
5 | Jason Huskey – Bryan Hulsey | 3 | 7.41 | 106 | ||
6 | Ken Young – John Drury | 3 | 7.19 | 105 | ||
7 | Bill Kayser – Donnie Seabaugh | 3 | 6.61 | 104 | ||
8 | Steve Weber – Sam Phillips | 2 | 5.61 | 103 | ||
9 | Phil J Zimmerman – Phil M Zimmerman | 2 | 4.49 | 102 | ||
10 | Dominic Perotti – *Jim Sexton | 2 | 4.24 | 101 | ||
11 | Kenny Grothoff – Donnie Palmatory | 2 | 4.05 | 100 | ||
12 | Jim Brown – Gary Dingledine | 1 | 3.23 | 3.23 | 99 | |
13 | Bill Cantwell – *fished aalone | 1 | 2.48 | 2.48 | 98 | |
14 | David Kampschroeder – Dustin Kampschroeder | 0 | 10 | |||
14 | Keith LaBarge – *fished aalone | 0 | 10 |
*alternate