34 teams descended on Robert E. Allen boat ramp for the second of five Mark Twain Division tournaments, sponsored by 154 Marine. “Dock Talk” was all about the changing and challenging conditions. The Lake shot up over 4 feet the week leading up to Sunday so water clarity was mostly Muddy with a few areas just heavily stained. Several cold nights lowered surface temps to the low 60’s. Add to that the fact that the Bass seemed to be in all three phases of the spawn, and the water clarity meant NO SIGHT FISHING!
Putting the pieces of the puzzle together and finishing in the top spot today was the team of Don and Gary McFetridge. This veteran team has been fishing Mark Twain Lake since it was first opened to the public in 1984. (maybe even before it was opened!) Don and Gary stated they had a very poor practice day catching only 1 keeper on Saturday and said they were having trouble catching any fish over 3lbs all spring. That being said “tomorrow is another day”. Don and Gary started their day in one of the bigger creeks in the Dam area fishing Shad colored Chatterbaits and Greenpumkin Brush Hogs. The team managed only 1 keeper in their starting spot, a small spawning pocket that they had to share with 2 other competitors. The team made a move to another spawning pocket and managed another keeper, returned to their starting spot resulting in their third keeper. The team went through a bit of a dry spell, so they moved back up lake and Gary put number four in the boat on a brush hog. It took the team a couple tries at keeper number five, Don lost one on a chatterbait, Gary said at least it wasn’t a 6 pounder. The very next cast Don’s rod doubled and after a brief tussle and a good net job, number five weighing 5.75 pounds was in the boat and was the Wilson Truck Sales Big Joe Bass of the tournament. Don and Gary decided to work their way back closer to the ramp as the wind had really picked up in the afternoon. Fishing another spawning pocket the team boated a 3 ½ and a 4 pounder late, improving their weight to 17.45 pounds good enough for the “W”
Taking the runner-up position today was the “Red Hot” team of David and Dustin Kampschroeder. I three tournaments this spring the team has a win and two second place finishes! David and Dustin started their day in the lower-end of the lake fishing Buzzbaits and spinnerbaits. The team had a small limit by 8:30 and decided to move up-lake to a major creek fishing spawning pockets off the main arm, catching bigger fish from 11 o’clock until one o’clock including a 5.19 pounder that was second big bass of the tournament. Their final weight was 17.30 pounds. David and Dustin are sponsored by Eberlin Boats, Lowrance, Minkota, Quality Painting, Ranger and Vexus Boats.
Flipping and Pitching their way to a third place finish today was the team of Deno Ek and James Medlock. The team started off a little late, James was getting some much needed “Beauty Sleep”, the team went to work flipping and pitching soft plastics to flooded bushes, grass and laydowns in 2 to 8 foot depths to wrangle up a limit weighing 15.50 pounds. In addition to their 3rd place finish Deno won the Skeeter incentive fishing out of his 2009 SKeeter ZX225.
34 teams caught 100 fish. 10 limits 100% live release at Lick Creek ramp. Thank You Ronnie Seabaugh!
Bring your empty packages of Rapala, Crush City, Storm, VMC and Suffix with your name and phone number to your next Joe Bass Tournament for a chance at a tackle pack. Drawings are done monthly throughout the tournament season.
Clear Cast marine electronics repair is continuing to support Joe Bass Team Trail. Their support of the Tournament of Champions and Staff Shootout opportunities at the Invitational is paramount to it’s success. SUPPORT their efforts! Be sure and visit their website for details for your repair and setup needs!
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Our next Joe Bass Mark Twain Division Tournament sponsored by 154 Marine will be Sunday May 31st 6am take-off Robert Allen ramp.
Host lodging for Joe Bass Team Trail at Mark Twain is Country Inn Resort, give Angela Pratt a call at (573)267-3800.
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Don McFetridge – Gary McFetridge | 5 | 5.75 | 17.45 | 220 | $2,310.00 |
| 2 | David Kampschroeder – Dustin Kampschroeder | 5 | 5.19 | 17.3 | 219 | $1,230.00 |
| 3 | Deno Ek – James Medlock | 5 | 3.99 | 15.5 | 218 | $970.00 |
| 4 | Dave Strutman – Rick McGuire | 5 | 15.04 | 217 | $450.00 | |
| 5 | Doug Buhr – Mike Tucker | 5 | 4.86 | 14.81 | 216 | $326.00 |
| 6 | Steve Chiaurro – Richard Dannegger | 5 | 14.7 | 215 | $208.00 | |
| 7 | Dominic Perotti – Nick Perotti | 5 | 4.64 | 13.49 | 214 | |
| 8 | Larry Rothwiel – Steve Smith | 5 | 4.94 | 13.18 | 213 | |
| 9 | Brad Dooley – Gary Koenig | 5 | 12.17 | 212 | ||
| 10 | Wayne Werle – *Paul Wiegand | 4 | 12 | 211 | ||
| 11 | *Rian White – Logan Hughes | 5 | 10.91 | 210 | ||
| 12 | Bill Cantwell – Brad Beach | 4 | 9.77 | 209 | ||
| 13 | Dennis McFetridge – Scott McFetridge | 4 | 9.46 | 208 | ||
| 14 | Tom Herndon – Jason VanBeers | 4 | 8.9 | 207 | ||
| 15 | Steve Weber – Sam Phillips | 4 | 8.88 | 206 | ||
| 16 | Brady Graves – Justin Wright | 4 | 8.52 | 205 | ||
| 17 | Tyler Hermes – Richard Hermes | 3 | 8.41 | 204 | ||
| 18 | Kenny Wilkinson – Sammy Closser | 3 | 7.37 | 203 | ||
| 19 | Denis Repa – Alec Repa | 3 | 7.34 | 202 | ||
| 20 | Keith Hendrix – Rusty Rothweiler | 3 | 7.07 | 201 | ||
| 21 | Kurt Denningmann – Chad Denningmann | 3 | 6.95 | 200 | ||
| 22 | Brent Basler – *Troy Basler | 3 | 6.9 | 199 | ||
| 23 | Josh Tipton – Jayson Lohmeyer | 2 | 5.82 | 198 | ||
| 24 | Phil J Zimmerman – Phil M Zimmerman | 2 | 4.71 | 197 | ||
| 25 | Matt Bryant – Scott Walker | 2 | 4.26 | 196 | ||
| 26 | Lonnie Franklin – Kyler Benne | 1 | 2.09 | 2.09 | 195 | |
| 27 | Jon Brewer – Daniel Turner | 1 | 2.07 | 2.07 | 194 | |
| 28 | Kaiden Davenport – *fished aalone | 0 | 20 | |||
| Preston Hartung – *fished aalone | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Charlie Kunkle – Keith Williams | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Cory Kunkle – | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Keith LaBarge – Roger LaBarge | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Matt McCullough – Scott Arensmann | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Mathew Waller – Connor McBride | 0 | 20 |
*alternate