32 teams made it for the Mark Twain Lake Division opener, sponsored by 154 Marine. Conditions were less than desirable as the lake rose over 10 feet over the last week making much of the lake un-fishable, resulting in the lake fish very small. Dock talk was that the fish were in all three stages of the spawn, you could see bedding fish in the few places that had some water clarity, many of the larger fish weighed in were long and skinny and some were swollen with eggs.
Taking the Win today was the team of David and Dustin Kampschroeder. The father son team started their day down lake from Robert E Allen ramp. Focusing on cleaner water, the team fished spinnerbaits and buzzbaits around secondary points leading into spawning pockets. After an hour and a half without a sniff, David reported that they made a move to slightly dirtier water. That move produced their first keeper. Still not content with their adjustment the team moved to even dirtier water, and finished out their limit with spinnerbaits and jigs. Around one o’clock the team moved to the backs of the pockets and went to work with a spinnerbait and a frog, fishing visible grass and sawdust piles. The teams 2 biggest fish came on the frog in less than 2 feet of water. David and Dustin’s best 5 pushed the scales down to 16.19 pounds to take the top spot on the Window World Leader Board. Included in their sack was the second big bass of the day weighing 4.71 pounds. David and Dustin are sponsored by Eberlin Boats, Quality Painting Inc. and Vexsus Boats
Finishing in the “Place” position was the always salty team of Don and Gary McFetridge. Don and Gary also pointed their boat towards the lower end of the lake to start the day, stopping at a creek that has been very reliable over the years when the water is high. The team went to work pitching Brush Hogs to visible targets, resulting in three keepers including a three pounder. Don and Gary made a short run farther down lake and fished a couple short pockets near the dam and finished out their limit by 9am. Around the noon hour the team began hopping pockets back up lake and Don popped a quality fish weighing 4.44 pounds, also on a Brush Hog. Don and Gary made one last move to a spawning pocket in stained water and made another quality cull resulting in their final weight of 15.14 pounds.
Finishing in “Show” position was Wayne Werle and alternate Rob Crangle. The Window World sponsored team fished the stained mid-lake area and caught a limit early throwing spinnerbaits and Jackhammer Chatterbaits. Later in the day they made some quality culls with a weightless Senko. All their fish came from the backs of spawning pockets in less than 2 feet of water.
Jake and Richard Morrison were originally bummed that their limit weighing 12.41 was first out of the money by .02 pounds, however the team fished out of Jake’s 2008 Skeeter ZX225 and won the Skeeter incentive along with the first out of the money Lucas Oil Pro pack.
Greg Zumwalt and alternate Rusty Rothweiler had the NAPA Big Bass of the day, weighing in a 4.85 pound Fatty, that was fooled by a spinnerbait, in shallow grass.
32 Teams, 9 limits, 88 fish weighed 88 fish released.
The next Joe Bass Mark Twain Division tournament sponsored by 154 Marine will be Sunday June 2nd Robert Allen ramp. Weigh-in, morning check-in and Sunday morning registration will be held at Robert Allen Ramp.
Host Lodging for Joe Bass at Mark Train is Country Inn Resort (573)267-3800
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | David Kampschroeder – Dustin Kampschroeder | 5 | 4.71 | 16.19 | 220 | $2,160.00 |
| 2 | Don McFetridge – Gary McFetridge | 5 | 4.44 | 15.14 | 219 | $1,040.00 |
| 3 | Wayne Werle – *Rob Crangle | 5 | 4.15 | 13.82 | 218 | $540.00 |
| 4 | Ron Mellinger – *Matt Dallas | 5 | 3.63 | 13.03 | 217 | $400.00 |
| 5 | Denis Repa – Alec Repa | 5 | 3.37 | 12.75 | 216 | $300.00 |
| 6 | Josh Gebhardt – Ross Lord | 5 | 12.43 | 215 | $182.00 | |
| 7 | Jake Morrison – Richard Morrison | 5 | 4.35 | 12.41 | 214 | $250.00 |
| 8 | *Rusty Rothweiler – Greg Zumwalt | 4 | 4.85 | 12.37 | 213 | $190.00 |
| 9 | Larry Rothwiel – Steve Smith | 5 | 11.42 | 212 | ||
| 10 | Jonathon Thomas – Jeff Novel | 5 | 10.16 | 211 | ||
| 11 | *Doug Buhr – Cory Kunkle | 4 | 9.65 | 210 | ||
| 12 | Alan Hoyt – John Summers | 4 | 8.76 | 209 | ||
| 13 | Eric Power – Blake Power | 3 | 4.4 | 8.58 | 208 | |
| 14 | Charlie Kunkle – Keith Williams | 4 | 7.37 | 207 | ||
| 15 | Scott Jackson – Todd Martens | 3 | 6.58 | 206 | ||
| 16 | Zackery Andersen – Matthew Andersen | 3 | 6.35 | 205 | ||
| 17 | Steve Chiaurro – Richard Dannegger | 3 | 6.26 | 204 | ||
| 18 | Donnie Palmatory – Logan Hughes | 2 | 4.21 | 5.96 | 203 | |
| 19 | Kris Slocum – Trisha Slocum | 2 | 3.06 | 5.45 | 202 | |
| 20 | Dominic Perotti – Nick Perotti | 2 | 4.73 | 201 | ||
| 21 | Chad Denningmann – Kurt Denningmann | 2 | 4.64 | 200 | ||
| 22 | Lonnie Franklin – Bob Peneston | 2 | 4.05 | 199 | ||
| 23 | Brady Graves – Darryll Waller | 1 | 3.76 | 3.76 | 198 | |
| 24 | Bill Baumbach – James Guinn | 1 | 3.41 | 3.41 | 197 | |
| 25 | Steve Weber – Sam Phillips | 1 | 2.61 | 2.61 | 196 | |
| 26 | Mathew Waller – Connor McBride | 1 | 2.29 | 2.29 | 195 | |
| 27 | Phil J Zimmerman – Phil M Zimmerman | 1 | 2.02 | 2.02 | 194 | |
| 28 | Preston Hartung – *fished aalone | 0 | 20 | |||
| Matt McCullough – Scott Arensmann | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Dennis McFetridge – Scott McFetridge | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Scott Taucher – | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Ken Young – *fished aalone | 0 | 20 |
*alternate