Cloudy skies and cooler temperatures greeted the 42 teams that came out for tournament #2 of 5 for the Joe Bass Mark Twain Division sponsored by 154 Marine. Morning “Dock talk” was all about the fickle bite, after water temperatures rose 20 degrees over the last week. The majority of the fish were in the Pre-spawn to spawn phase, but the water was too dingy to do any visual bed fishing.
Conditions;
Water Temp 72 to 80 degrees
Water clarity stained to muddy
Wind WNW at 7 to 10 mph
Lake Level 609.88 normal 606.00
Taking the top spot today was Sam Phillips. Sam had to put in a solo effort as his regular partner left for Michigan. But not before he pre-fished Saturday with Sam and the team found several spawning pockets with better than average fish. Sam started his day in the Spaulding area, then worked his way back up lake. Sam focused on fishing flatter pockets in 5-7 ft depths. Sam had a 1-2 punch, he worked down the bank paralleling a crankbait then would slow down and pitch a Senko style bait on a 3/16oz Shakey head to visible targets. Sam had 8 keepers on the day with his best 5 weighing 18.50 pounds! Included in His bag was the Ozark Chevrolet Big Joe Bass weighing 5.29 pounds. The team is sponsored by Ozark Tackle.
Finishing in the Runner-up position was the team of Dennis and Scott McFetridge. Dennis and Scott also focused on spawning areas and had a similar but different 1-2 approach to the day. Dennis and Scott paralleled the bank with a 1/2 oz Buzz bait then would pitch a 3/8 oz Bass Team Tackle jig to visible targets. Dennis and Scott mostly fished the mid-lake area but did catch a couple key fish near the dam. In the end their best 5 pushed the scales to 16.60 pounds. Dennis and Scott are sponsored by Bass Team Tackle, Sports Paint, Tri-State Trolling Motor, and Obsession Baits.
Finishing in the Third spot today was the team of Michael Hamilton Jr. and Joshua Harned. The team focused their efforts in the lower end of the lake, fishing finesse jigs around spawning pockets and the closest steep bank to the pockets. Michael said you had to fish those high percentage spots multiple times going back and fourth to trigger a strike, Michael figured the fish were on beds you could not see. Michael and Joshua’s 5 fish limit came in at 15.93 pounds. The team is sponsored by, Apex Tackle, Denny Dennis Sporting Goods, Dave’s Pizza and Wings, Pro-Tungsten, Skirmish Baits, Huskey Outdoors, Riggs Baits, and Bass Pro Tournament Rewards.
Our next Joe Bass Tournament on Mark Twain Lake is Sunday, June 26th. 6am Take-off Robert Allen ramp. Pre-registration and weigh-in at 154 Marine.
Saturday, June 25th. will be the annual 154 Marine Customer Appreciation tournament 6am Take-off Robert Allen Ramp. Entries available at 154 Marine.
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | Pnlty | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | *fished aalone – Sam Phillips | 5 | 5.29 | 18.5 | 220 | $2,370.00 | |
| 2 | Dennis McFetridge – Scott McFetridge | 5 | 4.28 | 16.6 | 219 | $1,090.00 | |
| 3 | Mike Hamilton Jr – *Joshua Harned | 5 | 4.46 | 15.93 | 218 | $690.00 | |
| 4 | Ron Mellinger – Colton Mellinger | 5 | 3.65 | 14.95 | 217 | $440.00 | |
| 5 | Preston Hartung – George Harrington | 5 | 4.12 | 14.73 | 216 | $340.00 | |
| 6 | Kenny Grothoff – Donnie Palmatory | 5 | 14.45 | 215 | $240.00 | ||
| 7 | Josh Gebhardt – Ross Lord | 5 | 3.16 | 14.4 | 214 | $180.00 | |
| 8 | Don McFetridge – Gary McFetridge | 5 | 4.19 | 14.33 | 213 | $160.00 | |
| 9 | Eric Power – Chris Power | 5 | 4.68 | 14.09 | 212 | ||
| 10 | Jay Garrison – Tony Freeman | 5 | 3.64 | 14.03 | 211 | ||
| 11 | Dominic Perotti – Nick Perotti | 5 | 0.5 | 4 | 13.92 | 210 | |
| 12 | Chris Janda – J. Rowdy Yates | 5 | 13.51 | 209 | |||
| 13 | David Kampschroeder – Dustin Kampschroeder | 5 | 3.16 | 13.47 | 208 | ||
| 14 | Lonnie Franklin – Bob Peneston | 5 | 0.5 | 4.16 | 13.25 | 207 | |
| 15 | Chad Denningmann – Kurt Denningmann | 5 | 13.24 | 206 | |||
| 16 | Mack Tucker Jr. – *Mike Tucker | 5 | 12.64 | 205 | |||
| 17 | Bill Cantwell – John Koopman | 5 | 12.31 | 204 | |||
| 18 | Charlie Kunkle – Keith Williams | 5 | 0.5 | 11.99 | 203 | ||
| 19 | Jason Kiser – *Jim Coyner | 4 | 4.63 | 11.88 | 202 | ||
| 20 | Brad Dooley – Terry Jones | 4 | 4.01 | 10.72 | 201 | ||
| 21 | Jim Lomax – Wayne Werle | 4 | 0.5 | 9.15 | 200 | ||
| 22 | Ben Moss – Larry Moss | 3 | 8.23 | 199 | |||
| 23 | Gary Grzybinski – Mick Buchanan | 3 | 6.69 | 198 | |||
| 24 | Alan Hoyt – John Summers | 3 | 6.68 | 197 | |||
| 25 | Doug Buhr – Ryan Schweissguth | 3 | 6.6 | 196 | |||
| 26 | Donnie Seabaugh – Bill Kayser | 2 | 5.9 | 195 | |||
| 27 | Rick Beard – Rian White | 3 | 5.73 | 194 | |||
| 28 | Jeff Mooneyham – Gabe McAdams | 2 | 0.5 | 5.68 | 193 | ||
| 29 | Scott Jackson – Jim Brewer | 2 | 5.3 | 192 | |||
| 30 | Tom Herndon – Jason VanBeers | 1 | 5.06 | 5.06 | 191 | $170.00 | |
| 31 | Phil J Zimmerman – Phil M Zimmerman | 2 | 4.88 | 190 | |||
| 32 | Gary Martens – Bryan Loseman | 2 | 4.41 | 189 | |||
| 33 | Steve Chiraurro – Richard Dannegger | 2 | 4.03 | 188 | |||
| 34 | Gary Koenig – Robin Hessling | 1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 187 | ||
| 35 | Keith Hendrix – *Rusty Rothweiler | 1 | 2.39 | 2.39 | 186 | ||
| 36 | Brady Graves – Darryll Waller | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Cory Kunkle – Brad Morley | 0 | 20 | |||||
| Logan Miller – Jason Bristow | 0 | 20 | |||||
| Kenneth Mitchell – Roger Hammond | 0 | 20 | |||||
| Gary Morrison – | 0 | 20 | |||||
| Nick Werle – Dave Tiernan | 0 | 20 | |||||
| Ken Young – *fished aalone | 0 | 20 |
*alternate