44 teams gathered for the second of 5 Mark Twain Lake division tournaments sponsored by 154 Marine. Take-off was scheduled for 6am, however Mother Nature chose to give the field a 1 ½ hour fog delay, as teams were held back until 7:38.
Conditions;
Water level 605.37 and steady (606 normal pool)
Water temps, mid to upper 60’s lower to mid-lake low to mid 70’s up lake and in longer creeks
Water Clarity, Clear conditions lower lake, stained mid-lake to upper arms
Bass were mostly post spawn with a few stragglers still bedding.
Taking the top spot today, with a solo effort was Brad Dooley. Brad chose to hunker down in the Spalding area of Mark Twain Lake. Brad had stated that his practice had not been as productive as he had hoped, so he made the decision to really work the only area he confidence in.
The morning started off a little slow. Brad was fishing topwater and drop baits with not much success. Brad still had confidence in the area so he switched up presentations and started throwing a squarebill Strike-King 1.5 square-billed crankbait in a crawfish pattern. Brad paralleled rock transition areas at the mouths of spawning pockets and steep chunk-rock banks. Brad’s best 5 keepers weighed in at 16.83 pounds. Finishing in the top spot was “extra sweet” as Brad is the proud owner of a 2015 Skeeter ZX225 earning him the Joe Bass Skeeter Bonus.
Finishing in the second position today was the team of Bill Cantwell and John Koopman. Bill and John focused on the mid-lake area, looking for steep swing banks, figuring the bass would be working their way out of the spawning areas. Their bait of choice was a creaturebait flipped to stumps and standing timber in 5 to 9 feet of water. Bill and John’s limit weighed in at 16.53 just shy of the “W”.
Finding their way to third place today was the team of Preston Hartung and Justin Anderson. Preston and Justin made the decision to “Get away from the crowded lower lake area” fishing spawning pockets up one of the tributary arms. The day started off slow for the team as they tried to “force feed” topwater baits with little success. The team was confident they were around fish, so they adjusted to a moving presentation and quickly began putting solid keepers in the livewell. The team moved around and found their patten worked in other pockets. Preston and Justin brought in 5 fish weighing 16.49 pounds. Included in their bag was the second big bass of the tournament weighing 4.94 pounds.
The Napa Auto Parts Big Joe Bass went to the team of Dustin Bieghler and Kyle Besgrove weighing 5.19 pounds. Dustin reported fishing their primary area early, then returned to the spot in the afternoon when the fish was fooled by a shakey-head worm.
Weigh-in Hot dogs and water were supplied by Mark Train Lake Fishing Intel and Hickman’s IGA.
Our next Mark Twain division tournament will be June 11th. 6am Take-off Robert Allen Ramp
Registration and weigh-in is at 154 Marine.
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Brad Dooley – *fished alone | 5 | 4.18 | 16.83 | 220 | $2,950.00 |
| 2 | Bill Cantwell – John Koopman | 5 | 4.43 | 16.53 | 219 | $1,180.00 |
| 3 | Preston Hartung – Justin Anderson | 5 | 4.94 | 16.49 | 218 | $890.00 |
| 4 | Jake Morrison – Richard Morrison | 5 | 3.53 | 15.41 | 217 | $400.00 |
| 5 | Steve Chiaurro – Richard Dannegger | 5 | 3.99 | 14.47 | 216 | $350.00 |
| 6 | Don McFetridge – Gary McFetridge | 5 | 3.46 | 13.51 | 215 | $260.00 |
| 7 | Josh Gebhardt – Ross Lord | 5 | 3.15 | 13.02 | 214 | $220.00 |
| 8 | Steve Weber – Sam Phillips | 4 | 4.3 | 10.96 | 213 | $188.00 |
| 9 | Justin Wright – Pat Estes | 4 | 3.78 | 10.87 | 212 | |
| 10 | Dennis McFetridge – *Scott Mcfetridge | 4 | 10.87 | 211 | ||
| 11 | Charlie Kunkle – Keith Williams | 4 | 3.47 | 10.54 | 210 | |
| 12 | Dustin Bieghler – Kyle Besgrove | 3 | 5.19 | 10.24 | 209 | |
| 13 | Chad Denningmann – Kurt Denningmann | 3 | 3.65 | 9.54 | 208 | |
| 14 | Scott Jackson – Todd Martens | 3 | 3.44 | 9.2 | 207 | |
| 15 | Mack Tucker Jr. – Jay Tucker | 4 | 8.79 | 206 | ||
| 16 | Gary Martens – Bryan Loseman | 3 | 3.57 | 8.75 | 205 | |
| 17 | Dominic Perotti – Nick Perotti | 3 | 3.67 | 8.29 | 204 | |
| 18 | Jason Kiser – Deno Ek | 4 | 8.07 | 203 | ||
| 19 | Tom Herndon – Jason VanBeers | 3 | 3.7 | 7.91 | 202 | |
| 20 | Keith Hendrix – Greg Zumwalt | 2 | 4.39 | 7.11 | 201 | |
| 21 | Eric Power – Chris Power | 3 | 7.05 | 200 | ||
| 22 | Travis Wilson – Caleb Shoemacker | 2 | 4.25 | 6.58 | 199 | |
| 23 | Doug Buhr – *Ryan Schweisguth | 3 | 6.23 | 198 | ||
| 24 | Ryan Hopping – Ken Whitfield | 2 | 5.87 | 197 | ||
| 25 | Lonnie Franklin – Bob Peneston | 2 | 4.68 | 196 | ||
| 25 | Donnie Palmatory – Logan Hughes | 2 | 4.68 | 196 | ||
| 27 | Phil J Zimmerman – Phil M Zimmerman | 2 | 4.5 | 194 | ||
| 28 | Gary Koenig – Robin Hessling | 2 | 3.65 | 193 | ||
| 29 | Alan Hoyt – John Summers | 1 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 192 | |
| 30 | Matt Bryant – Andrew Bergfeld | 1 | 2.04 | 2.04 | 191 | |
| 31 | Ron Mellinger – Colton Mellinger | 1 | 2 | 2 | 190 | |
| 32 | Rick Beard – *fished alone | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | Joel Eversmeyer – | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | Mark Grigsby – *fished alone | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | Gary Grzybinski – Mick Buchanan | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | David Kampschroeder – *Heath Huskey | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | Matt McCullough – Scott Arensmann | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | David Meyers – Steve Schaefer | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | Jeff Mooneyham – Gabe McAdams | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | Chris Randell – *Brain Proctor | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | Jason Rehg – Rustin Ryan | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | Larry Rothwiel – Phil Williams | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | Michael Wible – John Rucker | 0 | 20 | |||
| 32 | Ken Young – *fished alone | 0 | 20 |
*alternate