Great Start to 2020 Mark Twain Division
- Conditions: Lake level 612.19 (normal 606)
- Water temp. low to upper 70s
- Water clarity, Stained to very dirty (Hey its Mark Twain!)
51 Teams participated in the delayed start to the 2020 Mark Twain division sponsored by 154 Marine. Format was changed to accommodate the COVID-19 precautions taken by the US Army Corps of Engineers at Mark Twain Lake. Registration, Live-well check and weigh-in were performed at 154 Marine with a Lines-in (begin fishing) and a Lines-out (stop fishing) format. Joe Bass will continue with this format for the June 7th tournament (make up from May 3) and will only change back to normal tournament format when the Corps begins issuing Special Use Permits.
Taking the top spot today was the team of Larry Rothweil and Phil Williams. Larry and Phil focused on Post Spawn fish making their way back to the main lake. Larry and Phil fished the first point, pocket, or cut going into a creek, trying to intercept the fish moving out. Larry and Phil caught the majority of their 12 keepers on bottom baits (jigs and soft plastics) however they also caught some of their fish on spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Larry and Phil felt it was important to move around a lot as the fish really weren’t schooled up yet. So when the team fished a spot and got a couple bites the would leave for another letting the spot rest. In the end the teams best 5 fish weighed in at 16.21 pounds. included in their bag was the second big bass weighing 4.99 pounds.
Finishing a close second was the team of Jimmy Coyner and Keith Ostrander. Similar to the winners Jimmy and Keith employed a “run and gun” approach fishing as many as 20 spots in the Mid-lake area. Jimmy and Keith fished everything from Main-lake points to the last channel swing in a creek. Jigs and soft plastics were their baits of choice catching several keepers on the day with their best 5 weighing 15.73 pounds. Included in their sack was the Ozark Chevrolet Big Joe Bass weighing 5.76 pounds. Jimmy was also the highest finishing Skeeter Owner fishing out of his 2006 21 I-Class. Jimmy and Keith a sponsored by 154 Marine and Bullseye Bait and Tackle.
Also moving around the lake a lot today was the third place finishers Charlie Kunkle and Keith Williams. Charlie and Keith fished multiple spots from the Dam to the Mid-lake bridges. Their bait of choice was the Brushog which gave them 10 keeper bites on the day with the best 5 weighing 15.37 pounds. Charlie and Keith are sponsored by 154 Marine.
- 51 teams
- 122 fish weighed 121 released
- 13 Limits
Our next tournament is Sunday June, 7 (make up from May,3) Registration, Live-well check and weigh-in at 154 Marine. Lines-in 6:00 am, Line-out 2:30 pm
Host lodging for JBTT at Mark Twain Lake is Country Inn Resort (573) 267-3800
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | Pnlty | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout | |
| 1 | Larry Rothwell – Phil Williams | 5 | 4.99 | 16.21 | 110 | $2,570.00 | 2BB | |
| 2 | Jim Coyner – Keith Ostrander | 5 | 5.76 | 15.73 | 109 | $1,780.00 | 1BB/$ Skeeter | |
| 3 | Charlie Kunkle – Keith Williams | 5 | 4.68 | 15.37 | 108 | $750.00 | ||
| 4 | Preston Hartung – George Harrington | 5 | 4.59 | 15.16 | 107 | $500.00 | ||
| 5 | Jason Huskey – Bryan Hulsey | 5 | 3.88 | 14.66 | 106 | $400.00 | ||
| 6 | Dennis McFetridge – Karen McFetridge | 5 | 3.72 | 13.05 | 105 | $300.00 | ||
| 7 | Chris Johnson – Josh Calvin | 5 | 3.19 | 13.04 | 104 | $240.00 | ||
| 8 | Jeff Boerding – Mike Reigh | 5 | 12.4 | 103 | $210.00 | |||
| 9 | Wayne Werle – Jim Lomax | 5 | 0.5 | 11.43 | 102 | $200.00 | ||
| 10 | Gary Koenig – Robin Hessling | 5 | 11.36 | 101 | $160.00 | |||
| 11 | Chris Janda – J. Rowdy Yates | 5 | 11.14 | 100 | ||||
| 12 | Ron Mellinger – Colton Mellinger | 5 | 11.07 | 99 | ||||
| 13 | Dominic Perotti – Jim Sexton | 5 | 2.54 | 10.81 | 98 | |||
| 14 | Roger LaBarge – Keith LaBarge | 4 | 9.37 | 97 | ||||
| 15 | Kenny Grothoff – Donnie Palmatory | 3 | 3.98 | 8.96 | 96 | |||
| 16 | Josh Gebhardt – Ross Lord | 4 | 2.99 | 8.84 | 95 | |||
| 17 | Eric Power – Chris Power | 4 | 8.76 | 94 | ||||
| 18 | Mike Wotawa – Lucas Howald | 4 | 8.62 | 93 | ||||
| 19 | David Kampschroeder – Dustin Kampschroeder | 4 | 8.61 | 92 | ||||
| 20 | Ken Whitfield – Chris Embry | 4 | 8.47 | 91 | ||||
| 21 | Gary Gedville – John Gedville | 3 | 7.49 | 90 | ||||
| 22 | Terry Jones – Brad Dooley | 3 | 6.77 | 89 | ||||
| 23 | Mark Tucker – Ray Byrd | 2 | 5.64 | 88 | ||||
| 24 | Alan Hoyt – Gage Hoyt | 2 | 5.26 | 87 | ||||
| 25 | Nick Morris – Mason Morris | 2 | 5.03 | 86 | ||||
| 26 | Chadd Bliss – Bay Bliss | 2 | 4.72 | 85 | ||||
| 27 | Tom Herndon – Jason VanBeers | 1 | 4.37 | 4.37 | 84 | |||
| 28 | Steve Weber – Sam Phillips | 2 | 4.18 | 83 | ||||
| 29 | Deno Ek – Russ Gilmore | 2 | 4.17 | 82 | ||||
| 30 | John Knudsen – Tom Williams | 2 | 4.14 | 81 | ||||
| 31 | Cory Kunkle – Charlie Kunkle Sr | 1 | 3.52 | 3.52 | 80 | |||
| 32 | Tom Darnell – Rick McGuire | 1 | 3.04 | 3.04 | 79 | |||
| 33 | Keith Hendrix – Greg Zumwalt | 1 | 2.92 | 2.92 | 78 | |||
| 34 | Bill Kayser – *Terry Kayser | 1 | 2.74 | 2.74 | 77 | |||
| 35 | Phil J Zimmerman – Phil M Zimmerman | 1 | 2.72 | 2.72 | 76 | |||
| 36 | Dave Strutman – Denny Lambert | 1 | 2.39 | 2.39 | 75 | |||
| 36 | Bob Sturgeon – *Nick Sturgeon | 1 | 2.39 | 2.39 | 75 | |||
| 38 | Lonnie Franklin – Bob Peneston | 1 | 2.25 | 2.25 | 73 | |||
| 39 | Scott Jackson – Jim Brewer | 1 | 2.06 | 2.06 | 72 | |||
| 40 | Mick Buchanan – Gary Grzybinski | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Kent Campell – Shane Burr | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Matt Dallas – Theresa Dallas | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Chad Denningmann – Kurt Denningmann | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Todd Hessling – Mike Pettitt | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Jason Kiser – *fished aalone | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Don McFetridge – Gary McFetridge | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Stacey Moss – Darrin Lockhart | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Denis Repa – *Peter Repa | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Terry Weaver – Doug Drysdale | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Nick Werle – *Dave Tiernan | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Ken Young – John Drury | 0 | 10 |
*alternate