A lake that’s eight feet high, dropping slowly, a mix of clouds, showers and intermittent sun combined with a post-spawn funk set the table for a tough Stockton tournament. The numbers proved that out, as 54 teams struggled to bring 30 limits to weigh-in with the average weight per fish barely breaking the two pound mark. Regardless, anglers took off from Orleans Trail Marina in search of daily bragging rights and valuable qualifying points for the Joe Bass Invitational to be held Stockton Lake next fall.
Besting the field, Rick Bowman and Jeff Moore brought 14.75 pounds to the scales to take the win. Rick and Jeff shared their Albers Marine Key to Success involved slinging spinnerbaits and jigs to shallow bushes. They noted they worked through 9 keepers to reach their final weight.
Second place was secured by Chris and Kelly White. Their 14.52 stringer was anchored by the Ozark Chevrolet Big Bass of the tournament, a 5.97 pound kicker. They reported flipping shallow bushes with soft plastics. Finding fish scattered, Chris explained they had to cover a lot of water to get their bites.
Jared Essay and Nick Hass rounded out the top three. They reported using spinnerbaits, catching 3 keepers early then struggling the remainder of the day. They boated their limit fish just before they had to pack up and head to weigh-in where they scaled 13.64 pounds.
Dan Cox and Tim Kastning added to their fourth place check as they took Top Skeeter honors by the narrowest of margins with .01 pounds separating them from fifth place and the next highest Skeeter finisher. Dan noted they used his hand-poured gator tail worms to put 13.35 pounds in his SX 190 Skeeter.
Special thanks to Albers Marine, Inc for their support of the division. Catch Em All Bait & Tackle is onboard with the Joe Bass Save A Receipt program. An added bonus is they’ve offered a 10% discount for Joe Bass anglers presenting a Table Rock weigh-in slip to the Cape Fair tackle shop. Be sure and keep your receipts for a chance at $1000 at the Joe Bass Invitational this fall at Stockton.
The fourth Joe Bass Stockton derby will be Sunday August 7th with a 6:00 am takeoff from Orleans Trail Marina & Resort. Take note of the monthly takeoff time of 6:00 a.m and make sure you’re checked in early to ensure a timely takeoff.
Catch & Release boat proudly sponsored by Taylor Grubaugh Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | Pnlty | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Rick Bowman – Jeff Moore | 5 | 4.01 | 14.75 | 220 | $2,440.00 | |
| 2 | Chris White – Kelly White | 5 | 5.97 | 14.52 | 219 | $1,480.00 | |
| 3 | Jared Essary – Nick Hass | 5 | 13.64 | 218 | $880.00 | ||
| 4 | Dan Cox – Tim Kastning | 5 | 3.73 | 13.35 | 217 | $800.00 | |
| 5 | Mark Thompson – *Rachel Thompson | 5 | 3.72 | 13.34 | 216 | $450.00 | |
| 6 | Brent Greek – Andy Greek | 5 | 4.58 | 13.14 | 215 | $400.00 | |
| 7 | Matthew Roberts – Brian Pahl | 5 | 13 | 214 | $320.00 | ||
| 8 | Eric Craft – Dominic Cavitt | 5 | 3.2 | 12.98 | 213 | $240.00 | |
| 9 | Mike Johnson – Andrew Johnson | 5 | 4.13 | 12.67 | 212 | $200.00 | |
| 10 | Tom Statler – Dillon Statler | 5 | 3.77 | 12.57 | 211 | $180.00 | |
| 11 | Justin Angel – Scott Angel | 5 | 3.51 | 12.06 | 210 | ||
| 12 | Josh Busby – Rick Johnston | 5 | 11.99 | 209 | |||
| 13 | Luke Routh – Tyler Weaver | 5 | 3.56 | 11.83 | 208 | ||
| 14 | Jim Davidson – Mike Ashbacher | 4 | 4.81 | 11.76 | 207 | $220.00 | |
| 15 | Jeff Gilbert – Bob Neff | 5 | 3.57 | 11.7 | 206 | ||
| 16 | Kenneth White – Ken White | 5 | 11.59 | 205 | |||
| 17 | Russ Hughes – Ronald Parker | 5 | 11.46 | 204 | |||
| 18 | Mike Daley – Dale Elkins | 5 | 3.07 | 11.42 | 203 | ||
| 19 | Dusty Richardson – Robert Shackelford | 5 | 10.95 | 202 | |||
| 20 | Jeff Bear – Quenton Bear | 5 | 3.5 | 10.9 | 201 | ||
| 21 | Mark Moody – Kyle Kiister | 5 | 3.44 | 10.84 | 200 | ||
| 22 | Johnny Smith – Josh Davis | 5 | 10.82 | 199 | |||
| 23 | Colton Calhoun – Cole Boyd | 5 | 3.31 | 10.81 | 198 | ||
| 24 | Clint Hart – KC Collette | 5 | 10.66 | 197 | |||
| 25 | Greg Miller – Ayden Scott | 5 | 0.5 | 4.01 | 10.39 | 196 | |
| 26 | Scott Tassi – Glenn Harrison | 5 | 10.3 | 195 | |||
| 27 | Shane Mooneyham – Les Brandenburg | 5 | 3.1 | 10.21 | 194 | ||
| 28 | Justin Borum – Jake McKinnis | 5 | 10.17 | 193 | |||
| 29 | Matt Garrett – Will Isaac | 5 | 3.38 | 10.02 | 192 | ||
| 30 | Rodney Wescott – *Alan Yarnell | 5 | 9.61 | 191 | |||
| 31 | Jamie Newton – John Bishop | 4 | 3.92 | 9.44 | 190 | ||
| 32 | Justin Bogner – Kenny Bogner | 5 | 9.43 | 189 | |||
| 33 | Terry Kennedy – Anthony Decker | 4 | 8.78 | 188 | |||
| 34 | Seth Glynn – Kelly (KJ) Hughes | 4 | 8.44 | 187 | |||
| 35 | Rocky Carden – Dustin Besperat | 4 | 2.82 | 8.18 | 186 | ||
| 36 | Mike Butcher – Justin Amershek | 4 | 7.9 | 185 | |||
| 37 | Drew Sagely – Taylor Surly | 3 | 6.94 | 184 | |||
| 38 | Tony Habiger – *fished aalone | 4 | 6.81 | 183 | |||
| 39 | Tyler Eagan – James Eagan | 4 | 6.64 | 182 | |||
| 40 | Greg Seiner – Brad Seiner | 3 | 6.1 | 181 | |||
| 41 | Ronny DeNayer – Troy Hardie | 3 | 5.73 | 180 | |||
| 42 | Steve Teske – Bruce Yarnell | 2 | 3.49 | 179 | |||
| 43 | Dennis Edwards – Hayes Edwards | 2 | 3.44 | 178 | |||
| 44 | Cole Boyd – Beau Phillips | 2 | 3 | 177 | |||
| 45 | Blaze Bullard – | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Leonard DeClue – Kelton Morris | 0 | 20 | |||||
| Justin Delk – Brandon Rummel | 0 | 20 | |||||
| Mike Hagensicker – *fished aalone | 0 | 20 | |||||
| Keith Hurd – Jeff Nelson | 0 | 20 | |||||
| Darryl Knacksted – Max Wilson | 0 | 20 | |||||
| Chris Macy – Tim Lawyer | 0 | 20 | |||||
| Gerald McDaniel – Jeff Pascoe | 0 | 20 | |||||
| *Matt Scoma – Anthony Scoma | 0 | 20 | |||||
| JR Williams – Lee Jordan | 0 | 20 |
*alternate