Things are heating up at Mark Twain Lake!
Conditions; lake level 614.96 (normal 606.00)
Clarity; Stained to Muddy, water temp. upper 70s main, mid 80s in the creeks
A blast of summer greeted the 41 teams that fished tournament number 2 of the 154 Marine sponsored Mark Twain Lake Division. Morning temps were a very sticky 71 degrees as the anglers showed up at 154 Marine for registration and live-well check. To stay within the Corps restrictions on Mark Twain Lake, standard format was altered to a lines in (begin fishing) and lines out (stop fishing) format,
Taking the top spot today was the team of Preston Hartung and George Harrington. Preston and George began their fishing day close to the Robert Allen Boat ramp, in a short main lake pocket and within 10 minutes of lines in connected with a “GET THE NET” giant, on a soft plastic pitched to wood, weighing 6.19 pounds! Turns out that was the Ozark Chevrolet Big Joe Bass of the tournament! The team fished the rest of the creek boating 3 more keepers on spinnerbaits and soft plastics. Moving to another creek off the main lake the team found their limit fish and a few upgrades. After a lull in the action the team made one last move down lake and caught their last keeper, fishing a big worm on a main lake point. Preston and George caught 9 keepers on the day with their best 5 weighing 15.50 pounds, good enough for the W. Preston and George are sponsored by Ardent, Duckett Fishing, Harrington Construction, and JPH Construction.
Finishing in the runner-up position was the team of Bryan Hulsey and Jason Huskey. Bryan and Jason started their day on the lower portion of the lake and caught a few fish early, but they knew it wasn’t the quality needed for the “check line”. So mid morning the team made a move to the mid lake area bouncing around both main and secondary points, pitching jigs to any visible cover, connecting with several keepers before the mandatory 2:30 lines out. Bryan and Jason’s limit weighed in at 14.44 pounds, which not only earned the team 2nd place, it also made Bryan the top finishing Skeeter owner, fishing from his 1999 ZX202c . Bryan and Jason are sponsored by Flooring Systems Inc. and Karrenbrock Excavating.
Finding the check line in 3rd today was the team of Corey Kunkle and Charlie Kunkle Sr. The 154 Marine sponsored team had a different approach to the day catching all their keepers on a Chatterbait chasing the wind on main lake and secondary points, bumping the bait off any cover or irregularity. Cory and Charlie’s limit weighed 14.34 pounds.
41 teams 21 limits.
The next Mark Twain Lake tournament, sponsored by 154 Marine, is June 28, 6am start. (whether that is take-off or lines-in to be determined)
Host lodging for Joe Bass at Mark Twain is Country Inn Resort 573-267-3800
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | Pnlty | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout | |
| 1 | Preston Hartung – George Harrington | 5 | 6.19 | 15.5 | 110 | $2,300.00 | 1BB | |
| 2 | Jason Huskey – Bryan Hulsey | 5 | 4.19 | 14.44 | 109 | $1,280.00 | ||
| 3 | Cory Kunkle – Charlie Kunkle Sr | 5 | 4.45 | 14.34 | 108 | $620.00 | ||
| 4 | Don McFetridge – Gary McFetridge | 5 | 4.14 | 14.15 | 107 | $400.00 | ||
| 5 | Keith Hendrix – Greg Zumwalt | 5 | 5.04 | 14 | 106 | $460.00 | 2BB | |
| 6 | Lonnie Franklin – Bob Peneston | 5 | 4.35 | 13.92 | 105 | $230.00 | ||
| 7 | Tom Herndon – Jason VanBeers | 5 | 13.86 | 104 | $200.00 | |||
| 8 | Richard Eder – Richard Eder Jr | 5 | 3.72 | 13.71 | 103 | $160.00 | ||
| 9 | Steve Weber – Sam Phillips | 5 | 12.83 | 102 | ||||
| 10 | Chris Janda – J. Rowdy Yates | 5 | 12.67 | 101 | ||||
| 11 | Larry Rothwiel – Phil Williams | 5 | 3.17 | 12.5 | 100 | |||
| 12 | Gary Gedville – John Gedville | 5 | 3.28 | 12.39 | 99 | |||
| 13 | Kent Campbell – Shane Burr | 5 | 2.9 | 12.24 | 98 | |||
| 14 | Nick Morris – *Chad Bliss | 5 | 3.63 | 12.15 | 97 | |||
| 15 | Josh Gebhardt – Ross Lord | 5 | 4.5 | 12.12 | 96 | |||
| 16 | Jim Coyner – Keith Ostrander | 5 | 11.52 | 95 | ||||
| 17 | Terry Jones – Brad Dooley | 5 | 0.5 | 10.91 | 94 | |||
| 18 | Dave Strutman – Denny Lambert | 5 | 1 | 10.78 | 93 | |||
| 19 | Dennis McFetridge – Karen McFetridge | 5 | 10.75 | 92 | ||||
| 20 | Gary Koenig – Robin Hessling | 5 | 0.5 | 10.55 | 91 | |||
| 21 | David Kampschroeder – Dustin Kampschroeder | 5 | 10.48 | 90 | ||||
| 22 | Kenny Grothoff – Donnie Palmatory | 4 | 10.48 | 89 | ||||
| 23 | Chris Johnson – Josh Calvin | 4 | 9.76 | 88 | ||||
| 24 | Charlie Kunkle – Keith Williams | 4 | 3.48 | 9.62 | 87 | |||
| 25 | Bill Kayser – Donnie Seabaugh | 4 | 9.35 | 86 | ||||
| 25 | Eric Power – Chris Power | 4 | 9.35 | 86 | ||||
| 27 | Rick Beard – Rian White | 3 | 4.12 | 8.79 | 84 | |||
| 28 | Phil J Zimmerman – Phil M Zimmerman | 4 | 8.63 | 83 | ||||
| 29 | Tom Darnell – Rick McGuire | 4 | 8.01 | 82 | ||||
| 30 | Ron Mellinger – Colton Mellinger | 4 | 7.66 | 81 | ||||
| 31 | Jeff Boerding – Mike Reigh | 3 | 6.59 | 80 | ||||
| 32 | Wayne Werle – *Paul Wiegand | 2 | 4.23 | 79 | ||||
| 33 | John Knudsen – Tom Williams | 2 | 4.04 | 78 | ||||
| 34 | Mick Buchanan – Gary Grzybinski | 1 | 2.61 | 2.61 | 77 | |||
| 35 | Dominic Perotti – *Dominic Perotti Jr | 1 | 2.48 | 2.48 | 76 | |||
| 36 | Chad Denningmann – Kurt Denningmann | 1 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 75 | |||
| 37 | *fished aalone – Russ Gilmore | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Todd Hessling – Mike Pettitt | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Scott Jackson – Jim Brewer | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Jason Kiser – *fished aalone | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Stacey Moss – Darrin Lockhart | 0 | 10 |
*alternate