A stout 72 team field descended on Truman Lake to battle for the June divisional title on an immaculate weather day with mild temperatures and low humidity, a luxury not oft afforded anglers during summer events. Even though conditions toggled from a draw down all week followed by the Corps plugging the dam for the weekend, experience paid keenly as the field averaged over 8.5 pounds per boat. Competition is heating up for points and the chance to qualify for the Joe Bass Team Trails Championship at Table Rock Lake in October.
Showing that experience pays in a pivotal event, Eric and Ben Zuk brought an amazing 19.18 pounds of bass to the Joe Bass scales to secure first place. Anchoring their bag was the Ozarks Chevrolet Big Bass that pushed the scales to 5.91 pounds. Team Zuk stayed close as they fished the lower Osage, Grand and Tebo arms while amassing their winning weight by 10:00 a.m. They fished worms, jigs, and brush hogs on deeper drops to catch their fantastic stringer.
Continuing the experience theme, runners-up Ozzie and Doug Wallace showed they are no strangers to Truman’s fickle bass. It’s no surprise they fished their homemade jigs in the lower Grand arm to boat 17.27 pounds on an all-day bite. They targeted the 6-10’ range, although Doug indicated very specifically he caught a fish from exactly 13’ of water! Perhaps that is insightful for some unknown reason! What is insightful is that Doug and Ozzie pocketed the Sports Boats USA Skeeter Bonus as they fished from their Skeeter bass boat.
Completing the trifecta of experienced teams, Chris Bridges and Steve Prince rounded out the top three. Their longtime knowledge of the lake allowed them to box a solid 17.26 pounds, narrowly missing out on second places honors. Chris noted they too fished the Grand Arm, working worms and jigs in depths of 8-12’.
The next event in the Truman Division is July 30th at 6:00 am, Shawnee Bend Ramp.
Photos
Final Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | Pnlty | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Eric Zuk – Ben Zuk | 5 | 5.9 | 19.18 | 110 | $2,110.00 | |
| 2 | Doug Wallace – Ozzie Wallace | 5 | 5.3 | 17.27 | 109 | $1,456.00 | |
| 3 | Chris Bridges – Steve Prince | 5 | 4.3 | 17.26 | 108 | $1,004.00 | |
| 4 | Matt Gunter – Bobby Williams | 5 | 5 | 16.81 | 107 | $600.00 | |
| 5 | Steve Teske – Jon Wall | 5 | 4.7 | 16.31 | 106 | $500.00 | |
| 6 | Kevin Smith – Jerry McCutchen | 5 | 3.9 | 16.06 | 105 | $400.00 | |
| 7 | Shawn Crabtree – *Dallas Crabtree | 5 | 4.2 | 15.34 | 104 | $350.00 | |
| 8 | John Krewson – Fred Baraks | 5 | 4.2 | 15.15 | 103 | $300.00 | |
| 9 | Matt Garrett – Kaleb Rook | 5 | 4.8 | 14.54 | 102 | $250.00 | |
| 10 | Glen McCrary – Sondra McCrary | 5 | 3.9 | 14.28 | 101 | $220.00 | |
| 11 | Wayne Garrison – Robbie Plowman | 5 | 14.22 | 100 | $200.00 | ||
| 12 | Ralph Laster – Michael Fiedler | 5 | 4.6 | 13.74 | 99 | $180.00 | |
| 13 | Ronnie Kane – Cory Steckler | 5 | 3.5 | 13.73 | 98 | $150.00 | |
| 14 | Roy Butler – Anthony Scoma | 5 | 5.2 | 13.71 | 97 | $142.00 | |
| 15 | Mark Riegel – JR Shinn | 5 | 3.7 | 13.62 | 96 | ||
| 16 | Michael Simons – Jacob Simons | 5 | 3.4 | 13 | 95 | ||
| 17 | Mark Thompson – Mark Thompson II | 5 | 12.88 | 94 | |||
| 18 | Danny Burns – Mike Gold | 5 | 3.5 | 12.82 | 93 | ||
| 19 | Greg Askew – Terry Case | 5 | 2.8 | 12.78 | 92 | ||
| 20 | Brad Jelinek – | 5 | 12.39 | 91 | |||
| 21 | Ricky Clemen – Stacy Howell | 5 | 3.2 | 12.35 | 90 | ||
| 22 | Jack Young – Bill McAvoy | 5 | 2.8 | 11.89 | 89 | ||
| 23 | Tony Powers – John Brewer | 4 | 5 | 11.88 | 88 | ||
| 24 | Charles Sersch – Rene Sersch | 5 | 11.74 | 87 | |||
| 25 | John Williams – James Brown | 5 | 2.9 | 11.5 | 86 | ||
| 26 | John Bennett – Paden Bennett | 5 | 2.6 | 11.44 | 85 | ||
| 27 | Tom McGovern – Bob Bradley | 5 | 11.33 | 84 | |||
| 28 | Don Heiser – Jim Sells | 5 | 2.8 | 11.14 | 83 | ||
| 29 | Kyle Boman – | 4 | 4.6 | 11.1 | 82 | ||
| 30 | Stephen Smith – Garen Hunt | 4 | 10.56 | 81 | |||
| 31 | Ronnie Rush – Rick Rush | 4 | 3.6 | 10.5 | 80 | ||
| 32 | Bill Dennis – Steve Olive | 4 | 3.1 | 10.48 | 79 | ||
| 33 | Tim Hintenach – Dustin Hinkle | 5 | 10.23 | 78 | |||
| 33 | Rick Reinkemeyer – Brock Reinkemeyer | 5 | 10.23 | 78 | |||
| 35 | Tyler Matlock – *Brian B | 4 | 10.04 | 76 | |||
| 36 | Kevin Carl – Desmon Carl | 5 | 9.57 | 75 | |||
| 37 | *Darrell Reach – Roger Waters | 4 | 3.7 | 9.3 | 74 | ||
| 38 | Brian Foster – Neil Sword | 4 | 9.26 | 73 | |||
| 39 | Richard Evans – Terry Close | 3 | 5.4 | 9.03 | 72 | $320.00/2BB | |
| 40 | Billy Greenwell – *David Coutchfield | 3 | 3.9 | 8.89 | 71 | ||
| 41 | Jonathan Evans – Bradley Dillon | 4 | 3.1 | 8.77 | 70 | ||
| 42 | Charley Thomas – Chris Thomas | 4 | 8.69 | 69 | |||
| 43 | Michael Baker – Kennith Mason | 5 | 2.9 | 8.57 | 68 | ||
| 44 | Sean Bowling – Brandon Brown | 3 | 3.7 | 8.48 | 67 | ||
| 45 | Donnie Reynolds – Mark Reynolds | 3 | 7.88 | 66 | |||
| 46 | Robert Hime – Paul Huse | 4 | 7.78 | 65 | |||
| 47 | Kris Schroeder – Everett Becker | 3 | 7.36 | 64 | |||
| 48 | Ted Vick – *Brad Wyatt | 3 | 6.95 | 63 | |||
| 49 | Chris Callahan – Justin Wasmer | 3 | 2.8 | 6.78 | 62 | ||
| 50 | Edward Robinson – Kyle Morse | 5 | 0.5 | 6.53 | 61 | ||
| 51 | Phillip Schwartz – Colby Schwartz | 5 | 6.07 | 60 | |||
| 52 | *Jim Smith – Rusty Darnell | 3 | 6.05 | 59 | |||
| 53 | Mike Thomas – Bob Thomas | 2 | 6.05 | 58 | |||
| 54 | Ron Peek – Grieg Engel | 4 | 1 | 5.12 | 57 | ||
| 55 | Bryce Rieder – Mike Edrington | 2 | 2.8 | 4.17 | 56 | ||
| 56 | Lyle Armstrong – Bob King | 2 | 4.02 | 55 | |||
| 57 | Edward Nelson – Zach Nelson | 1 | 2.4 | 2.35 | 54 | ||
| 58 | Richard Johnson – Charles Cadenhead | 2 | 2.19 | 53 | |||
| 59 | Russell Potter – Rick Potter | 1 | 2.2 | 2.16 | 52 | ||
| 60 | Danny Carter – *John Bannon | 1 | 1.8 | 1.78 | 51 | ||
| 61 | Lennie Becker – Elmer Becker | 0 | 10 | ||||
| John Campbell – Chuck Roberts | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Dave Epema – *David Epema Jr | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Junior Fiedler – Cody Fielder | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Jesse Gardner – Mark Glover | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Mark Heath – Michael Dixon | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Justin Hosler – Kyle McAdams | 0 | 10 | |||||
| David McCormick – Gary Shartzer | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Bradley McMeekan – | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Dirk Oberzan – *Michael Zaccagnin | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Luke Routh – | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Jason Swarnigan – Carl Scott | 0 | 10 |
*alternate