Continued highwater and scorching summertime temperatures plagued the 70 boat field that gathered at the Berry Bend highwater ramp for the July tournament in the Joe Bass Team Trails Truman Division. With the Corps dropping the lake nearly 6” daily, the bass seemed to be pulling to the outside edge of the cover, scattering them over a wide range of areas, which correlated with a wide range of weights brought to the scales. Despite the heat that taxed the fisherman, fish, and even the printer at weigh-in, over 35% of the field weighed a five bass limit. Perhaps more importantly, over 98% of the bass were released alive, displaying the attention to fish care by the anglers.
Blowing the top off the tournament was Brad Jelinek and Brock Reinkemeyer who toted 22.56 pounds to the scales! They cited fishing jigs in bushes for their Sport Boats USA Key to Success. Working through a myriad of points in 4-8’ produced their bites.
Kenny Shinn and Troy Ladenhoff dropped 20.51 pounds on the scales, a weight that would typically secure a July win. Kenny noted they fished hundreds of bushes on a scattered bite with their fish coming on Santone Jigs. Troy added they had an early flurry, followed by a mid-day lull, topped off with a run towards the end of the day, as they worked their Merc running from spot to spot with bites coming in the 10-20’ range, some on the bottom, others suspended.
Anchoring another top finish was Charley and Chris Thomas. Their 17.94 bag fell to worms fished on points. Depths ranged from 6-8’ to 20’, with no apparent consistency other than covering water.
Marty Watson and Doug Long their bolstered their 11th place check with the Ozark Chevrolet Big Bass of the event, a thick 5.13 pound lunker that hit a jig fished on a current-break point.
Truman veterans Rich Campbell and Marvin Deckard wrangled the Sport Boats USA Top Skeeter incentive award with a 9th place finish based on their 14.43 pound weight. Rich reported fishing brush hogs and Senkos with his 2018 ZX225 sitting in less than 10’ of water.
The final event in the Truman Division will be on August 25th with the takeoff time slated for 6:00 am at Shawnee Bend Ramp, God willing and the lake continues to fall. Keep an eye on the website for further information.
Everharts Outdoor Store is the Truman Division sponsor located in Clinton MO.
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | Pnlty | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout | |
| 1 | Brad Jelinek – *Bret Reinkemeyer | 5 | 4.97 | 22.56 | 110 | $2,170.00 | ||
| 2 | *Kenny Shinn – Troy Ladenhoff | 5 | 4.58 | 20.51 | 109 | $1,480.00 | ||
| 3 | Charley Thomas – Chris Thomas | 5 | 4.93 | 17.94 | 108 | $1,190.00 | ||
| 4 | Michael Simons – Jacob Simons | 5 | 3.88 | 17.84 | 107 | $800.00 | ||
| 5 | Bryce Rieder – Mike Edrington | 5 | 4.36 | 17.53 | 106 | $500.00 | ||
| 6 | Gary Arterberry – Gus Adkinson | 5 | 3.78 | 16.17 | 105 | $450.00 | ||
| 7 | Corey Besgrove – Eddie Brown | 5 | 1 | 3.64 | 14.55 | 104 | $400.00 | |
| 8 | *Ben Saubers – Brandon Brown | 5 | 4.98 | 14.52 | 103 | $540.00 | 2BB | |
| 9 | Rich Campbell – Marvin Decker | 5 | 3.51 | 14.43 | 102 | $800.00 | Top Skeeter | |
| 10 | Keith Livingston – Steve Livingston | 5 | 3.47 | 14.34 | 101 | $250.00 | ||
| 11 | Marty Watson – Doug Long | 5 | 5.13 | 14.32 | 100 | $720.00 | 1BB | |
| 12 | Jerry McCutchen – Kevin Smith | 5 | 3.26 | 14.29 | 99 | $200.00 | ||
| 13 | James McCutchen – Lowell Wascher | 5 | 3.21 | 13.89 | 98 | $180.00 | ||
| 14 | John Williams – *Jim Williams | 5 | 3.24 | 13.57 | 97 | $160.00 | ||
| 15 | Dan Hirstein – Chris Hirstein | 5 | 3.88 | 12.44 | 96 | |||
| 16 | John Krewson – Tony Powers | 5 | 3.47 | 12.43 | 95 | |||
| 17 | Greg Askew – Terry Case | 5 | 2.81 | 12.21 | 94 | |||
| 18 | Kevin Johnston – Roger Waters | 4 | 3.66 | 12.1 | 93 | |||
| 19 | Ricky Clemen – Phil McKinney | 5 | 3.35 | 11.86 | 92 | |||
| 20 | Robert Hime – Paul Huse | 5 | 2.86 | 11.04 | 91 | |||
| 21 | Stephen Smith – Garren Hunt | 3 | 4.57 | 10.89 | 90 | |||
| 22 | Larry Wright – Doug Wallace | 5 | 2.69 | 10.76 | 89 | |||
| 23 | Shawn Crabtree – Reece Crabtree | 5 | 2.53 | 10.75 | 88 | |||
| 24 | Chris Bridges – Steve Prince | 5 | 2.27 | 10.46 | 87 | |||
| 25 | John Bennett – Darrell Reach | 3 | 3.89 | 10.43 | 86 | |||
| 26 | Lennie Becker – Elmer Becker II | 4 | 3.93 | 10.01 | 85 | |||
| 27 | Brett Fickle – Joseph Hull | 4 | 4.23 | 9.66 | 84 | |||
| 28 | Jared Knuth – David Knuth | 5 | 0.5 | 9.65 | 83 | |||
| 29 | Eric Zuk – *Ed Mathews | 4 | 2.54 | 9.19 | 82 | |||
| 30 | Jonathan Evans – Bradley Dillon | 5 | 9.15 | 81 | ||||
| 31 | Mark Thompson – Mark Thompson II | 4 | 4.29 | 8.08 | 80 | |||
| 32 | Glen McCrary – Sondra McCrary | 3 | 2.55 | 7.64 | 79 | |||
| 33 | John Campbell – Chuck Roberts | 4 | 2.44 | 7.64 | 78 | |||
| 34 | Kevin Duer – Dustin Young | 3 | 2.66 | 7.6 | 77 | |||
| 35 | Don Heiser – Jim Sells | 4 | 3.4 | 7.14 | 76 | |||
| 36 | Bob Jany – Dennis Schilb | 4 | 6.82 | 75 | ||||
| 37 | Chet Douthit – Bill Hendrick | 3 | 6.7 | 74 | ||||
| 38 | Lyle Armstrong – Mitchell Armstrong | 3 | 3.12 | 6.69 | 73 | |||
| 39 | Bryan Baker – Darren Baker | 5 | 6.21 | 72 | ||||
| 40 | Kevin Love – | 2 | 5.1 | 71 | ||||
| 41 | Edward Nelson – Tony Zaharsky | 2 | 4.87 | 70 | ||||
| 42 | Mark Riegel – JR Shinn | 2 | 3.08 | 4.57 | 69 | |||
| 43 | Randy Oliphant – Scott Oliphant | 2 | 4.46 | 68 | ||||
| 44 | Manuel Farris – Lisa Osbum | 2 | 4.32 | 67 | ||||
| 45 | Junior Fiedler – Chris Fiedler | 2 | 4.31 | 66 | ||||
| 46 | Jimmie Snodgrass – Jim Waggoner | 2 | 4.13 | 65 | ||||
| 47 | Jack Young – Bill McAvoy | 2 | 2.37 | 4.03 | 64 | |||
| 48 | Mark Simmons – Terry Lawhon | 2 | 3.34 | 63 | ||||
| 49 | Ozzie Wallace – Brian Vanderzeil | 2 | 3.3 | 62 | ||||
| 50 | Ron Peek – *Bill Peek | 2 | 3.16 | 61 | ||||
| 51 | James Macleod – Danny Johnston | 1 | 2.82 | 2.82 | 60 | |||
| 52 | Steve Teske – Jon Wall | 1 | 2.63 | 2.63 | 59 | |||
| 53 | Kenny Bogner – Justin Bogner | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Rocky Carden – *fished aalone | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Chris Flood – *Jon Hill | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Wayne Garrison – Robbie Plowman | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Tony Habiger – *fished aalone | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Scott Hankinson – Brandon Rowland | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Troy Hardie – Tommie Hutchenson | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Troy Hendrick – Chad Hendrick | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| John Martin – *Ray White | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| David McCormick – Gary Shartzer | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Tom McGovern – Chris McGovern | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| *David Rogers – Rusty Darnell | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Wes Reger – Kirby Ricketts | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| *Chester Mitchell – Jamie Edge | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Mike Rowland – Greg Miller | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Karl Schmidt – *fished aalone | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Mike Thomas – Jeff Lane | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Ed Young – *Jeff Smith | 0 | 10 |
*alternate