Despite weeks of stifling heat, marginal rainfall, and low lake levels, Truman Lake continues to put forth impressive tournament results in both numbers and quality. Averaging nearly 8.5 pounds per bag, the 66 teams that participated in the 5th episode of the Joe Bass Truman Division adjusted to pleasant temperatures and a mix of clouds and sun as they competed for daily bragging rights in addition to qualifying points for the Joe Bass Team Trails Championship at Table Rock Lake in October. The strength of Joe Bass anglers is becoming recognized nationally as the Trail is proud to send an angler to the BASSMASTER Classic for the second year in a row, with Ryan Butler winning the 2018 honors on the heels of Scott Clift’s visit in 2017.
In what seems to be an annual event, Bryce Rieder and Mike Edrington leveraged their long time experience on Truman to best the field with another strong showing. Wrestling 18.80 pounds of bass from the treetops, they described their Boats USA Keys to Success focused on dropping big worms into trees in 30-40’ with the bite coming 6-8’ down in hardwoods.
Close behind was another strong summer team, Eric and Ben Zuk. As is their custom, the stayed relatively close to the Shawnee Bend take-off facility, basing their daily operations in the lower Grand and Tebo arms. Anchored by the Ozark Chevrolet Big Bass of the event, a 5.96 pound kicker, Eric and Ben amassed 18.08 pounds on a mix of Zara Spooks and beaver-style baits. They concentrated on the 6-13’ range on main lake points with the big fish hitting a beaver in 8’ of water.
Joseph Hull and Brett Fickle used everything in their arsenal to bring 16.81 to the scales. They alternated between spinnerbaits, jigs, worms, topwater and squarebills to entice strikes. Their second place big bass, a 5.04 largemouth, bolstered their stringer from amongst the “also rans” to a strong third place finish.
Brad Jelinek and John Slavens took home the SportBoats USA Skeeter Bonus. Their 15.63 pound bag, which placed them in 4th overall, was taken from their 2006 ZX225.
The final event for the Truman Division event will launch from Shawnee Bend August 26th at 6:00am.
Division sponsor Everharts Outdoor Store invites everyone to stop by and visit. Rumor has it they have the latest Whopper Ploppers.
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | Pnlty | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout | |
| 1 | Bryce Rieder – Mike Edrington | 5 | 4.4 | 18.8 | 110 | $1,710.00 | ||
| 2 | Eric Zuk – Ben Zuk | 5 | 6 | 18.08 | 109 | $1,606.00 | 1BB | |
| 3 | Joseph Hull – Brett Fickle | 5 | 5 | 16.81 | 108 | $1,070.00 | 2BB | |
| 4 | Brad Jelinek – John Slavens | 5 | 3.9 | 15.63 | 107 | $1,054.00 | Top Skeeter | |
| 5 | Matt Gunter – Bobby Williams | 5 | 4 | 15.42 | 106 | $500.00 | ||
| 6 | Wayne Garrison – *Troy Akers | 5 | 5 | 15.14 | 105 | $350.00 | ||
| 7 | Jerry McCutchen – Kevin Smith | 5 | 4.2 | 15.08 | 104 | $300.00 | ||
| 8 | Marty Watson – Doug Long | 5 | 4.8 | 14.98 | 103 | $240.00 | ||
| 9 | Robert Hime – Paul Huse | 5 | 4.4 | 14.73 | 102 | $220.00 | ||
| 10 | John Bennett – Darrell Reach | 5 | 4.7 | 14.47 | 101 | $200.00 | ||
| 11 | Rick Reinkemeyer – Brock Reinkemeyer | 5 | 3.6 | 14.36 | 100 | $180.00 | ||
| 12 | Ron Belew – Derek Dace | 5 | 3.8 | 14.23 | 99 | $150.00 | ||
| 13 | Blake Felix – Keith Nickell | 5 | 3.4 | 13.87 | 98 | $130.00 | ||
| 14 | Chris Bridges – Steve Prince | 5 | 3.4 | 13.77 | 97 | |||
| 15 | Ronnie Rush – *fished aalone | 5 | 3.5 | 13.72 | 96 | |||
| 16 | David McCormick – Gary Shartzer | 5 | 3.5 | 13.56 | 95 | |||
| 17 | David Hughes – Lucas Fornelli | 5 | 3.4 | 12.9 | 94 | |||
| 18 | Timmy Newberry – Rusty Darnell | 5 | 3 | 12.55 | 93 | |||
| 19 | Billy Greenwell – Kelley Greenwell | 5 | 3.4 | 12.29 | 92 | |||
| 20 | Russ Hughes – *fished aalone | 5 | 3.6 | 11.84 | 91 | |||
| 21 | Don Heiser – Jim Sells | 5 | 3.3 | 11.81 | 90 | |||
| 22 | Justin Miller – Mathew Miller | 5 | 11.74 | 89 | ||||
| 23 | Shawn Crabtree – *Theresa Patterson | 5 | 3.1 | 11.69 | 88 | |||
| 24 | Tom McGovern – Rick Saunders | 5 | 4.3 | 11.19 | 87 | |||
| 25 | Bryan Baker – Darren Baker | 5 | 2.8 | 11.15 | 86 | |||
| 26 | James Macleod – Danny Johnston | 5 | 3.1 | 11.07 | 85 | |||
| 27 | Stephen Smith – Garen Hunt | 5 | 0.5 | 3.4 | 10.81 | 84 | ||
| 28 | JR Borror – *Steve Thomas | 5 | 3.7 | 10.41 | 83 | |||
| 29 | Sean Bowling – Brandon Brown | 5 | 10.37 | 82 | ||||
| 30 | Glen McCrary – Sondra McCrary | 5 | 3.1 | 10.34 | 81 | |||
| 31 | Mark Simmons – Terry Lawhon | 5 | 2.8 | 10.29 | 80 | |||
| 32 | Kevin Love – | 5 | 3 | 10.27 | 79 | |||
| 33 | Jonathan Evans – Bradley Dillon | 4 | 3.4 | 10.23 | 78 | |||
| 34 | Tony Powers – *Adam Singleton | 3 | 4.2 | 10.19 | 77 | |||
| 35 | Charley Thomas – Chris Thomas | 5 | 3.3 | 9.09 | 76 | |||
| 36 | Ken Mason – Michael Baker | 4 | 0.5 | 9.07 | 75 | |||
| 37 | Dennis Schilb – *Ron Clement | 4 | 4.5 | 8.97 | 74 | |||
| 38 | Joe Wieberg – *Andre Dickniete | 5 | 8.77 | 73 | ||||
| 39 | Mark Thompson – Mark Thompson II | 5 | 7.16 | 72 | ||||
| 40 | Justin Hosler – Kyle McAdams | 3 | 6.2 | 71 | ||||
| 41 | Jimmie Snodgrass – Jim Waggoner | 3 | 3.4 | 6.14 | 70 | |||
| 42 | Brian Reed – Mike Kepler | 2 | 5 | 69 | ||||
| 43 | Kenny Bogner – Justin Bogner | 2 | 4.97 | 68 | ||||
| 44 | Lennie Becker – Elmer Becker | 2 | 4.65 | 67 | ||||
| 45 | John Krewson – Charles Sersch | 1 | 4.5 | 4.46 | 66 | |||
| 46 | Kevin Johnston – Roger Waters | 1 | 4.3 | 4.31 | 65 | |||
| 47 | Phillip Schwartz – Colby Schwartz | 3 | 4.23 | 64 | ||||
| 48 | Doug Wallace – Ozzie Wallace | 1 | 4.1 | 4.13 | 63 | |||
| 49 | Matt Garrett – Kaleb Rook | 3 | 0.5 | 4.02 | 62 | |||
| 50 | Steve Teske – John Jones | 1 | 3.9 | 3.86 | 61 | |||
| 51 | Greg Askew – Terry Case | 2 | 3.28 | 60 | ||||
| 52 | Jack Young – *Roger Umbarger | 2 | 2.94 | 59 | ||||
| 53 | Randy Oliphant – Scott Oliphant | 1 | 2.4 | 2.39 | 58 | |||
| 54 | Ron Peek – *fished aalone | 2 | 2.25 | 57 | ||||
| 55 | Lyle Armstrong – Mitchell Armstrong | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Justin Borum – Jake McKinnis | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Kevin Carl – *Paul Curry | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Mike Cashen – Tom Dunn | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Junior Fiedler – Cody Fielder | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Scott Hankinson – Brandon Rowland | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Nicholas Leggett – *Tyler Rogers | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| John Martin – Ray White | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Ed Matthews – Bill Hall | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Todd Miller – Cameron Miller | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| John Stewart – Corey Stewart | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Keith Sullivan – Linda Sullivan | 0 | 10 |
*alternate