24 Teams showed up for the season finale of the Joe Bass Mark Twain division, sponsored by 154 Marine. “Dock talk” was all about the Tough bite and bring in a five fish limit was going to be a challenge. But when it comes to tournament fishing, we all know the phrase “somebody’s gonna catch them, they always do!”
Taking the top spot on the Window World Leader Board was the team of Charlie Kunkle and Keith Williams. Charlie and Keith focused on isolated brush piles from the dam area up to mid-lake, that they found during practice. None of the brush piles held a lot of fish, but the quality was there (they never caught more than 2 fish on any spot). Charlie and Keith had a one two punch to their approach, throwing jigs and a Carolina-rig with a Zoom Fluke. Keith stated that the better bites came in the afternoon after some cloud cover moved in and a nice breeze put a little chop on the water. At the end of the day the 154 Marine sponsored team dropped 17.13 pounds of bass on the scales to take the W. included in their bag was the second Big Bass of the tournament weighing 5.10 pounds. Keith also won the Skeeter incentive fishing out of his 2024 FXR21.
Finishing in second today was the team of Don and Gary McFetridge. Don and Gary started their day on the main lake where they had been catching some fish over the last few weeks. After a couple hours, and only two shorts, the team left the area and re-grouped down lake near the dam. The team found success dropping a variety of worms down to fish suspending in 12 to 15 feet of water around timber in 15 to 30 feet of water. The focused on the shady side of the timber as years ago Gary saw bass doing that while SCUBA diving at Table Rock Lake. Their 15.29 pounds not only had them finishing second, it secured the Mark Twain division Points Championship. Don and Gary will enjoy going out boat #1 for the 2025 season, along with Joe Bass paid entry into the Joe Bass Invitational at Table Rock Lake in October.
Rounding out the top three was the team of Keith Hendrix and Greg Zumwalt. Keith and Greg started their day rotating through a few spots in a small area, caught a few but figured they weren’t the quality that would put them in the check-line, so they left to try some spots that had produced for them in the past. Fishing a Big Bite Trick Stick and a Texas rigged Zoom worm in brush in 10 to 15 feet of water. Their 12.98 pound limit put the team in third place.
Finishing in seventh place today was the team of Preston Hartung and George Harrington. included in their 10.07 pound bag was the NAPA Big Bass of the tournament. 24 teams 68 fish 67 released alive 6 limits.
Special thanks to 154 Marine for their continued support of Joe Bass Team Trail, Country Inn Resort (573)267-3800 for their hospitality and Sonnie Kunkle and Ann Williams for their help at weigh-ins.
Top 3 teams in the final standings qualify for the Tournament of Champions held inconjuction with the Invitational.
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Charlie Kunkle – Keith Williams | 5 | 5.1 | 17.13 | 220 | $2,350.00 |
| 2 | Don McFetridge – Gary McFetridge | 5 | 4.7 | 15.29 | 219 | $890.00 |
| 3 | Keith Hendrix – Greg Zumwalt | 5 | 3.89 | 12.98 | 218 | $460.00 |
| 4 | Josh Gebhardt – Ross Lord | 5 | 3.1 | 12.92 | 217 | $224.00 |
| 5 | Mathew Waller – Connor McBride | 5 | 10.85 | 216 | ||
| 6 | Ron Mellinger – Colton Mellinger | 4 | 4.36 | 10.49 | 215 | |
| 7 | Preston Hartung – George Harrington | 3 | 5.98 | 10.07 | 214 | $140.00 |
| 8 | Larry Rothwiel – Steve Smith | 5 | 9.96 | 213 | ||
| 9 | Lonnie Franklin – *Kyle Benne | 4 | 9.52 | 212 | ||
| 10 | Steve Chiaurro – Richard Dannegger | 4 | 8.91 | 211 | ||
| 11 | Zackery Andersen – *fished aalone | 4 | 8.55 | 210 | ||
| 12 | Cody Yates – | 4 | 8.45 | 209 | ||
| 13 | Wade Walling – Matt Weigel | 3 | 7.84 | 208 | ||
| 14 | Scott Taucher – Dave Becker | 3 | 7.46 | 207 | ||
| 15 | Jake Morrison – Richard Morrison | 2 | 4.73 | 206 | ||
| 16 | Brady Graves – *fished aalone | 2 | 4.53 | 205 | ||
| 17 | Pat Estes – James Medlock | 1 | 4.23 | 4.23 | 204 | |
| 18 | Steve Weber – Sam Phillips | 2 | 3.94 | 203 | ||
| 19 | Dominic Perotti – Nick Perotti | 1 | 2.23 | 2.23 | 202 | |
| 20 | Phil J Zimmerman – Phil M Zimmerman | 1 | 1.85 | 1.85 | 201 | |
| 21 | Doug Buhr – *Keith Davis | 0 | 20 | |||
| Ricardo Guzman – *fished aalone | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Alan Hoyt – John Summers | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Kevin Whightsil – Darren Lofts | 0 | 20 |
*alternate