No one could legitimately expect to conclude the 2017 Joe Bass Truman Division season under static, consistent conditions. As has been the norm for the entire season, torrential rains swept through the Osage and Grand River watersheds earlier in the week, causing a rapid rise to the lake level. However, the 51 teams launching from Shawnee Bend proved their ability to adjust to changing conditions as they battled for the final trophy of the season, the divisional Points Leader award, and qualifying points for the Joe Bass Team Trails Championship at Table Rock Lake in October.
Coming out on top of the fray was the team of Mark Thompson and Mark Thompson II. Their 19.54 pound sack was bolstered by The Ozark Chevrolet Big Bass of the tournament. The 6.25 lunker hit a Dave’s Custom Baits squarebill late in the day. Mark and Mark’s Sport Boats USA Key for Success was sticking to a super shallow flat Mark and Jim Smith fished during Saturday’s Cass County Elk’s Veteran’s tournament. As on Saturday, all their fish were taken on DCB squarebills fished through the grass and sawdust. Their day also credited them with Mark’ 17th Sport Boats USA Skeeter Bonus as they fished from his 2016 ZX225 Sport Boats USA Skeeter bass boat.
Mark Thompson and Mark Thompson II also will reign as the 2017 Truman Division Champions receiving their entry to the Invitational paid by Joe Bass and boat #1 for the 2018 season.
Following up last month’s victory with a close second place was Bryce Rieder and Mike Edrington. They found their pattern from July still effective as they fished brush hogs and big worms in suspended tree tops. Their five fish limit pushed the scales to a stout 17.54 pounds.
Finishing the season strong with a third place finish was Team Baker. Bryan and Darren did a bit of running to land their 15.08 stringer. Bryan and Darren noted they fished spinnerbaits and buzzbaits in the lower Grand and Osage arms after blanking in Tebo.
With the Truman Division now in the books, be sure and check out the Joe Bass website schedule for details of the remaining tournaments in the Stockton Division (9/10), the Antique Division at Table Rock (9/20) and the annual make-up event at Table Rock (9/24).
Joe Bass Team Trail will return to Truman in 2018.
Photos
Final results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | Pnlty | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout | |
| 1 | Mark Thompson – Mark Thompson II | 5 | 6.25 | 19.54 | 110 | $2,160.00 | 1BB-Top Skeeter | |
| 2 | Bryce Rieder – Mike Edrington | 5 | 4.05 | 17.54 | 109 | $1,010.00 | ||
| 3 | Bryan Baker – Darren Baker | 5 | 3.42 | 15.08 | 108 | $700.00 | ||
| 4 | Matt Gunter – *Terry Bradley | 5 | 4.81 | 13.68 | 107 | $640.00 | ||
| 5 | Tom McGovern – Bob Bradley | 5 | 4.1 | 13.51 | 106 | $400.00 | ||
| 6 | Michael Simons – Jacob Simons | 5 | 3.84 | 13.41 | 105 | $300.00 | ||
| 7 | Doug Wallace – Ozzie Wallace | 5 | 4.12 | 13.4 | 104 | $200.00 | ||
| 8 | Brad Jelinek – *Blake Felix | 5 | 3.81 | 13.31 | 103 | $180.00 | ||
| 9 | Ralph Laster – Michael Fiedler | 5 | 4.8 | 13.3 | 102 | $160.00 | ||
| 10 | John Bennett – Paden Bennett | 5 | 2.88 | 12.77 | 101 | $146.00 | ||
| 11 | Charley Thomas – Chris Thomas | 5 | 3.67 | 12.71 | 100 | |||
| 12 | Chris Bridges – Steve Prince | 5 | 2.84 | 12.38 | 99 | |||
| 13 | Michael Baker – Kennith Mason | 5 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 11.11 | 98 | ||
| 14 | Chris Flood – Brandon Flood | 4 | 3.32 | 10.46 | 97 | |||
| 15 | Stephen Smith – Garen Hunt | 5 | 2.36 | 10.15 | 96 | |||
| 16 | Justin Hosler – *Logan Carter | 4 | 4.67 | 10.14 | 95 | |||
| 17 | Kenny Bogner – Justin Bogner | 3 | 4.83 | 8.7 | 94 | $200.00 | 2BB | |
| 18 | Don Heiser – Jim Sells | 3 | 3.4 | 8.61 | 93 | |||
| 19 | Billy Greenwell – Kelley Greenwell | 3 | 7.72 | 92 | ||||
| 20 | Kevin Johnston – Roger Waters | 3 | 3.08 | 7.63 | 91 | |||
| 21 | Jake Beem – Dallas Beem | 3 | 2.8 | 7.55 | 90 | |||
| 22 | Eric Zuk – Ben Zuk | 3 | 6.64 | 89 | ||||
| 23 | Greg Askew – Terry Case | 3 | 6.56 | 88 | ||||
| 24 | Mark Riegel – JR Shinn | 3 | 6.51 | 87 | ||||
| 25 | Edward Robinson – Kyle Morse | 4 | 6.23 | 86 | ||||
| 26 | Kevin Smith – Jerry McCutchen | 5 | 5.88 | 85 | ||||
| 27 | John Campbell – Chuck Roberts | 3 | 3.24 | 5.76 | 84 | |||
| 28 | Ron Peek – *Pat Deaton | 3 | 5.75 | 83 | ||||
| 29 | Chris Callahan – Justin Wasmer | 3 | 5.04 | 82 | ||||
| 30 | Lennie Becker – Elmer Becker | 2 | 5.01 | 81 | ||||
| 31 | Wayne Garrison – Robbie Plowman | 2 | 4.79 | 80 | ||||
| 32 | Jonathan Evans – Bradley Dillon | 1 | 3.77 | 3.77 | 79 | |||
| 33 | Ronnie Rush – Rick Rush | 1 | 2.24 | 2.24 | 78 | |||
| 34 | Shawn Crabtree – *Dallas Crabtree | 1 | 1.48 | 1.48 | 77 | |||
| 35 | Jack Young – Bill McAvoy | 1 | 1.09 | 1.09 | 76 | |||
| 36 | Phillip Schwartz – Colby Schwartz | 1 | 0.93 | 0.93 | 75 | |||
| 37 | Shane Bakken – Todd Bruders | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Sean Bowling – Brandon Brown | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Kevin Carl – Desmon Carl | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Danny Carter – Chris Carter | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Richard Evans – Terry Close | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Junior Fiedler – Cody Fielder | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Robert Hime – Paul Huse | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Hosford – | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Josh Inman – Jeremy Wilson | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Ed Matthews – *John Stewart | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Glen McCrary – Sondra McCrary | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Greg Miller – Mike Rowland | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Timmy Newberry – Rusty Darnell | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Tony Powers – John Brewer | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Edward Nelson – Tony Zaharsky | 0 | 10 |
*alternate