30 teams made the trek through the rain and fog to meet at Buck Creek Marina for the best breakfast burritos on the lake and to kick off the 2025 Mid America RV Bull Shoals Division season. The dock talk suggested the warm water temperatures had the fish scattered, resulting in a tough bite. The statistics found that to be true as teams worked hard to average just under 8 pounds per boat. Kicker fish were hard to come by, making it tough to move up the Window World Leaderboard. The stingy conditions emphasized the important of every fish that provides qualifying points for the Joe Bass Invitational to be held next fall.
Wyatt Marler and Nick Lawler have been a tear of late and their streak continued with a win at the season opener. Wyatt shared their Mid America RV Key to Success was taking advantage of the overcast conditions to cover water with spinnerbaits and top water. Their five fish limit locked in at a derby-best 15.76 pounds.
Right on their heels was Landon Edwards and Cody Ellison. They dropped 15.21 pounds on the scales to take the runner up position. Although there was some debate on their tactics, it’s a safe bet they were “looking” at the fish they caught!
Tyler Duggins and Chance Davis rounded out the podium positions. They logged a 14.78 pound bag. They ran the 8’-10’ depth range slinging spinnerbaits and topwaters on an all day bite.
Jacob Christeson didn’t need any help to land a 4th place finish, but boating the Impel Union big bass of the event definitely helped him get to a 14.12 stringer. The kicker weighed in at a solid 4.42 pounds and was one of 7 keepers Jacob caught on a topwater.
Mark and Sam Mahaffey secured another Top Skeeter Boats check as they put 12.22 pounds of bass in Mark’s 2023 ZXR21 Skeeter. They fished jigs and spinnerbaits to weigh a limit of smallmouth.
The next event of the Bull Shoals Division will take place on Saturday December 14 with a 7:00am takeoff from Buck Creek Marina .
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Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Wyatt Marler – Nick Lawler | 5 | 3.9 | 15.76 | 220 | $1,960.00 |
| 2 | Landon Edwards – Cody Ellison | 5 | 4.2 | 15.21 | 219 | $960.00 |
| 3 | Tyler Duggins – Chance Davis | 5 | 4.3 | 14.78 | 218 | $770.00 |
| 4 | Jacob Christeson – | 5 | 4.4 | 14.12 | 217 | $530.00 |
| 5 | Paul Brunson – Gary Rowland | 5 | 4.2 | 13.43 | 216 | $200.00 |
| 6 | Wes Rogers – Henry MaGuffee | 5 | 3.1 | 13.2 | 215 | $180.00 |
| 7 | Buck Comstock – Greg Blair | 5 | 2.8 | 12.78 | 214 | |
| 8 | Mark Mahaffey – Sam Mahaffey | 5 | 3.3 | 12.22 | 213 | $250.00 |
| 9 | Richie Huebner – Brandon Lowry | 5 | 3.6 | 11.72 | 212 | |
| 10 | Ron Cox – Marty Whisnant | 5 | 11.02 | 211 | ||
| 11 | Roy Bryant – Lee Bryant | 5 | 3.2 | 10.89 | 210 | |
| 12 | Brett Williams – Austin Qualls | 5 | 10.49 | 209 | ||
| 13 | Joe Ingram – Jacob Wisecub | 4 | 10.29 | 208 | ||
| 14 | Jacob Bennett – Dustin Rogers | 5 | 3.4 | 9.55 | 207 | |
| 15 | Dave Mueller – Justin Sanders | 5 | 9.49 | 206 | ||
| 16 | Mike Smith – Jay Oliver | 5 | 9.15 | 205 | ||
| 17 | Bobby Paul Jr. – Spencer Schuh | 5 | 8.68 | 204 | ||
| 18 | Bryan Barnard – Logan Schuh | 5 | 3.3 | 8.5 | 203 | |
| 19 | Tom Mason – Chris Reese | 4 | 3.1 | 8.17 | 202 | |
| 20 | Mark Thompson – Mark Thompson II | 5 | 7.56 | 201 | ||
| 21 | Jacob Delong – | 3 | 6.6 | 200 | ||
| 22 | Tony Mayfield – Fisher Mayfield | 2 | 3.89 | 199 | ||
| 23 | Rocky Carden – | 1 | 2.2 | 2.21 | 198 | |
| 24 | Dustin Blevins – Eric Blevins | 0 | 20 | |||
| Laryme Campbell – David Rogers | 0 | 20 | ||||
| John Campbell – Brock Rogers | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Roger Harp – Lucas Madison | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Don Parkin – Rodney Shockey | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Landon Snelson – Rick Snelson | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Drew Tabor – Brock Tabor | 0 | 20 |
*alternate