The 2026 Joe Bass Team Trail Lake of the Ozarks division, sponsored by Window World, kicked off the season with a 27 boat field that gathered at Alhonna Resort. Nearly 200 pounds of bass were weighed with kicker fish coming at a premium. With the late fall transition being rocked back and forth with multiple weather patterns in the days prior to the event, teams were anxious as to what it would take to find their names near the top of the Window World leaderboard. In parallel, the kick off of a new season had teams pushing hard as every fish weighed provides qualifying points for the Invitational on Truman Lake out of Bucksaw Resort & Marina and Resort next fall.
Matt King and Kody Yates bested the field, taking the win in the first event of the season. Matt and Kody dropped 14.42 pounds of LOZ bass on the scales. The pair explained their Window World key to success was working jigs shallow early then transitioning a bit deeper throughout the day. The majority of their bag came from the 10’-12’ range.
Casey Scanlon and James Lewis took the runner up spot with a 13.67 bag. Casey noted they threw topwater early then switched to jigs to finish the day. They found the bite tough, boating 8 keepers throughout the day. They focused on shallow secondary points.
Reigning points champs Dallas Stamper and Jason Hollandsworth got off to another fast start in the 2026 season by taking the final podium position. Their best five bass pushed the scales to 13.34 pounds. Dallas explained they leaned on spinnerbaits, brush hogs and a drop shot to catch their fish. They also found the fishing difficult, mixing 3 shorts with 8 keepers for the day.
Corbin Bailey and Korden Messina padded their 4th place check with the Wilson Truck Sales big bass of the day, a 4.57 pound kicker that anchored their 13.14 pound total.
Joe Bass staffers Mark Thompson and Rusty Darnell earned Top Skeeter honors. They worked through a ton of shorts to put 9.04 pounds into the livewells of Mark’s 2023 ZXR20 Skeeter.
Don’t forget to bring your empty packages of Rapala, Crush City, Storm, VMC and Suffix with your name and phone number to your next Joe Bass Tournament for a chance at a tackle pack. Drawings are done monthly throughout the tournament season.
The second event of the 2026 Ozarks Division will takeoff from Alhonna Resort. Sunday 12/21 with a 7:30 am takeoff.
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Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | B/F | TotWgt | Pts | Payout |
| 1 | Matt King – Kody Yates | 5 | 4.09 | 14.42 | 220 | $1,940.00 |
| 2 | Casey Scanlon – James Lewis | 5 | 13.67 | 219 | $940.00 | |
| 3 | Dallas Stamper – Jason Hollandsworth | 5 | 4 | 13.34 | 218 | $540.00 |
| 4 | Corbin Bailey – Korden Messina | 5 | 4.57 | 13.14 | 217 | $510.00 |
| 5 | Jeremy Johnson – Jonathan Pimentel | 5 | 13.09 | 216 | $202.00 | |
| 6 | Tony Torretta – Gary St. Clair | 5 | 12.14 | 215 | ||
| 7 | Jamie Eynard – *Greg Berhorst | 5 | 4.09 | 11.57 | 214 | |
| 8 | Bryan Loseman – Gary Martens | 5 | 2.8 | 11.14 | 213 | |
| 9 | David Conner – Bradly Robbins | 5 | 10.7 | 212 | ||
| 10 | David McCormick – Gary Shartzer | 5 | 10.14 | 211 | ||
| 11 | Brendan Ackerman – Oliver Siebert | 5 | 9.76 | 210 | ||
| 12 | Cole McFarland – Ryan Jordan | 5 | 9.35 | 209 | ||
| 13 | Tom Herndon – Jason VanBeers | 5 | 9.21 | 208 | ||
| 14 | Mark Thompson – Rusty Darnell | 4 | 9.04 | 207 | ||
| 15 | James Welch – Caleb Welch | 5 | 8.78 | 206 | ||
| 16 | Lynn Pugh – *Stacy Moss | 4 | 8.64 | 205 | ||
| 17 | Rocky Carden – Trenton Choate | 3 | 3.59 | 7.36 | 204 | |
| 18 | Mike Mancil – *Alvin Davis | 2 | 3.76 | 6.69 | 203 | |
| 19 | John Shanahan – Dan Allison | 3 | 6.15 | 202 | ||
| 20 | Brent Basler – *Dave Waterhouse | 0 | 20 | |||
| Justin Borum – *fished aalone | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Mike Castelli – | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Alston Golian – Brandon Carter | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Travis Grimes – Ben Grimes | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Johnnie Neil – Todd Tiger | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Chad Wagner – *Jason Isgrigg | 0 | 20 | ||||
| Tyler Weberg – Rob Weberg | 0 | 20 |
*alternate