Joe Bass Team Trail appreciates all of our sponsors making 2018 possible; SKEETER Boats, Chompers, SportBoats USA , Mitchem Tire , 154 Marine , West Plains Marine , Mid America RV, Bassing Bob, Ozark Chevrolet, Joe Bass Tackle Shop, Everharts Outdoor Store, White’s Marine Center, Interstate Battery , Big Bite Baits, Buck Creek Marina, Albers Marine, Inc., TH Marine , Gator Guards, Fish Monkey Performance Fishing Gloves, Trophy Bass Company, VMC, G Juive, Sunline, A&W, Window World, and Diawa.
After a cycle of clear cool weather followed by a down turn in temperatures and rain on Friday, Saturday October 20th dawned clear and crisp: the stage set for the 2018 the Joe Bass Team Trails Championship at Table Rock Lake. After an evening filled with a banquet, awards presentations, tons of sponsor product give-aways, and fantastic camaraderie, 158 teams were primed for the fishing portion of the event.
Taking top honors for the tournament was the team of Kevin and Bryan Jackson. Their 32.63 stringer gave then a runway win on a weekend when numbers seemed to dominate over quality. Kevin and Bryan made the run to the James Arm, where they had a slow start on day one, not catching their first keeper until 11:00. However, once they determined the aggressive fish were in the colder (upper 50 degree water), they began to amass their winning weight. Focusing on windy banks with a white with gold blade War Eagle spinnerbait, Kevin explained they had their Hydrowave cranked on the Schooling Shad setting and believed it truly benefited their bite. Both emphasized the Sport Boats USA Key to Success was not shying away from the cold water, as they found the bite much more sluggish as they fished back down into 60 degree water. Adding to their tournament winnings, their 6.01 pounder took Day 2 big fish honors. Kevin noted the fish hit a spinnerbait tossed near a rootwad in 3-5’ of water. Rounding out their stellar day, they also took home the Sport Boats USA Skeeter Bonus by competing from their Skeeter bass boat. Tremendous weekend Kevin and Bryan, the 2018 Joe Bass Invitational Champions!
Coming in a distant second, Andy Eustler and Jared Essary dropped 25.56 pounds of T Rock bass on the scales. Andy shared they stayed on the lower end of the lake to avoid other tournaments and the potential for fog. Catching seven keepers a day, Andy noted they basically “junked fished”, hitting various areas with buzzbaits and spinnerbaits to catch their runner up stringers. Catching big bass for Day 1 helped Andy and Jared separate themselves from the pack.
Rounding out the top three, Mark Thompson and Jim Smith managed a two day limit of 24.78 pounds of Ozark bass. Also staying on the lower end of the lake to maximize their fishing time, they caught a few fish on topwater and A-Rigs, but their core pattern leaned hard on Chompers football jigs fished on gravel bottoms in 20-35’. Mark drug a watermelon candy jig/trailer combo with Jim following up with a PB&J/Alabama Craw setup to catch a mix of largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass.
Polygraphs provided by Tim Williams Lie Detection Services.
With the Invitational putting the wraps on the 2018 season, the 2019 Joe Bass Team Trails season starts in a few short weeks with the kickoff November 17th. Thanks to all for making 2018 a fantastic season!
Photos
Results
| Place | Team Members | Fish | Pnlty | B/F | TotWgt | Payout |
| 1 | Kevin Jackson – Bryan Jackson | 10 | 6.26 | 32.63 | $8,790.00 | |
| 2 | Andy Eutsler – Jared Essary | 10 | 4.58 | 25.56 | $4,290.00 | |
| 3 | Mark Thompson – Jim Smith | 10 | 3.62 | 24.78 | $3,000.00 | |
| 4 | Robert Dodson – Robbie Dodson | 10 | 3.04 | 24.35 | $2,500.00 | |
| 5 | Chris D’Aquila – Denny D’Aquila | 10 | 3.05 | 23.76 | $2,000.00 | |
| 6 | Robert Cowan – Dallas Beasley | 10 | 2.35 | 23.29 | $1,000.00 | |
| 7 | Lyle Armstrong – Mitchell Armstrong | 10 | 23.17 | $900.00 | ||
| 8 | Shawn Crabtree – Reece Crabtree | 10 | 3.18 | 23.04 | $1,200.00 | |
| 9 | Rich Gamble – Jacci Gamble | 10 | 3.38 | 22.84 | $1,300.00 | |
| 10 | Jeff Epley – Kelly Greer | 10 | 3.26 | 22.78 | $550.00 | |
| 11 | Shawn McHaffie – Greg Bohnsack | 10 | 2.89 | 21.84 | $300.00 | |
| 12 | Ralph Laster – Mike Fiedler | 10 | 3.8 | 21.79 | $300.00 | |
| 13 | Tom Statler – Dillon Statler | 10 | 2.57 | 21.71 | $300.00 | |
| 14 | Robert Shackelford – Greg Blair | 10 | 4.1 | 21.44 | $300.00 | |
| 15 | Bill Edwards – Adam Smith | 10 | 21.29 | $300.00 | ||
| 16 | Dean Powers – James Lewis | 10 | 2.64 | 21.15 | $250.00 | |
| 17 | Chad Morgenthaler – Dave Mansue | 10 | 2.06 | 20.94 | $250.00 | |
| 18 | Terry Thomas – Sam Smith | 9 | 20.9 | $250.00 | ||
| 19 | David Hughes – Lucas Fornelli | 10 | 2.87 | 20.72 | $250.00 | |
| 20 | Steve Teske – *fished aalone | 10 | 2.79 | 20.72 | $250.00 | |
| 21 | Jim Dopp – Harlin Husky | 8 | 3.44 | 20.7 | $800.00 | |
| 22 | Josh Inman – Justin Inman | 9 | 3.06 | 19.82 | $200.00 | |
| 23 | Dewayne Weeks – Missi Weeks | 9 | 2.81 | 19.49 | $200.00 | |
| 24 | Charley Thomas – Chris Thomas | 10 | 19.48 | $200.00 | ||
| 25 | Matt Layman – Casey Brotherton | 8 | 0.5 | 2.98 | 19.46 | $200.00 |
| 26 | Joe Lane – Scott Sparkman | 10 | 2.16 | 19.02 | ||
| 27 | Chris Embry – Caston Embry | 9 | 18.95 | |||
| 28 | Sam Morton – Dennis Edwards | 8 | 18.91 | |||
| 29 | Timmy Newberry – Rusty Darnell | 8 | 3.06 | 18.9 | ||
| 30 | Aaron Hodge – James Bailey | 8 | 3.02 | 18.78 | ||
| 31 | Barb Cooper – Marc Cooper | 9 | 2.18 | 18.61 | ||
| 32 | Tom Mason – Chris Reese | 9 | 2.57 | 18.59 | ||
| 33 | Mike Lafferty – Cory Lafferty | 9 | 2.44 | 18.58 | ||
| 34 | Chester Miles – James Miles | 10 | 18.44 | |||
| 35 | Bob Meek – Steve Nibert | 7 | 4.24 | 18.03 | $400.00 | |
| 36 | Timm Jones – Eddie Snow | 9 | 17.97 | |||
| 37 | JR Borror – Ross Lalli | 8 | 2.66 | 17.9 | ||
| 38 | Danny Shinneman – Mike Cooley | 8 | 2.83 | 17.58 | ||
| 39 | Jason Huskey – Bryan Hulsey | 8 | 17.56 | |||
| 40 | Mason Nall – Rick Carpenter | 9 | 17.54 | |||
| 41 | Darrin King – Mark Mahaffe | 7 | 3.3 | 17.27 | ||
| 42 | Scott Danek – Scott Danek Jr | 8 | 2.86 | 17.19 | Draw Boat | |
| 43 | Bryan Baker – Darren Baker | 7 | 3.42 | 16.97 | ||
| 44 | Todd Choate – Kent Whitaker | 7 | 3.45 | 16.81 | ||
| 45 | John Hewkin – Michael Montgomery | 8 | 16.81 | |||
| 46 | Deno Ek – Tad Richards | 8 | 2.59 | 16.54 | ||
| 47 | Sonny Moore – Gary Brach | 8 | 1.95 | 16.37 | ||
| 48 | Ryan Butler – Dustin Lippe | 7 | 2.9 | 16.36 | ||
| 49 | Scott Tassi – Glenn Harrison | 7 | 16.23 | |||
| 50 | Seth Glynn – Kelly (KJ) Hughes | 6 | 3.31 | 16.14 | ||
| 51 | Larry Hurtt – Chris Adams | 7 | 16.09 | |||
| 52 | Denis Repa – Alec Repa | 7 | 2.78 | 15.95 | ||
| 53 | Ed Young – Joey Penzo | 8 | 15.93 | |||
| 54 | Mark Taylor – Justin Reed | 8 | 15.49 | |||
| 55 | Terry Letterman – Doug Smart | 7 | 2.59 | 15 | ||
| 56 | Jerry Roark – Jamie Edge | 7 | 14.83 | |||
| 57 | Randy Roustio – | 7 | 2.94 | 14.58 | ||
| 58 | Shane Boyd – Daniel Pueppke | 6 | 3.45 | 14.4 | ||
| 59 | Dan Weber – Robert Leininger | 8 | 14.33 | |||
| 60 | David Hathaway – Dustin Hall | 6 | 2.91 | 14.28 | ||
| 61 | Jonathan Pimentel – Christopher Cross | 8 | 13.92 | |||
| 62 | Randy Krull – Greg West | 5 | 3.89 | 13.86 | ||
| 63 | Cody Millican – Dakota Millican | 7 | 2.32 | 13.86 | ||
| 64 | Jay Carden – Dustin Lowe | 7 | 2.24 | 13.63 | ||
| 65 | Mike Rogers – Donnie Crist | 7 | 13.52 | |||
| 66 | Kevin Johnston – Roger Waters | 6 | 3.19 | 13.44 | ||
| 67 | Del Lewis – Dwight Lewis | 7 | 2.46 | 12.98 | ||
| 68 | Ken Young – John Drury | 6 | 12.96 | |||
| 69 | Robert Peduto – Stephen Hoffmann | 7 | 2.35 | 12.9 | ||
| 70 | John Cates – Mike Edwards | 6 | 2.26 | 12.53 | $1,000.00 | |
| 71 | Arthur Fortin – Marvin Whisnant | 6 | 2.5 | 12.01 | ||
| 72 | Tyler Matlock – Connie Matlock | 6 | 3.1 | 11.94 | ||
| 73 | Lennie Becker – Elmer Becker | 6 | 1.76 | 11.6 | ||
| 74 | Josh Shirley – Don Sanders | 5 | 11.57 | |||
| 75 | Don Parkin – Rodney Shockey | 5 | 3.93 | 11.42 | ||
| 76 | Jeff Florke – *Don Florke | 5 | 1.87 | 11.3 | ||
| 77 | Mark Patterson – Brandon Patterson | 5 | 2.87 | 10.54 | ||
| 78 | Terry Kennedy – Matt Tambarello | 5 | 2.3 | 10.54 | ||
| 79 | Brad Jones – Blaine Bair | 6 | 10.54 | |||
| 80 | Jeff Bradford – Bryan Vote | 5 | 10.5 | |||
| 81 | Keith Hurd – Jeff Nelson | 5 | 10.17 | |||
| 82 | Dan Morton – Garrett Morton | 5 | 2.17 | 10.11 | ||
| 83 | Stephen Smith – Garren Hunt | 5 | 1.95 | 10.09 | ||
| 84 | Jason Newberry – Charlie McConnell | 5 | 2.48 | 10.05 | ||
| 85 | Gary Daniel – Jay Oliver | 5 | 9.68 | |||
| 86 | Bryce Rieder – Mike Edrington | 4 | 9.63 | |||
| 87 | Luke Routh – Deven Kauffman | 5 | 9.54 | |||
| 88 | Kenneth Peters – Chris Johnson | 5 | 2.53 | 9.45 | ||
| 89 | James Long – Jerry Rawlings | 5 | 2.26 | 9.34 | ||
| 90 | John Aleshire – Travis Aleshire | 4 | 9.34 | |||
| 91 | Matt Garrett – Kaleb Rook | 5 | 2.07 | 9.04 | ||
| 92 | Ricky Clemen – Stacy Howell | 4 | 8.67 | |||
| 93 | Karl Schmidt – Ysabel Arias | 4 | 2.77 | 8.22 | ||
| 94 | Doc Seger – Matt Seger | 4 | 8.16 | |||
| 95 | Bobby Roberts – Cody Carl | 4 | 7.84 | |||
| 96 | Bob Jany – Dennis Schilb | 4 | 7.49 | |||
| 97 | Jeff Bear – Quenton Bear | 4 | 2.28 | 7.24 | ||
| 98 | Brien Vaughn – Collin Fitzwater | 4 | 0.5 | 6.92 | ||
| 99 | Kelly Jones – Roger Satterfield | 4 | 6.77 | |||
| 100 | Jeff Elkin – Jake Robertson | 3 | 2.18 | 6.66 | ||
| 101 | Keith Hendrix – Greg Zumwalt | 3 | 2.79 | 6.55 | ||
| 102 | Michael Frye – Michael Landwehr | 3 | 2.43 | 6.22 | ||
| 103 | Mitchell Blehm – Dominic Cavitt | 3 | 6.22 | |||
| 104 | Doug Eaton – Greg Lafferty | 3 | 6.2 | |||
| 105 | David Mulkey – Sean Mukley | 3 | 5.98 | |||
| 106 | Marc Czachowski – Mike Purse | 2 | 3.41 | 5.96 | ||
| 107 | John Stewart – Corey Stewart | 3 | 5.75 | |||
| 108 | Ronald Deckard – Ronald Deckard JR | 3 | 1.65 | 5.43 | ||
| 109 | Ken Mason – Michael Baker | 3 | 1.78 | 5.02 | ||
| 110 | Russ Hughes – Ronald Parker | 2 | 2.49 | 4.95 | ||
| 111 | Ken Paterson – Kenny Paterson | 2 | 2.74 | 4.37 | ||
| 112 | Jim Coyner – *fished aalone | 2 | 4.32 | |||
| 113 | Laryme Campbell – David Rogers | 2 | 4.27 | |||
| 114 | Sean Bowling – Brandon Brown | 2 | 3.2 | 4.24 | ||
| 115 | Pat Leonard – *fished aalone | 2 | 2.36 | 4.24 | ||
| 116 | Jeremy Ealy – Mike Sutherland | 2 | 4.14 | |||
| 117 | Steve Kruse – Bud Day | 2 | 3.91 | |||
| 118 | Wayne Fowler – *fished aalone | 2 | 3.8 | |||
| 119 | Tim Jones – Jerry Jones | 2 | 3.71 | |||
| 120 | Vance Venable – Tyler Stewart | 2 | 3.6 | |||
| 121 | Jim Phillips – Kit Phillips | 2 | 3.56 | |||
| 121 | Kyle Uptegrove – Anthony Alkire | 2 | 3.56 | |||
| 123 | John Williams – James Brown | 2 | 3.54 | |||
| 124 | Randy S Robinson – Kathy Robinson | 2 | 3.38 | |||
| 125 | Rory Preis – *fished aalone | 1 | 2.55 | 2.55 | ||
| 126 | Ernest Hearn – Forest Green | 1 | 2.34 | 2.34 | ||
| 127 | Rocky Carden – John Hardin | 1 | 2.32 | 2.32 | ||
| 128 | Bill Haas – Kathy Haas | 1 | 2.3 | 2.3 | ||
| 129 | Randy Oliphant – Scott Oliphant | 1 | 2.08 | 2.08 | ||
| 130 | Justin Hosler – Kyle McAdams | 1 | 1.98 | 1.98 | ||
| 131 | Kenny Bogner – Justin Bogner | 1 | 1.94 | 1.94 | ||
| 132 | Greg Askew – Terry Case | 1 | 1.87 | 1.87 | ||
| 133 | Keith LaBarge – Rich Labarge | 1 | 1.77 | 1.77 | ||
| 133 | Eric Zuk – Ben Zuk | 1 | 1.77 | 1.77 | ||
| 135 | Troy Nogosek – *fished aalone | 1 | 1.73 | 1.73 | ||
| 136 | Glen McCrary – Sondra McCrary | 1 | 1.59 | 1.59 | ||
| 137 | Ron Belew – Derek Dace | 0 | ||||
| Rick Bowman – Jeff Moore | 0 | |||||
| Brent Compton – Daniel Cornelison | 0 | |||||
| Leonard DeClue – *fished aalone | 0 | |||||
| Ben Elkins – Kade Underwood | 0 | |||||
| Junior Fiedler – Cody Fielder | 0 | |||||
| Chris Flood – Brandon Flood | 0 | |||||
| Matt Hickman – Keith Pflumm | 0 | |||||
| Steve Hoots – Robin Hessling | 0 | |||||
| James Macleod – Danny Johnston | 0 | |||||
| Chris Macy – Tim Lawyer | 0 | |||||
| Kavan Maybee – Mike Smith | 0 | |||||
| Rick McGuire – Roger LaBarge | 0 | |||||
| David Moore – Bob Moore | 0 | |||||
| Floyd Ross – Shane Henson | 0 | |||||
| Mark Simmons – Terry Lawhon | 0 | |||||
| Jimmie Snodgrass – Jim Waggoner | 0 | |||||
| Kevin Snyder – Nick Borchers | 0 | |||||
| Keith Sullivan – Linda Sullivan | 0 | |||||
| Scott Treece – | 0 | |||||
| Danny Waite – Bryan Leonard | 0 | |||||
| Jack Young – Bill McAvoy | 0 |