WARSAW, Mo. (July 18, 2016) – Matt Gunter of Wheatland Missouri, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 15 pounds, 3 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Ozark Division tournament on Lake Truman. Gunter took home $4,804 for his victory.
“I split my day between the lower Osage and Pomme de Terre arms,” said Gunter, who earned his first win in BFL competition. “I burned an entire tank of gas getting to my areas, but it paid off.”
Gunter said he flipped cedar trees and other types of wood using a Texas-rigged 10½-inch Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm. He said he used two colors – plum and green-pumpkin – to catch his limit.
“I flipped the Ol’ Monster all day,” said Gunter. “I caught fish in water that was 2- to 20-feet deep. If I was in 2 feet of water, the fish were on the bottom. In 20 feet, they were suspended.”
Gunter said he used a slow retrieve and lighter ¼- and 1/8-ounce weights on his lure.
“I had four limit-fish within the first two hours on the water,” said Gunter. “Around 12:30 p.m. I caught two more keepers, culled once and then brought in what I had.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Matt Gunter, Wheatland, Mo., five bass, 15-3, $4,804
2nd: Marcus Sykora, Osage Beach, Mo., five bass, 13-14, $1,902
3rd: Wes Endicott, Joplin, Mo., five bass, 13-13, $1,267
4th: Lance Williams, Billings, Mo., five bass, 12-8, $888
5th: Jeffrey Smith, Knob Noster, Mo., five bass, 12-3, $761
6th: Ted Collins, Gainesville, Mo., five bass, 11-3, $997
7th: Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., five bass, 9-15, $634
8th: Lawson Hibdon, Versailles, Mo., four bass, 9-8, $571
9th: Tyler Matlock, Omaha, Ark., two bass, 9-1, $1,012
10th: Ben Verhoef, Osage Beach, Mo., three bass, 8-12, $444
Matlock caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 11 ounces – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $505. Derrick Tyree of Owensville, Missouri, weighed in four bass totaling 10 pounds, 5 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $1,897. The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Derrick Tyree, Owensville, Mo., four bass, 10-5, $1,897
2nd: Vincent Jones, Robertsville, Mo., four bass, 9-2, $949
3rd: Ronald Smith Jr., Kansas City, Kan., three bass, 8-11, $633
4th: Cory Schuh, Hillsboro, Mo., two bass, 7-6, $690
5th: Jeremy Guzman, Lees Summit, Mo., three bass, 6-7, $379
6th: Zach Bechtel, Cuba, Mo., two bass, 6-0, $348
7th: Joshua Dyrland, Imperial, Mo., two bass, 5-9, $316
8th: Johnnie Cook, Houston Lake, Mo., two bass, 5-5, $285
9th: James Hosford, Jefferson City, Mo., two bass, 5-0, $253
10th: Joseph Dorcy, Smithville, Mo., two bass, 4-14, $221
Schuh caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 4 pounds, 12 ounces, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $247.