27 April 2008 MSTA Tournament
Tournament Prizes and Sponsor Bonus Money
Place Winners     Sponsor Bonus Money Winners     Big Bass Winners

27 April Ranking:   Boater    Non-Boater     YTD Ranking:  Boater     Non-Boater

Stout and Rush Sack Huge Limit For The Win

Jeff Stout and Dennis Rush with winning stringer. 
Also in picture, Jerry Cason and Van Patrick

Reported by Tom Alsop

• Weather – 44 degrees at take off, warming in to the upper 50’s by weigh in.  Winds were out of the North West at 10 m.p.h.

• Lake level – 865.15, normal pool is 864.20 – release is 8 c.f.s.

• Water Temperature – 54 to 62 degrees

• Water Clarity – Stained to dirty

The Mid States Tournament Association (MSTA) held their second of five events Sunday April 27, 2008 out of Camp Branch Marina at Smithville Lake.  60 teams were greeted with a cloudy and cool start, but by noon the sun started to peek through the clouds, which warmed the day, making it a very comfortable day on the water.  

Smithville Marine, Stratos Boats and Evinrude Motors are the title sponsors of the MSTA circuit, this year the boater and non-boater championship winners will take home new Stratos boats with Evinrude motors, professionally rigged from Smithville Marine.  The top 40% after the regular season will qualify for this no entry fee tournament.  If you haven’t fished an MSTA tournament, you really need to check out this great format.  Boaters and Non-boaters are paired like a traditional pro-am style tournament, but combine their fish to make up the teams 5 fish limit.  It can be a great learning experience for both in the boat, as each wants the other to catch fish.  With such a low entry fee for both the boater and the non-boater, there is not another circuit that comes close in prizes that are available to anglers.  As well as the huge championship prizes that will be paid this year, as always there are other great incentives where anglers can cash in. 
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Smithville Marine gives out their “Smithville Marine Bonus Bucks” at each tournament, where anglers that are running boats purchased from Smithville Marine are paid back loyalty cash at each tournament.  Stratos boats have the 2X Double your winnings program available, where if anglers win the tournament and are in a qualifying boat they can double their winnings.  And Skeeter real money is also available, where anglers can earn up to an additional $3,000.00 in cash on top of their regular winnings.  For more information on how you can qualify for these payouts, call Smithville Marine at 816-532-4000, they have a ton of boats in stock ready for immediate delivery, don’t miss out on your chance to cash in at the next MSTA or Burtons event at Smithville Lake. 

Everyone has been waiting and waiting to see when this lake would bust loose, and today gave us a glimpse of how awesome this lake can be.  The big fish finally showed up at the weigh in today, with a few over 7 lbs. and many in the 6 lb. range.   

Taking the win today was the team of Jeff Stout and Dennis Rush with an awesome limit of this that weighed 23.56 lbs.  Included in their bag was three “triplets”, three fish that were well over 6 lbs. each, along with two smaller keepers.  This team culled through 7 keeper fish on the day and caught all of their fish out of one cove.  Jeff said the only time he ran his big motor was to get to the cove and to leave the cove at the end of they day.  Jeff and Dennis threw shallow running crankbaits in citrus color to catch all of their fish, Jeff indicated they fished dirty water and all of their fish came out of 4 foot of water or less. 

Taking second place was the team of Craig Eaton and Rod Webb; this team had 5 keeper fish on the day that weighed 15.90 lbs.   Craig “came out of retirement” this year so to speak.  Craig was a regular at the lake a few years back, and jumped back into tournament fishing after taking a few years off.  Well it didn’t take him long to get in the swing of things, as he and his partner Rod caught all of their fish on Chartreuse Booyah spinnerbaits and pumpkin colored beavers in 2 to 6 foot of water on an all day bite.  This team concentrated on wind blown secondary points in the backs of pockets to catch all of their fish.  Craig was the highest finisher to run a non-Stratos Smithville Marine boat, and received a check for $250.00 on top of his regular earnings just for running a boat from the right dealership. 

Taking third place was the team of Kim Murch and Kyle Coleman; this team caught all of their fish in the same “hot” cove as the winners Jeff and Dennis.  This team had a total of 6 keeper fish on the day, culling their best 5 to 14.50 lbs.  Kim and Kyle also threw shallow crankbaits, Lucky Craft Fat CB’s in green and chartreuse was the ticket on an all day bite.  Where did you say this secret cove is?  Kim was fishing out of his Stratos boat that he purchased from Smithville Marine, and in doing so won an additional $500.00 in cash on top of his regular earnings from the “Smithville Marine Bonus Bucks” program.  As you can see it pays to run a boat from this dealership! 

Bernie Gram at the spry young age of 81 won big bass honors on the boater side with a 7.68 lb. toad.  Bernie caught this fish at 1:00 off of a laydown on a Lucky Craft Pointer 100 in chanteuse shad color.  Congratulations Bernie! 

John Wagoner took non-boater big fish honors with a 7.06 lb. hog.  John caught this fish the first 30 minutes of the day on a chatterfrog. 

Smithville Marine, Stratos Boats, Evinrude Motors, 7/24 Outdoors, Big Bite Baits, Falcon Rods, Flying Fisherman Sunglasses, Picasso, Spro, Shoreline Collision Repair, Sunline and Tru-tungsten sponsor Tom.