Lynda Gessner and Secret York are no strangers to making the podium but after the weigh in was over Secret said "I'm going to just start praying Gessner wins because when Lynda does she seems to as well". Life seems to have funny sequences at times. We all know it's not just stars aligning. These ladies are some of the best fisherman in the world. Proving time and time again that time on the water is a constant resource to making the proper adjustments.
Plenty adjustments were needed to be made from day to day with precipitation raising the water, to how much water the Table Rock Damn was pulling through, and even hour by hour with the wind. With all the argumentative things out there about forward facing sonar and it's place in tournament fishing. Nothing will ever beat time on the water with and without livescope. FFS is just another tool you got to put the work in.
When the schedule was being put together it looked like it would line up for traditional Table Rock spawn, some post, and a few pre. With the warmer temperatures earlier in the year most of the fish coming through the scales seemed finished but healthy. Usually meaning they spawned weeks ago. Bar M Resort and Campground was a great place to host a tournament of the LBAA. Very peaceful great lodging where you could also enjoy the peaceful surroundings. Plus still super close to everything Branson, Silver Dollar City, and Table Rock Area has to offer.
Back to the tournament. Going into day #2 the top of the fields were pretty tight in weights. Which left no room for errors and unfortunate events. Lynda Gessner lost her livewell aerator at the very end of the day and was afraid that would cost her with a 4 oz penalty for losing a fish but she ran to the scales to get the rest of them to safety of the oxygen refresh tanks with G - Juice. Lots of fish stories of fish coming unbuttoned today. Which when it's a tight race those days fishing clean as they call it is so important but we've all been there. Often it's just unfortunate sometimes it's the hookset or not having retied soon enough.
2nd place on the Pro Side was Robbie Hartline who is also an absolute hammer in this sport. She's been scooting around in her Mercury powered Ranger bass boat traveling the tour for years. That time on the water as mentioned above has paid off as she cashes another check this week. She is a class act when it comes to fishing and traveling with her group. She organizes alot of their travel and plans for the Gateway Bassin Gals club that also travel together to fish our pro series.
2nd place on the co-angler side which also was Toyota Bonus Bucks highest placing finisher Diana Uebelhack. Which at the time she put her fish on the scale you could tell she thought she needed that one more fish and just had a tough day. Sometimes when things aren't going the way you want it out there it might not be going great for the other cos and pros either. Which was the case here and Diana moved up the ranks to nail down 2nd place and Toyota Bonus Bucks. It pays to drive a Toyota from the reliability and the countless efforts Toyota does to sponsor bass anglers.
3rd place pro side was 2023 Angler Of The Year Teri Cindric. When she came on the stage I could tell she left some out there by just her body language. Everyone that knows Teri knows she's bubbly but very competitive which makes her so dangerous to have to compete against out there. Sometimes those key fish come unbuttoned wether it's our fault as an angler or often times the just shake it the right way to be able to spit it. She didn't know if she would of had enough to win it but that thought of the unknown cull amount of a bigger fish will leave you upset or restless. She leaves it all on the water. Her mom was telling me and Craig LaPointe a story about how there's an newspaper article image out there of a basketball game that truly shows how competitive she is even from a young age. Love that passion.
3rd place on the co-angler side was Jenny Orlowski who just won Bull Shoals and follows it up with a small comeback to jump ahead of our new youngest angler ever Karlee Jo Prevett. We all know it's only a matter of time before Karlee wins one. Jenny Orlowski is showing again that all that hard work pays off as she's been constantly placing in the top of the leaderboard. Only a matter of time before she gets trophy number two.
Rest of the results can be found here. https://app.fishingchaos.com/tournament/wPLHcdvplqYsSbxEriBx/leaderboards
Registration is open for Lake Guntersville in Alabama for June. Get registered today at womensprobasstour.com
Check out BarMResort.com for your next trip to Table Rock Lake, Silver Dollar City, Branson, MO.,
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