Dinkler and Gray Dominate Watts Bar
May 10, 2025-Rockwood, TN: The Morristown Marine Team Trail traveled across Knoxville into beautiful Roane County for the 5th and final stop of the 2025 regular season Saturday on Watts Bar Lake. 237 teams registered for the event and 230 went through blast off at Dr. Tom Fuller Park to compete for a share of the $48,170.00 payout across 40 places and all contingencies. The weather had been unseasonably cool coming out of blackberry winter. Saturday morning arrived with some cloud cover and a low temp of 48. The sun played peek-a-boo through the clouds all day, but temps climbed into the upper 60s with a light and variable wind. We heard reports all week long of how great Watts Bar was fishing, and it did not disappoint! 154 teams weighed a 5 fish limit and 163 teams weighed at least one fish. A total of 798 fish hit the scales Saturday for 2,312.69 lbs. for a 2.89 lb. average catch. Of the 798 fish brought to the scales, 790 went back into Watts Bar Lake for future fishermen to enjoy catching. While a perfect world would include zero lost fish, those 8 still gives us a 1% mortality rate for the tournament. Anytime you weigh almost 800 fish, that’s still impressive. Thank you, guys, and please continue to practice good fish care practices. Blast off started at 6:30 and ended at 7:22, taking 52 minutes and averaging 4.4 boats per minute. The weigh-in scales officially opened at 2:48 and officially closed at 4:55 taking two hours and 7 minutes and averaged weighing 1.28 bags per minute. We appreciate you guys following the protocols we have put in place to make weigh-ins and blast offs run smooth and efficiently. As a reminder, if you want to weigh a big fish, please leave a cull tag on that fish and let us know as soon as you get to the scales that you want to weigh a big fish. This makes that process SO much faster and easier.
Steven Dinkler and Quin Gray took home the win with a big bag weighing 22.09 lbs. With a 6.22 post spawn largemouth that looked like it was 3 feet long! Steven and Quin said they started out deep fishing and put together a small limit. Afterwards, they chased the shad spawn up the lake and caught their bigger fish up shallow. Steven and Quin will cash a check for 1st Place ($10,000.00) Click LINK to see the post-tourney interview with Steven and Quin.
Following up in 2nd place was the team of Curt Worth and Mike Christopher with a bag weighing 22.07lbs. Curt and Mike will cash a check for $3,500 for second place, $250 for Highest Finishing Humminbird/Minnkota, and $1,150 for Big Fish- Largemouth. They weighed in a giant at 8.09lb. Great bag of fish….that’s about as close as you can get to a win! Great job!
3rd place went to Travis O’Quinn and Shannon O’Quinn with 21.66 lbs. Travis and Shannon will get $2,000.00 for their overall 3rd place finish, $3,000 for 1st Highest Finishing Skeeter, and $150 for 2nd Highest Finishing Humminbird/MInnKota. Total payday of $5,150.00 Nice work, men!
In 4th place was Dylan Adams and Ryan Phillips with a 19.87 lb limit. Dylan and Ryan won a total of $1,500 for 4th place overall and an additional $1,500.00 for 2nd Highest Finishing Skeeter. Congrats, guys!
Rounding out the top 5 was Rufus Johnson and Craig Brewer with a limit weighing 19.55 lbs. Rufus and Craig will take home $1,000.00 for 5th Place. Congrats on a great finish!
Check out the full results here: LINK
The Citizens Bank Big Largemouth went to Curt Worth and Mike Christopher with a big ol green fish tipping the scales at 8.09 lbs. They will get a check for $1,150.00 for catching that one! Congrats!
The Citizens Bank Big Smallmouth payout went to Perry Dewees and Paul Napier weighing a brown fish at 4.05 lb. Nice catch, and way to put $1,150.00 on top of your winnings!
Highest Finishing Minn Kota and Humminbird Bonus paid out this weekend as follows:
1st: Worth/Christopher 22.07 lbs. $250 Humminbird/MinnKota Bonus
2nd: O’Quinn/O’Quinn 21.66 lbs. $150 Humminbird/MinnKota Bonus
Humminbird: Simply. Clearly. Better. Check out how to get in on the One Boat Network at https://www.minnkotamotors.com/ and get paid for running the best equipment on the water.
Highest Finishing Gray Fox Insurance payout went to Seeber/Moore with 17.14 lbs for $250.00. 2nd Highest Finishing Gray Fox Insurance payout went to Dortch/Brock with 15.91 lbs. Their choice to insure with Gray Fox Insurance paid them back $250.00 Saturday. Get in touch with Randy Heatherly and the gang at Gray Fox Insurance in LaFollette, TN and get in on the payback!
The Morristown Marine Bucks Programs
Morristown Marine New Bucks:
1st: Seeber/Moore, 17.14 lbs. $1,000.00 Bonus.
2nd: Hendren/Roberts, 15.26 lbs. $750 Bonus.
The Morristown Marine New Bucks pays back those who purchased a brand-new boat from us in 2023, 2024, or 2025. This is just our way of saying “Thank You” for choosing your new boat from us.
Morristown Marine Pre-Owned Bucks:
1st: Meade/Meade, 9.59 lbs. $500 Bonus
2nd: Kennedy/Zajac, 7.84 lbs. $250 Bonus
Thank you both for choosing to spend your hard-earned dollars at Morristown Marine. All you have to do is purchase a certified pre-owned boat from Morristown Marine to qualify for this payout. As you guys can see, there is money to be won on the #mmtt in a pre-owned boat!
Highest Finishing Skeeter Bonus:
- O’Quinn/O’Quinn: 21.66lbs, $3,000.00
- Adams/Phillips: 19.87 lbs, $1,500.00
- Dewees/Napier: 18.94 lbs, $1,000.00
- Alford/Dotson : 18.59bs, $800.00
- Napier/Keaton: 17.75 lbs, $700.00
- Mundy/Smiley: 17.49 lbs, $500.00
- Seeber/Moore: 17.14 lbs, $250.00
- Elliott/Yarbrough: 17.13 lbs, $200.00
- Thompson/Combs: 16.99 lbs, $150.00
- Manning/Knapp: 16.45 lbs, $100.00
Morristown Marine would like to give a special thanks to: Roane County Tourism, City of Rockwood, Rockwood Parks and Rec, Rockwood VFD, Jerry’s Bait Shop/Sister’s Market, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha, Humminbird, MinnKota, Gray Fox Insurance, Dick’s House of Sport-Knoxville, Rainey Battery Company, Old Stage Printing, Volunteer Trenching, Visit Morristown, Cumberland Gap Spring Water, for sponsoring this event and the 2025 Morristown Marine Team Trail. If not for the help of these sponsors, this tournament trail could not exist. Thank you all so much for your support of our anglers.
We want to thank our staff and crew for another great tournament to end the 2025 regular season. Most people don’t realize the behind-the-scenes work that goes on to create and operate a tournament of this size. From several hours before blast-off until several hours after weigh-in closes, the crew is working tirelessly to bring it all together. Lastly, we want to thank you, the anglers, for coming out to fish with us. There are a number of tournament trails these days and we sincerely appreciate you choosing to fish with us.
Next stop: Cherokee Lake, Jefferson County TN. Two-Day Classic on October 25-26. Classic Qualifiers and BTC Teams will be confirmed and posted by May 31st.
Be sure to complete the Economic Impact Survey: LINK