The winners of the 2018 Crappie Masters National Championship at Truman Lake in Clinton, MO last week were two 21-year-old Missouri natives, Matthew Rogers and Baylor Mead.

For the second consecutive year, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) sponsored the national fishing tournament, which highlights the use of 10 percent ethanol (E10) in all boat motors.

The team, Matthew Rogers and Baylor Mead, won the 2018 championship with 14 fish weighing a total of 21.19 pounds using E10 in their boat, which earned them an extra $2000 on top of their $30,000.00 top prize along with an additional $2,100.00 for the 2.11 pound big fish.

The 2018 Crappie Masters Male/Female National Champions were the Green Machine team of Jackie and Holly Linton who eventually settled into 5th place in the tournament. The team took RFA Vice President of Industry Relations Robert White out on the water for the youth/media/sponsor fish off last week, and they are staunch supporters of ethanol and using E10 fuel in their boat. “It’s approved for all boat motors out there and all of the manufacturers are on board,” said Holly. “People use it and don’t even know they use it. But there’s a lot of misconceptions out there and we just need to let people know about that.”

In this interview, the Lintons also talk about how they got involved with Crappie Masters – even after a disastrous first outing! Interview with Crappie Masters fishing team Jack and Holly Linton