If you like to fish muddy water in high winds then the Mercury qualifier on Lake Tuscaloosa, April 12, was the place to be. Tournament anglers from Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation (ABN) affiliated clubs totaling 113 fished for a position on the ABN state team and cash.
Randall Blackmon, Fayette Bass Club, topped the scales with 12.44 pounds of bass. Blackmon said he caught his fish “very quickly” and had a limit by 7 AM. While not disclosing the exact color of the worm he was using Blackmon said, “…a dark-colored worm fished shallow”. Blackmon’s biggest fish went 3.21 lbs. His win qualified him for a position on the ABN state team.
Blackmon said he caught his fish “very quickly” and had a limit by 7 AM.
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Coming in at second place was Jack White, Lake Tuscaloosa Bassmaster Team with 10.26 lbs. and a 3.16 kicker that he caught close to the dam. White fished a Zoom Finesse worm on a shaky head and a homemade green and
purple finesse jig. White targeted bass in pockets off the main lake working from the dam back upstream.
Hamner’s biggest bass for the day was 3.38 lbs. His kicker also took the Academy Sports+Outdoors Big Fish of the tournament.
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Third place went to Justin Hamner, Underground Bass Mafia Team , for a 9.79 pound bag. Hamner’s biggest bass for the day was 3.38 lbs. His kicker also took the Academy Sports+Outdoors Big Fish of the tournament. He also picked-up an additional $150 from NetBaits for having a NetBait Paca Craw as a trailer on his jig. He boated his big fish with less than an hour left in the tournament. Hamner fished super shallow in the weeds all day. He walked away with $1700 in combined winnings for the day.
Rocky Rockhill, Tennessee Valley Bass Club Team, finished in fourth place on the strength on a Slider Double Action Grub. He had a total weight of 9.39 pounds with his kicker going 2.88 lbs.
Always in contention, Ricky Harp, Lake Tuscaloosa Bassmaster Team, had a total of 9.20 lbs. that was good enough to make fifth place. Harp used a floating worm, swimbait and a shaky head to boat his fish. He targeted mostly shallow grass on the lower end of the lake where the water was a little clearer.
Rocky Rockhill, Tennessee Valley Bass Club Team, finished in fourth place on the strength on a Slider Double Action Grub.
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Sixth through tenth place went to respectively: No-boater Chuck Thurlow, Auburn Bassmasters, for 9.13 pounds. Thurlow also picked-up another check for having the highest no-boater weight. He reported he was mostly swimming a brown jig with a green pumpkin trailer in shady areas the bass were relating to in 8 to 12 feet of water; Seventh was held by Drew Long, Winfield Bassmasters, for 8.97 lbs. Long fished a shaky head finesse bait using Hammer Rods; At eighth place was Mike Perrigin, Pickens County Bassmasters, with 8.93 lbs. and a 2.55 lb. big fish. Perrigin said he fished the main lake; Ricky Dunn, West Alabama Bass Fishermens Association, brought in 8.86 lbs. that put him in ninth place. Dunn told emcee and president of ABN Eddie Plemons, that he caught two fish on a chatterbait and the rest of his bass on a Carolina-rigged lizard. Dunn said he was fishing points; Rounding out the top ten was Rick Nishio, Gadsden Bassmasters, with 8.85 lbs. and a 2.72 pounder as his biggest fish. Nishio used a Woodream crankbait for all of his fish.
The total final standings can be seen on the ABN site at: http://www.albassnation.com/tourny/2014/02Qual14.pdf. Many of the top 20 finishers received Shell gas cards and Academy Sports+Outdoors gift cards.
Radney Atchison, Central Alabama Bassmasters, finishing in 13th place, said he stayed in the ramp area of
A big crowd of spectators showed up to watch the contestants weigh their Lake Tuscaloosa bass catch.
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muddy Pinion Creek all day. He fished a green pumpkin worm with a chartreuse tail. Russell Jones, Underground Bass Mafia, took the last paying slot at 20th said he fished “every lure in his tackle box” to catch his fish. The cutoff weight for the top 20 was 7.4 lbs.
The top ABN team in the tournament was the Underground Bass Mafia, Team, for a total team weight of 38.03 pounds. Only one member of the team failed to catch bass. As mentioned
Muddy water and high wind challenged the bass fishermen in the ABN Lake Tuscaloosa tournament.
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earlier, Justin Hamner took big fish honors for his 3.38 pound bass. Grant Ray, Tuscaloosa County High Bass Team, picked up a check for having the highest weight, 6.63 lbs., of high school contestants. And speaking of high school bass anglers, the Tuscaloosa County High Bass Team volunteered to work at the Lake Tuscaloosa tournament “running” fish from the scales back to the lake, gathering weigh-in bags for the ABN contestants and other chores.
There were 354 bass weighed for a total of 532.39 lbs. The average weight per angler was 4.67 lbs. and the average number of fish brought in from the field was three bass. The average weight per fish of the contestants was 1.5 lbs.
All the photos of the event may be viewed and downloaded at https://plus.google.com/photos/111722229253187822014/albums/6001868174628803825.
The next ABN event is the Triton Qualifier on Lay Lake May 17 out of Paradise
Point. The tournament headquarters will be the Hampton Inn, Calera, AL.
