In the early morning hours, if you were awake in Alexander City, Alabama, you could begin to see the little snake eye shafts of lights from tow vehicles appearing from the lots of the local motels began rolling into town from all directions. Some made way-stops at the Huddle House for a quick breakfast and others tanked up the pick-up and bass rig at the local filling station.
The Alabama Bass Nation (ABN) had come to town to fish the Lake Martin with its spotted bass.
Coby Cardin used a variety of baits for his 15.81 lbs., first place and $8750.00 in winnings.
Most of the competitors had spent one or more days on the lake prior to the tournament “prefishing” to find “honey holes” where they could ply their trade of bass fishing. Many had encountered good fishing but their lips were sealed as if with duct tape as to location, lure and presentation to be made. The day prior to the tournament the weather had cooperated with broken sunny skies, wind at 7-14 mph, a low temperature of 41 and a high of 66 degrees and no rain.
On April 13 the anglers knew it was going to be a fine day as they rolled out of bed with mostly sunny skies, wind WNW at 4-8 mph (you could run mid-lake from dam to dam without wave problems), the temp at rising was 45 degrees and projected to be a 70 degree high and water temperature around 60 degrees. Pretty good bass fishing weather for the day. Sunrise was forecast for 6:19 AM. The main lake was clear with Wind Creek dingy from the thunderstorms on Thursday night.
Boats were launched early morning at the well lit Wind Creek State Park ramp with 127 contestants poised in 64 bass boats. At around 5:45 Tournament Director Ray Wimmer made the call of “safe light” and the boats blasted off at the safety buoy. Some headed upstream to fish the river-like areas of the lake and others pointed down-stream toward the dam with deeper water, points and islands.
After the 3:00 PM weigh-in, Coby Carden, LA Po Boys club, had established a five fish limit going 15.81 lbs. that was not to be beat. Carden’s first place catch came on a jerkbait, buzzbait, and flipping wood in the back of pockets in real shallow water. The winner’s biggest bass went 3.28 lbs. Carden said he caught 12-13 bass during the tournament. His boat partner for the day was Bobby Kennedy, Bluff City Bassmasters. Carden picked-up $1500 first place money, $250 Airport Marine Fishin 4 A Cure bonus, $150 for the winning club and $7000 Triton Gold. His total winnings for the day came to $8,900. That’s a decent return for a day on the water fishing.
Wayne Cox, Outcast Bass Club, nailed down second place with a solid 12.38 lbs. His biggest bass went 2.65 lbs. Cox worked 3 feet to 10 feet of water in the back of pockets with a jerkbait. Fishing as a no-boater with Cox was David Taylor, Coosa River Hookers.
Third went to Scott Luster, Central Alabama Bassmasters, for five bass weighing 12.34 lbs. Fishing with Luster was Jeff Newton, Alabigbee Bassmasters, who finished 14th himself with 9.82 lb. limit. Luster fished down river with a spinnerbait and a 5” finesse worm in multiple locations.
Robby Lamar, Big River Bassmasters, took fourth with his 12.21 lb. bag and the tournament’s big fish, a 5.01 pounder. Lamar was fishing as a no-boater with Mike Scroggins, Blue-Eye Bassmasters. Not only did Lamar take $600 fourth place money, he won the Academy Sports Big Bass Award worth $850, plus the no-boater biggest catch bonus of $500 for a total paycheck of $1950. Lamar said he caught his fish on an Alabama Rig baited with 3 ½” pearl swimbaits.
Phil Williams, another LA Po Boys Bass Club member, brought a respectable 11.54 lbs. ofbass to Ray Wimmer to light-up the board with. Williams total fell just short of enough to bump Lamar for fourth but good enough to take fifth place. William’s biggest bass went 3.76 pounds that he hung on a Chatterbait in the muddy water of Wind Creek. His no-boater partner for the tournament was Joseph Buchanan, Bluff City Bassmasters. Seventh place went to Jordan Lee, Auburn University Bass Club, for 11.28 lbs. John Nolan, Birmingham Bass Club, placed eighth with 10.83 lbs. and Jon Oliver, Lake Tuscaloosa Bassmasters, took position nine on his limit of 10.8 lbs. Rounding out the top ten was Curtis Gossett, Blue-Eye Bassmasters, in a close one with 10.79 lbs.
The remaining places and winners receiving a check were:
11. Chris Pope, New Line Bass Club- 10.52 lbs. No-boater
12. James Hill, Rumbling Waters Bass Anglers- 10.39 lbs.
13. Rickey Dunn, W ALA Bass Fishermens Assoc- 9.91 lbs.
14. Jeff Newton, Alabigbee Bassmasters- 9.82 lbs. No-boater
15. Justin Hamner, W ALA Bass Fishermens Assoc- 9.71 lbs.
16. Lee Byrd, Birmingham Bass Club- 9.69 lbs.
17. Francis Beard, Neely Henry Bassmasters- 9.67 lbs. No-boater
18. Rickie Harp, Lake Tuscaloosa Bassmasters- 9.66 lbs.
19. Elliot Reedy, Neely Henry Bassmasters- 9.65 lbs. No-boater
20. Scott Russell, Tuscaloosa Bass Anglers Assn.- 9.45 lbs.
21. Joe Wikoff, Central Alabama Bassmasters- 9.06 lbs.
22. Nicholas Turner, LA Po Boys Bass Club- 8.94 lbs.
23. Herbert Hoff, Central Alabama Bassmasters- 8.92 lbs. No-boater
24. Tim Cornelius, Lake Tuscaloosa Bassmasters- 8.83 lbs.
25. Lacson Reid, Rumbling Waters Bass Anglers- 8.82 lbs. No-boater
The LA Po Boys chapter club took top team honors with a cumulative weight of 52.19 lbs. of bass in the tournament. Team members included Coby Carden, 15.81 lbs.; Phil Williams, 11.54 lbs.; Nicholas Turner, 8.94 lbs.; Gregg Quinley, 6.94 lbs.; and Riley Yeargan, 2.90 lbs.
All the photographs from the tournament weigh-in and pairings night can be viewed and downloaded at: https://picasaweb.google.com/111722229253187822014/ABNLakeMartinTournament4132013?authkey=Gv1sRgCK2YoOvlz62EGw# and on the Photos Events page on this site.
In the Lake Martin event, there were 532 fish weighed with an average of 4 fish per contestant. The total fish weight was 842.18 lbs. and an average of 1.58 lbs. per bass. There were 85 five fish limits out of 128 anglers. That was a 66.4% success for a limit in the Lake Martin tournament. Big fish on the spotted bass lake broke down with one bass over 5 lbs., one bass over 4 lbs., three over 3 lbs. and two fish over 2 lbs.
Unless you are very familiar, have a working GPS, or a good map, Lake Martin can be very challenging to navigate with many creeks, 750 miles of shoreline, a lot of open water, tons of sloughs, and islands galore. And the water is crystal clear with sight to the bottom at 15 feet (or more) in many places and underwater islands and rock piles creating safety hazards. The lake, in Tallapoosa, Elmore and Coosa counties in Alabama, is a 44,000 acre lake. An artificial reservoir, Lake Martin was formed by the construction of Martin Dam on the Tallapoosa River. Construction on Martin Dam began in 1923 and was completed in 1926 creating, what was at that time, the largest man-made body of water in the world. Originally known as Cherokee Bluffs for the geological formation upon which it was built, the dam was renamed in 1936 in honor of Thomas Martin, the then-president of Alabama Power Company. Alabama Power and Russell Lands own the majority of the shoreline.
The next Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation Regional will be held on Neely Henry Lake, May 18. Check the ABN website for more information on this event.
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For Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation
Story by Ronnie McDonald and Don Gowen
Southern Fishing News
Photos by Don Gowen
