Kris Colley brought 25.11 lbs of bass to the scales. Colley fished “alone”. His boat partner was an ABT observer that was not fishing. The winning lure was a LCG custom jig, brown and green pumpkin that he flipped all day. Colley was in no danger of getting lost since he fished in relative sight of the ramp all day. “I fished trees and mud banks within a mile, upstream and downstream, of the ramp”, Colley explained. His custom jig was worth $10,000 Saturday.
Kris Colley with a couple from his 25.11 lb. limit.
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Estimates for the winning weight went from 28 to 30 pounds. However, little to no current stifled many teams that were depending on current to replicate their catching during tournament practice. The lack of current was blamed for many bags of smaller bass. Contestants lamented on stage catching 30 to 40 bass during the day but an inability to find the big fish needed to win. Many anglers reported their big fish were caught late in the day when the sun appeared- some as late as thirty minutes before weigh-in.
Jigs and swimbaits figured heavily in the event catches with square-billed crankbaits producing some good catches. Spinnerbaits probably came in as the next contestant weapon of choice.
Chad Newbolt took big fish honors with his 7.02 lb. largemouth bass.
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Big fish of the tournament was a 7.02 pounder caught on a jig by Chad Newbolt at 9:30 in the morning. His partner was Jason Foster.
Jamie Smith and partner Mike Rains took second with a 24.74 lb. haul. The team fished the river ledge all day with a 5” blueback herrin-colored swimbait on a ½ oz. swimbait head. “We just let the bait fall to the bottom and then start winding,” according to the team. The two had a limit by 9:30 and culled two five-pounders in the last 30 minutes of the tournament.
Third place finish took 22.42 lbs. William Davis and Tim Cummings started with a square-billed crankbait fishing shallow and were catching bass pretty good in the early morning. After ten o’clock Davis said they didn’t do much. The bait was a 2.5 Strike King in crawfish.
Joey Nania and Will Butler had 22.19 lbs. that nailed fourth place down for them. Their choice of lures was a rattling, lipless crankbait and a BPS swimbait. “We fished about five minutes upstream and found a sweet spot. We caught our fish real quick and lost three or four big fish,” Nania explained. “The trick was to tick (the rattling bait) on the river boulders.” Fifth went to Jimmy Mason and Lance Walker for a 21.74 lb. limit.
A complete list of the final standing can be found on the Alabama Bass Trail website.
Fourteen year old Ross Napier was the youngest competitor in the event.
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Fourteen year old Ross Napier was the youngest competitor in the event. Young Ross, fishing with his dad Jack, brought in a bass over six pounds that he caught. While not good enough for tournament big fish, it was good enough for Ross. A Texas-rigged, green pumpkin Brush Hog was the bait used for the big fish. Young Napier said, “Makes me feel pretty good” when told he was the youngest in four hundred or so tournament competitors. Ross is a member of the Alabama Student Angler Bass Fishing Association thru his Hartselle High School Bass Club.
While finishing six places from first, Phil Mansfield and Roger Riddle managed 21.5 lbs and a 5.69 lb. big fish. The team probably used less gas than any of the other 199 boats. “We went upstream just past the second bridge, put the PowerPoles down and sat there all day,” Mansfield said. They had a limit in thirty minutes fishing a watermelon red Speed Craw on 8 and 10 lb. test line.
Eighteen of the 200 teams blanked or did not bother to weigh-in. The big fish story was six bass over 6 lbs.; nine fish over 5 lbs.; and four nice ones over 4 lbs. There were 144 five fish limits brought in.
The next stop for the Alabama Bass Trail is on Neely Henry, April 5.
Photos of the event can be viewed/downloaded from the Southern Fishing News online album . Just click on the request button for access.
