Austin Mize and Matthew Windham fished Neely Henry with scores of other Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation Junior competitors and brought in the most weight in their respective age division- 15 to 18 years old and 11 to 14 years old. Most of the junior bass anglers fished with another competitor in the boat from the other age division. Each boat was handled by an adult, volunteer boat captain. All the young ladies and lads were looking to catch a three fish limit with the most weight they could hook. The field included three young ladies every bit as intent on winning as the guys were.
Austin Mize, first place in the 15 to 18 year old group.
“I can’t really remember it all was happening so fast,” Austin Mize tried to recall. “I think I caught that big one first. I was fishing a D-Bomb in some heavy stuff and the first place I broke thru he just hammered it.” Mize, 8.16 lbs. total, said he lost one about 3 lbs. early in the morning and several smaller fish because they were short striking the bait. Matthew Windham had 5.91 lbs. He used a Lucky Craft square bill crankbait on 15 lb. test line to catch his big fish late in the day.
Matthew Windham, took first place in the 11 to 14 year old age group.
Finishing second thru fifth.respectively in the 15 to 18 division were David Gaston, Seth Butts, Zeke Gossett and Jacob Clifton. Finishing second thru fifth respectively in the 11 to 14 division were Jacob Brown, Laine Cooley, McKinley Prickett and Branson Linder. Mann’s Baits and Academy Sports provided gifts for the winners in addition to the plaques presented. The two first place winners also received an Alabama lifetime fishing license sponsored by Alabama Power.
According to on-stage interviews by emcee William “Bill” Davis, owner of Davis Bait Company, the preferred color of plastic for Neely Henry and the Coosa on Saturday was some flavor of green- green pumpkin, watermelon green, watermelon red and watermelon candy red. One junior contestant said just plain “green”. Perhaps the next color heard most, and usually on jigs, was black and blue.
Top Five 15 to 18 year olds. (L-R) Austin Mize, David Gaston, Seth Butts, Zeke Gossett, Jacob Clifton.
As to what these aspiring young pros were throwing varied greatly by boat. Some boats saw the occupants searching their iPhone on Google for the proper knot to use on casting a tackle box. Others were considering the legality of dynamite. More subtle approaches were dragging a Texas-rigged worm, frogs, flipping, wacky worm, Carolina rigs, crankbaits, dive bombing heavy weeds, swim jigs, Flukes, and maybe the one repeated most – a shakeyhead worm.
Top five 11-14 year old group (L-R) Matthew Windham, Jacob Brown, Laine Cooley, McKinley Prickett, Bransom Linder.
Jeremy Burnham opted for a white and a blue crankbait to try for his limit of three bass. Dylan Brown, fishing in the 15-18 year old group, had 2.45 lbs. caught on a Fluke early fished down river. Justin Kanute said he threw everything in his tackle box but boated no keeper fish. A Texas-rigged worm accounted for 3.34 lbs., a limit and a lot of small fish all day for Will Nichols. A Strike King lipless crankbait was the bait of choice for Tucker Vernon that finished with 1.27 lbs.
Jacob Brown, 11-14 age group had 5.49 (one dead fish dropped his weight to 4.74) lbs. and said it was hard fishing all day. Brown caught his fish dragging a green pumpkin, Texas-rigged worm. He caught a lot of small fish too. William Ireland weighed-in 3.89 lbs. he caught in last 45 minutes of tournament on a blue and yellow crankbait in 15-20 feet of water. Branson Linder boated 3.55 lbs. of keeper bass flipping with 14 lb. line into heavy cover. Jon-Halston Hill used a brown and purple jig in 8-12 feet of water on 20 lb. line to bring in 4.49 lbs. of bass. A wacky-rigged worm accounted for McKinley Prickett’s 3.71 lbs. Zeke Gossett had 6.96 lbs.- 2 on a Frog, 3rd bass flipping. Gossett said the fishing was pretty tough.
Ryan Shields had a 5.73 lb. limit by 9 am flipping a Berkley Havoc Pit Boss. A Strike King Space Monkey and a crankbait put 2.55 lbs. of bass in the livewell for Sam McNew. Seth Butts brought 7.56 lbs. to the scales caught on a Davis Shakeyhead with a ragecraw plastic in 4-5 feet of water.
Whatever these young men and women were fishing with they fished hard- until weigh-in time according to the boat captains. The first flight came in at 1:00 pm. Fish in the livewell or not, they all stuck with it under a glaring midday sun. The cool morning start, after a 4:00 am wake-up for most, had given way to bright sunshine making conditions on the water hot. Many of the anglers came to the weigh-in stage still red-faced from fishing hours in a solar oven but still smiling. Each one said they would “do it again tomorrow” if given the chance. Many of the junior contestants thanked their boat captains for providing advice and some basic fishing guidance during the tournament.
Boat captains are not allowed to fish during the tournament. These volunteers provide their boats for the junior anglers and many travel significant distances to participate in these events. One boat captain had brought his boat over 150 miles for the Junior Championship. These men and women, there was one lady boat captain Saturday, sit under a baking sun during the hottest part of the day and can do nothing but watch the junior bass anglers fish. The majority, if not all, of the boat captains did not know the contestants that were in their boat. These dedicated volunteers at state tournaments and local high school and other youth tournaments deserve a heavy dose of gratitude. Without them, there would not be any youth or junior competition.
All photos of the event are available for viewing/download at: https://picasaweb.google.com/111722229253187822014/AlabamaBASSNationJrChamp914201303?authkey=Gv1sRgCPPZkOai7OGzZg#
