News Stories & Fishing Articles

By DAVID RAINER
Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

“The first documented sighting was at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (near Decatur) in 1964,” Chuck Sykes, Director of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division, said. “They’ve been in north Alabama for a long time.”

An American alligator was recently sighted in the Huntsville area, which many people consider to be beyond the home range of the animal. Outdoor Alabama photo

Fifty-five Shoals Youth Bassmasters competed on Pickwick Lake on July 8 and found several nice largemouth and smallmouth bass. The trophy winners in the three age divisions weighed in a healthy 88.42 pounds of bass.

This is a “Top Ten” list no city wants to be on.

Area of west of Decatur, AL. Google Earth photo.

The  Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia

The 2022-23 season for the Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu was a historic one. College fishing’s only all-encompassing National Rankings system saw hundreds of college bass fishing teams from across the country compete in an epic number of points qualifying tournaments as the ACA awarded the most points ever in a single season this year.

This personalized adventure for you and your friends flies you into the pristine Canadian backcountry for a fishing experience you’ll never forget.

By Jason Duran

The final stop of the ABT 2023 regular season was held at Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Al with 225 teams from the north division competing for the top prize of $10,000.

Allen Hayes and Danny Bishop. ABT photo

Our featured sponsor, Tennessee Rivers Tackle/Swamper Lures, offers a unique line of soft plastic lures.

One of the surefire ways to put yourself around bass is to fish around the grass. They love the stuff and there’s always a percentage of the population living near the green stuff.

Seaguar Pro Mark Daniels Jr is a big proponent of TactX braid for punching grass and throwing frogs.

“No doubt the Black Bass is the appointed successor to the Lordly Trout…that he will eventually become the leading game fish of America is my oft-expressed opinion and firm belief.” —Dr. James A. Henshall, Book of the Black Bass, 1881

Although writing primarily about the largemouth bass, Dr. Henshall’s prediction written over 125 years ago has literally been fulfilled. Today, black bass are the most sought-after species in North America, with Georgia as one of the premier destinations.

The Shoals Youth Bassmasters, a Northwest Alabama youth club, fished their second tournament of 2023 on a cooperative Wilson Lake out of the Lock Six ramp on June 10. Fifty-eight young anglers brought bags of bass to the scales at 11:00 AM.