Pickwick Lake, located in northwest Alabama and known far and wide for great smallmouth fishing, lay under the threat of severe thunderstorms on June 1- the day of the Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation (ABN) Lowrance Regional Qualifying Tournament.
The threatening weather was concern enough to cause tournament officials to change the 3 PM weigh-in to 2 PM. That judgement would prove to be a good one.
Shawn Perrigo dominated the Lowrance Pickwick Regional with largemouth bass.
As the 2 PM check-in for the first flight drew close Shawn Perrigo, Belmont Bass Anglers, had his rig tied-up and tourney bag filled. Perrigo was the first thru the weigh-in tent even though he was in the second flight out. There’s a joke at tournaments for the first guy that weighs fish. He or she is, at that point, in first place and has the biggest bass of the tournament on the board. Well, in the case of Shawn Perrigo the joke was on the tournament staff. Perrigo rocked the scales with five bass at 22.69 pounds. A dead fish penalty brought his official weight down to 22.44 pounds. None of the 158 competitors that weighed-in after him even came close. Perrigo did not hold on to the big fish lead with his 4.68 largemouth but his first place weight was never in jeopardy and neither was his $2000 or his Triton Gold bonus of $7200.
Perrigo said he caught his fish with a Carolina rig fishing shell beds about 26 feet deep. “We were using Brush Hogs in green pumpkin,” Perrigo revealed. He also said they were using about a 2 ½ feet of leader on the Carolina rigs. Fishing with the first place winner as a no boater was Matt Arnett, Shoals Fishers of Men. Arnett finished 113 with 2 bass, 6.56 lbs.
Lee Byrd placed second fishing three to four feet of water with a white frog and a black/blue jig.
Even though second place was not close enough to make the winner sweat, the bag was a good one and set-up a battle for the next six money positions. Lee Byrd, Birmingham Bass Club, brought in a good limit of 17.93 lbs. again, with some nice largemouth bass worth $1000. His big fish went 5 pounds even. Byrd said he had a great day and had caught a lot of fish. “… caught most of ‘em on a frog and flippin’,” Byrd said. The frog was a white Spro and the jig was black and blue. Byrd said he stayed on the upper end of Pickwick fishing close to the marina. He added they were fishing three to four feet. Byrd’s “back seat” was David Horsley, Hamilton Bassmasters of Alabama. Horsley finished at 114 with two bass and 6.47 pounds.
Bobby Boyd, Belgreen Bass Club, wrapped-up third place and tournament big fish
Bobby Boyd took third place with 17.01 lbs. and big fish for a 6.56 pounder.
with a limit going 17.01 lbs. Boyd’s big bass was a 6.56 lb. hawg. Third Place got him $800, Big Fish $850, an Academy Sports+Outdoors Bif Fish bonus check for $250 and the Office Partners F4AC bonus of $250 more. Boyd, even with the great fish he had, said he lost a couple of three and five pounders fishing a crankbait. “It was just a tough day today. I don’t know what it was. I was fishing for the big bite, I got ‘em, but I just couldn’t get ‘em in the boat”, Boyd lamented. “The fish would hit the bait but they just wouldn’t eat it real good.” Boyd said he was fishing 12 to 18 feet of water with a DD22 about five miles below Natchez Trace and just fished seven or eight different spots like small shell mounds and ledges. The DD22 color was like a lavender shad with a little chartreuse in it. Sharing Boyd’s rig was Farris Busby, Rock City Bass Club. Busby weighed-in a limit that went 10.4 lbs. and put him in 53rd place.
Fourth place was worth $700 and that went to Tyler Hicks, Carbon Hill Bass Club, for a limit that went 17.57 lbs. However, Hicks lost weight due to dead fish which put him at an official weight of 16.82 lbs. Hicks was fishing as a no boater so he picked-up an additional $500 for having the highest no boater weight. Hicks started out throwing a crankbait in the grass and fished ledges all day with an Alabama Rig. Pickwick is the birthplace of the Alabama Rig designed by a local angler Andy Poss. 
Hicks said he started catching bass a little more on spinnerbaits. Hicks said, “Then (the bite) died out on us about twelve o’clock and then picked back up.” Hicks and his boat partner, Shane Harris, Tennessee Valley Bass Club, fished the west end of Pickwick. The spinnerbait was a War Eagle and a 2.5 KVD crankbait. Harris finished in 6th place with 15.11 lbs. That’s 32.68 lbs. of bass coming from that boat (not counting dead fish penalty) in the tournament.
Veteran Don Hogue, Shoal Creek Bass Chasers, showed he still had the stuff when he came to the scales with a hefty limit bag tilting the scales to 16.33 lbs. Hogue also suffered a penalty from a dead fish to bring him down to 16.08 lbs. but still good enough for fifth place. Hogue’s draw partner for the day was Kenneth Busby, Rock City Bass Club. Hogue said his tactics for the day included a Brush Hog and a brown jig and catching a lot of fish. Hogue’s plan included a run to the south near the dam and “just beating the banks.” Busby was busy catching a limit weighing 8.89 lbs. Busby finished at 75th.
As mentioned earlier, Shane Harris, Tennessee Valley Bass Club, took sixth place with a limit and 15.11 lbs. Harris was fishing with fourth place finisher Tyler Hicks. We heard from Hicks but what was Harris’ comments on the day? His initial response was, “Long.” We fished kinda in the middle of the river and tried a little of everything, topwater, Alabama Rig, crankbaits…a pretty good day,” Harris continued.
Jim Barnette, Tuscaloosa Bass Anglers Association, took seventh place with his limit bag of 15.05. Barnette’s kicker fish went 4.38 lbs. His partner for the tournament was Bobby Cox, Outcast Bass Club, that boated four bass but had one expire on him giving him an official weight of 7.9 lbs. and 92nd place. Barnett said, “I had a pretty good day. I lost two fives…broke one off and one come off right at the boat…I caught ‘em early and about 10 o’clock it got tough.” Barnette said he caught most of his fish shallow with a topwater but did get a couple downstream deeper with a jig. His choice of topwater lures were a Spook and Pop-R in sexy shad.
Eighth place went to Kyle Glasgow, Winfield Bassmasters, for 14.81 lbs. Glasgow fished with Dale Norred, Lay Lake Bass Chapter, that finished 82nd with 8.44 lbs. Anthony Goggins, Pro Line Bassmasters, finished with 14.43 lbs. and locked-in ninth place. Goggins shared the boat with the up and coming youngster Zeke Gossett. Gossett, Blue-Eye Bassmasters, brought 12.05 lbs. to the scales but was bitten by a dead fish penalty like many others and dropped to 11.8 lbs. and 30th place. The
Flights arrive back at Florence Harbor, Pickwick Lake to get ready for tournament weigh-in. SFN photo Bill Castile
tenth place position was claimed by Mitch Mitchell, Big River Bassmasters, on his weight of 14.15 lbs. Mitchell fished with no boater Jeremy Franks, Winfield Bassmasters, who boated five bass but had a couple expire. Franks total was 9.42 for 68th place.
The top twenty-five places are paid. These places and all of the other final finishing positions are available on the Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation website at: http://www.albassnation.com/tourny/2013/04Qual13.pdf
The top club for the Lowrance Regional on Pickwick was the Big River Bassmasters of Muscle Shoals, AL. Team members of the club fishing were: Mitch Mitchell; Matt Gargis; Tony South; Richard Walker; Jeremy Stutts and Matt Nichols. Each team member receives a check for $200.
Just after the last contestant finished weighing-in a very strong wind hit the Florence Harbor area followed by some heavy rain. Eddie Plemons, ABN Director mentioned, as the wind and rain built and people ran under the tent for cover, “You are assuming this tent will stay here.” Bass fishermen and spectators held on to the posts of the tent to keep the whole thing from going airborne. Eighty boats would have been on Pickwick under those dark skies if the tournament time had not been shortened by one hour.
Tournament strategy notes
Jeff Newton, Alabigbee Bassmasters NB – 5 fish, 11.54/4.66 BF : Partner caught about 25 bass and loaned one to Newton to get his fifth fish (a square bill Tennessee shad crankbait KVD 1.5). Throwing the lure in four feet. Wind and waves all day. Fished on the west end of Pickwick. Partner was Thomas Foreman, Rumbling Waters Bass Anglers, 11.74 lbs.
Todd Tucker, Fayette Bass Club, NB– 5 fish, 11.42/OBF: Said it was tough. Was dock fishing in Big Bear. Used a homemade jig in PJ color. Caught seven keepers on the day and about same number of short fish. Said the wind helped and the water in Big Bear was slightly stained.
Eulon Lee, Rumbling Waters Bass Anglers – 5 fish, 12.95/OBF: Started off way down river. Right off the bat caught a 17” smallie on a topwater. First stop they had five keepers in the boat. Coming back to the ramp they picked up bass one here and one there. He caught his biggest fish with about ten minutes to go. Used a shakeyhead most of the day with a Trickworm in sprayed grass color.
Don Cox, Belgreen Bass Club – 5 fish, 12.94/OBF: Caught a fish real quick on a buzzbait, probably the biggest fish he had. Rest of the day he caught his fish on a swimbait with the boat in 12 feet of water throwing up into the grass. Caught three or four limits but could not get a big bite. Fished down toward Waterloo. His swimbait was a Swimfluke in smoke and shad.
Bruce Sargent, Birmingham Bass Club – 5 fish, 12.80/OBF: Caught his fish on a 6XD crankbait 20 feet deep. Custom painted lure similar to a bream color. Fished the far west end of Pickwick.
Phillip Lovett, Tennessee Valley Bass Club – 5 fish, 12.90/OBF: Used a crankbait for his fish. Fished ledges in the Waterloo area with a DD22. Color was anything with chartreuse.
Tony South, Big River Bassmasters – 5 fish, 11.62/4.47 BF: The fish he caught in practice weren’t there so he had to go hunting. Finally got on some small fish then came back up to the dam. All the big fish were caught below the dam on a pink spinnerbait with gold and silver blades.
Justin Hamner, W ALA Bass Fishermens Assoc – 5 fish, 12.64/OBF: Kinda slow at first when the water wasn’t moving. Lost a couple of key fish. Ran about 35-40 miles. Threw jigs, crankbaits, etc. Most of his fish came on the Davis ¾ oz. PJ jig.
One of the notable things at the weigh-in was the ratio of largemouths to smallmouths from this renowned smallmouth factory. A review of the photos show that less than a dozen smallies were brought to the scales- or right around that number. The minimum length of smallmouth caught from the Tennessee River, in Alabama, was raised to 15” in October 2012. Also noted was the pale color of many of the largemouths indicating they had been caught fairly deep- that is if my fisheries biology is correct.
And speaking of notable, the drawings for the raffle items that clubs have been selling all year and spectators have been buying at tournaments. The beach trip was won by Jacqueline Sanderson. The MotorGuide trolling motor went to Adam Lesley. The shotgun was won by James Poland. The Lowrance sonar unit went to…James Poland. And the grand prize of a $1500 gift card went to young Hunter Briles. By the way, young Hunter was the one doing the drawing for the ABN. Strange and funny but all above board.
Some stats on this tournaments are: 159 contestants; 80 boats; 684 fish weighed; Total fish weight 1380.25 lbs.; 2.02 lb. average wt./fish; BF weighed over 5 lbs.- 4; BF weighed over 4 lbs.- 11; BF weighed over 3 lbs.-3
All photos of the tournament may be viewed/downloaded at: https://picasaweb.google.com/111722229253187822014/ABNPickwick612013?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDCkOC49viDJA# and on the Photo Event page on this site.
The Junior State Championship will be September 14 on Neeley Henry out of the City Docks in Gadsden and the Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation State Championship Tournament is October 18 and 19 on Lake Eufaula out of Lakepoint Marina.
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For Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation
Story and Photos by Ronnie McDonald
Southern Fishing News
