Stutts and Hailstone Crank Up $10,000 On Wheeler Lake

Two hundred boats left Ingalls Harbor in Decatur, AL with the first flight getting the jump on “holes” at 5:45 a.m. The 399 anglers (one contestant fished with an observer) were looking for cash and points in the Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series, Northern Division on Wheeler Lake.

Randy Stutts and Patrick Hailstone kept five keepers totaling 21.41 lbs. for first place and a $10,000 payback. The team noted they had culled fourteen bass over 3 lbs. during the day. Their biggest bass came in at 5.92 lbs. The top rods of the event reported their weapon was a sexy Chartreuse shad crankbait fishing mid-lake. Stutts and Hailstone drove 20 miles to their honey hole and had no other bass fishermen around. The pair had a limit by 6:30 a.m. Culling began at 7:30 a.m.

A heartbeat away from first place with 21.09 lbs. was Billy Sharp and Kevin Stubblefield. The second place team fished a ¼ oz., green pumpkin, football head jig in shell beds on the main river ledge. They said they never got out of sight of the ramp area.

Luke Kyle and Arch Cornett nailed-down third on the power of a 7.17 lb. hawg, which took “second place” big fish, with a total of 20.94 lbs.

Fourth went to William “Willy” Davis and Tim Cummings. The fourth place pair brought in 20.59 lbs. Their bass fell prey to a big red bug-colored worm and a watermelon red Brush Hog. The fish were located on spots in the main lake almost to Wilson Dam. Davis said he used a 7’ 11 in. double extra heavy Hammer Rod on his fish.

Fifth place took 19.84 lbs. boated by the team of Justin Atkins and Grant Galloway. Atkins said, “We used a Bomber Chartreuse crankbait and a 12” plum-colored Mighty Worm in First and Second Creek.”  He said his partner caught fish continually in one ten-minute span of time.

Kyle Glasgow and Josh Bragg took big fish, really big fish honors with a 7.92 lb. LARGEmouth. Can we just call it an even eight pounder? The big ‘un was boated about ten minutes before weigh-in. The pair was using a white-colored Strike King 6XD crankbait in about 14 feet of water on the edge of the river channel. Glasgow and Bragg, finishing in 36^th place, ran as far downstream as Wilson Dam.

A complete results list can be found HERE.

The group of contestants were faced with an almost bluebird sky Saturday after days of practice in cloudy, rainy weather. The sun was pounding down on the anglers testing their resolve and endurance. Temperatures ran from the mid to upper 80’s during the day. The clouds began to return at the weigh-in.

The dominate lures used by the field appeared to be deep-diving crankbaits in some variation of Chartreuse color, Carolina-rigged plastics in green pumpkin, green pumpkin jigs and big worms. A couple of teams reported using frogs all day with one scoring a good limit and the other not so well. Some teams had their fishing hole all to themselves and other with the company of ten other competitors.

Keith Glasgow and Ed Payne had quite a story to tell on about their 6.13 pound bass. Glasgow recalled, “My bait hit the bottom and she thumped it! During the fight line got wrapped around the PowerPoles.” As his partner was down on his knees trying to untangle the line, the big bass cleared the water on the other side of the boat. The big mama hit a green pumpkin football head jig with a green pumpkin Paca Chunk.

Blake Hall and Nick Reeves, who placed seventh, ran about 15 miles to find 19.37 lbs. of bass. The team fished green pumpkin worms and Brush Hogs in 20 to 25 feet of water.

The team of Ty Campbell and Mark Meyer finished in 12^th place with 17.83 lbs. The pair fished ledges on the main river in 14 to 18 feet. Lures used were a foxy shad Bomber crankbait and a plum-colored big worm. The Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant was the limit of their run downstream.

The heat and the depth some fish were being caught made recovering the bass for release a chore for the Alabama Bass Trail tournament staff. Every thing that could be done was being used to save every fish- chemicals in the recovery pool water, ice added to the water and an aerating system. Staff was even bleeding air from the bladder of fish to stabilize them as well as moving water over the gills by hand. However, even with all the efforts being put forth, a good number of  bass succumbed to the stress – and, a good number were saved.

The Hartselle Bassmasters high school team assisted in the tournament weigh-in running bass from the stage to the recovery pool and releasing fish.

The final tournament in the North Alabama Division is June 21 on Logan Martin Lake. The top 50 teams, in points, in the north and south divisions, and the top 25 student angler teams from both divisions that automatically qualify, will meet for a championship on Smith Lake, Cullman, AL.

The photo album for this event can be seen HERE for viewing and downloads.