Bass Pro Shops Crappie Masters final event before the National Championship was held in Gadsden, AL. on Lake Neely Henry. 102 anglers competed for cash and prizes totaling $20,000.00. Sponsored by Bass Pro Shops, Tracker Marine, Mercury and Minn Kota, the tournament brought many anglers to attempt to qualify for the last spots for the Championship held at Grenada, MS in October.
Early morning clouds helped keep the temperature down until sun broke in the afternoon. Temperatures hit the upper eighties in the afternoon. Pre fishing was tough on many anglers and most felt the big fish kicker could take the top prize. Anglers were struggling with weak fish and they were correct as the big fish made the difference.
Alabama’s Mike Tubbs and Douglas Kennedy weighed in 7 fish for a total of 8.89 pounds to take first place. The big fish kicker weighed 2.42 lbs and gave them first place in both the tournament and big fish. First place won them 2 Arctic Cat 4x4s and a big fish check for 357.00. The team said they seldom use live bait but did some this event. They fished 9-16 ft depths and the big fish was caught around 14ft deep. Pre fishing was disappointing as they prior two days they were concerned as they were only finding small fish. This made them change their strategy and fish places they hadn’t fished and it paid off.
Coy and Gilford Sipes took 2nd place and $3,000.00 with a total of 8.46 lbs. They fished road runner with some live bait in 6-8 foot waters. Sipes’ showcased their new Road Runner sponsored wrap boat at the tournament. The sharp looking wrap brought a lot of attention at the seminar.
Third place and $1,500.00 went to Brent Moody of Tennessee. Moody checked in quite early with some good slabs and weight. He weighed 8.38 lbs and held the lead for some time as his big fish kicker weighed 1.97 lbs and gave him Second Big Fish. Moody fished stakes with a single pole in 8-9 feet of waters with pearl white jigs.
Fourth place Ronnie Capps and Steve Coleman weighed in just behind Moody with 8.37 lbs giving them $1000.00 for their effort. Capps and Coleman spoke with the crowd about fishing their home lake, next years Classic in Reelfoot, TN.
Adult youth team of Wayne Adams and Josh Lamb from Kentucky took fifth place along with Adult/Youth honors and $650.00 dollars. The team pulled up in their Tracker boat to weigh in some weak slabs early after losing a couple big ones and went back out to try to catch another big one. The team said “pre fishing was tough with just one day getting on fish and they were all small. Come tournament day it just kept getting better and better. We fished 15-18 ft deep with live minnows and also did a little spider rigging.”
This was the first tournament for the 15 yr. old nephew whose uncle has fished some tournaments before. Adams (uncle) said they are a tight family and he takes a couple nephews fishing. Josh said he fishes a lot at home but not tournaments. When ask what his thoughts were on fishing the tournament, a very happy Josh stated, “Ah man, it was real!”
Bass Pro Shops Crappie Masters tournament trail paid down the top 10 spots in cash and down to 20th in prizes. Anglers stuck around for the bump down for the Championship to get qualified with the bump down reaching all teams.
The next stop on the tour is the Bass Pro Shops Crappie Masters National Championship for $150,000.00 in cash and prizes. The championship will be held Oct. 4-7th on Grenada Lake in Grenada, MS.
Bass Pro Shops Crappie Masters would like to thank our National Sponsors and Local Sponsors that include: City of Gadsden, Gadsden Inn & Suites, Gadsden Bait and Tackle, Bucks Island Marina, Cracker Barrel, Top of the River Restaurant, Red Lobster, McDonalds, Villa Fiesta Restaurant, Z 83.1 Radio and Chick-Fil-A.
National Sponsors include: Bass Pro Shops; Tracker Boats; Nitro Boats; Arctic Cat; Mercury Motors, Minn Kota; Humminbird; KeelShield; Turboset, Grizzly Jig Company; Fishergirl; RoadRunner by Blakemore; Biosonix; Bugband; Perrotibilt; Mr. Crappie; Slider; American Angler; Hydroglow; SureLife; Bagley Baits; Spike-It; Knight Rifles; Porcupine Fish Attractor, Fish Hedz; Kodiak Scents; Bobby Garland; KeepAlive; Emmrod; Stanley Wedgetail; Kastaway Kulis; Budweiser; Crappie Unlimited; MonsterCrappie.com; Lokinets; The Woodshed; Kasswinns; Kastaway Kulis.
