Traveling long distances to get to Lake Guntersville didn’t seem to be a problem for the top finishers in the Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation (ABN) tournament Saturday (March 6).

Most didn’t have to venture far to find the money fish once they got there.

Billy Black, from Monroeville, capitalized on a good pre-fishing find and topped a big boater field with a 19.29 five-fish limit. He traveled a little farther than second-place finisher Dwayne Sanford, from the Alexander City area. Sanford (Alex City Bassmasters) finished with 17.01. Jacob George (Birmingham Bass Club [BBC]) claimed third with 16.54 and also took over the boater Angler of the Year standings.

Black’s winnings extended into the team competition as well. Black and partner Donald Henderson (both from Monroe County B.A.S.S. Anglers) boated the top team weight with 28.42.

The top co-angler totals were impressive with 3 anglers bringing in 3-fish limits over 12 lbs. Johnny Clark (West Alabama Bass Fishermen’s Association) won from the back of the boat with 13.19. Shane Turner (Alex City Bassmasters) took second among co-anglers with 12.90, and Ben Stephens (Team Tackle Box) finished third with 12.47.

The Academy Sports + Outdoors Big Fish award went to Ricky Wagner (Florala Bass Club), who traveled all the way from the Florida Panhandle to fish the tournament. Wagner’s 7.55 largemouth was easily the big fish of the tournament although ABN members weighed 10 fish over 5 lbs.

The tournament, which was held out of Goose Pond in Scottsboro, featured 92 boaters and 84 co-anglers.

Despite the distance, Black said “a little experience on Guntersville” and a key early stop in pre-fishing Wednesday allowed him to identify the winning area.

“I have a little experience up here,” Black said. “I fish most of these tournaments, and we have a few club tournaments up here.”

Black arrived on the lake in time to get in some quality practice time. He located a hump holding tournament-grade fish Wednesday morning in South Sauty, a big creek in the mid-lake area of Guntersville.

“We tried to find some fish shallow but didn’t find much,” Black said. “I stumbled across some fish on a 12-foot hump inside of South Sauty. On back-to-back casts, I caught a 5 and a 3 ¾ so we just left that spot. Basically we went all over the lake trying to reproduce that bite.”

The pressure on the lake – as many as a dozen different tournaments were fished on Guntersville Saturday – proved to be a momentary problem, but a little patience proved pivotal for Black.

“We ran to that spot this morning, and there was a boat sitting on it,” he said. “They sat there about 5 minutes, they pulled off, and we pulled over. We stayed there all day.”

Black said he caught a total of 16 keepers off the spot with his biggest fish – a 5.22 largemouth completing a limit about mid-morning. From the back of the boat, Henderson also caught a couple of quality fish that produced a top 10 co-angler finish for him.

Black continued to cull throughout the day with a key catching coming with about 10 minutes of fishing time left. He brought in a 3 ¾-lb. largemouth that provided a significant upgrade and allowed him to hold off a large-charging Sanford for the top spot.

The big fish and the late cull both came on a football jig. Black said he caught everything else on an A-rig.

“I really didn’t think I would pull out the win,” Black said. “I came up here with the idea of making the top 20.”

Like Black, Sanford also found some deeper fish that provided a last-minute flurry and a second-place finish. He caught a shallow limit early and returned to those fish at the end of the day. As he was approaching the spot, Sanford said he scanned fish out deeper in 9-10 feet of water outside a grass edge.

He turned and threw a crankbait at the fish, setting off a frantic final few minutes of tournament time. During the flurry, Sanford culled everything he had in the livewell.

“I just ran out of time,” he said. “I left them biting.”

Clark not only won the co-angler title, but the event also marked a complete return from a health scare last fall as well.

“I didn’t get to fish the state championship last fall because I had a quadruple bypass,” Clark said. “I shouldn’t have lived, but God is good. Everything came out fine. I’m doing good now.”

After a solid finish at Lake Martin in the initial 2021 ABN tournament, Clark had an even better day on Guntersville. He now leads the co-Angler of the Year standings. Clark was also the top finisher among Fishin’for a Cure participants, a charity supported by the ABN that raises funds for Children’s of Alabama.

Fishing with boater Victor Harper (also from the West Alabama club), Clark said he caught all of his fish around shallow grass on a fire craw Jack Hammer bladed jig paired with an orange Zoom Z-Craw trailer.

“We didn’t go very far from the landing,” Clark said, who later added that he and Harper fished the “mid-lake” area. “We pulled up on a hole and then re-cycled that same place throughout the day. We would leave it for a few minutes, maybe 20 or 30, come back, and there would be another fish on it.”

Continuing the red bladed jig theme, Wagner said he caught the tournament’s big fish on a Googan model (fire craw) with a Big Bite Baits trailer in a similar color.

Others in the top 10 among boaters were Allan Glasgow (Lake Tuscaloosa Bassmasters, 15.93); Keith Glasgow (Winfield Bassmasters, 15.77); Dusty Robinson (Wiregrass Bassmasters, 14.96); Tom Frey (Team Tackle Box, 14.84); Johnathan Harris (Coosa Valley Bassmasters, 14.62); Don Cox (Belgreen Bass Club, 14.36); and  Tim Arnold (Wiregrass Bassmasters, 14.08).

Rounding out the top 10 among co-anglers were Jennings Earnest (Winfield Bassmasters, 10.73); Jonathan Barnette (Carbon Hill Bass Club, 10.46); Wagner (10.07); Richard White (Alex City Bassmasters, 9.86); Brad Trotter (Monroe County B.A.S.S. Anglers, 9.76); Henderson (9.13); and Tommie Roden (Wiregrass Bassmasters, 9.00).

In the team competition after Black and Henderson, Frey/Stephens (Team Tackle Box) finished second with 27.31 followed by Roy Galbraith/Earnest (Winfield Bassmasters, 23.60); George/Lincoln Stewart (BBC, 23.29); Adam Ryder/Trotter (Monroe County B.A.S.S. Anglers, 22.81); Bruce Sargent/Jonathan Trowbridge (BBC, 22.20); Andrew Vitu/White (Alex City Bassmasters, 22.17); and Tim Arnold/Will Dickerson (Wiregrass Bassmasters, 21.59).

The top 7 teams not previously qualified earn a spot in the state team championship on Lake Martin in November. Because George and Stewart had qualified at Martin, Arnold and Dickerson also earned a team spot in the state championship, when pairs of ABN anglers compete for entry in the B.A.S.S. Nation Team Championship on Lake Eufaula.

The ABN would like to welcome a new sponsor, Fish Life Fish Care Products for the 2021 season. Other sponsors include Academy Sports + Outdoors, Airport Marine, Office Partners, Halo Rods, Radicull Culling Devices, Davis Bait Co., George Paint and Body, Triton Boats, Mercury, Motor Guide, Lowrance, NetBait, Shell, Hammer Rods, Shelby County, StrikeZone Lure Co., Charlie’s BBQ, the Rod Glove, T-H Marine, Power-Pole, and Alabama Hosting.

The ABN season continues next month on Lake Eufaula and at Lay Lake in May. Qualifying individuals and teams will then compete in the state tournament on Martin Nov. 5-6.

Expect the AOY races to heat up on Eufaula. George is followed by Brent Crow (Marathon Bassmasters) and Harris. Trailing Clark among co-anglers are Barnette and Turner.

Greg McCain is a freelance writer with hundreds of credits in various print and digital publications. In addition to producing photos and content for this website, he is a regular contributor to Alabama Outdoor News (AON) magazine, CrappieNow digital magazine, and the ACC Crappie Stix blog. He is a member of the Belgreen Bass Club, an ABN chapter near Russellville.