The torrid 2020 pace established by Dothan angler Shane Powell on Lake Eufaula continued in the Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation (ABN) state championship.

Powell, the winner of the ABN qualifier on Eufaula in March and two other major tournaments this year, leapfrogged Day 1 leader Josh Stracner to claim the title. Powell (Wiregrass Bassmasters) eclipsed 43 pounds of total weight Friday and Saturday (Nov. 6-7). Stracner (Wiregrass Bassmasters) brought over 42 pounds to the scales, including the tournament’s big bag on Friday, and finished second. John Thornton (Belgreen Bass Club) claimed third with 27.23.

On the co-angler side, ABN newcomer Sonny Woodward (Shotgun Sports Supply) jumped from well back in the pack after Day 1 to beat the back-of-the-boat field. He finished with a two-day total of 16.33. Travis Culbreth (Wiregrass Bassmasters) claimed second among co-anglers with 15.96.

Others who took home cash and prizes for their efforts during the ABN season and the state championship were Lee Byrd (Birmingham Bass Club, boater Angler of the Year), Chris Wiemer (Birmingham Bass Club, Angler of the Year among co-anglers), Brent Crow (Marathon Bassmasters, Day 1 big fish), Bill Gordon (Tiger Bassmasters, Day 2 Big Fish), and the team of Jack Tibbs and Duane Mock (both of Wiregrass Bassmasters), who claimed the Halo Roads Team Championship.

ABN state team members were also finalized. They will be fishing next year’s B.A.S.S. Nation Southern Regional on a date and at a location to be determined.

Powell will be among those anglers fishing the regional. He double qualified after winning both the March ABN tournament and the state championship. All angler and co-angler winners in each of the four qualifiers receive an automatic invitation to the state team. Various ABN members have advanced through regional and national tournaments and qualified for the Bassmasters Classic.

“It’s definitely something that’s special, something that I’ve thought about since my Auburn days,” Powell said moments after the scales closed Saturday. “I see great fishermen like Coby Carden advancing every year and seemingly making the Classic every other year.”

Powell, an Auburn angler from 2009-2013, had the state team bid already in the bag, but he wasn’t sure about the state title until the scales flashed his final-day weight.

The final standings came down to a two-man race between Powell and Stracner. Powell, with an early draw, held the lead for most of Friday’s weigh-in with his 22.56 limit. Stracner, who fishes the Bassmaster Opens along with other circuits, was among the last to weigh Friday and bumped Powell to second with a 23.34 bag.

“The fishing was good on Friday, and I knew Josh would catch them,” Powell said.

With the draws reversed Saturday, Stracner took the lead with his 19.06 weight that pushed his total to 42.40, dwarfing the remainder of the field. Powell, in the sixth of seven flights, came in over an hour later. He had a heavy sack of largemouth but wasn’t sure he had secured the state title until the scales displayed 21.49. His 44.05 two-day weight topped Stracner by about 1½ pounds.

Unofficially, Powell’s catch was the largest ever caught in ABN state championship competition.

“Yesterday in the first hour and half, I caught basically what I weighed,” Powell said. “I caught most of those fish on a jig. The biggest one that I weighed, it bit on slack line, and I could feel it in the reel it hit so hard. I quit fishing about 11, trying to help my co-angler and finding some new stuff.

“Today was a lot tougher. I started where I figured I could catch them like I did (on Day 1) and never got a bite. I finally caught a couple of fish about 9 and went back to the first spot about 11, and it was on again. That’s just how this lake is. Different parts of the lake seem to turn on at different times.

“You can even be on the right thing but in the wrong place, and you may go all day and never catch them, but be doing the same thing as the guy who won. Just the experience on the lake and knowing to go back to that first spot today helped me.”

Powell, who caught a near 30-pound limit in the March ABN qualifier, even abandoned his deep game for about three hours Saturday, hoping to catch a big fish up shallow. He never culled, however, and eventually weighed fish he caught deeper before noon.

“I’ve been fishing several of the two-day tournaments, doing well in them, and hoping this tournament would be just a continuation,” Powell said. “I won a BFL about three or four weeks ago and finished second in an ABA about the second week of October.

Powell and partner Tim Fox teamed to win an Alabama Bass Trail South Division event in June.

“It’s been a great year,” Powell said. “I’m looking forward to being on the state team and fishing the regional.”

Stracner echoed Powell in the idea that “they bit a lot better than I thought they would yesterday.”

“Today was a little tougher although I still caught them pretty well,” said Stracner, who finished third in the Bassmaster Eastern Open on Cherokee Lake in late October and won an FLW Toyota Series on Eufaula in June. “I lost one or two today that would have really helped me. That’s just the way it is.”

He said he caught his fish on a crankbait and a jig in 10 to 18 feet from the middle of the lake down to the dam.

Trailing Powell, Stracner, and Thornton in the boater division were Tibbs (26.76); Roy Galbraith (Winfield Bassmasters, 25.61); and Carden (LA PO Boys, 25.47).

In the co-angler competition, Woodward entered his first ABN event on Lake Martin in September and put together two consistent days to win the state title. Fishing with boater Walter Orr (Shotgun Sports Supply), Woodward caught a three-fish limit that weighed 7.24 on Day 1, putting him just outside the top 10 in a bunched co-angler field. On Saturday, he pieced together one of the better co-angler bags of the tournament with three fish that weighed nine pounds even.

He and Orr caught fished “about a mile” past the Highway 431 bridge in Cowikee Creek, the location of the tournament launch at Lakepoint State Park.

“I didn’t think I had enough to win based on what I had done Friday,” Woodward said. “We fished lily pad stems. We didn’t run far either day, just up the creek. I caught all of my fish on a spinnerbait and a chatterbait.”
Culbreth had a 10-pound limit Saturday, the biggest for any co-angler, but managed only 5.96 Friday and couldn’t hold off Woodward.

Behind the top two finishers in the co-angler standings were Larry Rockhill (Tennessee Valley Bass Club, 13.38); Parrish Argo (LA PO Boys, 13.23); and Lee Hanvey (Lee County Bass Club, 12.86).

The tournament paid an Academy Sports + Outdoors Big Fish prize each day. Crow’s 6.21 largemouth was the heaviest on Friday. Gordon caught a 6.83 fish Saturday, easily the largest of the championship.

In the Halo Rods team competition, Tibbs and Mock combined for 35.78 over two days. Scott Holmes (Birmingham Bass Club) and Culbreth (Wiregrass Bassmasters) finished second at 33.48, and Bruce Sargent and Wallace Williams (both of the Birmingham Bass Club) took third with 27.53. These teams earned a spot in the B.A.S.S. Team Championship at the Harris Chain near Leesburg in December.

Byrd put together a consistent season and held on in a tight race for boater Angler of the Year. Byrd started off the year slowly with a 39th-place finish at Lake Guntersville but took second behind Powell in the March qualifier on Eufaula. His other finishes were sixth at Neely Henry, 18th at Martin, and 11th at the Eufaula state championship. He beat Jeff Gilliam (W Ala Bass Fishermen) by eight points. Bruce Sargent (Birmingham Bass Club) was a close third.
In the race for Angler of the Year among co-anglers, Wiemar capitalized on a win at the Neely Henry qualifier and held off William Elston Jr. (Blue-Eye Bassmasters) for the title.

State team members for 2021 in the boater division are Jabo Bowman (Shotgun Sports Supply, Guntersville winner); Powell (Eufaula winner and state winner); Scott Holmes (Birmingham Bass Club, Neely Henry winner); Jeff Greene (Birmingham Bass Club, Martin winner); Byrd (boater AOY); Stracner (2nd state); Thornton (3rd state); Tibbs (4th state); Galbraith (5th state); and Carden (6th state but earned the last slot because Powell double-qualified).

State team co-anglers are Mark Edmonds (Carbon Hill Bass Club, Guntersville winner); Cole Burdeshaw (Auburn University, Eufaula winner); Wiemar (Neely Henry winner); Charles Nowling (Birmingham Bass Club, Martin winner); Elston (second in AOY but earned a spot because Wiemar double qualified); Woodward (state winner); Culbreth (2nd state); Rockhill (3rd state); Argo (4th state); and Hanvey (5th state).

Sponsors for ABN events include Academy Sports+Outdoors, Airport Marine, Office Partners, Halo Rods, Radicull Culling Devices, Davis Bait Co., George Paint and Body, Academy, Motivated Movers, 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. ABN thanks the Eufaula/Barbour County Chamber of Commerce for hosting the state championship.

The ABN 2020 season is complete, but a new year starts in February with a qualifier on Lake Martin. The full 2021 season is posted on the ABN website as well as the results of the state championship and for anglers of the year.

Greg McCain is freelance writer from Russellville and a member of the ABN-affiliated Belgreen Bass Club. His recent credits include Alabama Outdoor News, Great Days Outdoors, CrappieNOW online magazine, and the ACC Crappie Stix website blog in addition to creating content and photos for the ABN website.