Lake Martin can be a fickle beast on occasion, and that scenario proved true Saturday (Sept. 26) in the final Alabama Bass Nation (ABN) qualifying tournament of 2020.

A field of 58 boats fished post-front conditions after the remnants of a tropical storm dumped several inches of rain on the region two days before the tournament. While fishermen still found plenty of Martin’s spotted bass population and a few largemouths, high water and little wind minimized the big-fish bite.

Jeff Greene (Birmingham Bass Club) overcame the tough conditions and finished atop the boater leaderboard with 12.51 pounds. Lester Taylor (Rumbling Waters Bass Anglers) finished second with 11.97.

Among the co-anglers, Charles Nowling (Birmingham Bass Club) claimed a narrow win with a three-fish limit of 6.04, just ahead of Steve Watson (Kowaliga Bassmasters). Watson took second among non-boaters with 6.01.

The tournament also further cluttered the top of the ABN Angler of the Year race among boaters. Only two points separate the top three in the AOY leaders with Keith Glasgow (Winfield Bassmasters) currently atop the standings going into the state championship, which is scheduled in early November on Lake Eufaula

Greene doesn’t figure into the AOY race, but he made the most of limited experience and practice on Martin. He caught a limit by 7:30 and culled regularly throughout the day.

“This is the first one that I’ve fished (an ABN event) in a long, long time,” Greene said. “I’m a Coosa River guy, born and raised in Pell City. I haven’t been down here in a long time until yesterday and hadn’t been (to Martin) at this time of year at all. It’s usually cold when we come down here.

“I found them early yesterday on a spinnerbait on a sea wall in one certain creek. Once the sun came up, I switched to a finesse jig and started culling. That’s what I did today.”

Greene caught four solid fish but said he couldn’t ever manage to get rid of a 1 ½-lb. spot although he culled numerous times. His big bass was a 3.55 spot.
Fishing Madwin Creek in the mid-lake area, Greene threw a 3/8-oz. War Eagle mouse-colored spinnerbait along the sea walls to secure his early limit, including the big spot and another good bass. Later in the day, he managed to boat two more quality fish on a 3/8-oz. War Eagle finesse jig with a Reaction Innovations Smallie Beaver trailer in watermelon candy.

“Absolutely not,” Greene responded when asked if he had any thoughts of winning prior to the tournament. “We found some fish but didn’t catch the quality yesterday that we caught today. I figured with the way that the bigger ones bit for me today that someone would hammer them and come in with a really big bag.”

Greene actually figured into the winning co-angler total as well. He had given Nowling a Zara Spook during a club tournament on Pickwick, and Nowling had it tied on for the early bite at Martin. He caught two of his three keepers on the borrowed walking bait.

A relative newcomer to the circuit, Nowling finished fifth at Neely Henry in his first ABN tournament. Now he is an ABN co-angler winner. He fished with Martin veteran Tim Ward and said they “jumped from brushpile to brushpile” most of the day.

A key late cull allowed Nowling to edge Watson for the top spot. He had switched to a 3/16-oz. War Eagle shaky head paired with a watermelon red worm later in the day and caught his final keeper, another two-pounder, on his last cast about 3:30.

Other winners in the Martin event included Lee Byrd (Birmingham Bass Club) and Scott Wiley Sr. (LA PO Boys) and the team of Greene and Jonathan Trowbridge (Birmingham Bass Club).

Byrd claimed Airport Marine Fishin’ 4 A Cure (F4AC) honors. Anglers elect to pay an optional $25 per tournament to F4AC, and the money goes to help combat childhood diseases at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham.

Wiley landed the Academy Sports + Outdoors Big Fish with a 5.31 largemouth. Because Wiley was not registered for F4AC. the $250 bonus was donated to Children’s of Alabama.

Greene and Trowbridge had a combined weight of 16.6 lbs. and took the NetBait/Halo Rods team competition, just ahead of Kyle Glasgow and Luke Glasgow (both of Winfield Bassmasters). Those two teams, along with Hank Golden (Kowaliga Bassmasters) and Watson; William Cook (Auburn Bassmasters) and Matthew Daniel (Wiregrass Bassmasters); and Jacob George and Brody Anderson (both of Birmingham Bass Club), qualified for the team portion of the state championship.

Other top boater finishers at Martin included Wiley (11.00); Jeff Gilliam (W. Alabama Bass Fishermen, 10.95); Kyle Glasgow (10.23); and Byrd (9.91).

Behind Nowling and Watson in the co-anglers standing were Luke Glasgow (5.72); Chris Wiemar (Birmingham Bass Club, 5.04); Daniel (4.99); and Michael Cochran (LA PO Boys, 4.92).

The AOY race shapes up for a great finish in the state championship on Eufaula with Glasgow (741 points) clinging to a one-point lead ahead of Bruce Sargent (Birmingham Bass Club; 740). Sargent is one point ahead of Byrd (739). Others in the race include Rick Nishio (Gadsden Bassmasters, 733), Gilliam (727), Chester “Jabo” Bowman (Shotgun Supply, 726) and Scott Holmes (Birmingham Bass Club, 726).

Wiemar leads the co-angler AOY race with 772 points followed by Daniel (740), Chris Pope (New Line Bass Club, 736), and William Elston Jr. (Blue-Eye Bassmasters, 735)

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 Alexander City Chamber of Commerce for helping with the Martin tournament.

The ABN season wraps up on Eufaula with a two-day event Nov. 6-7 out of Lakepoint State Park.

More Tournament Photos can be found at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmLhYxgt

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 and CrappieNow digital magazine. He is a member of the Belgreen Bass Club, an ABN chapter near Russellville.