Wesson executes shallow-grass plan for Eufaula win
By Greg McCain

David Wesson’s experience in Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation (ABN) tournaments may be limited, but that fact didn’t hinder his fishing on Lake Eufaula Saturday (March 11).

Wesson, of Southside near Gadsden, got in a few practice hours Friday, established a big-fish pattern upriver, and executed that plan early in tournament hours. He brought a sack that weighed 26.08 to the scales for the win, earning the top spot in only his second ABN competition.

When the scales closed, Wesson suggested that his experience on Lake Eufaula was limited to “a handful of BFLs.” Even his lack of entries in ABN tournaments – Wesson finished third in his initial ABN competition last month on Lake Martin – did little to hinder his shallow-grass pattern.

Wesson (Neely Henry Bassmasters) topped a stacked field of 96 boaters with his five-fish limit, all of which weighed about five pounds or slightly more. Former Auburn angler Logan Parks (Auburn Anglers) finished second, dropping almost 25 lbs. a few moments after Wesson weighed. Regular Eufaula winner Shane Powell (Wiregrass Bassmasters) held the top spot for an extended period with his 23.33 bag and finished third.

The top five boaters all weighed in over 20 lbs. with Brandon Ray (Wiregrass Bassmasters) finishing fourth with 21.88, and Aaron Cherry (University of Montevallo) taking fifth with 20.47.

Wesson said he arrived at Eufaula late Friday morning to practice, ran upriver “10 to 15 miles,” and found the largemouth in the shallow bank grass. He swam a Dirty Jigs No Jack white swim jig to boat all his fish.

“I caught probably 10 fish in the three- to four-lb. class that I didn’t even weigh,” Wesson said. “I caught everything that I weighed in by 10, fishing the main river grass. I was afraid the pattern wasn’t going to hold up in the post-front conditions.

“It feels great. I was a little surprised I didn’t catch anything over six lbs. The biggest I weighed was 5.47. They were all twins. It was one of the better days I’ve ever had on the water.”

Finishing second, Parks, who had a top 10 finish in the B.A.S.S. Open tournament the previous weekend on Eufaula, spent most of the day “running and gunning” from Cowikee Creek to the dam. The tournament blasted off from Lake Point State Park in Cowikee.

Parks said he intercepted both post- and pre-spawn fish around brushpiles, “fishing the best of both waves” and catching them on a Berkley Dredger crankbait and a Berkley Hollow Belly swimbait.

“Honestly, I had one of the best days of fishing that I’ve ever had,” he said. “It was game on from the start this morning. I pulled up on a place pretty early in the morning, caught my biggest fish, and just built on it all day long, running and gunning from here to the dam. I think I ran from here to the dam almost twice.”

“The biggest one I caught was post-spawn. I thought it was a 10-pounder when it came up. But I weighed in four pre-spawn fish, including one spotted bass. The spots here have been really healthy this year.”

On the co-angler side, Bill Spencer (Wiregrass Bassmasters), of Maplesville, caught two five-pounders in his three-fish limit and landed atop the standings with 13.23. University of Montevallo angler Hudson Choquette finished second with 12.14, and Curtis Gossett (Shotgun Sports Supply) was third with 10.98. The top seven co-anglers each weighed limits over 10 lbs.

Spencer said he didn’t have a fish in the boat at noon, but an extended flurry about an hour later helped him build his limit. He fished with boater Randall Carter (Wiregrass Bassmasters).

“About 1:30, we pulled up on a spot and had about a 30-minute flurry, caught my two biggest ones, another one that culled, and broke off on two,” Spencer said, noting that he could have probably had an even bigger limit had he boated everything.

He caught all of his weigh fish – a 5.69, another over five, and one about three – on a RCC Lure shaky head.

Choquette, the second-place co-angler, fished with Cherry, his regular tournament partner. He said he came to Eufaula expecting to find shallow bass, but the team ended up fishing “definitely not on the bank.”

“Fish are not where you would think they should be right now,” he added. “Just when you think you should pull out the swim jig down here, you’re pulling out 6XDs (crankbaits).”

In the Academy Sports + Outdoors Big Fish competition, over a dozen fish over five lbs were weighed in, but Logan Ryan (Coosa Valley Bassmasters) topped them all with a 7.75 largemouth.

Complete results for all categories, plus updated angler of the year standings, can be found under the Results tab on this website.

Other winners Saturday included Powell and co-angler Tim Fox (Wiregrass Bassmasters) in the Team competition. In addition to the individual boaters and co-anglers, competitors can fish as a team and attempt to qualify for that portion of the state tournament in November on Pickwick Lake.

Other team qualifiers from Eufaula were Zeke Gossett and Curtis Gossett (both of Shotgun Sports Supply), Parks and Daxton Wammack, Donald Griffith and Dennis Griffith (both of Wiregrass Bassmasters), Greg Tucker (Eufaula Head Hunters) and Joe Dudewicz (Bluff City B/M of Eufaula), Francis Beard and Chris Curvin (both of Neely Henry Bassmasters), and Chris Clark and Johnny Clark (both of W Ala Bass Fishermens Association). Top finishers in the Pickwick event advance to the national team championship in December.

Spencer was the top registered entry among the Fishin’ for a Cure (F4AC) competitors. ABN anglers pay $25 per tournament or $100 for the year to participate in F4AC, which supports Children’s of Birmingham. Through the years, the ABN has contributed over $300,000 to help fight childhood diseases.

Brandon Pritchard (Alex City Bassmasters) won the Academy drawing. Competitors submit their

Academy receipts and stand to win $100 from both Academy and from the ABN.

ABN president Eddie Plemons thanks all the sponsors who support the season-long tournaments. In addition to Academy, they include Airport Marine, AmFirst BassCash, Fish Life Fish Care Products, Office Partners, Halo Rods, Radicull Culling Devices, Davis Bait Co., George Paint and Body, BassCats Boats, Nitro Boats, 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 with a stop at Lay Lake on the Coosa River. That tournament will be held out of Beeswax Landing near Columbiana on April 18. The regular qualifiers end with a tournament on Pickwick in June. The state championship returns to Pickwick with two days of competition Nov. 3-4.

Greg McCain is a freelance writer from Russellville, AL, and a member of the Belgreen Bass Club. In addition to producing content for this website, his recent credits include articles in Georgia Outdoor News, the ACC Crappie Stix blog, the Cornfield Fishing Gear website, CrappieNOW online magazine, and Great Days Outdoors.