That was Mike
Haddad’s response when asked if Guntersville was still his favorite lake
when the books were closed on Logan Martin. Prior to this weekend Mike longed for the days were he could
get away and fish the humps and grass at Guntersville, but now he doesn’t
care as long as it’s across the Alabama line.
And understandably so, for Mike and partner Joe Yurina enjoyed
tremendous spinnerbait bite all weekend, as they found no shortage of four-pounders
to capture the Logan Martin title. Mike may not be alone with his sentiments.
Overall the club had a spectacular catch.
The lake is currently loaded with active shad and quality bass gorging
for the coming winter. And with
the lake being 4 plus feet low, it had the fish concentrated on the shallow
cover. Thirty teams from DBC crossed state lines to catch and
release 120 bass with an average weight of 1.65 pounds. There were six fish that broke the four-pound mark that
included some chunky Coosa River spots. Even
teams that didn’t rank high, remarked having field day catching numbers.
Mike
and Joe were a little disappointed with their Sunday catch, as their five fish
limit “ONLY” benchmarked the scales to 13.19, and fell short
of their prefishing rewards on Saturday.
Joe stated, "the rain probably hurt our catch a little, as we were
unable to see the bait-fish activity as we had relied on Saturday.
But hey, it was the same for everyone and we knew the bass weren't
going far". Both knew
from past fall experience on Logan Martin, keeping an open mind would pay off.
And Mike noted; "We knew we could easily catch limits.
Quality was what we were after to beat this tough crowd, and we found
it on Sat with the 3/8 oz white spinnerbait as I boated a limit of Spots and
LM all in the 3 plus pound range; while Joe produced a formidable limit on the
Fat Free Shad Fingerling (TS) crankbait."
Mike and Joe weighed a limit of mostly largemouth's but their sack
included one healthy 4.07 Spot, but their biggest fish was a largemouth of
4.62 that secured the win. Looks
like their back to old-form after Mike's absence most of the summer. Both Mike
and Joe are seasoned anglers and the Alabama lakes are really to their liking.
Capturing
second place, Steve Nalder with alternate Kevin Biggott had a fine sack of
fish that contained the tournaments big bass that weighed an admirable 6.04.
Steve captured the Largemouth on a pearl white #5 Shad Rap. And can you believe he was disappointed at its weight.
The specimen had an eight-pound head on it, where he thought for sure
it would far surpass the seven-pound mark.
Oh well --- many suspect he’ll get over it, especially if it holds as
what is now the season’s biggest fish.
Steve and Kevin’s collective catch with the big bass pressed the
scales to 12.92.
Bryan
Phillips and John Erdeogen took third with a nice sack of spots weighing
10.99. Bryan & John worked
3/8 oz white spinner-baits over main lake wood cover and stump flats.
When the spinner-bait bite is on these guys come to play and are tough to
beat.
Eddie
Krauth and Bryan Ashworth had a fine day and grabbed the fourth position with
their five fish limit of 10.32. Eddie
noted, “We caught all our fish on
main river ledges with deep diving crank baits in chartreuse or crawfish
colors. All fish came North of the I-20 bridge.
Ken
Sponsler and Jack Smith culled out the fifth position with a worthy catch of
9.75. Cementing their catch Ken
nailed 4.57 spot, a beauty football sized chunk of a fish.
Fishing
Tactics:
Main lake points and humps produced the numbers, especially if water is
being drawn. However, not all
humps and points would produce. Look
for those that have big rocks and brush that the fish would use to ambush prey
while Alabama Power is pulling water. The
majority of fish were hanging on breaks.
Find the banks that slowly taper to eight feet then drop suddenly.
The quality fish had little desire for plastics; good bites came from
reactions to small crankbaits and spinners.
Weather
Conditions: This
tournament will be long to remember, where the best rain suit would not keep
you dry. There was not a dry bone
at weigh-in. Just minutes prior
to blastoff it began sprinkling and within the hour it was pouring.
And as Murphy’s Law would have it didn’t let up until weigh-in.
During the tournament hours, records indicate the Pell City receive
nearly two inches of rain. The
saving grace was the temperature remained bearable at 60 degrees.
But once the rain seeped in the arm bans and collars and cloth became
wet the boat rides became a shivering experience. Another saving grace was the facilities at Lakeside; they
allow many to change into dry cloths for the ride back home.
Looking
Ahead:
Duluth Bass Club has finalized the date and many of the key sponsors
for the 2005 Southeastern Open Bass Tournament benefitting the St Jude
Children’s Research Hospital. The
date is Saturday, April 2nd at Laurel Park, Lake Lanier.
Mark you calendars and register early as we plan to have full house.
Entry fee is $210 including the big bass, tournament payback will
exceed 100 percent. All proceeds
help the Duluth Bass Club raise tens of thousands of Dollars to the St. Jude
organization and entries are tax-deductible donations.
Logan Martin Tournament Scenes
November 21, 2004
Professionally
printed and framed images available upon request.
8"
X 10" - $8.00 each
5"
X 7" - $6.00 each
4"
X 6" $1.00 Unframed
Profits go
into the club's general fund. Send request to: duluthbass@duluthbass.com
Click images
for larger view
Steve Nalder with tournament's big bass
Chuck Pollack
James Eason
Never afraid to ham it up for the camera and everyone knows his name
