Crappie USA Tournament Results for Alabama’s Weiss Lake
OutdoorHub 03.04.12
This past Saturday Crappie USA held a qualifying event at Alabama’s Weiss Lake “The Crappie Capitol of the World”. Anglers from 8 different states were competing for not only cash and prizes, but a chance to advance to the prestigious Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic. This year’s classic will be held October 24th-27th, 2012 on the Barkley/Kentucky Lakes at Cadiz, Kentucky.
Semi-Pro Division Results
Taking first place was the Gaylesville Alabama team of Carlton Teague and Adam Mobbs weighing in a limit of 7 fish at 11.3 pounds and earning $1000.00 for first place in the Semi-Pro Division and an additional $150.00 for second biggest fish of the event with a 2.65 pound crappie. Carlton and Adam were fast trolling orange/chartreuse Southern Pro jigs up river in 6-8 feet of water. The team found good fish holding on a 200 yard stretch of water working it back and forth all day to catch between 35-40 fish for the day. Teams are allowed to weigh in their top 7 fish for the day.
Second place went to William Angell of Eminence, Kentucky and Michael Chism of Pendleton , Kentucky with a weight of 8.57 pounds and earning $600.00. William and Michael were long line trolling green/chartreuse and popsicle colored Southern Pro baits in 15 feet of water up Mud Creek and catching 20 fish for the day.
In third place was the team of Jud Westbrook of Trion, Alabama and Jimmy Harrelson of Leesburg, Alabama with a weight of 8.41 pounds and earning $400.00. Jud and Jimmy were fishing the upper end of the lake long line trolling 6 feet of water using purple/chartreuse jigs and catching 20 keepers for the day.
The Murray, Kentucky team of Doyle and Sonny Milby took fourth place with a weight of 8.13 pounds and earning $350.00 for Doyle’s big fish of the event with a 3.00 pound crappie. Doyle and Sonny were slow trolling Southern Pro chartreuse combo colored jigs in Yellow Creek where the fish were holding tight to cover.
Fifth place went to Scott Echols of Eva, Alabama and Roger Echols of Somerville, Alabama with a weight of 7.3 pounds. The team won the Ranger Cup Award in the Semi-Pro Division earning $250.00.
Scott and Roger were pushing jigs in several spots on the lake catching a lot of small fish, but enough keepers to give them fifth place.
Amateur Division Results
First place in the amateur division went to the Centre, Alabama team of Knox and Max Wilson with a weight of 10.75 pounds and earning $900.00. Knox and Max were fishing in 4 feet of water on the north end of the lake where they were casting blue/black/chartreuse jigs into the dingy colored water near the shore line. The team caught well over 100 fish for the day.
Second place went to the team of Taylor Verdon of Mentone, Alabama and Nathan Owens of Valley Head, Alabama weighing in 8.95 pounds and earning $500.00. Taylor and Nathan fished all over the lake working in 4-6 feet of water to flip Hot Grubs under docks to catch nearly 40 fish for the day. The team said the color of green was working best in the areas they caught fish.
Taking third place was the team of Billy Clanton of Collinsville, Alabama and Tad Myrick of Leesburg, Alabama weighing in 8.88 pounds and earning $400.00. Billy and Tad were long line trolling up river in 8 feet of water using multiple colors of Hot Grubs to catch 8 fish for the day.
In fourth was the team of Neal Alvis of Rogersville, Tennessee and Scott Bunch of Morristown, Tennessee weighing in 8.08 pounds and earning $250.00. Neal and Scott were shooting docks in 4-15 feet of water on chartreuse jigs in the middle part of the lake. The team caught over 200 fish with 40 of them being keeper fish. Neal and Scott also won the Ranger Cup Award in the Amateur Division giving them an additional $125.00.
Fifth place went to the team of Chuck Prevost of Rome, Georgia and David Morrow of Lincoln, Alabama with a weight of 8.01 pounds and earning $200.00. Chuck and David were slow trolling several different colors of jigs up river to catch 40 keepers for the day.
Congratulations to all the teams fishing this event. For a complete list of tournament standings and downloadable photos for this event visit www.crappieusa.com then go to Tournament Results.
Crappie USA Free Kids Fishing Rodeo
In conjunction with the tournament Crappie USA held their Kids Rodeo on Saturday morning with several local children attending the event. All the participants signed up for a chance to win one of 6-$2,000.00 scholarships to be drawn for at the Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic.
Crappie USA and our anglers have contributed nearly $310,000.00 to the “Crappie Kids” Scholarships since 1997. We are very proud to be a part of the education process for the youngsters who participate in our tournaments as adult/youth teams and those who fish in the Crappie USA “Kids Fishing Rodeos”.
A special thanks goes out to the folks at Weiss Lake Lodge and the City of Leesburg for their help with the event. “I was amazed that we had the numbers of dedicated anglers that stayed to fish the event after the horrible weather conditions that went through the area”, said Crappie USA CEO Darrell Van Vactor.
Stats for the Tournament:
Weather-Tornadoes had passed through just north of the lake on Friday with winds in the 40 MPH range all day Friday. Luckily the rain and storms had passed through in the early AM on Saturday. On tournament day it started out windy and cold with 37 degrees, but warmed up to 60 by afternoon.
