Panhandle Bass club held its fishoff on Pickwick lake in north Alabama October 4 & 5. This was the first travel tournament and a good time was had by all.

We arrived at the lake on Thursday and were all in the water and fishing by 11:00 a. m. There were a couple of us who had been on the lake in the past but no real knowledge. Most of the club had done at least some homework and the word was that lipless crankbiats, Carolina rigs and tubes were the baits of choice followed by spinnerbaits and crankbaits.

I had a good day on Thursday boating four solid keepers in the 2 to 3 pound range, mostly on Tennessee shad crankbait. Reports that evening were that a lot of fish were located and several different patterns had been discovered.

Friday brought on the first day of our tournament heavy fog and sure enough my fish had moved. I fished with Walter McCartney and he started with the first fish (and a dollar) on a watermelon worm back in a creek, he quickly boated number 2 and I put on a worm! No action for the next 45 minutes so I switched to a crank and boated to good keepers giving me the lead on the $3.00 bet. He followed suit and put two more in before weigh in to win 2 of my $3.00. Day one was led by Troy Beetle using a baby brush hog and rattle trap. Frank Kelley was second beating Mack Cramer out of the back of Mack’s boat using a spittin image and rattletrap. Most everyone had some fish on day one.

As the final day began there were several other tournaments two with over 100 boats each on the water. We eased off a little early hoping to get to our spots before the rush. Our fish in the creek were lifeless, no action for two long hours of sanding the bank. We moved onto the river and started working points. Walter caught a short spot and I immediately followed it with a keeper largemouth on a trap. We continued to catch fish, largemouth, spots and smallies on that point but no more keepers. We moved up to the dam hoping to find some moving water but one keeper was our limit on day two. Chris Malena had a better day coming in with a total of 8 fish and 14.24 pounds to take first place for the tournament. He caught them on Buzzbait and traps fishing a creekmouth down river. Troy Bettle ended up in second with 7 fish weighing 12.56 and Frank Kelley finished 3rd with 6 fish, 8.85 pounds. Great job guys, especially Chris and Frank as this is their best finish ever.

All toll there were 52 fish for 79.88 pounds, not bad for a strange place and very little pre fishing.
The travel was a little tiring but waiting until Sunday to come home was a good idea. We got in around noon and had enough time and energy to get our gear put away and relax before returning to the grind on Monday.

My opinion is that we all had a good time, could have caught more fish and hopefully will be able to learn more about how to put together next years tournament.

Keep Your Line Wet !!

Fred