NEWS

2014 Neely Henry Lake Tournament Recap

Georgia’s Jones and Kilgore win the third stop on the Alabama Bass Trail at Neely Henry Lake.

GADSDEN, Ala., — Anglers dream of having one of those days when the bites are plentiful and the fish are big.

Bradley Jones and Andy Kilgore had one of those days Saturday and went home with a $10,000 check for winning the Alabama Bass Trail North Division tournament on Neely Henry Lake with a five-bass limit that weighed 21.58 pounds.

Mike Dutton and Hensley Powell finished second with 21.45 pounds and won $5,000. Damien Willis and Mark Steward won $4,000 for finishing third with 21.29 pounds.

“It was one of those days when everything went right,” Kilgore said. “We made the right decisions and managed to fish the right places all day. It was a great day for us to be on the water.”

Jones, of Rome, Ga., said he and Kilgore, of Kingston, Ga., caught their mixture all of their fish in shallow water.

“We flipped wood, grass and any shallow structure we would find,” he said. “One of the fish was post-spawn, the rest all looked like they were getting ready to spawn.”

Dutton and Powell used a Yank’em swim jig to catch their fish.

“We had a good day. Every decision we made turned out to to a good one,” Dutton said.

Willis and Steward used a variety of baits to catch their fish.

“We started out throwing crankbaits early an caught some big fish,”Willis said. “Then the sun came out and we had to start changing up our baits an downsizing our line to keep getting bites. We wound up catching some on jigs and Senkos.”

Charlie Cummings and Greg Pugh finished fourth with 20.07 pounds.

Pugh said he and Cummings used jigs, crankbaits and spinnerbaits to catch their fish.

“The Lord really blessed us, we had a good day,” Pugh said.

Jason McCullars and Heath Hudgins finished fifth with 19.81 pounds.

Rounding out the top 10 were Justin Atkins and Grant Galloway in sixth, Hal Hendrix and Chris Jackson in seventh, William Davis and Tim Cummings eighth, Christopher Leopard and Howard Kinch ninth, Jesse Wiggins and Jordan Wiggins tenth.

Larry Guthrie and Lee Hurley had big fish, a 6.32-pounds largemouth.

Hurley used a swim jig to catch the fish. “I knew it was a goo one as soon as it hit. It started taking drag and trying to break my rod. I was afraid I was going to loose it.”

The next tournament for the North Division is May 31 on Wheeler Lake out of Ingalls Harbor in Decatur.

The South Division’s next tournament is April 19 in Lake Jordan in Wetumpka.