NEWS

ABT Alabama River Preview with Matt Green and Justin Nunley

ABT Alabama River Preview with Matt Green and Justin Nunley
by Dan O’Sullivan

May 16, 2017 – Decatur, Ala. – One of the things the staff at Alabama Bass Trail love is being able to share our fisheries with anglers from outside the State of Alabama.  While ABT boasts some of the best anglers in the state as some of the best in the Southeast, there certainly are no shortage of top flight anglers in our neighboring states.

Evidence of that fact is the Georgia team of Matt Green and Justin Nunley, who are leading the Southern Division points race after three event on the 2017 schedule. They opened at Jordan Lake with a sixth place finish, followed at Lake Martin with a second place, then cashed a check at Lake Eufaula in 39th place.  They currently hold at 12 point lead over Mike and Dewey McDaniel in the Angler of the Year Race.

They said they fished ABT because they’d heard good things, and loved fishing for spotted bass.  “So many people had told us how everything worked at ABT, so we decided to try it for ourselves,” they said.  “We chose the Southern Division because we are spotted bass anglers, and the Southern Division had more spotted bass fisheries on it, so we decided to take the longer drives.”

The plans has worked thus far, as their AOY lead shows, and while they are looking like locks to qualify for the ABT Championship, they are a little concerned about the event at the Alabama River out of Cooter’s Pond this weekend.  “It’s a big place and we think it’s a little further ahead of the anticipated patterns,” they said.  “The warmer weather seems to have the bass farther along their seasonal patterns, and we think the field may find it tougher than they thought it might be.”

The pair said they anticipate the bite being a junk fishing affair on Saturday.  “We know flipping is going to play a role, as will spinnerbaits and crankbaits,” they said.  “It wouldn’t surprise us to hear people say they caught them from the bank all the way out to 20 feet of water.”

Their goal is to hold onto their AOY points lead.  “We’ve got one more day of practice to try and figure out a quality pattern and we’re going to give it everything we’ve got,” they said.  “If all goes well, we’ll be right where we started in the points; if it doesn’t, who knows, but we’re going to go out there and give it our best.”

All teams are required to be present at the pre-tournament registration and rules meeting on Friday May, 19 from 5:00PM to 7:00PM at the Doster Memorial Community Center located at 424 South Northington Street in Prattville, AL 36067.  Takeoff and weigh-in will happen at Cooter’s Pond, 1844 Cooter’s Pond Road in Prattville, AL 36067.

The sponsors of the 2017 Alabama Bass Trail include; Bill Penney Toyota, Phoenix Bass Boats, GP8 Oxygen Water, Garmin, Academy Sports & Outdoors, Wind Creek Hospitality – Wetumpka, Wind Creek Hospitality – Montgomery, Alabama Tourism Department, SCA Performance,  T-H Marine Supplies, Wedowee Marine, AFTCO,  Fish Neely Henry Lake.com, Lew’s Fishing, Crossed Industries, YETI, E3 Apparel, TVA and Alabama Power.

For information about Alabama Bass Trail and for complete tournament standings visit www.alabamabasstrail.org.