Recap Story

Josh Chapple and Paul Davis Win ABT Logan Martin Lake

By Jason Duran

Logan Martin Lake hosted the third stop of the ABT South Division.  A total of 225 teams participated, competing for the top prize of $15,000. Logan Martin Lake is known for its abundant bass population, and 216 teams weighed in fish, with most teams weighing in a limit. During the practice, teams reported that the fish wanted to move up to spawn. Typically, April is the spawning season in Alabama. As expected, many teams spent the tournament day fishing up shallow and targeting those early spawners. The team of Josh Chapple and Paul Davis emerged as the winners, weighing in 19.52 pounds and taking home the trophy and the first-place check of $25,000 including contingency money. 

Josh Chapple and Paul Davis have added their names to the list of ABT Champions with this win. The team has been fishing at Logan Martin their entire lives, and they shared that they focused on prespawn largemouth during the competition. They rotated through a few key baits, including a bone-colored Spook, a square bill crankbait in shad color, and a Carolina Rig. When they were kids, it used to take 20 pounds of spotted bass to win at Logan Martin. However, the spotted bass aren't as big as they used to be, and now anglers must fish for largemouth to win. However, there is a good chance that the largemouth won't be caught that day because they are finicky at Logan Martin. The team rotated through their baits all day and mainly focused on high places and shallow bars to find these fish. They had their limit in less than an hour and upgraded all day long. The water was a little lower that day, which they prefer, as it tends to group the fish up. When the water is raised, it makes the fish scatter out in the pockets and makes them tougher to catch. Josh and Paul have been close to winning in previous events and are always a team to watch out for. The team shared that it feels good to get this win, especially after coming in second at Lake Martin in 2022 by only .04 of a pound to the first-place team.

Terry Tucker and Jeremy Green came in second place with a weight of 19.00 pounds, which was only .05 pounds away from the lead. The finish was tight and unfortunate for the team. They explained that their fishing style involves going shallow and flipping everywhere they go. In this event, they focused on mid-lake areas where they found fish in all stages, from pre-spawn to post-spawn. The fish they targeted were found in dirt shallow water, and they went with the couple of bites they got during practice and expanded on that. Jeremy shared that this was the second time they had come in second place, and although he hates to lose, they are going to keep swinging. They used primarily beaver-style baits and jigs, and throughout the year they normally only use three rods because they are shallow water fishermen. With their second-place finish, they collected $7,500 and moved in to 9^th Place in AOY.

David Mims and Chris Masters spent their practice up the river with two approaches. They aimed to target largemouth by flipping a jig and to find some spotted bass in the current. However, they were unsuccessful in their attempt to locate spotted bass, so they continued to practice by targeting largemouth in the shallow areas. Chris shared that he cut the hook off his jig and got two bites in a pocket, which made them feel like they had a plan. On tournament morning, they returned to the same pocket and caught their first fish, a four-pound largemouth, and 10 minutes later, they caught another one. After that, they started flipping rocky banks to fill out their limit on spotted bass. They had an exciting moment at around 2 o'clock, and both caught a fish to cull up to their weight of 17.68. This was enough for third place and a check for $6,000. They caught most of their fish on a V&M 1.2 oz green pumpkin jig with a Denny Brauer Structure bug in black and blue.

This is the time in the season when teams start paying attention to the Angler of the year standings. After three events here are the standings:

PLACE ANGLERS POINTS

1 Mark McCaig/Tim Hurst 648

2 Tyler Malone/Cade Law 631

3 CJ Knight/Anthony Goggins 630

3 Jeff Jennings/Mitchell Jennings 630

5 Lucas Lindsay/Brendon Holt 627

6 Brian Adamson/Ryan Lloyd 623

7 Rob Lee/Steve Winslett 615

8 Noah Godwin/Cole Godwin 585

9 Terry Tucker/Jeremy Green 581

10 Eric Farnum/Cameron Gibbons 580

11 John Pollard/Tim Watkins 572

12 Erick Sommers/Robbie Pelt 570

The top ten standings are below for a complete list of standings please visit: https://www.alabamabasstrail.org/logan-martin-lake/results/

Download and listen to the ABT Podcast on your favorite Podcast app by searching for "Alabama Bass Trail Podcast."  The Podcast is released each week on Tuesday. 

For Live coverage of this event and others visit https://www.youtube.com/@alabamabasstrailtv

The 2024 Alabama Bass Trail Sponsors Include: Phoenix Boats, AMFirst, Landers - McLarty Chevrolet, McGraw - Webb Chevrolet, Rapala, VMC, Crush City, Buffalo Rock, Academy Sports & Outdoors, Jack's, Garmin, Alabama State Parks, Halo Fishing, Snag proof, NetBait, Bait Fuel, TH Marine Supplies, Power-Pole, Pro Guide Batteries, American Trailer Rental, Yamaha, Anheuser-Busch, Big Bite Baits and FishAlabama.org