Recap Story

By Jason Duran

The Alabama Bass Trail kicked off its 12th season with the first event of the South Division held at Lake Martin. Wind Creek State Park served as the launch and weigh-in location for the tournament. Lake Martin, known for its stunning beauty and rich fishing opportunities, set the stage for a tight competition. Catching numbers at Lake Martin is not hard to do; finding the key bites to set you apart from the field is what wins these tough events. In this event, 206 of the 225 anglers weighed in a limit. When the scales closed, it was the team of Colby Carden and Chris Rutland that found the keys to winning at Lake Martin.

Colby and Chris entered this event with five wins on the Alabama Bass Trail, making them the winningest team in the league. Despite their previous successes at Lake Martin, they had never secured an Alabama Bass Trail victory on this particular lake. This week, they not only achieved the win, but also set a record for the largest weight in an Alabama Bass Trail event at Lake Martin, with a total of 17.44 pounds, beating the rest of the field by over two pounds. The team shared, “This win was very unexpected. We were just hoping we could reach double digits today, and we would have been happy. However, we managed to find a spot and really connect with the bigger fish.” The lake had gone through a lot in the recent weeks, with temperatures fluctuating from warm to freezing. The water levels shifted from winter pool back to just below summer pool, then dropped a foot overnight before the event. This water movement left much of the lake stained and muddy, rather than its typical clear state. Colby and Chris planned to fish in muddy water, stating, “In muddy water, everyone knows you need a red crankbait or a chartreuse crankbait.” Their crankbait of choice was a Rapala DT-6. They also fished with a ½ oz Davis jig in black and blue, as well as an Evergreen Chatterbait. “The fish are a little easier to catch in stained and muddy water. We were about six days past a big rain, so it was starting to clear up a little. You generally don’t want to fish when it’s freshly muddy in the springtime, but when it’s four to five days old, it tends to be better.” They managed to put together a solid limit, while most of the field expected it would take around 14 pounds to win. With this victory, they earned the first-place prize of $15,000, along with a $2,000 AMFirst Bonus. Securing win number six continues their streak as the Winningest Team on the Alabama Bass Trail.

Second Place Charlie Cummings and Sammy Bailey caught 14.42 pounds. “Practice was cold and windy. We drove down here on Wednesday for practice, but we decided not to go out due to the conditions. On Thursday, we got on the water around lunchtime and fished until about 4 PM. On Friday, Charlie had to make a three-hour drive to the bait store to restock a bait he lost during practice since he only had one.” Meanwhile, Sammy spent most of the day looking for areas that he thought would be productive. During practice, “We discovered that we had to fish in stained to muddy water; we couldn’t catch any fish in clear water. We managed to catch a limit every day, but they were all small limits. Everyone else reported that they were catching fish on a red crankbait, but we were able to catch them on a white crankbait. On tournament day, we went out with the plan to put our key bait to use.” Charlie shared, “At our very first stop, I caught a four-pounder on that exact bait.” When asked which bait was key, he revealed it was a Berkley bait. When pressed further, he said it was “a hard bait.” We caught our fish in shallow water, often being able to see them. We felt like the fish were heading back to spawn, so we would start about halfway back in a pocket and fish all the way back to the dirt shallow areas.” The next event is a Logan Martin. Charlie calls Logan Martin home, and their goal is to win the Logan Martin event. Their second place finish netted them $7,500 plus a Phoenix Boats Pay Day of $2,500.   

Scott Yunke and Tucker Weidler finished in third place. The team shared that practice was tough throughout the week, as they began preparing for the competition on Tuesday. They committed to putting in the effort to achieve a strong finish, but the conditions were constantly changing—the water levels fluctuated daily, and temperatures ranged from cold to very cold. During practice, they caught fish, but they knew they would have to make some changes come tournament day. "We caught fish today completely differently than we did on any day of practice," they explained. They started their day in the Wind Creek area, where they hooked a couple of fish early that gave them a key to what the fish were doing. They then moved to Elkahatchee Creek, targeting fish in waters that were 5 to 10 feet deep. The water was muddy, so they focused mainly on banks with wood and docks. Later in the day, they moved to the Manoya area to finish out their time on the water using the same pattern and ultimately weighing in at 14.42 pounds. When asked about their key baits, they listed a BOOYAH spinnerbait, a SPRO square bill, a Dirty Jigs jig, and a Megabass jerkbait.  Today's finish was a significant accomplishment considering the challenges they faced during practice. Their third-place finish earned them $7,500. For the year, their goals are to remain consistent and qualify for the ABT Championship. With this finish, they are well on their way to achieving that goal.

The top ten standings are below. For a complete list of standings please visit the results page.

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 2025 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, Lews, Strike King, Alabama State Parks, Halo Fishing, Snag proof, NetBait, Bait Fuel, TH Marine Supplies, Power-Pole, Pro Guide Batteries, American Trailer Rental, Yamaha, Anheuser-Busch, American Baitworks, E3 Sports Apparel, FishAlabama.org, Sweet Home Alabama, and Alabama Mountain Lakes.