“The water is down probably three feet from what it usually is, with lots of rock showing,” Chambers said. “They have not run any water since Monday and they probably will not run any this week since we have not got any rain. That is going to put the current-dependent people in a little bind.”

Chambers said that this is the time of year when a lot of anglers like to get in the current and the area called “the Horseshoe” right below the dam and catch big smallmouth with an occasional big largemouth. But with less current to target smallmouth bass in the tournament should be dominated by largemouth bass, he added.

“With the water low and them not pulling any water, the smallmouth are not turned on,” Chambers said. “I am sure there will be some smallmouth weighed in, but the largemouths are on the move and they are shallow. They are ready to spawn as soon as the water temperature warms up.”

That means anglers will have to shift their focus to areas downstream that harbor largemouths, he noted.
“I think about 75 percent of the field will be running mid-river, trying to find some grass to pull some largemouths out of,” he said. “Anybody who finds the right patch of grass will be the ones who come out on top.”

Chambers said half the field likely will be throwing rattle baits in the grass and some will be casting jerkbaits.

“Once those Pickwick largemouths get on the move they get on a jerkbait bite,” he noted.

Chambers and his partner Kevin McMahan are fishing both divisions of the New Alabama Bass Trail. “I live halfway between Smith Lake and Guntersville. I am about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes from just about every lake in North Alabama,” said Chambers, who, with McMahan, finished 13^th in the first North Division Tournament on Guntersville in early February.

“We really expected to win it, but all the ice and cold weather kind of changed our bite, so we will take that 13^th place and go on to Pickwick and see if we can do a little better,” he said.

The Alabama Bass Trail, which launched this year, could be even more attractive in its second year, 2015, Program Director Kay Donaldson said.

“We think we will see a big increase next year. We are about 70 percent done in having all those dates confirmed and we hope to release the 2015 dates this May. We are looking for more interest from anglers in Florida and South Georgia and we think getting the dates out early this year will help people get prepared for next year.

Registration is available online at www.alabamabasstrail.org up to the Wednesday preceding each tournament. The entry fee per tournament is $250 per team.

The schedule includes: North Division – Feb. 1, Lake Guntersville; March 22, Pickwick Lake; April 5, Neely Henry Lake; May 31, Wheeler Lake; June 21, Logan Martin Lake. South Division – March 1, Mobile-Tensaw River Delta; March 15, Lake Eufaula; April 19, Lake Jordan; May 10, Alabama River (Millers Ferry); June 7, Lay Lake.

Each tournament has a guaranteed first prize of $10,000, plus $23,000 to the top 20 places and $500 to big fish. There are also numerous bonus packages available to winning and placing anglers.

The Top 50 teams for both the Northern and Southern Divisions will advance to the 2014 ABT Team Championship Oct. 10-11 at Smith Lake in Jasper. Plus, the top 25 student boats overall will be in the final event. To be eligible for the championship, teams must enter all five qualifying events in their respective division.

The grand prize for the no-entry fee championship is a fully-rigged Phoenix 619 Pro Bass Boat with a 150-horsepower Mercury Outboard, valued at $40,000. Adding to that excitement level is an opportunity to advance to the Bassmasters Team Championship and possibly earn a berth in the Bassmaster Classic.

“We are looking at an estimated $420,000 total in prizes for the series,” Donaldson said. “We think the anglers are going to really enjoy it because they will have the opportunity to advance to our championship and from there the opportunity to go to the BASS Team Championship.”

 

Alabama Bass Trail – North Division

Sat, Mar 22, 2014

Pickwick Lake

McFarland Park

Call Kay Donaldson 855-934-7425

www.alabamabasstrail.org