Leary Wins on Lake Guntersville

ATHENS, Al. –James Leary won the 2021 Bass Pro Shop Open Series North Alabama Division Tournament, held March 20th on Lake Guntersville. We had 39 boaters with 34 co-anglers for the season opener. Running out of Goose Pond Colony and Resort in Scottsboro, Al. James Leary from Guntersville Alabama, caught 5 fish for 19.44 lbs. For the boater division victory, Leary took home a check for $2200 for his win. 

“I caught all my fish on a jig in about 8 foot of water close the grass beds. I moved around a lot looking for post spawn fish,” said Leary.

Second place boater was James Mason of Rogersville AL with 5 fish for 17.10 pounds.
“I moved around a lot also concentrating on pre spawn, fishing around grass using booyah one knocker. The better came from around the milfoil” said Mason.  
 
Third place was claimed by Brent Barnes of Chattanooga, Tn. with 5 fish for 15.91 pounds.
Comin in fourth place was Park Gettys of Paris Tn. with 5 fish for 13.15 pounds. Rounding out the top 5 was Wayne Issac of Cartersville Ga. with fish for 13.06

Boater Big Fish: Toby Morrison of Lyerly, Ga. big fish was a whopping 9.14 pounds.
“I caught the fish in about 5 foot of water out of the grass on a chatter bait” said Morrison.

In the co-angler division Kevin Shrader of Valley Head Al won with 3 fish for 9.05 pounds. He pocketed a check for $950.00.

“I caught all my fish on a chatter bait, fishing around a bridge. We were fishing shallow in about 3 foot water” said Shrader.

Co-angler 2nd place: Mike Young of Suwanee Ga. with 2 fish for 8.36 pounds, he also had the co-angler big fish for 5.16 pounds.

“I caught my big fish on a 5” Texas style swim bait fishing around a bridge, in a channel
catching the fish as they were moving in to spawn” said Young.  

Co-angler 3rd place: Roy Galbraith of Guin Al. had 3 fish for 7.61 pounds.

“I caught all my fish flipping boat docks with a jig in about 8 foot of water” said Galbraith.

Co-angler 4th place: Duane Parker of Calhoun Ga. had 3 fish for 7.53 pounds.
Co-angler 5th place: Mark Hawkins of Bessemer Al. had 3 fish for 7.46 pounds.   

The next stop in the North Alabama Open Series division is April 3rd on Pickwick lake at McFarland Park in Florence, Al.  At the end of the season, the best anglers from across the nation advance the 2022 Ray Scott Championship to be held at Lake Eufaula in April, 2022.

For more information on this tournament, call Floyd Vaughn, tournament manager, at 256-230-5633 or ABA at 256-232-0406. On line, see www.americanbassanglers.com

About the American Bass Anglers - American Bass Anglers is committed to providing low cost, close to home tournaments for the weekend angler while offering an upward path for individual angler progression.  For more information about American Bass Anglers and all their bass tournament trails visit www.americanbassanglers.com.

American Bass Anglers is sponsored by: Bass Pro Shops, Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, Nitro Boats, Tracker Boats, MotorGuide, Garmin, T-H Marine, Abu Garcia, Berkley, Engel Coolers, Monster Energy, Lucas Oil, Reks Glass’s, Optima Batteries and Power-Pole.  Mailing address: American Bass Anglers, Inc, PO Box 475, Athens, AL 35612 PH (256) 232-0406.