WBT Rolls Into Tennessee

Old Hickory Lake will be a new test for the anglers as the Women’s Bassmaster Tour (WBT) presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors makes its June 19-21 stop in Tennessee’s Sumner County, just east of the Nashville metro area.

WBT pros will vie for a $51,000 top prize and points that count toward an historic berth in the Bassmaster Classic – the first for a woman angler. The pro with the most points at the end of the 2008 season will be crowned the Toyota WBT Angler of the Year (AOY) and will qualify for the 2009 Classic, Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport/Bossier City, La. The AOY also will win a fully loaded Toyota Tundra.

To watch the Old Hickory competition unfold, fishing fans can click in daily to http://www.Bassmaster.com. The site will present streaming video and real-time leaderboards during the Thursday-Saturday weigh-ins as well as daily postings of photo galleries, stories and standings.

While Old Hickory Lake and Sumner County will be a first-time venue for BASS’ three-year-old women’s tour, the Cumberland River impoundment has been the site of four other BASS pro-level tournaments. One was a Bassmaster Top 100 event in October 1996, won by Missouri’s Chad Brauer — son of Bassmaster Elite Series pro Denny Brauer — with a three-day total of almost 50 pounds.

In June, Old Hickory can produce a winning weight that’s just as good — or better, according to Tennessee pros Emily Shaffer of Mount Juliet and Cindy Hill of Smyrna.

“Eighteen pounds won a five-hour tournament there last Sunday morning,” said Hill, who has six top-10 finishes on her WBT record and is in second place in this season’s points race, just 19 points behind leader Kim Bain of Alabaster, Ala. “I think 15 to 18 pounds a day at our tournament will get you into the (top-20) cut and a check.”

Shaffer, who is 14th in the points race, estimates the winning weight will go 35 to 40 pounds.

Both Shaffer and Hill fish Old Hickory frequently, so the June event gives them a strong bid to capture their first BASS win. But they know the lake well enough to peg it as a fishery that tends to even the playing field.

“Any technique somebody has a lot of confidence in, they’ll be able to bring to Old Hickory and capitalize on it,” Shaffer said. “The beauty of Old Hickory is it will accommodate just about any style of fishing you like to do.”

Water temperatures in the shallows are at about 80 degrees, and the deeper sections of the spring-fed lake are about 60 degrees, Shaffer said, but as many bass are in the shallows as are in the cooler, deeper sections. Hill agrees.

“The quality fish could be anywhere, from the shallow grass all the way out to the drops,” Hill said.

The impoundment is almost 100 miles long and spans about 20,000 acres. Anglers will be allowed to lock down into the Cumberland River, expanding the tournament waters outside the lake’s boundaries. But commercial-barge traffic often ties up the busy lock, according to Hill, and she predicts most pros won’t gamble their fishing time on a lock-through.

“Anyway, I think the better fish are going to come off Old Hickory,” Hill said.

Both pros said they will target largemouth bass to fill their five-fish daily limits, although smallmouth and spotted bass also are fair game.

“I’ll start shallow with topwater baits and frogs and go from there to creek channels and other deeper water,” Hill said.

Shaffer said she’ll hit emergent grass and boat docks, then break out a Carolina rig for deep-water spots.

The public is invited to watch the daily action at two venues. One is Sanders Ferry Park, 100 Sanders Ferry Road in Hendersonville, where the pros will launch Thursday-Saturday at 5:30 a.m. CT. The park will also be the site of the Thursday and Friday weigh-ins at 2:15 p.m. CT.

The action shifts to Madison, Tenn., on Saturday, June 21, for the finale. The Madison location of Academy Sports & Outdoors will host the weigh-in at 2:30 p.m. CT, when a pro winner and a co-angler winner will emerge from the 20 anglers in each division who made the Friday cut.

The Academy store, located at 2350 Gallatin Pike N., also will host Meet and Greet for fans to chat with the pros and get their autographs from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, June 18.

All WBT events are free and open to the public.

Sponsors of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour include Academy Sports & Outdoors, Toyota Tundra, Advance Auto Parts, Lowrance, Mercury, Skeeter, Yamaha, OPTIMA Batteries, Triton Boats, Legend Boats, MoGills and Mustang.

Local hosts include the Sumner County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Gallatin, Tenn., http://www.sumnercountytourism.com; 615-230-8474 or 866-336-7866

About BASS

For 40 years, BASS has served as the authority on bass fishing. With its considerable multi-media platforms and expansive tournament trail, BASS is guided by its mission to serve all fishing fans. Through its industry leading publications Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times and Fishing Tackle Retailer and comprehensive web properties in Bassmaster.com and ESPNOutdoors.com, the organization is committed to delivering content true to the lifestyle. Additionally, television programming on ESPN2 continues to provide relevant content from tips and techniques to in-depth tournament coverage to passionate audiences.

The organization oversees the prestigious Bassmaster tournament trail which includes the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bassmaster Opens, Women’s Bassmaster Tour and the Bassmaster Classic, the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing. Through its grassroots network, the BASS Federation Nation, BASS sanctions more than 20,000 events annually.

BASS also offers an array of services to its more than 525,000 members while spearheading progressive, positive change on issues related to conservation and water access. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.

Martin-Wells Grabs 3rd Victory

Two lures she nicknamed “Randall” and “Bobby” helped Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., to a winning overall weight of 36 pounds, 1 ounce, Saturday at the second stop of the 2008 Women’s Bassmaster Tour presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors.

“Randall is a friend of mine who taught me how to swim a jig, so a ‘Randall’ is a jig, and Bobby is my sister, and she taught me how to use a weightless Wave Worms Tiki Stik, which I used to catch all my biggest fish Thursday, so that’s a ‘Bobby,’ ” said Martin-Wells, who netted $1,000 and a $50,000 Triton/Mercury boat rig in the three-day competition on Alabama’s Neely Henry Lake.

She won by a margin of more than 9 pounds over two pros who tied for second place at 26-15: Juanita Robinson of Highlands, Texas, and Lucy Mize of Ben Lomond, Ark. Placing fourth with 26-10 was Kim Bain of Alabaster, Ala., the winner of the season opener last month on Texas’ Lewisville Lake.

Fifth with 25-4 was the 2007 Toyota WBT Angler of the Year, Sheri Glasgow of Muskogee, Okla., who recovered from a slow start — 33rd place on the first day — to make the top five.

Fans can go to Bassmaster.com for all the details of the Neely Henry competition. The site has photo galleries, stories, standings, and the latest on the season-long race to capture the 2008 Toyota WBT Angler of the Year crown and a Bassmaster Classic berth.

This season’s Angler of the Year will make history, becoming the first woman to earn a much-coveted berth in the 2009 Bassmaster Classic, Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La.

Bain held on to her lead in the standings, and Mize and Robinson moved into the top five. Martin-Wells racked up enough points with her win to push her from 17th place into fifth in the standings.

“This entire year with the WBT and BASS is huge with the announcement of the Classic berth,” Martin-Wells said. “I was disappointed because I didn’t have such a great start at Lewisville, so this win is a step in the right direction.”

Saturday’s victory was the third WBT win for Martin-Wells. She holds the titles to the 2005 WBT Preview event and the 2006 WBT Championship — the circuit’s first — on Mitchell Lake, which like Neely Henry is a Coosa River impoundment.

Martin-Wells said much of her weight came from grass along the shallow shorelines of Neely Henry, but she used a combination of techniques.

“After I caught one fish this morning, it was on. I was culling by 6:30 this morning,” she said. “But every day, the fishing’s been different, even though I started in the same place each day, a 20-minute run from the launch ramp all the way to the southern end of the lake.”

She took her Saturday limit in 40 minutes, after which she culled to improve her weight to 13-11.

“I started out each morning in grass,” Martin-Wells said. “I had some deep patterns, but they weren’t panning out because there was no current, no water moving. But today a ski boat kept running back and forth, and I thought, ‘Maybe a fish will think that’s current.’ So I pulled over and caught a 4-pounder.”

Mize was in 24th place after Day 1, but she put it together to jump into the tie for second place.

“I was fishing chunk-rock banks, riprap and retainer walls early in the day when it was overcast, all on the south end of the lake,” said Mize, who holds title to the 2007 WBT stop on Kentucky and Barkley lakes. “Then I would go to a Carolina rig and a deep-diving crankbait as the day wore on, working humps and ridges.”

Robinson, who won the 2007 WBT event on Texas’ Lake Amistad, said lack of current during competition hours was an obstacle to beefing up the weight of her daily bags.

“I had limits early. Today I was culling by 7 in one spot,” she said. “But I just didn’t get a big bite. I knew I had to get to them before the sun came up, and when it did, the bass disappeared.”

In the co-angler division, the winner of the first-place package of a Triton/Mercury rig valued at $25,000 plus $500 was Marilyn Biszmaier of Louisville, Ky., who led Day 2 and closed for the win with 16 pounds, 8 ounces.

Second in the co-angler competition with 16-2 was Stacy Zhelesnik of Hoboken, N.J. Lesli Lively of Palestine, Texas, had a total of 15-12 for third place.

The next stop for the WBT will be June 19-21 on Old Hickory Lake out of Gallatin, Tenn. The tour’s presenting sponsor, Academy Sports & Outdoors, will host the final-day weigh-in at the Madison, Tenn., store. All WBT events are free and open to the public.

Sponsors of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour include Academy Sports & Outdoors, Toyota Tundra, Advance Auto Parts, Lowrance, Mercury, Skeeter, Yamaha, OPTIMA Batteries, Triton Boats, Legend Boats, MoGills and Mustang.

Local hosts include the City of Gadsden Parks & Recreation Department.

Martin-Wells Leads Day 2

More than 22 pounds of bass over two days shows that Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., has Coosa River impoundments figured out.

She took the lead with 22 pounds, 6 ounces, Friday in the Women’s Bassmaster Tour presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors event on Neely Henry Lake, a river-run impoundment of the Coosa.

Martin-Wells won the 2006 WBT Championship on another Coosa River fishery, Mitchell Lake, adding a big victory to her previous win, the 2005 WBT Preview event in Texas. Moving up from second to first place in the Neely Henry tournament, she put herself in position to take her third WBT victory.

Saturday will be the final day of competition, when just the top 20 pros will compete for the first-place prize of $1,000 cash and a Triton/Mercury boat rig valued at $50,000. Fans can watch Saturday’s finale at http://www.Bassmaster.com. Live video and a real-time leaderboard will begin at 2:15 p.m. CT. Bassmaster.com also will post final results, stories and photo galleries.

WBT pros are competing this season in a points race to become the first woman to qualify for a Bassmaster Classic, bass fishing’s most prestigious competition. The one pro with the most points at the end of the season will win a berth in the 2009 Classic, Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport/Bossier City, La. The points race winner will be the 2008 Toyota WBT Angler of the Year crown, an honor that comes with a 2009 Toyota Tundra.

Leading the field along with Martin-Wells was one-time WBT winner Juanita Robinson of Highlands, Texas, who had a two-day weight of 18 pounds, 11 ounces.

Right behind Robinson with 18-3 was Kim Bain of Alabaster, Ala., who was the winner of the season’s first event and leads the AOY points race. Fourth was one-time WBT winner Lucy Mize of Ben Lomond, Ark., with 18-0. Bonnie Johnson of Weatherford, Texas, had 17-12 for fifth place.

The 2007 Toyota WBT Angler of the Year, Oklahoma’s Sheri Glasgow, shot up from 33rd into sixth with a two-day total of 16-2.

Martin-Wells said she returned Friday to her first-day spot for the 10-4 bag she brought to the scales.

“And there are still fish there,” said Martin-Wells, a fishing guide on Georgia’s Lake Seminole as well as a pro angler. “I can see them come up and miss my bait. It’s just a matter if I can make them bite tomorrow.”

Although she was guarded about revealing specifics on productive patterns, she did say she was looking for bright and sunny conditions Saturday. And, like the rest of the field of 94 pros, she’d also like to see a release of water from the upstream dam, which would create current that often turns on a bite from larger bass.

“Lack of current isn’t hurting what I did to catch what I’ve brought in, but lack of current is hurting the bite for the better fish I’d found in practice,” Martin-Wells said. “I’ve had to adjust to fish that aren’t current-oriented, a variety of patterns.”

Moving up from third to second place, Robinson said the bite wasn’t quite as good Friday, but she adjusted. She said she’s hitting four areas she discovered in practice, getting her limit early and culling.

“They were really pushing shad and biting a whole lot better yesterday,” she said. “Today, as soon as the morning cloud cover went away, they shut down on me. If the weather changes and we get some rain, and they turn the turbines on, that should turn on the bite.”

“I’m starting out with topwaters, then going to a crankbait, then to a shaky head or a Carolina rig, and I caught some flipping to laydown trees,” she said.

In the co-angler division, in which the first-place prize is a Triton/Mercury rig valued at $32,000, Marilyn Biszmaier of Louisville, Ky., climbed from 33rd place to take the lead with 11-13. Close behind her were Lesli Lively of Palestine, Texas, with 11-3, and Linda Walker of Beebe, Ark., who with 10-12 maintained her first-day standing of third.

Pros will launch Saturday at 5:30 a.m. at Coosa Landing, 200 Lake Street in Gadsden. Daily weigh-ins will be at 2:15 p.m. at Academy Sports & Outdoors, 601 George Wallace Drive
in Gadsden. All WBT events are free and open to the public.

To view related images of the event, click here.

Sponsors of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour include Academy Sports & Outdoors, Toyota Tundra, Advance Auto Parts, Lowrance, Mercury, Skeeter, Yamaha, OPTIMA Batteries, Triton Boats, Legend Boats, MoGills and Mustang.

Local hosts include the City of Gadsden Parks & Recreation Department.

McQueen Leads on Neely Henry

Two kicker bass in the last hour of competition saved the day for Audrey McQueen Thursday in the Women’s Bassmaster Tour presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors on Alabama’s Neely Henry Lake.

On what was a lean day for most of the contenders, McQueen of Eager, Colo., brought in 12 pounds, 9 ounces, good enough to stay in front of Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., who managed 12 pounds, 2 ounces. Two pounds behind Martin-Wells was one-time WBT winner Juanita Robinson of Highlands, Texas, with 10-2.

“I actually caught just my limit, I didn’t cull one time,” said McQueen. “I didn’t have a fish until 8:30, 9 o’clock.”

She said catching the late kicker bass was a big change from what she saw during practice time earlier in the week.

“In practice, I always had a morning bite and really caught them in the first two hours. Today, I don’t know if they weren’t pulling water so there wasn’t any current, or because it was so hot, but they weren’t biting early. And the fish I caught today came on a completely different pattern than I used in practice.”

McQueen said she fished the main channel of Neely Henry, a river-run impoundment of the Coosa River. She said she made a long run Thursday to touch all her spots, hitting them in run-and-gun style. Martin-Wells hinted that her day was much the same.

“I moved quite a bit today,” said Martin-Wells, who holds the title to the 2006 WBT Championship. “I’m going to various areas, trying not to burn anything.”

Rounding out the top five on Day 1 were Jan Heavener of Sherwood, Ark., who had 9-4, and Debra Petrowski of Arlington, Texas, with 8-15.

The Thursday-Saturday stop in Alabama is the second event of 2008 WBT season. Pros are competing for a first-place prize of a Triton/Mercury boat rig valued at $50,000 and $1,000 in cash. They’re also vying for points in the season-long race for the 2008 Toyota WBT Angler of the Year crown, which comes with a berth in the 2009 Bassmaster Classic, Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport/Bossier City, La.

As the winner of the season opener at Texas’ Lake Lewisville, Kim Bain of Alabaster, Ala., led the AOY points race going into the Neely Henry event. Bain wrapped up her first competition day on Neely Henry with a weight of 8-9 for seventh place, positioning her to hang on to the AOY race lead.

The three-day tournament continues through Saturday, when only the top 20 pros and top 20 co-anglers will compete. Fans can follow the competition by gong to http://www.Bassmaster.com for live video and real-time leaderboards beginning at 2:15 p.m. CT. Also on http://www.Bassmaster.com are daily standings, stories and photo galleries.

In the co-angler competition for a Triton/Mercury boat rig valued at $32,000, Sharon Lawson of Red Bank, Tenn., scored the lead with 7 pounds, 13 ounces. In second place was Patti James of Dayton, Texas, with 5-14. Third was Linda Walker of Beebe, Ark., with 5-10.

Pros will launch Friday and Saturday at 5:30 a.m. at Coosa Landing, 200 Lake Street in Gadsden. Daily weigh-ins will be at 2:15 p.m. at Academy Sports & Outdoors, 601 George Wallace Drive in Gadsden. All WBT events are free and open to the public.

To view related images of the event, click here.

Sponsors of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour include Academy Sports & Outdoors, Toyota Tundra, Advance Auto Parts, Lowrance, Mercury, Skeeter, Yamaha, OPTIMA Batteries, Triton Boats, Legend Boats, MoGills and Mustang.

Local hosts include the City of Gadsden Parks & Recreation Department.

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