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March 30, 2019 – Wetumpka, Ala. – While Lake Jordan in Wetumpka, Alabama may be one of the smaller lakes on the Alabama Bass Trail schedule, it certainly seems to produce monster results.
While the bass population of the Coosa River has largely been put off by a variety of conditions; high water, low water and up and down temperatures, that lull seemed to change on Saturday as the past week of stable weather seemed to have a positive effect on Lake Jordan. The evidence showed in the results of the second event of the ABT Southern Division’s 2019 schedule.
While events have been won here with higher weights in the past, the quality of limits brought to the scales were high. None tipped the ABT scales more so than the winners of the event, Caleb McNeal and Taylor Luna, who weighed 22.06 and took home the $10,000 winner’s purse.
The pair said that they benefitted by drawing out as the first boat to take off, giving them the first pick of fishing locations. “When we got the text saying we were boat number one, we felt like this could happen,” they said. “We were able to get upriver and pick our starting spot, and everything worked out from there.”
They said the stopped just short of the am on an offshore structure spot, and filled their limit fairly early with a football jig and a pair of swimbaits. “We caught our limit at 10:00, and culled up to our final weight by 11:30,” they said. “We caught them on 3/4-ounce Football jigs and Big Bite Baits BB Kicker and Basstrix swimbaits on homemade 3/4-ounce jigheads.”
The team seemed very happy with the outcome. “It’s been a while since we’ve been able to have this kind of quality win,” they said. “To beat a field this size, with this level of anglers means a lot to us.”
No stranger to being at the top of the leaderboard, Chris Rutland and Coby Carden finished the day in second place with 20.48 pounds. The pair said that they too ran upriver, and fished both ends of the lake. “We fished dam to dam with a football jig and caught four spotted bass and one largemouth we caught off a bed,” they reported. “We would have liked for the day to end just a little bit better, but, sometimes things just don’t happen that way. We fished clean, and just got beaten; there is nothing else we could have done, that’s just how it goes sometimes.” The pair earned $5,000 for their efforts.”
The team of Eric Morris – and ABT Sponsor from Wedowee Marine – and his partner Ben Williamson finished the day in third place; their second consecutive top 5 Southern Division finish. Together they earned $4,000 for their efforts, and gave themselves a three point lead in the Southern Division Anglers of the Year Race over John Pollard and Dallas Weldon.
The Mountain Dew Big Bass of the tournament went to the 53rd place team of Michael Cox and Colt Boyette. The 6.54-pound largemouth earned them the $500 bonus for catching the heaviest fish of the tournament.
The Southern Division of the Alabama Bass Trail hits the water next at the Alabama River oat Cooter’s Pond on April 20.
The Top 10 Standings are below, for complete standings, visit: https://www.alabamabasstrail.org/tournament-series/lj-results/
| Place | Anglers | Weight | Big Fish | Winnings |
| 1 | Caleb McNeal / Taylor Luna | 22.06 | 4.76 | $10,000 |
| 2 | Chris Rutland / Coby Carden | 20.48 | 4.90 | $5,000 |
| 3 | Eric Morris / Ben Williamson | 20.13 | 5.56 | $4,000 |
| 4 | Foster Bradley / Nick Harris | 19.46 | $3,000 | |
| 5 | Steven Morris / Matt Vanzant | 19.04 | $2,000 | |
| 6 | Michael Taylor / Steven Johnston | 18.91 | $1,500 | |
| 7 | John Pollard / Dallas Weldon | 18.47 | $1,100 | |
| 8 | Mark Succi / Douglas Stephens | 18.19 | $1,100 | |
| 9 | Danny Lavoie / Sammy Bailey | 17.84 | $1,100 | |
| 10 | Kevin Phillips / Robert Medas | 17.79 | $1,100 |
The sponsors of the 2019 Alabama Bass Trail include; Phoenix Bass Boats, Bill Penney Toyota, Garmin, Academy Sports & Outdoors, America’s First Federal Credit Union, Sweet Home Alabama, Alabama Tourism Department, Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association, T-H Marine Supplies, Wedowee Marine, Buffalo Rock, Mountain Dew, Jack’s, Fish Neely Henry Lake.com, Alabama Power Company, Lew’s Fishing, AFTCO, YETI, Power Pole, Big Bite Bait Company and E3 Apparel.