Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series Sells Out, Breaks Registration Record Third Straight Year
North and south divisions sell out with a total of 450 teams.
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Decatur, Ala. (August 19, 2020) – Tournament officials announce registration is closed for the 2021 Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series (ABTTS), with all 450 of the available boat entries in the north and south divisions selling out in a record 25 minutes. The 2021 tournament series gets underway February 20.
Registration for the 2021 tournament series opened to the public August 15, 2020. According to Program Director Kay Donaldson, registration for both divisions had reached its limit within 25 minutes. In 2019, registration was full for the south division in three hours and in 17 hours for the north division.
“The near-immediate sellout validates the confidence anglers have put in the Alabama Bass Trail program. This year, we had more pre-registrations than in years past, which probably contributed to how quickly registration sold out. Thank you to the anglers, our great sponsors and host cities who are willing to invest their time and resources into the Alabama Bass Trail in 2021. We look forward to another year of outstanding competitive bass fishing in the great state of Alabama,” said Donaldson.
Teams will be traveling from nine states: Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois and North Carolina to compete in the 2021 tournament series. The Alabama Bass Trail creates an estimated economic impact of $4 million dollars for the state of Alabama annually.
Sanctioned by BASS (Bass Anglers Sportsman Society), the ABT Tournament Series contains two divisions, North and South, and each division is made up of five tournaments on five different lakes. The maximum number of boats for each tournament is 225. Teams must fish in all five tournaments in their respective division.
Dates and locations for the 2021 tournament series are as follows:
South Division:
February 20, 2021 Lake Martin / Hosted by the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce
March 27, 2021 Lake Eufaula / Hosted by the Eufaula-Barbour County Chamber of Commerce
April 24, 2021 Lay Lake / Hosted by the Shelby County Commission
May 8, 2021 Alabama River / Hosted by the City of Prattville Parks and Recreation
June 12, 2021 Logan Martin Lake / Hosted by the Pell City Chamber of Commerce
North Division:
February 27, 2021 Pickwick Lake / Hosted by Florence Lauderdale Tourism Board
March 13, 2021 Lake Guntersville / Hosted by the Marshall County CVB
April 10, 2021 Wheeler Lake / Hosted by Decatur Morgan County Tourism
May 15, 2021 Weiss Lake / Hosted by the Town of Leesburg
June 19, 2021 Neely Henry Lake / Hosted by the City of Gadsden
Hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of Walker County, the championship tournament will be held October 22-23, 2021, on Lewis Smith Lake.
The no-entry fee championship event will include up to 185 boats. The 185 boats are comprised of the 10 regular season winners, top 75 teams in points from both divisions that fished all five events in their respective divisions, along with the top 15 student teams, top five college teams and the top five couples teams collectively from both divisions that fished all five events in their respective division.
Each regular season tournament features a $10,000 guaranteed first place prize and pays 40 places totaling over $47,000. The no-entry fee championship will feature a $100,000 payout with a first place prize of $50,000. There is also a $5,000 bonus cash prize for Angler of the Year and $2,500 for runner-up Angler of the Year. According to Donaldson, over $580,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded when the ABT Tournament Series wraps up its season in 2021.
2021 Payout Schedule:
First place
Second place
Third place
Fourth place
Fifth place
Sixth place
Seventh place $ 1,100
Eighth place
Ninth place
Tenth place
11th – 20th $ 750 each
21st – 40th $ 500 each
2021 Championship Payout:
First place
Second place
Third place
Fourth place
Fifth place
Sixth place
Seventh place $ 2,200
Eighth place
Ninth place
Tenth place
11th-15th
16th-25th
Big Fish
ABT Tournament sponsors include Phoenix Bass Boats; Bill Penney Toyota; Alabama Tourism Department; America’s First Federal Credit Union; Academy Sports & Outdoors; Garmin; T-H Marine Supplies, Inc.; Alabama Power Company; Buffalo Rock, Inc.; Jack’s; Wedowee Marine; Lews Fishing; FishNeelyHenry.com; Power-Pole; Big Bite Baits; YETI; Zone Repellents and Hydrowave. Angler’s Channel will film and produce the Alabama Bass Trail television series for Fox Sports Southeast and Southern Stream Live will continue the live-streaming and video production services.
For more information, call Donaldson at 855.934.7425 or visit www.alabamabasstrail.org.
“I ran to St. Clair and fished deep,” said Wagner, who earned his sixth career BFL win – all on the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair. “It took me a day to find them, but the key was using my electronics to locate them. Every fish that I caught came watching my graph.
On Sunday winning boater Kyle Gelles did not go to Lake St. Clair, but instead fished the mouth of the Detroit River.
“I focused all day on the mid-river area, from Mattawoman to the Belmont area,” said Wedding. “I stayed in those two areas and bounced back and forth.”
“I spent the day in Belmont Bay, throwing a Zoom Trick Worm – sometimes on a shaky-head rig, sometimes on a drop-shot rig,” Balachvili said. “The key was the tide. I didn’t have much practice so on Friday I didn’t leave when the bite stopped, I just waited them out. On Saturday I knew when the bite was going to be on, so I was able to use my time more efficiently.”