Tournament Reports – March 2022

Prince Opens Season With Big Win At Lake Lanier

Alex Prince took a commanding lead to win the Boater Division in the American Bass Anglers Open Series held Feb. 12 on Lake Lanier.

Launching at Laurel Park, the Blue Ridge, Ga. angler won by more than 5 pounds. His winning bag contained all spotted bass, including a 6.13-pounder.

“This was the best day in a tournament I’ve ever had in my life,” Prince said. “I fished my entire 23 years of my life and never caught a spotted bass weighing more than 6 pounds. Today, I caught one over 6 and one just under. It’s an incredible feeling. I feel very blessed.”

The only angler to break a 20-lb. bag, Prince landed a five-bass tournament limit weighing 24.86 pounds. He tallied the victory with nearly a 5-lb. average. For the win, Prince took home $5,200.

“I started around Brown’s Bridge and caught my biggest bass first thing in the morning,” Prince said. “Everything just lined up after that. Most of the fish I caught were in 20 to 30 feet of water, but a couple of them were shallow. I only caught one or two fish later in the day. The water wasn’t too bad where I fished. It was dingy, but not muddy.”

In second was Joshua George, of Loganville, who landed the largest bass in the tournament. George brought in his five-bass limit for 19.60 pounds to win a check for $1,000. He anchored that catch with a 6.24-lb. bass, putting a $700 bonus in his pocket for the lunker.

“I fished clean all day and didn’t lose any fish,” George said. “I caught a couple bass on a spinnerbait, a couple on a shaky head and a couple on a Fish Head Spin. I caught the biggest bass on a jig at about 10:30 a.m. The deepest I fished was about 25 feet deep. I fished the mid-lake region.”

Taking the third spot for the boaters, Emil Wagner, of Marietta, brought in five bass. His limit weighed 17.91 pounds, earning him a check for $800. 

“I lost a couple fish, but nothing that would have given me the win,” Wagner said. “I ran around all day and caught fish everywhere from 1 foot deep to 60 feet deep. I stayed in the south end. I caught fish on everything including a swimbait, shaky head, jigs and crankbaits.” 

In the Co-Angler Division, Colton Sowash placed his division limit of three bass on the scales. The Gainesville angler won with 9.67 pounds, including a 3.46-lb. bucketmouth for a 3.32-lb. average. Sowash went home $700 richer because of his victory.

“I caught most of my fish on a jig in about 8 to 12 feet of water near Gainesville Marina,” Sowash said. “My big bass came early, but I caught fish throughout the day. I culled a couple. The last one I culled was right before we came in to the weigh station.”

Alex Prince won the Feb. 12 ABA Open on Lanier and said, “This was the best day in a tournament I’ve ever had in my life.”

Bass Deep On Bartletts Ferry For Fishers Of Men Tourney

By Brian Bohanon

It was awesome to get our Fishers of Men Georgia South Division season started on Jan. 29. After rescheduling from the prior weekend as a result of COVID and a potential winter storm, it was good to get the season going.

We had a great Friday night with Brent Janney being the speaker. I had a lot of compliments on his talk. On Saturday morning, we started blast off with temps in the mid 20s. Of course the weatherman was wrong again. All week long they were predicting temps in the low 20s. The warmer weather was a relief. 🙂

By lunchtime, it had warmed up and the wind died down.

Darryl Ozly and William Ozly won the tournament with a four-fish limit of 13.32 pounds and had big-bass honors with a 5.93-pounder. Their total winnings were $2,564. Their pattern was fishing docks in the 15-foot depth range.

The tournament took 10 pounds to get in the money with only six boats zeroing.

I caught fish on docks halfway back in the creeks on finesse jigs. When the sun came up, I was catching fish in shallow-water pockets on ChatterBaits.

Free Promo For Tournament Trail

GON would enjoy the opportunity to work with tournament directors who have an interest in promoting their tournament trails on GON.com. All you’ll need to do is supply GON with a written press release and a few photos of a recent tournament you hosted. The above release written by Brian Bohanon was supplied to GON a few days after his event and was quickly published online at GON.com. Brian, we appreciate the great fishing information we can share with our readers, but we certainly hope the free promo helps your trail, too. Send releases and photos to [email protected] within a few days after your tournament. 

FOM winners at Bartletts Ferry on Jan. 29 were Darryl Ozley and William Ozley, both of LaGrange.

Tyler Morgan, of Columbus, had a good catch that included a 4.5-lb. shoal bass. Tyler finished in fourth place.