~~The Alabama Northeast Division rolled in to Athens, Alabama to ply the waters of Wheeler Lake for the fourth event of the season. The weather has been anything but predictable this season. We have had unseasonably warm weather in February, storms in March, and cold in April. This week would prove to be no different as it was hot for the second week of May. Temperatures soared up to 90 degrees and the water temperature rose quickly from 67 last weekend to 82 by the end of the tournament! This presented a difficult puzzle as most of the fish were done with the spawn and had begun to migrate to deeper waters. However, the shad spawn was still producing some top water action and there are always some fish that live shallow on Wheeler, so a variety of patterns emerged during practice days leading up to the Friday night meeting.

58 anglers and friends gathered at the home of our director Joel Franks and his wife, Melanie. The staff of the brand new Cultivate Free Will Baptist Church in Athens treated the anglers and friends to a traditional southern style fish fry. Everyone enjoyed plenty of fish, fries, hush puppies, baked beans, coleslaw, and brownies for dessert. Following the delicious meal, Joel, who is also the lead church planter of the new church, shared some scripture from I John 5. He encouraged everyone to make sure that they possess Jesus and, therefore, eternal life. Following the message, one angler recommitted his life to the Lord!

Saturday morning arrived with warm temperatures and cloudless skies as 29 teams blasted off in search of five fat largemouth, smallmouth, or spotted bass as all three varieties are common in these waters. 22 teams were able to bring a limit to the scales at 3:00 PM.

Besting the field by a little over a pound was the team of Chris Baldus and Josh Faile with a mixed bag of largemouth and smallmouth that weighed 12.84 pounds. Baldus and Faile fished offshore and were able to catch a couple of fish on a Zara Spook early. As the day progressed, they switched to a Strike King 6xd and filled out their limit. Along with their top finish in the Bonus Bucks, they were able to take home $1540.00 on the day.

Coming in with the second place bag was the team of Mark Scott and youth angler Ross Williams who joined together to bring in 11.08 pounds of smallmouth and largemouth. They caught their fish offshore and didn’t fill their limit out until after 1:00. They used plastic worms to catch their fish which earned them $592.00.

George Crain and Allan Glasgow brought in a 10.63 pound limit to take third place and vault into the lead for the season points championship by 7 points. They ran up the river and fished shallow grass in a foot of water with a swim jig to earn their $515.00 which included their 2nd place in the Bonus Bucks.
 

Come join us for the season finale at Guntersville on June 2nd!

Fishers of Men would like to thank all of our fine sponsors; BassCat Boats, Mercury, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Spiderwire, Shakespeare, Strike King Lure Company, Kings Home, Power-Pole, Raymarine, Duckett Fishing, BassBoat Technologies, ORCA Coolers, Buckeye Lures, T&H Marine, Gator Guards, Kistler Rods, HydroWave,  Costa, Jacobs Glass, Rayjus Sportswear.

 
Please support our local sponsors that help the Alabama Northeast Division:
 

Coon Creek Custom Baits, @cooncreekcustombaits on Facebook
Fishidy, search “Fishidy” at the App Store on your smartphone
L&M Custom Bass Snacks, (606) 875-0724
MVD Motor Vibration Dampers, www.bowjax.com

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	21221	Chris Baldus Josh Faile	5	0	12.84	0	12.84	200
2	21781	Mark Scott Ross Williams	5	3.13	11.08	0	11.08	199
3	19037	George Crain Allan Glasgow	5	0	10.63	0	10.63	198
4	22642	Larry Melvin Hank Winks	5	0	10.38	0	10.38	197
5	23203	Mike Kelley Jerry Lawler	5	0	10.55	0.5	10.05	196
6	14540	Billy Lawson Barbara Lawson	5	0	9.83	0	9.83	195
7	6287	Greg Norris Jay Bucki	5	3.03	10.18	0.5	9.68	194
8	23195	Hayden Smith Jonathan Smith	5	0	9.62	0	9.62	143
9	22594	Dale Aldridge Lee Hill	5	3.48	9.46	0	9.46	142
10	22797	Emily Ware Kent Ware	5	0	9.46	0	9.46	191
11	22648	Chet Borden Shannon Rich	5	0	8.86	0	8.86	190
12	22647	Mark Lovvorn Warren Lovvorn	5	0	8.82	0	8.82	189
13	3808	Mike Hazel Chad Hazel	5	0	8.59	0	8.59	188
14	11889	Ron Holler Elaine Holler	5	0	8.35	0	8.35	187
15	8528	Mark Junior Gary Horne	4	0	8.02	0	8.02	186
16	21765	Billy Brooks Chad Fenton	5	0	7.63	0	7.63	185
17	22640	Alan Davis Todd Davis	5	0	7.37	0	7.37	184
18	22862	Tim Van Polen Clay Wilcox	5	0	7.61	0.25	7.36	183
19	18913	Brad Carroll Edward Looper Jr	5	0	6.86	0	6.86	182
20	11893	Albert Lovvorn Randy Gravett	5	0	6.65	0	6.65	181
21	19030	Waylon Hill	5	0	6.46	0	6.46	180
22	22641	Donna Lynn Spenser Lynn	5	0	6.19	0	6.19	179
23	22591	Cody Benton Harris Housley	5	0	6.06	0	6.06	178
24	22639	Chris Blackwood Sean Terrell	3	3.37	5.27	0	5.27	177
25	22593	Rodney Floyd Tim Moore	1	3.39	3.39	0	3.39	176
26	22590	Johnny Barrow Karl Stephens	2	0	2.96	0	2.96	175
27	10604	Barry Johnson Dale Greer	0	0	0	0	0	174
28	10608	Garry Burns Kevin Stephens	0	0	0	0	0	174
29	21020	Shane Bryson Brandon Johnson	0	0	0	0	0	174
Baldus and Faile - 12.84 lbs. Williams and Scott - 11.08 lbs. Franks standing in for Craine and Glasgow - 10.63 lbs.