Gossett and King Win $25,000 in the Alabama Bass Trail 100 Tournament on Weiss Lake with 18.75 lbs.
By Jason Duran
The second stop of the Alabama Bass Trail 100 took place at Weiss Lake. Weiss Lake is known as the Crappie Capital of the world, but it has recently been producing good bags of bass as well. The lake is full of large spotted bass and abundant with largemouth. Teams reported catching good fish in practice. On tournament day, the weather threw the teams a curveball, with cloudy skies and rain. This led many anglers to focus on finding fish in the shallows. Weiss Lake has plenty of bank grass, wood, and fishable water. It is fed by the Coosa River and is the first lake on the Coosa River Chain. The ABT 100 teams are considered some of the best in Teams in bass fishing, and they were all competing for a total purse of $100,000 before contingency money.
Zeke Gossett and Ethan King secured a solid second-place finish at the first event earlier this year at Logan Martin. They were aiming for redemption and hoping to clinch a win at Weiss Lake. During practice on Friday, they discovered a promising area and focused on a 100-yard stretch, where they shook off some good-sized fish. Although Zeke and Ethan lacked experience at Weiss Lake, they were familiar with the Coosa River. They noted that fish tend to move to shallow areas on the Coosa River when it’s cloudy. On the day of the tournament, they initially fished near the take-off area and then explored a few other spots, catching smaller fish. Eventually, they decided to head back to the area they had identified during practice and take their time to break it down. When they arrived, they found another team at their main spot, so they began fishing around the grass in the pocket and started catching fish. This area was characterized by shallow grass, wood, and numerous targets to cast at. They experimented with various baits and colors, including a swim jig, a buzz toad, and a frog. Ultimately, they found success with a Strike King Sexy Frog in black and a Strike King swim jig in brim color. They said, “We kept it old school today and took off the graphs and just went fishing shallow.” They quickly caught five fish weighing around 12 pounds, which convinced them to spend the rest of the day in this pocket. In total, they caught approximately 25 fish and culled up to a winning weight of 18.75 pounds, securing the first-place trophy and winnings of over $30,000 including contingency money.
Timothy and Murray Fielder finished in second place with 18.68. They started their day at their first spot this morning, but about 20 other boats were fishing in the same area. They were all fishing in the grass, and the Fielders realized that they would likely end up sharing fish and having a lower catch. So, they decided to change their plan and try something different. They did find one area in practice as a backup plan. This area was described as an offshore rock pile in about 8-10 feet of water. They made the move and caught their first fish using a worm, dragging it slowly. This was different from their original plan to catch fish in the grass, but they were successful. They caught one good-sized fish here during practice, and it seemed that more fish had moved into the area today. The baits they used were an unnamed swim bait in pearl color, a trick worm in green pumpkin, and watermelon red. They also found an area with rock on the shore and were able to catch a few fish using the same techniques. With their second-place finish, they collected a $12,500 pay day.
Robert Robinson and Morgan Brown finished in third place with 18.47. The team shared that they had a rough start to the morning when Morgan “lost a 5-6 pounder on a frog. They fished for a little longer and he lost another one on a frog and they were both shaking so bad they couldn’t do anything. Then Robert lost one on a frog and they felt like they couldn’t do anything right. Then Morgan caught a good fish and Robert caught a 5.77 and it was like let’s see who can lose one the fastest the rest of the day. We then changed areas and fished a crankbait spot we located in practice and caught one but we also lost one. We should have had a 30-pound bag today with all the fish we lost.” Morgan said “it took me a little while to recover from losing all those fish I was shaking for about an hour, but we were able to rebound we knew the right fish were in the area. Their key baits were Bagley Spatter back crankbait, Ol Monster worm in green pumpkin, a black and blue swim jig, and a Spro popping frog.
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The sponsors of the 2024 Alabama Bass Trail 100 include; Phoenix BassBoats, Landers McLarty Chevrolet, McGraw Webb Chevrolet, Bajio Sunglasses, Garmin, Power-Pole, America’s First Federal Credit Union, CrushCity, Bait Fuel, Pro-Guide Batteries, Sweet Home Alabama, Alabama State Parks, Jacks, Snag Proof, Yamaha, T-H Marine Supplies, Big Bite Bait Company, VMC, Black Rifle Coffee Company, Anheuser – Busch, Inc., fishalabama.org, Rapala, Halo Fishing, NetBait.