Roberts and Greenberg Catch 21.79 lbs. and win $25,000 in the Alabama Bass Trail 100 Tournament on Wheeler Lake
By Jason Duran
The ABT 100 concluded the 2024 season at Wheeler Lake, where 100 of the best teams in bass fishing competed for the grand prize of $25,000, with a total payout exceeding $100,000 for the event. However, Wheeler Lake did not present the conditions that many anglers had anticipated. Typically, in November, the water temperatures cool down and trigger more active fish throughout the lake. Despite this, teams reported experiencing very challenging fishing conditions and were hoping for a better tournament than their practice sessions had indicated. Nonetheless, the lake still showed its potential, and the ABT Teams demonstrated that they are the best of the best in team fishing.
Walt Roberts and Robert Greenberg teamed up to catch a total of 21.76 pounds. Robert, the owner of NetBait and hailing from Canada, has many years of fishing experience and caught his first Alabama smallmouth during practice on Wheeler Lake this week. Walt serves as the National Sales Manager for American Baitworks, which sponsors the ABT, and NetBait is one of their brands. Together, Walt and Robert make an excellent team on the water, fishing together annually on the St. Lawrence River. Walt previously lived in Guntersville, where he spent many days fishing and performing well in tournaments. They decided to run upriver toward the dam and targeted a specific spot that is not at the dam itself. “It’s an obscure area off the bank that I learned about when I lived here,” Walt explained. “I fished with some skilled anglers back then who taught me a lot, and I discovered even more spots. This one is so obscure that I wasn’t too worried about someone else fishing it. We caught 12 fish in the first hour and a total of 25 throughout the day.” The Team caught all their big fish using a new product from NetBait called the Blip Minnow, which is infused with BaitFuel to attract fish. Robert used the 4-inch Ion, also from NetBait, employing a shallow water technique with light tackle and rigging it wacky style. He fished with a new 7’4″ Halo Spinning Rod. With this victory, they collected $25,000, along with a $300 Garmin Highest Finisher Bonus. Additionally, Robert made history by becoming the first international angler to win an ABT event.
Second place went to the team of Brent Crow and Allen Johnson. Brent was unable to participate in this event because he was competing in the Toyota Championship, so Allen fished solo. Allen shared, “Practice was awful. Last Sunday, I arrived here around noon and caught a bunch of fish, thinking this was going to be awesome. However, when I came back on Tuesday, I only caught four fish all day. On Wednesday, I returned to the spot where I had success the previous Sunday and didn’t get a bite. That made me nervous. I tried fishing various spots on the lake that are typically productive, but it was terrible. I didn’t even think I could catch five fish. Sometimes it’s better to know what not to do. I focused on one location where I believed there were fish. This morning, I went to a spot where I planned to catch them on topwater, but I didn’t have any luck. I decided to return to my main spot, and I finally got a bite. I realized there were 300 boats out here, and I knew there were fish in this area a week ago, so I decided to stay there for the rest of the day and grind it out. I remained in a 150-yard stretch all day, and I didn’t catch my fifth fish until 11:00 a.m. Around 1:00, I caught a 3.57-pound fish and culled out a 2.21-pound one. Today, I caught every fish using a June Bug Zoom Speed Worm, and by the end of the day, my back was hurting from reeling the bait so slow. The area was a shell bed. When I checked it on Sunday, I threw a jerkbait there and got snagged in the hydrilla, while other anglers were fishing deeper and staying off the drop. I moved up to five feet of water and caught fish behind the shell bed in the hydrilla. There were three spots along that stretch, and I just rotated between them throughout the day.” His final weight was 20.51 pounds, earning him a $12,500 payday.
Justin Atkins normally fishes with Kyle Dorsett, but like a few other teams, he decided to fish solo today since he is participating in the Toyota Championship. He mentioned, “The game plan today was to go out and fish based on the conditions. Because I’m competing in the Toyota this week, I couldn’t be on the lake until today at 7 a.m. I started out a little later than the other anglers. I wanted to treat today as day one of practice. As I rode down the lake, I noticed the cloudy conditions, which are usually good for catching Smallmouth. Having fished a few fall tournaments here before, I had an idea of what to look for. At my first spot, I caught two big ones, and after that, I was able to explore and search for more areas like that. I fished about 8 to 10 spots throughout the day. The fish were really focused on bait and were located in water depths of around 8 to 10 feet. The shad are obviously moving to the back of creeks and pockets, so I targeted areas where I saw bait. My primary bait was a Berkley Cane Walker. I wanted this tournament to reflect a late fall to early winter pattern when the lake is usually productive. However, the conditions today were not ideal; it has been quite hot over the last couple of weeks. I didn’t know what to expect, but the pattern I fished today is typically not in hot weather. So, I feel that the fish are starting to transition, and hopefully, it will cool down this week, allowing me to perform well.” For placing third, the team earned $10,000, which is not a bad payout for a day of practice. As Justin mentioned, “Gas is expensive, and I’ll take any extra earnings I can get to help cover those costs and other expenses this week.”
The Team of Paul Davis and Josh Chapple were crowned ABT 100 Anglers of the year. They were the most consistent team this year. They shared that AOY was a goal for them and they were really excited to collect the highly sought after Championship Belts. They shared, “This group of fishermen is unbelievable and to be AOY in this one is really big for us. We have fished the ABT for a while and never won AOY, and its pretty awesome.”
The top five standings are below. For a complete list of standings please visit https://www.alabamabasstrail100.org/wheeler-lake-results/
This concludes the 2024 season of the ABT 100. Next season is already sold out and starts 1/18/2025 at Lake Guntersville. For more information about the ABT100, download and listen to the ABT Podcast on your favorite Podcast app by searching for “Alabama Bass Trail Podcast.” The Podcast is released each week on Tuesday.
The sponsors of the 2024 Alabama Bass Trail 100 include; Phoenix Bass Boats, Landers McLarty Chevrolet, McGraw Webb Chevrolet,, Garmin, Power-Pole, AmFirst, CrushCity, Bait Fuel, Pro-Guide Batteries, Sweet Home Alabama, Alabama State Parks, Jacks, Snag Proof, Yamaha, T-H Marine Supplies, Big Bite Bait Company, American Bait Works, VMC, Anheuser – Busch, Inc., fishalabama.org, Rapala, Halo Fishing, NetBait.