By Staff
April 20, 2001
The veteran team of Charles Wilson and John Mason teamed up yet again to win the seventh tourney on the Bass Anglers Tournament Trail held last Saturday on the Alabama River. Their 5-fish limit weighing 16.02 pounds was good enough for first place and the $1,000.00 purse. In addition, the team earned a $1,000.00 Skeeter bonus for winning the tournament out of a Skeeter bass boat.
Once again, this team got something going when the big bite was tough for most everyone else. The day started off tough for Wilson and Mason as well. By 9:30 they had not yet caught a keeper bass. They had spent most of the morning trying to catch some bedding bass without results.
As they started to move back out to the river, they found a pattern of catching bass on grassy points on buzz baits. After catching a small non-keeper, Wilson caught a small 14-inch keeper on a buzz bait. A short time later he caught a nice chunky 3 and 1\2 pounder on the buzzer. Not one to be left out for very long, Mason got in on the fun and caught another three-pounder off of a grass point.
Slim Pickings
According to Wilson, they didn't catch a whole lot of bass, but the ones they did catch were quality bites. In fact, by 11:30 they still had only three keepers. As the day wore on, they switched to the old faithful jig and stuck with it. They finally filled out their 5 fish limit and even culled the smaller 14-inch bass.
Not only did this tournament bring them a nice $2,000.00 paycheck, it pushed them even further ahead in the all-important Angler-of-the-Year race. With one tournament left on this year's trail, Mason and Wilson are in first place. The angling team of the year will win $2,000.00 plus any bonus money that may be earned. If this team ends up in first place, they will cart off $3,000.00 for all of their hard work.
Angling team of the year goes to the team that is the most consistent on the trail over the course of the year. So far nobody has been more consistent than the Fortson Auto Service team of Mason and Wilson. They have placed in the money in every tourney except the first one of the year.
Big Catches
Second place at Miller's Ferry went to the team of Joey Knight and John Plowman with a five-fish limit weighing 12.77 pounds. Third place went to the team of Bruce Roberts and Joel Cumberland with a 5-fish limit weighing 12.54 pounds. 4th place went to Jimmy Hayes and Hank Perkins with 4 fish that weighed 12.24 pounds. 5th place went to Ray Joyner and Chester Roberts with 5 fish that weighed 11.88 pounds. They also had a 5 pounder that was barely edged out for lunker of the tourney. Bobby Dyess caught a 5.84-pound bass that was good enough for the big fish award and the money that came with it. With one regular season tourney left on the trail only a few boats have a mathematical chance of overtaking Mason and Wilson, if that team bombs out. The team of Chris Stokes and Wayman Newell holds 2nd place in the point's race. Bruce Roberts and Joel Cumberland are currently in 3rd place.
In fourth place is the team of Jimmy Williams and Fred Schoenrock.