Tournament Series Feature Story
2019 Alabama Bass Trail Neely Henry Lake Preview with Adam Bain and Kris Colley
by Dan O’Sullivan
June 5, 2019 – Decatur, Ala. – Neely Henry Lake has been a fixture on the Alabama Bass Trail’s Northern Division schedule since the inception of the trail. The fishery became even more of showpiece in 2018 when Neely Henry was the site of the season ending championship.
The team of Adam Bain and Kris Colley brought 30.04 pounds of Neely Henry bass to the scales last October and earned the Phoenix 819 prize boat and the title of 2018 Alabama Bass Trail Champions. With Neely Henry on the schedule for this week, Bain and Colley shared some thoughts about what to expect.
They reported that the fishing at Neely Henry has been good, but could all be changing by the time Saturday rolls around. “We are supposed to be getting a significant amount of rainfall over the next several days, and that could change the bite,” they said. “For the most part, they have been pulling only one generator lately, and the bite has been decent, but if the flows get higher, it could change things a bunch; probably for the better.”
They said that recent events have seen winning weights in the 17 to 18-pound category, but with rainfall and current, that could increase, but at least remain consistent. “If the current kicks up, we could see some healthy catches; say in the 19 to 20-pound range,” they said. “But the winning weight will at least be what things have been recently.” They also said that they expect it to take 13 pounds to collect a paycheck.
As for the type of patterns, they said that they feel like people can do just about anything and catch fish. “That’s really the beauty of Neely Henry – the lake is full of fish, and you can catch them a lot of different ways,” they said. “Shallow swim jigs, crankbaits, topwater, flipping, dock fishing and grass will produce shallow. Offshore anglers will likely be able to find them on jigs, cranks and Shaky Heads; most everyone should catch a bunch of fish; it could be a fun event.”
The 2019 Alabama Bass Trail Neely Henry Lake event happens June 8 out of Gadsden, Alabama. The mandatory pre-tournament registration and angler information meeting happens on Friday June 7 at The Venue at Coosa Landing located at 201 George Wallace Drive, Gadsden, AL 35903 with registration happening from 5:00 P.M. – 6:30 P.M. and the pre-tournament meeting beginning at 6:30 P.M. Takeoff and weigh-in occur at Coosa Landing, 1 Huff Drive Gadsden, AL 35903.
The sponsors of the 2019 Alabama Bass Trail include; Phoenix Bass Boats, Bill Penney Toyota, Garmin, Academy Sports & Outdoors, America’s First Federal Credit Union, Sweet Home Alabama, Alabama Tourism Department, Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association, T-H Marine Supplies, Wedowee Marine, Buffalo Rock, Mountain Dew, Jack’s, Fish Neely Henry Lake.com, Alabama Power Company, Lew’s Fishing, AFTCO, YETI, Power Pole, Big Bite Bait Company and E3 Apparel.
