NEWS

Update From Current ABT North AOY Points Leaders

2018 Alabama Bass Trail Pickwick Lake Preview
with Charlie Cummings and Greg Pugh

by Dan O’Sullivan

September 19, 2018 – Decatur, Ala. – Yesterday we shared the thoughts of the second place team in the Alabama Bass Trail’s Northern Division points race with Bill Mayo and Walt Roberts. Today, the leaders of that race; Charlie Cummings and Greg Pugh share what is on their minds on the eve of the season’s culminating event.

Cummings and Pugh hold a three point lead over their nearest competitors, and like Mayo and Roberts, feel that they have to go after Pickwick Lake to close out the Anglers of the Year title. “We feel like it’s not going to be easy and that we really have to catch ‘em to close this deal out,” they said. “Our goal is to win the tournamentand win the AOY in the process.” As they alluded to, that will not be an easy task. Pickwick appears to be acting stingy, and the Tennessee Valley Authority has been playing with the water levels. “The water is down two to three feet right now, and they are supposed to bring it back up, but it is making things tough,” they reported. Either way, the whole deal is going to come down to executing once you get the right bites. Do that and we’ll be fine, but if we don’t
execute, we’ll struggle.”  With the water down, the pair said that they feel that offshore techniques like jigs and Carolina Rigs will be the most popular, and that it will still take a solid day to win. “It should take between 18 to 20 pounds to win, and 10 to 12 pounds to get a check,” they reported. “We are going to do everything we can to try to be at the top of that scale, but it’s fishing, and you never know. We really hope that we can make it happen, it would really mean a lot.”

The final event of the 20018 Alabama Bass Trail season at Pickwick Lake happens September 2 out of Florence, Ala. The mandatory pre-tournament registration and angler information meeting happens on Friday, September 21 at the Florence Conference Center located at 10 Hightower Place in Florence, AL 35630 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 McFarland Park located at 200 James M. Spain Drive in Florence, AL 35630.

The sponsors of the 2018 Alabama Bass Trail include; Phoenix Bass Boats, Bill Penney Toyota, Garmin, Academy Sports & Outdoors, America’s First Federal Credit Union,  Alabama Tourism Department, T-H Marine Supplies, Wedowee Marine, Buffalo Rock, Jack’s, Fish Neely Henry Lake.com, Alabama Power Company, Trapper Tackle, Lew’s
Fishing, AFTCO, YETI, and E3 Apparel.

For information about Alabama Bass Trail and for complete tournament standings visit www.alabamabasstrail.org