Abernethy; Nc Federation Team Runners-Up At Southern Divisional
The North Carolina Team turned in a strong performance at the recent Southern Division TBF event on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes, eventually finishing 2nd to the state team from Alabama after leading Day 1 of the 2-day tourney.
A big AnglersChannel thanks to Gary Abernethy for his report following the tournament. Gary caught his fish flippin’ in the Tennessee portion of Lake Barkley. He made long runs and fished for big bass – that’s two gutsy decisions that made the difference and got Gary qualified as a boater to the TBF Nationals (site & date TBD).
“I lead the event on Day 1 and Day 2, and I had big bag and big fish on Day 1 with 15.0 on Day 1 and 15.5 on Day 2. I caught a limit on day 3 for 10.7, but ended up coming in second by about 12 oz.,” said Gary.
He continued, “I never got anything going in practice cranking. In the event, I caught every single fish on one bait, a 1/2 oz. jig that I fished in and around flooded bushes. I was catching 20-35 fish a day, but getting the 15″ minimum size was difficult for most anglers. I got fortunate a caught a 4. 13 oz. fish each of the first two tournament days which obviously helped a lot.”
About his long boat ride, “I was going about 110 miles round trip on the boat each day to the fishing spots, so that part was pretty bad. Check out the engine cowl after 300+ miles of bugs!”
The gamble and the burnt gas paid off for Gary as he nearly led the NC team to a title. Good job guys!