“The high has been in the 70s all week, but we’ve got a little rain coming Thursday and Friday the high will be in the high 50s and down to 32-33 degrees at night,” said Josh Bragg who, with his teammate Joe Hartley, leads the North Division points standings after one tournament.

Bragg and Hartley weighed in a five-fish limit at 28.94 pounds, including the big fish of the tournament at 8.05 pounds, to win the first North Division tournament of the year Feb. 28 on Lake Guntersville.

The cold front moving in “could push the fish back off that moved up during the warm weather we have had this week,” Bragg said. That could present a problem for anglers who have their mind set on fish for bass on the beds, he said, but those fish are still catchable.

“A lot of big largemouths are trying to move up, getting ready to spawn,” Bragg said. “I still believe the tournament will be won shallow. It could be just a little bit tougher bite with that cold front.”

Bragg said the bass “are so full of eggs they are about to pop. They are in transition up to the bank. A lot will be caught in the dead grass and on shallow wood. ”

The front should give anglers a good reason to look for something a little different in practice.

“You are going to have to practice for the cold front, maybe try to find some fish that have staged and are ready to move shallow, not put all your bets on the fish that have already moved in shallow.”

Even with the cold front, the tournament Saturday ‘is shaping up to be another heavy weight tournament like it was last year,” he said,

“I fished Logan Martin Lake, which is right below Neely Henry, Saturday and had 17 pounds and it took 23 pounds to win. A lot of the fish I caught down there were ready to pop. I think it would be busting wide open this weekend if not for that cold front.”

Bragg said he plans to practice Wednesday and Thursday and will try to develop a one-two punch for the tournament.

“I’ll be looking for fish up on the banks and some right off the banks, staging and getting ready to go up,” he said.

Bragg concentrated on spotted bass in the ABT North Division tournament on Neely Henry last year and was on some really good spotted bass during practice, but only managed 12 1/2 to 13 pounds in the tournament, while the anglers who fished for largemouths “really smashed them.”

“That did not work out for me, so this year I have got a little different game plan,” he said.

 

Alabama Bass Trail – North Division

Sat, Mar 28, 2015

Neely Henry Lake

Coosa Landing

Call Kay Donaldson 855-934-7425

www.alabamabasstrail.org