“Bradley is a great fisherman, but there are some other guys right behind us who can really catch them,” said McCaig. “Terry Tucker for instance, Weiss is his home lake.”

Tucker, who hails from Gadsden, Ala, is ranked third in points, just five behind McCaig and seven behind Jones.

And, although McCaig lives in Oxford, Ala., less than an hour from Weiss, he does not really consider it his long-time home water.

“Until about two or three years ago I did not fish Weiss a lot. I fished the Coosa River lakes south of there.”

McCaig expects fishing on Weiss to be a little tougher than normal for this time of year in the tournament

“It’s an extraordinary lake and people are still catching fish, but I don’t think it will take a gigantic bag Saturday. I think 14 to 15 pounds will win it. Somebody may bring in 18 pounds, but I think 15 or 16 pounds will be really good.”

The reason, he said, is it is summertime, it’s hot and there has not been a lot of rain.

“There are some deep fish being caught and some shallow fish being caught. You can catch them about any way you want to fish. It’s just hard to find a concentration of fish,” he said. “Saturday, if I have a good day, I may catch one 15 feet deep and one a foot deep. It will be what I call junk fishing.”

That said, he plans to concentrate his fishing in shallow areas.

“I do have a few deep places to hit up in the day, but I will catch most of my fish flipping. There is a lot of wood in the lake, up the river, log jams close to deep water, but shallow. That is what I will be concentrating on.”

He will have his work cut out for him, said BWS tournament director Randy Sullivan

“Alabama North has been one of our strongest, most consistent divisions for 2012. We are averaging over 70 boats an event for the first three tournaments. After this event at Weiss we will have our two-day championship event at Guntersville at Val-Monte.”

Sullivan said that after the two-day tournament August 25-26 the points will be tallied up and the top 40 boaters and top 40 co-anglers  will be invited to the BWS no-entry-fee Regional Championship in October.

“After each of the four Regionals, the top 50 boaters and top 50 co-anglers from each of the four regionals will qualify for the BWS National Championship on Lake Sam Rayburn in Texas on November 4-10,” he said.

“The Boater winner will receive $100,000 and a spot in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic. The co-angler winner will receive $50,000.”

 

Bassmaster Weekend Series – Alabama North Division

Sat, Jul 14, 2012

Lake Weiss

Little River Marina

Call Randy Sullivan 256-230-5633

www.abaproam.com