First West Alabama Team Trail draws 43 boats despite muddy water and cold

Forty-three teams fished in the first tournament of the West Alabama Team Trail Feb. 12 on Lake Miller’s Ferry.

The West Alabama Team Trail was started by John McAlpine, who is well known and well respected in the Alabama bass tournament world. McAlpine also runs the Xtremebass tournament series. He explained the Alabama Team Trail has “a little lower entry fee, and we’ll fish right here local, at Miller’s Ferry and Lake Demopolis.”

McAlpine said the West Alabama Team Trail series will feature six tournaments, three at Miller’s Ferry and three on Lake Demopolis. The Miller’s Ferry tournament will launch and weigh in at Bridgeport Landing. The Demopolis tournaments will launch and weigh in from Lock 5 Landing because of ongoing renovations at the Demopolis Landing. The next tournament will be in Demopolis.

The river conditions for this first tournament were less than favorable. “The river last week was really high,” McAlpine said. “They pulled it out really fast, and that muddied it up. It’s also been cold.”

Some zeroed out with no fish at all; others weighed in very small catches. Those that did weigh in reported the fishing was tough because of the muddy water and cold water temperatures.

Despite the unfavorable conditions, some good-sized fish were caught. In third place and taking home $600 was Justin Coxwell and Thomas Moore from Waynesboro, Mississippi with a total of 14.98 pounds. Placing second with a total weight of 17.18 pounds and wining $800 was Will and Ricky Ayers from Demopolis. The first-place team was Joe Lay and Tony Fondren from Tuscaloosa, with a total weight of 18.45 pounds, which paid out a total of $2,000. The tournament actually paid the top six.

Gettin’ Outdoors with BDL podcast host and Black Belt outdoor guru James “Big Daddy” Lawler broadcast the weigh-in on his Facebook live feed. “When you see an 18.45-pound bagmand a 6.48 big fish in a 43-boat tournament, with water conditions like they are, that’s a testimony to the type anglers we have fishing in this West Alabama Team Trail,” Lawler said.

Big Daddy also noted that many of the anglers fishing in this tournament also fish in the Alabama Bass Trail, which is the premier bass tournament trail in the state.

McAlpine said he was very pleased with the turnout. “I felt like under the conditions, we were lucky to have the number of boats we had,” McAlpine said. He said anyone wanting to fish the tournament should go to the Xtremebass Facebook page. Information on both the West Alabama Team Trail and Xtremebass will be there. The next West Alabama Team Trail tournament will be March 12 on Lake Demopolis.

McAlpine’s other tournament series, Xtremebass, has a higher entry fee but also pays out considerably more. First place pays $10,000. Xtremebass will be fishing from Bonners Landing on Lake Jordan in Wetumpka Feb. 19.