SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (Feb. 13, 2006) - Boater Marshall Deakins of Dunlap, Tenn., earned $4,686 Saturday as winner of the Bass Fishing League Bama Division bass fishing tournament on Lake Guntersville. The tournament was the first of five regular-season Bama Division events and featured 138 boaters vying for the win, which earned Deakins 200 points in the Boater Division.
Deakins' winning catch of five bass weighed 26 pounds, 11 ounces. He threw a Rat-L-Trap in 8 feet of water on the main lake to catch his bass.
Rounding out the top five boaters are Johnny Patterson of Grant, Ala. (five bass, 25 pounds, 3 ounces, $2,343); Brad Yates of Scottsboro (five bass, 22 pounds, 2 ounces, $1,562); Tim Buckner of Scottsboro (five bass, 20 pounds, 9 ounces, $1,093) and John G. Devere of Berea, Ky. (five bass, 19 pounds, 9 ounces, $937).
Devere earned an additional $500 as winner of the Ranger Cup award.
Kenney Carroll of Opelika, Ala., took Boater Division big-bass award honors, earning $690 for a 9-pound, 4-ounce bass.
Shane Peels of Cleveland, Tenn., bested 138 Co-angler Division competitors to earn $2,343 as the co-angler winner, thanks to five bass weighing 17 pounds, 14 ounces that he caught, also while fishing a Rat-L-Trap.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Tony Harris of Villa Rica, Ga. (five bass, 14 pounds, 11 ounces, $1,172); Steve Miracle of Dandridge, Tenn., and Keith Harper of Grove Oak, Ala., tied for third place. Miracle caught four bass weighing 13 pounds, 9 ounces and Harper caught three bass weighing 13 pounds, 9 ounces. Both anglers earned $664. In a fifth-place tie was Scott Brummett of Brentwood, Tenn., with three bass weighing 13 pounds, 5 ounces and James E. Smith of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., with two bass weighing 13 pounds, 5 ounces. Both anglers earned $449 for their catch.
One of Harper's bass, an 8-pound, 8-ouncer, earned him $345 as the co-angler big-bass award winner.
The Bama Division's next event will be held March 4 on Lewis Smith Lake near Jasper, Ala., followed by an event on Wheeler Lake near Decatur, Ala., April 8. The fourth event will be held May 13 on Weiss Lake near Cedar Bluff, Ala., and the Bama Division will wrap up its regular season Sept. 9-10 with a two-day Super Tournament on Lake Guntersville near Scottsboro.