“I hit a whole bunch of spots,” Martin-Wells stated. “Our practice was not the best in the world, so I did a lot of things today. I fished from one foot deep to 30-feet deep hitting many different areas trying to figure out what the fish were wanting. I finally got on something and I am hoping it will hold out tomorrow. But you know these fish – they have fins and they will swim.”
“I would have been confident up until practice started,” Martin-Wells continued, “but we only pre-practiced for two days and had a good practice. Then when we came back it was totally different.”
“If the lake gets right, then yes I can do this again, but can I really answer that question – no,” she continued. I went out on the lake today with 20 rods on the deck and a full tank of gas and came back with 20 rods on the deck of my boat and no gas the tank,” Martin-Wells concluded.
Martin-Wells also feels the key to her bag of bass on day one at Guntersville was being flexible and not becoming stuck doing one thing, fishing one depth of water, and covering a lot of water.
Following Marti-Wells in the LBAA Guntersville “Super Seven” in the pro angler division were Heather Broom of Sylva, North Carolina in second with 14.73 pounds. Third is Foristell, Missouri’s Lynda Gessner with 14.52. Fourth and fifth respectively was Kathy Womack of Trussville, Alabama with 13.32 and Connie Buckner of Scottsboro, Alabama with 13.14. Finalizing our Super Seven for day one’s pro division action was Plano, Texas’s Cheryl Bowden in sixth with 10.34 and Debbie Kemp in seventh with 10.04 pounds of bass.
In the LBAA Co-angler division’s Super Seven Virginia Buckner of Scottsboro, Alabama leads the way with here three-fish limit that weighed 9.37 pounds. Ashdown, Arkansas’ Vicki Henderson is in second with 6.31. Third is Kim Giddens from Alpine, Alabama with 6.08, and Giddens is followed in fourth by Simpsonville, South Carolina’s Martha Goodfellow with 5.27. Bonnie Ward of Snohomish, Washington is currently in fifth with 4.65. Sixth and seventh, respectively, is Jada Tidmore of Union Grove, Alabama with 4.06 and Cassie Hall with 2.52.
Vincent, Alabama’s Dana Davis caught the big bass for the day in the pro division and it tipped the scales at 5.34 pounds. Co-angler leader Virginia Buckner also caught the big bass on day one on the co-angler side and her big bass weighed in at 3.49 pounds.
The LBAA Lake Guntersville ProAm will conclude Friday, July 8 and then on Saturday, July 9, the LBAA will host the Lake Guntersville Alabama Tornado Relief Charity Tournament. Entry fee is $100 per team with a guaranteed payout of $1,000 to first place. The highest finishing team with a female team member and the highest finishing team with a child age 12 or under will receive a $200 bonus. Membership in the LBAA is not required to fish this charity event. At the conclusion of the weigh-in, drawings for raffle items will take place adding another level of support that will go to help with tornado relief in Alabama. Numerous national and local organizations have donated raffle items for this event.
Both the LBAA Guntersville ProAm and the LBAA Alabama Tornado Relief Charity Tournament will launch anglers at “safe light’ and weigh-ins will start at 2 p.m. at the Val Monte Resort and Marina at 7001 Val Monte Drive Guntersville. 1-256-582-3348.
The Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau is hosting host the LBAA Guntersville Tour Stop. Visit them on the World Wide Web at http://www.marshallcountycvb.com/
Tournament headquarters and lodging for the 2011 LBAA Lake Guntersville event is at the aforementioned Val Monte Resort and Marina. Additional lodging is at the Days Inn of Guntersville which is located at 14040 US Hwy 431 South in Guntersville and their number is 1-256-582-3200.
Sponsors of the 2011 Lady Bass Anglers Association Tour are: Wilkins Brothers Outdoors, Pro Tournament Scales, Todali Tackle, Dawn Outdoors, Red Dirt Bait Company, FINS Superlines, Rayjus Outdoors, Reactions Innovations, Kick `n Bass, Castaway Graphite Rods, Vickie’s Threadworks, Necessity Jigs, West Kentucky LED, SureLife, Arkansas Tournament Fishing (ATF), Fleck’s Hand Poured Baits, Ray Barga and Associates Inc., Nite Owl Productions, and River Runner Baits.
The LBAA 2011 Contingency Programs are Phoenix First Flight, Skeeter Real Money, the Legend Advantage Program, BassCat Quest, and Triton Gold.