Beautiful Weiss Lake in Cherokee County, AL hosted more than 90 anglers for the Crappie USA event on March 18, 2017. Surrounded by beautiful scenery and abundant crappie waters, anglers fought off some cold weather to put some nice fish in the boat.
As often happens when a crappie tournament comes to town, the weather took a turn to the dark side. Classic, mild Alabama weather, only a few days earlier, changed to freezing temperatures as the tournament anglers launched on Saturday morning. They faced cold temperatures, rainy skies and 25 mph winds. Nevertheless, when savvy anglers meet highly infested crappie waters like Weiss Lake they are going to catch fish.
Anglers from several states were competing for $7,000 in cash and prizes, and the chance to advance to the Cabala’s Crappie USA Classic. This year’s classic will be held October 26 – 28, 2017 on Kentucky & Barkley Lakes at Paris, Tennessee.
Pro Division Results
Jim Freeman and Garrett Bridges, both from Eddyville, Kentucky claimed the top prize in the Pro Division with a total weight of 10.90 pounds. Their bag earned them $1,500.00. The team fished all over the mid part of the lake targeting old, natural stumps and man-made cover. The team reported starting with live bait and then switching over to Glow Pepper color jigs to catch the better fish. Most of their fish came from 12 – 14 feet of water. They landed a total of 17 fish for the day. 
Following close behind, and claiming second place, was the Carmi, IL team of Henry Haley and Jo Haley.
Team Haley weighed in 10.73 pounds and earned $800.00. They also had the 2nd Big Fish of the tournament to add an additional $270.00 and the Ranger Cup Bonus added another $250.00. The team fished the Little River area of the lake on old stake beds. They spider rigged using purple/chartreuse jigs in 10 – 12 feet of water to catch 16 fish on the day. The teams 2nd place Big Fish weighed in at 2.13 pounds.
Taking third place were Jeff Ingram of Centre, Alabama and Jud Westbrook of Trion, Alabama.
They weighed in 9.30 pounds and earned $500.00. The team fished up the river in shallow water using both live bait and jigs to catch over 120 fish for the day. The team stated that their best fish were all caught on plum and chartreuse color jigs.
Amateur Division Results
Mo and Marty Spears, both of Piedmont, Alabama, took first place in the Amateur Division with a total weight of 9.65 pounds and earned $1,100.00, plus an additional $630.00 for Big Fish. 
The team fished Cowan Creek area in 6 feet of water, catching most of their fish in 3 feet of water, where the fish seemed to be in spawning cycle. The team stated that most of their fish were hitting the Cajun Cricket color jigs to land over 30 keepers for the day.
In second place were Joe Hayes and Phil Trapp, both of Cave Springs, Georgia.
They weighed in a total weight of 8.84 pounds and earned $600.00, plus an additional $250.00 Talon Bonus and $125.00 Ranger Cup Bonus. The team spider rigged up river in 10 – 15 feet of water using live bait to catch a total of 30 fish for the day. The team stated the fish were holding very tight to heavy cover.
Taking third place was Robert Lemming of Summerville, Georgia and Chris Anderson of Fort Payne, Alabama weighing in at 8.16 pounds and earning $400.00. The team fished the main river area in front of Canoe Creek, spider rigging in 13 – 14 feet of water, to catch a total of 21 fish on Saturday using live bait.
Dave Ancell of Section, Alabama and Danny Stephens of Arab, Alabama took fourth place with a total weight of 7.56 pounds and earned $400.00. The team was spider rigging on the upper end of the lake in 16 feet of water to land 25 fish for the day.
John Hicks of Adairsville, Georgia and Timothy Harris of Plainville, Georgia took fifth place, weighing in 7.50 pounds and earning $300.00. The team was pushing live bait in the “Blow Hole” to catch 10 – 15 fish for the event.
Organizers sent out a special thank you to Teresa Hulgan and Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce for hosting the tournament and adding to its success. And special thanks to Jim Griffith and staff at the OK Tire in Centre for making axle repairs to the weigh-in trailer. Trouble on the road is never a good thing, and their repair (at the speed of sound) saved the day and got everyone to the seminar on time.
The next CUSA event will be KY & Barkley Lakes, Paris, TN. It is a Super Event (2 days) on 03/24/17 – 03/25/17.
For more information please call Crappie USA at 502-384-5924. Be sure to check out the website at: www.crappieusa.com and like Crappie USA Tournament Trail Facebook Page. Both sites contain new and exciting information on CUSA events along with special information for crappie anglers everywhere.
