Good Karma Carries Team Road Warriors to Top Spot at Bama Blues on Wilson
Cad Daly, Tyler Dobbs, and Brett Hubbard had never met until they fish Bama Blues’ first daytime tournament.
Bama Blues Catfish Trail holds events on Wheeler and Wilson Lake in Alabama. The September 26, 2020 event on Wilson Lake was their first daytime tournament. They drew 25 teams from various states to compete for a total purse of $3000.
Registration began at 6 am, with livewell checks before that. Once teams were registered, they could launch, but no fishing was allowed before 7 am. Bama Blues’ rules allow 4 people in the boat if one of them is a minor. No “lines out” rule apply, but teams must be back at the ramp by 4 pm. Bama Blues on Wilson was a 3 fish tournament with 2 fish allowed over 34 inches at the Safety Harbor weigh-in.
First Place
Good karma was definitely present on the first-place boat captained by Cad Daly. A make-shift team less than one day old appropriately named themselves the “Road Warriors.” The team brought a total weight of 106.4 pounds to the scales to claim the top spot. Their bag included a nice 55.2-pound Wilson blue cat.
When his regular partner, Chris Parker couldn’t make it for the tournament. Daly turned to Facebook looking for a partner to fish with him.
“Our day actually started on Friday night around 9:00 pm,” recalled Daly. “That was when I found out I would be able to make the tournament on Saturday morning but without a partner. Chris Parker my regular partner was fishing the World Championship of Catfishing. I made a post on Facebook looking for a partner.”
The power of social media worked in a positive way. Tyler Dobbs, an angler from Indiana messaged Daly. He was interested in taking him up on his offer. Daly replied in the affirmative and their destiny was joined.
“I asked if he was in town,” explained Daly. “He said no I’m at home in Indiana 6.5 hours away. I can be at your house by 5 am. So, he and Brett Hubbard loaded up and drove all night. They met me at my house and we got our day started at 5 am.”
“It was a last-minute decision,” confirmed Dobbs. “My friend Brett Hubbard and I live in Indiana. I opened up Facebook Friday night around 9 pm and saw Cad’s post looking for someone to fish the tournament with him. I sent him a message asking if he would be interested in fishing with 3 people and Cad said that would be great. We loaded up and made a 6.5-hour trip, arriving at Mr. Daly’s house around 5 am Saturday morning.”
The quickly assembled team was greeted with an absolutely perfect day to fish on Wilson Lake. Air temps were in the 70’s and the sky was overcast most of the day with little wind.
“We decided to suspended fish,” reported Daly. “We fished all day in water ranging from 60-85 feet deep. The strategy paid off. We caught 12-15 quality fish. We weighed a limit of 3 fish— 2 fish over 34 inches and 1 under.”
The bait of choice was fresh skipjack provided by Bama Skips out of Anderson, AL. It was an early bite and the team caught all of their fish before noon.
“We caught fish most of the morning,” recalled Dobbs. “It was an absolutely great day of fishing. I broke my PB with our big fish of 55 pounds. My friend Brett Hubbard also broke his PB with a 36 pounder and got to experience fishing on Wilson Lake for the very first time.”
“Overall, it was a great day on the water,” offered Dobbs. “The best part was being able to fish with someone like Cad Daly. He is a most respectful guy. I can’t thank him enough for letting us experience fishing with him and teaching us stuff.”
“This was the first Bama Blues Catfish Trail tournament I’ve fished,” concluded Daly. “Cory and crew ran an awesome tournament! I would like to thank my sponsors B’n’M Poles, River Rat Reel Repair and especially my wife who allows me to do what I love!”
Second Place and Big Fish
The runner-up spot went to Caleb Like, his father, Brian Like, and little brother Billy. The family team made a long drive from Indiana to fish the Bama Blues on Wilson event. They brought a bag of 99.15 pounds to the scales that included the Big Fish of the tournament at 66 pounds.
“We’ve done a lot of fishing on Wheeler,” stated Caleb. “But this was only our second time fishing Wilson. We started out dragging baits with planer boards and running two suspended rods out the front of the boat in 70-80 feet of water.”
As the morning went on the team began to notice the majority of the fish they were marking were about 10-15 feet off the bottom.
“We switched to running more suspended rods,” reported Caleb. “We placed baits around 12-15 feet from the bottom. This turned out to be a good move because we started to catch large numbers of fish. However, our big fish was caught on a dragging setup with a 5- to 6-foot leader.”
“I would like to thank Cory and Chris Ramsey with Pipeline Tackle,” concluded Caleb. “They do a great job servicing and tuning our reels. I also want to give them a shout out for running one of the best ran tournament trails that we’ve been to.”
Third Place
Brian Meares and Michael Clark teamed up to take the third spot. The team from Somerville, AL pulled SPREAD EM Planner Boards around islands to cover more ground. They brought a total weight of 91.35 pounds to the scales. Their big fish was 41.3 pounds.
“We were dragging all day,” reported Meares. “We experienced a good early morning bite in 70 foot of water. The water temp was in the middle 70’s. Around 11:00 am the bite slowed down. We caught 28 fish altogether and had several in the 25- and 30-pound category. We also hooked a monster that stopped the boat and turned it sideways. We had him 15 feet from the boat when he came off.”
“The Big Cat Fever Rods with Penn Squall Reels performed without any problems,” concluded Meares. “Cory Ramsey runs a good tournament trail. He is always ready to help you out with anything. He is a top-notch person. We are blessed to be able to do what we love to do.”
The Remaining Top Ten
4th Place – Nooner Hall, Les and Trenton Thompson – 87.8 (42.9)
5th Place – Tyler Moses, Donald O’Dell, and Panky Sneed – 86.4 (47.05)
6th Place – Chris Fuller and Doc Lange – 83.15 (53.5)
7th Place – Jimmy Burton and Logan Tanner – 74.8 (30)
8th Place – Chad Mayfield and Jason Frost – 71.1 (40.9)
9th Place – Rob Rider, Richard and Darin Hagan – 70.95 (29)
10th Place – Jeff Steele and Tim Thorn – 70.9 (47.65)
Bama Blues are supported by B’n’M Poles, Rigrap, Pipeline Tackle, Cat River Anchors, Bama Skips, RS Nets, KATFISH Clothing, REEL EM UP, LLC, Dub-L-Seats, TNT Catfishing, Parks Planer Boards, CatfishNOW and Hookers Terminal Tackle.
To keep up with happenings on the Bama Blues tournament trail follow them on Facebook, visit their website at https://www.thebamablues.com/, or contact Chris or Cory Ramsey at Pipeline Tackle.
