NACT Tourney Top Honors Go to Team Tackle 22 Fishing
by Ron Presley,
First-place and Top Lady Angler honors go to Edward Anderson and Alyssa Bell, Bell also won Top Lady Angler under the new NACT directorship of Doug Smith.
The North Alabama Catfish Trail (NACT) held its 4th event of the 2024 season on Wheeler Lake out of Ingalls Harbor in Decatur, AL. NACT’s founding director and owner, Lisa Haraway, is transferring ownership of NACT to Doug Smith.
“The North Alabama Catfish Tournament Trail is a great tournament trail to fish,” said Doug following the recent event. “Myself along with my fishing partner, Paula Curtis Smith, are planning to grow this trail even bigger and better.”
“I have been blessed with the many friendships I have built over the years fishing tournament,” continued Smith. “Because I consider it to be a trail worth fishing I hope to carry on Lisa’s dream of conducting a highly regarded tournament trail that anglers want to fish and be part of.”
Lisa Haraway will be assisting and guiding Smith through the remainder of the 2024 season and then his ownership becomes official in January 2025.
The April 13, 2024 event attracted 31 teams that included 11 veterans, 8 females, and 6 youth anglers. Teams came from as far away as Iowa and Arkansas to fish in the family-friendly tournament that recognizes top anglers in the various categories.
Saturday was a beautiful day for fishing on the Tennessee River and Wheeler Lake. Fishing hours were 6:30 am to 3:30 pm with anglers required to be at the scales by 3:30 pm.
First Place, Top Veteran, and Top Lady Angler 
The top spot at NACT went to Edward Anderson and Alyssa Bell. They made the 4-hour trip from Columbus Georgia to team up and bring 117.20 pounds to the scales to earn the first-place spot. Their day of fishing also earned Edward the Top Veteran Angler Award and Alyssa the Top Lady Angler Award sponsored by Kat Mamma Industries. Alyssa is now sitting in 3rd place in the overall Lady’s Points Race.
“We arrived on Thursday hoping to do some prefishing and catch some bait,” reported Anderson. “We were met with rain and winds that kept us off the west end of the lake where we prefer to fish.”
Luckily the weather improved on Saturday and anglers were greeted with beautiful weather for a catfish tournament. Being creatures of habit and having areas of the lake they do better in than others, Anderson and Bell headed for the west end of Wheeler Lake near the mouth of the Elk River.
“We started dragging baits,” recalled Anderson. “We used large pieces of skipjack while targeting water in the 20 to 25 feet deep range. We had some success in this area before due to the mussel beds and schools of bait fish that hang around in the early morning hours.”
They began getting bites but no hook-ups. They had 4 big takedowns that did not result in fish. Anderson attributed the lack of hook-ups to short bites stuck to their strategy.
“We stayed on our course pulling planer boards at 0.5 mph,” Anderson explained. “By 8 am we had our first fish, a 30-pound blue on the deck. We continued on this track and about 30 minutes later we got a big bite and landed a 53-pound blue. Anytime you can put a 50-plus pound fish in the livewell in a tournament, that brings confidence and definitely helps boost the mood after missing 3 or 4 good fish.”
The Georgia team continued to drag and brought a whopping 2-pound blue to the boat.
“The little blue wouldn’t have made a whole fish sandwich,” joked Anderson. “But we needed an under, so in the livewell it went.”
They finished their drag, pulled up their lines, and went back to their starting point. They started to drag a new track at a different angle than the first drag. About 30 minutes into the new track they caught another 50-plus blue and culled the 30-pounder they caught earlier.
“At this point we were elated,” offered Anderson. “Anytime you can weigh in 100 pounds or more at a tournament on the Tennessee River you’ll be competitive. Anytime we are fishing competitively 100 pounds is our personal goal.”
Anderson and Bell continued to fish their strategy and managed to catch a few more unders but were not successful in culling from the 117 plus pounds they had by 11:30 am. Fishing had been good for Team Takle 22, but so was the camaraderie.
One of the other competitors that Anderson was familiar with from other tournaments had told him that he had around 120 pounds. As Anderson and Bell worked their way up the weigh-in line they talked to other anglers and their confidence grew. However the question remained, would their 117 pounds hold against what their friend had in his livewell? They were ahead of the other angler, Josh Sheffield, at the scales.
“After we cleared the scales my friend was right behind us,” recalled Anderson. “Our attention went to see if he would bump us out of first. His biggest fish was weighed first at 58 pounds knocking our biggest fish out of the big fish award. I thought we were in trouble. His other fish hit the scales and his total weight began to populate on the board and finally rested at 116 pounds. It was a great job by Josh and his sons, but we managed to remain in first by a margin of less than one pound.”
“I’ve been fishing tournaments for a few years now and this tournament was my girlfriend Alyssa’s second,” concluded Anderson. “Her first tournament we took 5th at NACT on Wilson Lake. I want to give a big shoutout to her. She is learning a lot about the sport and is becoming a great angler herself and I want to congratulate her on receiving the Top Female Angler award at this tournament, as she took second in the last one.”
Second Place, Big Fish, and Top Youth Anglers 
The runner-up spot went to Josh Sheffield and his two sons, Josh and Titus. This family team brought in 116.41 pounds to finish less than a pound out of first place. Their bag included a 58.75-pound blue to win Big Fish honors. Their weight also gave the Top Youth Angler Award, sponsored by Parks Planner Boards, to the Sheffield brothers.
“First tournament I’ve fished with my sons and man they brought the luck with them as always,” stated Sheffield in a Facebook post. “Finished 2nd, Top Youth & big fish (58.75 lbs). We were in fish about all day and missed 2 absolute freight trains. Thanks to all my sponsors and it was great to see friends. Couldn’t have asked for a better day. Congrats to Edward Andersen on the win!!”
Third Place 
The third spot went to Nathan Blint with a whopping 108.86 pounds while fishing solo in the Wheeler Lake event.
Fourth Place 
David Ryals, Tim Adams, and Jeremiah Bursch claimed the 4th spot with a total weight of 104.17 pounds. Ryals and Adams had just met Jeremiah on Friday night below Wheeler Dam catching bait. They invited him to fish the tournament with them. He caught on quickly and added a 27-pound blue for their first fish. He went on to add 53, 30, 2, and 49 pond blues to help them claim the 4th spot.
Top Flathead Award 
In a new category, NACT gave out a Top Flathead Award. Jeff Steele and Jeff Patrick brought a 19.60-pound flattie to the scales to earn a check for $210!
Final Thoughts
The NACT continues to be a family-friendly tournament trail aimed at fishing for old-fashioned fun and camaraderie. New owner Doug Smith has vowed to continue to work with and expand the great group of sponsors, volunteers, and anglers that already support the tournament.
The camaraderie of tournament fishing is more important to many of the anglers than winning or losing. This was the case for recent winners Anderson and Bell. In addition to the friend they beat out by less than a pound, they also had some fun with Anderson’s regular tournament partner.
“My usual tournament partner brought his own boat for this tournament and took 8th fishing with his wife Jessie,” revealed Anderson. “This was the first Tennessee River tournament they’ve fished together and they did great. They’re family and I couldn’t be more proud of my brother Justin and his wife. We were messing with each other the entire day not telling the other what we had, it was a fun time and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ll be sure to rub his nose in this one for a little while until he gets his turn, he’s a great fisherman and better friend so I know it won’t take long. “
“There were a lot of great fish weighed at this tournament,” continued Anderson. “We were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. I’m thankful for the camaraderie with the other anglers competing in this tournament. We do enjoy catching up with our friends when we make the trip.”
Anderson is the founder and president of Tackle 22 Fishing, a nonprofit organization that takes veterans and active-duty service members on fishing trips. He credits the organization for getting him started in catfishing as he made a switch from bass to catfish. CatfishNow congratulates Team Tackle 22 on the win and thanks them for what they do for our veterans. #catfishclass.
For more winners, photos, and information visit the North Alabama Catfish Trail website or follow them on Facebook.
The next NACT event will be on May 4 and 5, 2024. It will be a Sudden Death Elimination Bracket Tournament on Wheeler and Wilson Lakes.
