GADSDEN, Ala. — Fighting a relentless current cast after cast, Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., landed her fourth BASS win — her second on Neely Henry — Saturday by just 7 ounces in the Academy Sports Outdoors Women’s Bassmaster Tour season opener on Neely Henry Lake.
“It was simple persistence,” Martin-Wells said.
Her 38-pound, 10-ounce total bested Tammy Richardson of Amity, Ark., who recovered after a slow first day to finish second with 38-3.
Martin-Wells won $1,000 and a Skeeter/Yamaha boat rig valued at $55,000.
The Coosa River impoundment’s current picked up speed this week as water was pulled through the Neely Henry dam to handle three days of heavy rain.
“Even though I have a very good and strong trolling motor, the current was stronger, so the whole time I had my foot on it, I was straining from daylight to takeout every day,” Martin-Wells said. “If I caught a fish, or broke off, or had to cull, by the time I got through, I was half a mile from where I had been fishing, so I had to crank up the big motor to get back to my fish.”
Martin-Wells won the WBT’s 2008 event on Neely Henry as well as the inaugural WBT Championship in 2007 on another Coosa impoundment, Lake Mitchell. Her vast experience on Coosa waters led her to try just about every lure in her tacklebox this week— tubes, worms, crankbaits, spinnerbaits and even a drop-shot rig, something she rarely turns to.
Martin-Wells went into Saturday’s final round with a 2-pound, 10-ounce advantage over Richardson. Richardson did her best to catch up, weighing Saturday’s biggest bag of 15-4, but was short of trumping the pro from Georgia.
