U.S. Angler’s Choice Region 3 Tournament of Champions was held March 8th thru the 9th on one of the best bass fisheries in the world Lake Guntersville. The 194 teams that launched at Goose Pond in Scottsboro Alabama were competing for well over $150,000 in cash and prizes including three Legend Boats rigged with Mercury ProXS Motors.
The Mississippi Pool 13 division team of Paul Malone and Steve Mui jumped out to a commanding lead on day one by bringing a huge bag to the scales weighing in at 35.90 lbs. The team started the day fishing traps and buzzbaits over grass in water depths of one to eight feet. This produced a quick limit with an estimated weight of seventeen pounds by 9am. This allowed the team to make a move to some deep water areas they had located in practice that produced larger fish but seemed less dependable. Their third stop produced magic as they culled out every fish and then started culling fish over six pounds. They had the weight they would end the day with by 10:30am. These fish were staged in fifteen to twenty-five feet of water and were taken on one ounce jigs, big swimbaits and Carolina rigs.
On day two when they arrived at this area they were unable to fish it well due to other boats occupying the same general area. The team had to improvise and they focused on finding shad and fish holding in 15-25 ft of water and utilized the same baits as on day one. It was a much slower day as they only caught eight keeper fish throughout with their best five weighing 22.32 lbs but it was more than enough. Their two day weight of 58.22 lbs bested the second place team by eight pounds and Paul Malone and Steve Mui became the 2012 Angler's Choice Champions in Region 3.
