ROGERSVILLE, Ala. (March 31, 2025) – Boater Alex Hester of Guntersville, Alabama, caught a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Wheeler Lake . The tournament was the third event of the season for the BFL Choo Choo Division. Hester earned $3,514 for his victory.
“I didn’t have any practice for this tournament, so I really just went fishing like I would do anytime this time of year, looking for prespawn bass,” Hester said. “I fished some deep banks, some shallow banks and came to the conclusion that I was catching them better on steeper banks. Luckily Wheeler is a lake that patterns really well, so I just stuck to the pattern that developed early and stuck with it the rest of the day.”
Some of those steeper banks were located adjacent to spawning grounds, but Hester said that wasn’t a must-have scenario. He also described his bites as coming in waves – two or three here, one there, etc.
“With enough repetition and strong efforts, it just worked out throughout the course of the day,” he said. “Honestly, it was just one of those days, you know? I just made the right decisions. It just worked out right.”
Hester caught his fish on a spinnerbait, a couple of crankbaits and a football jig using a handful of Dobyns Champion XP and Champion XP Glass rods – the model 704C for the spinnerbait, 705CB Glass and 736CB Glass for his crankbaits, and 735C for the football jig.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Alex Hester, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 23-9, $3,514
2nd: Sam Morgan, Coalmont, Tenn., five bass, 19-11, $1,757
3rd: Chad Hall, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 17-15, $1,622
4th: Jeff Knight, Cleveland, Tenn., five bass, 17-9, $820
5th: Trent Adkins, East Bernstadt, Ky., five bass, 16-0, $673
5th: Jennings Earnest, Athens, Ala., five bass, 16-0, $673
7th: James Johnson, Trinity, Ala., five bass, 15-15, $586
8th: Cason Sanchez, Fayetteville, Tenn., five bass, 15-10, $527
9th: Jonathan Poole, Trinity, Ala., five bass, 15-3, $469
10th: Kenneth Grover, Decatur, Ala., five bass, 15-2, $410
Chad Hall of Cullman, Alabama, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $450. Alex Singleton of Rome, Georgia, won the co-angler division and $1,757 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 13 pounds, 6 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Alex Singleton, Rome, Ga., three bass, 13-6, $1,757
2nd: Paul Stidham, Cullman, Ala., three bass, 12-15, $879
3rd: Danny Lankford, Athens, Tenn., three bass, 11-8, $810
4th: Belinda Towry, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., three bass, 11-5, $410
5th: Tommy Pritchard, Bargersville, Ind., three bass, 11-1, $351
6th: Brian Haworth, Sparta, Tenn., three bass, 10-14, $322
7th: David Wiley, Greenbrier, Tenn., three bass, 9-12, $293
8th: Ross Turner, Kingston, Ga., three bass, 9-8, $364
9th: Todd McBride, Huntsville, Ala., three bass, 9-5, $234
10th: Larry Franks Jr., Wilsonville, Ala., three bass, 9-3, $205
Danny Lankford of Athens, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $225, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 15 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After three events, Mike Lowry of Hixson, Tennessee now leads the Fishing Clash Choo Choo Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 722 points, while Paul Stidham of Cullman, Alabama, leads the Fishing Clash Choo Choo Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 703 points.
The next event for BFL Choo Choo Division anglers will be held May 17, at Lake Guntersville out of Scottsboro, Alabama.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-wheeler-33125.html
Bass Fishing League (BFL) News