William Weidler of Bessemer, Ala. brought a five-bass limit weighing 22-03 ounces to the scale Saturday to win the FLW Series Southeastern Division finale on Lake Chickamauga. Weidler’s two-day total of 45-02 was enough to earn him the win by a 1-07 margin over FLW Tour pro Barry Wilson and garnered him a check for $48,200.
Normally a three-day event, the tournament was shortened to two days after Thursday's opening round was canceled due to strong winds and dangerous conditions. The tournament resumed Friday and Saturday with the full field fishing each day. The pro and co-angler winners were determined by the cumulative weight of two days of competition instead of three.
“I think I’m still in shock,” said Weidler, who was fishing in just his third career Series event. “I wasn’t even entered in this tournament and I just decided to get in on Tuesday, this week. To come up here and get the win … I am blown away.”
Weidler said that he made the decision to enter the tournament after a 6th-place finish in the Bassmaster Open event just one week prior.
“After my finish last week, I figured I might just have a chance. I’m a shallow-water fisherman – I caught all of my fish this week swimming a jig in 18 inches of water or less,” Weidler said. “I caught around 35 keepers on Friday and around 30 today. I was fishing transition areas, spawning bays and bluegill beds.”
Weidler said that his most productive area this week was just five minutes from the launch ramp – near the lower end of the island at the mouth of the Hiwassee River. He said that every fish that he caught came on the jig, a black and blue-colored half-ounce Dirty Jigs No-Jack swimjig with an H&H Lures Swamp Frog.
“The frog comes black with white feet, but I dye the feet blue to match the black and blue of the swimjig,” he said.
“The key for me this week was just having patience. Around 1 (p.m.) today I didn’t have much weight in the livewell and I started hearing the little voices in my head. But the sun came out and it warmed up, and then some clouds moved in and it got a little overcast. I just knew that they were going to start biting, and they did. I was fishing a bluegill bed and I ended up culling everything in my livewell. It was a magical spot.”
Here are the final totals for the top 10:
1. William Weidler: 45-02
2. Barry Wilson: 43-11
3. Brian Merriman: 43-04
4. Taylor Ashley: 42-12
5. Brent Butler: 41-01
6. Tim Frederick: 40-14
7. Joe Thompson: 40-11
8. Wes Logan: 40-02
9. Hensley Powell: 39-00
10. Anthony Ford: 38-02
