By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Neely Henry Lake isn't Alabama's top bass-fishing destination, but it's usually not as stingy as it was during last week's Southeastern Toyota Series event.

"It's fishing as tough as I've ever seen it, to be honest with you," said Mark McCaig, an Oxford, Ala. resident who won that derby by averaging just over 11 pounds per day. "September is the worst month to be there.

"We haven't had a lot of rain and there's not a lot of current and there's not a lot of reasons for the fish to bite. Plus the tournament was around a full moon, and I think that's the hardest time to catch them in the late summer and fall."

McCaig, who operates a construction company along with his father-in-law and brother-in-law, put in 2 1/2 days of practice for the Wednesday-through-Friday event, then worked on the day before it started.

"Practice was very tough, but I didn't really fish in a lot of the areas I thought I could catch fish in," he said. "I tried to find something new – just an area or two where I could get a few bites.

"I've fished the lake for 30 years and I caught fish in this tournament from places where I never thought of fishing before. One thing about it was we didn't have the boat traffic that you would on a weekend and there were places that were good during the week that would have 2- and 3-foot waves washing in on them all day on a Saturday or Sunday. There were no wake boats and no pontoons out there and it opened up different parts of the lake that can't be fished in weekend events."

Best Action Came Late

McCaig's best action came during the latter part of the day after the Alabama Power Company began pulling current. Prior to noon, he ran around junk-fishing docks, trees and any other shallow place that had some type of wood.

His three-pronged attack consisted of flipping, cranking and throwing a frog.

"We've been having a (mayfly) hatch every day for a month and a half," he said. "They're just swarming on the bushes and when they land on the water, the bream go nuts (which, in turn, excites the bass). I ran around some of those areas with a frog and the first day I caught one before 10:30, the second day I caught a 2 1/2-pounder before 12 and the last day I caught two early that I weighed in."

The other two techniques came into play once the water started to move. He fished any piece of cover that interrupted the flow.

"The current wasn't strong enough to make a huge difference," he said. "I just think the fish, like they do in a lot of lakes this time of year, chase bait, and when the current's running all the bait gets behind something. When that happens, the bass move up and feed."

He weighed only 8-15 on the first day, but that put him right in the mix as there were only two 10-pound-plus stringers that came to the scale. He followed that up with a tournament-best 14-10 to take over the lead as the field was reduced to the Top 10.

His 10-03 haul on the final day allowed him to hold off hard-charging Tyler Glasgow, who boxed 13 pounds, by a 14-ounce margin.

"Just fishing where everyone else wasn't fishing was the biggest thing for me," he said. "There were only about 60 boats, but the lake still fished very small – there were a few guys up at the dam and everyone else fished in the most popular areas.

"I only weighed two bass the entire week that came from places where I thought I was going to catch fish. I just went with my gut."

Winning Gear Notes

> Cranking gear: 7' medium-heavy 13 Fishing rod, 13 Fishing casting reel (6.4:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, Lucky Craft 1.5 (sexy shad).

> Flipping gear: 7'6" heavy-action 13 Fishing Envy Series rod, same reel (8:1 ratio) and line, 5/16-ounce tungsten bullet weight, 3/0 Trokar straight-shank hook, Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog (green-pumpkin).

> Frog gear: 7'1" medium-heavy 13 Fishing Envy Series rod, same reel (8:1), 65-pound Seaguar Smackdown braided line, SPRO Bronzeye 65 (black).

Notable

> McCaig qualified to compete on the Bassmaster Elite Series via his performance in the 2009 Southern Opens (two Top-10s in three events), but declined the invitation. "My goal was to qualify, but it was never really my goal to fish for a living," he said. "I wanted to know if I could do it. I've spent a lot of time around guys who fish for a living and they've got to do it whether they want to or not. Living where I do, I have a lot of advantages – I fish the tournaments I want to fish, the trails I want to fish and the lakes I want to fish, when I want to fish them."



Final Standings

1. Mark McCaig -- Oxford, Al -- 8-15 (5) -- 14-10 (5) -- 10-3 (5) -- 33-12 (15) -- $57,690

2. Kyle Glasgow -- Guin, Al -- 7-2 (5) -- 12-12 (5) -- 13-0 (5) -- 32-14 (15) -- $8,265

3. Hunter Hayes -- Gadsden, Al -- 9-7 (5) -- 9-7 (5) -- 9-15 (5) -- 28-13 (15) -- $6,357

4. Andrew Johnson -- Glencoe, Al -- 7-13 (4) -- 11-4 (5) -- 9-3 (5) -- 28-4 (14) -- $5,298

5. Josh Butler -- Hayden, Al -- 6-10 (5) -- 11-10 (5) -- 9-12 (5) -- 28-0 (15) -- $4,768

6. Derek Hicks -- Rocky Face, Ga -- 10-7 (5) -- 12-7 (5) -- 4-0 (3) -- 26-14 (13) -- $4,238

7. Clabion Johns -- Social Circle, Ga -- 8-4 (5) -- 10-8 (5) -- 8-0 (3) -- 26-12 (13) -- $3,708

8. Cal Lane -- Gunntersville, Al -- 9-12 (5) -- 8-2 (5) -- 4-7 (4) -- 22-5 (14) -- $3,179

9. Terry Tucker -- Gadsden, Al -- 9-9 (5) -- 9-3 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 18-12 (10) -- $2,649

10. Scott Towry -- Lawrenceburg, Tn -- 6-0 (5) -- 12-8 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 18-8 (10) -- $2,119

The following anglers did not make the cut and did not fish on day 3.

11. Justin Marbut -- Jacksonville, Al -- 5-1 (3) -- 12-3 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 17-4 (8) -- $1,987

12. Lynn Johnson -- Attalla, Al -- 9-3 (5) -- 7-15 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 17-2 (10) -- $1,854

13. Kris Colley -- Ragland, Al -- 6-4 (5) -- 10-12 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 17-0 (10) -- $1,589

14. Adam Brown -- Rainbow City, Al -- 9-4 (5) -- 7-12 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 17-0 (10) -- $1,589

15. Jason Nixon -- Wetumpka, Al -- 10-14 (5) -- 5-7 (2) -- 0-0 (0) -- 16-5 (7) -- $1,589

16. Josh Stracner -- Vandiver, Al -- 8-4 (5) -- 7-15 (4) -- 0-0 (0) -- 16-3 (9)

17. Will Beutjer -- Athens, Al -- 8-0 (5) -- 7-9 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 15-9 (10)

18. Gil Summerlin -- Guntersville, Al -- 6-9 (5) -- 8-12 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 15-5 (10)

19. Josh Bragg -- Jacksonville, Al -- 9-1 (5) -- 6-1 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 15-2 (10)

20. Lavoyd Lemmond -- Decatur, Al -- 10-8 (5) -- 4-6 (2) -- 0-0 (0) -- 14-14 (7) -- $254

21. Brent Crow -- Hartselle, Al -- 6-10 (5) -- 8-4 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 14-14 (10)

22. Jordan Lee -- Cullman, Al -- 5-0 (3) -- 9-8 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 14-8 (8)

23. Lance Oligschlaeger -- Gallatin, Tn -- 7-12 (5) -- 6-11 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 14-7 (10)

24. Andrew Nordbye -- Guntersville, Al -- 7-14 (5) -- 6-8 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 14-6 (10)

25. Bill Mayo -- Rainbow City, Al -- 8-0 (5) -- 6-5 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 14-5 (10)

26. Jeff Cannon -- Douglasville, Ga -- 9-11 (5) -- 4-4 (3) -- 0-0 (0) -- 13-15 (8)

27. Dustin Smith -- Grand Island, Fl -- 5-10 (4) -- 8-4 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 13-14 (9)

28. Bryton Kurtz -- Montgomery, Tx -- 6-15 (5) -- 6-15 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 13-14 (10)

29. Logan Waites -- Phenix City, Al -- 5-12 (3) -- 7-11 (3) -- 0-0 (0) -- 13-7 (6)

30. Raymond Kitchens -- Southside, Al -- 8-15 (5) -- 3-7 (2) -- 0-0 (0) -- 12-6 (7)

31. Jesse Millsaps -- Jasper, Ga -- 9-2 (5) -- 2-9 (2) -- 0-0 (0) -- 11-11 (7)

32. Ethan Greene -- Eufaula, Al -- 3-4 (2) -- 8-6 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 11-10 (7)

33. Casey O'Donnell -- Guntersville, Al -- 4-12 (3) -- 6-8 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 11-4 (8)

34. Lee Black -- Danville, Al -- 5-8 (4) -- 5-10 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 11-2 (9)

35. Logan Johnson -- Tuscaloosa, Al -- 4-7 (3) -- 6-10 (3) -- 0-0 (0) -- 11-1 (6)

36. John Grinstead -- Cairo, Ga -- 5-8 (4) -- 5-8 (4) -- 0-0 (0) -- 11-0 (8)

37. Chris Summers -- Winchester, Tn -- 6-4 (5) -- 4-1 (3) -- 0-0 (0) -- 10-5 (8)

38. Jeff Kitchens -- Auburn, Al -- 2-10 (2) -- 7-4 (4) -- 0-0 (0) -- 9-14 (6)

39. Chris Hensley -- Marbury, Al -- 8-13 (5) -- 1-0 (1) -- 0-0 (0) -- 9-13 (6)

40. Hermilo Salgado -- Artemus, Ky -- 5-2 (2) -- 4-6 (2) -- 0-0 (0) -- 9-8 (4)

41. Adam Lynn -- Columbia, Tn -- 8-3 (3) -- 1-3 (1) -- 0-0 (0) -- 9-6 (4)

42. Johnny McCombs -- Morris, Al -- 9-4 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 0-0 (0) -- 9-4 (5)

43. Hank Golden -- Tallassee, Al -- 3-8 (1) -- 5-9 (2) -- 0-0 (0) -- 9-1 (3)

44. Bill Spratlin -- Rockford, Al -- 7-13 (5) -- 1-3 (1) -- 0-0 (0) -- 9-0 (6)

45. John Duvall -- Madison, Ga -- 8-4 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 0-0 (0) -- 8-4 (5)

46. Michael Hood -- Winchester, Tn -- 0-0 (0) -- 8-4 (5) -- 0-0 (0) -- 8-4 (5)

47. Kacy Mims -- Randolph, Al -- 8-3 (4) -- 0-0 (0) -- 0-0 (0) -- 8-3 (4)

48. Scott Huff -- Madison, Ga -- 3-13 (1) -- 4-6 (2) -- 0-0 (0) -- 8-3 (3)

49. Scott Byrd -- Ocklawaha, Fl -- 4-4 (2) -- 3-11 (3) -- 0-0 (0) -- 7-15 (5)

50. Harry Peyton -- Guntersville, Al -- 3-7 (2) -- 3-10 (2) -- 0-0 (0) -- 7-1 (4)

51. Laker Howell -- Guntersville, Al -- 2-5 (1) -- 4-3 (3) -- 0-0 (0) -- 6-8 (4)

52. Gary Howington -- Hokes Bluff, Al -- 5-14 (3) -- 0-0 (0) -- 0-0 (0) -- 5-14 (3)

53. Charles Gordon -- Leitchfield, Ky -- 4-3 (4) -- 1-11 (1) -- 0-0 (0) -- 5-14 (5)

54. Allen Armour -- Cumming, Ga -- 2-3 (2) -- 3-11 (3) -- 0-0 (0) -- 5-14 (5)

55. Zac Smith -- Cleveland, Al -- 1-12 (2) -- 3-15 (2) -- 0-0 (0) -- 5-11 (4)

56. Harry Moore -- Valley, Al -- 3-5 (2) -- 2-0 (2) -- 0-0 (0) -- 5-5 (4)

57. Brian Merriman -- Falkville, Al -- 0-0 (0) -- 2-3 (1) -- 0-0 (0) -- 2-3 (1)

58. David Parsons -- Dothan, Al -- 1-4 (1) -- 0-0 (0) -- 0-0 (0) -- 1-4 (1)