By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

When the 2021 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule was announced, Wes Logan was happy to see a tournament on his home waters – Alabama's Neely Henry Lake. There was a bit of an issue with the 30-day off-limits period leading up to the derby, however.

"That did kind of suck because it was during the best time for crappie fishing," he said. "They were biting and I really wanted to go out and catch some.

"It all worked out in the end, though, and I'm not complaining at all."

The Springville, Ala. resident who'll celebrate his 27th birthday next month captured the first victory of his four-year tour-level career by amassing a 57-09 total over four days. He weighed 14-01 on the final day to edge runner-up Paul Mueller by 1-06.

"I don't think it's really sunk in yet because I've been so busy," he said. "Also, I'm trying not to harp on the win because Guntersville is coming up and I've got a good opportunity to make my first Classic (he's currently No. 13 in the Angler of the Year race).

"I'm not always that great on Guntersville, so I'm really focused on that."

Change in Plans

The three-day practice period leading up to the event was disrupted by heavy rain and changing water levels, which left much of the 97-angler field without a firm game plan heading into the tournament. Logan was among that group.

His initial plan was to fish the lower end of the lake, where he was certain he could generate some bites and stand a good chance of at least making the day-2 cut. But when he saw that the water on the upper end had risen 10 inches by the morning of day 1, he decided to check on some grass stretches there that had been productive in the past.

"I said I'd give myself 30 minutes and if I didn't get a bite, I'd run down to the lower end," he said. "I got three bites in that half-hour, so I decided I'd stay and peck around and fish other stuff that looked right."

He ended up with a 14-01 stringer that day, then followed up with 12-08 on day 2 and 16-15 on day 3 (tied for the heaviest sack of the tournament). The latter haul moved him to the top of the standings.

He got some advice from multiple-time Elite winner Brandon Palaniuk before the start of the final round.

"He told me I had to trust the process," he said. "It's an 8-hour day and the most important part could be the first 10 minutes, the last 10 minutes or anytime in between. I had to fish hard and trust what I was doing and not get spun out."

He said he made a bad decision as to his starting location and also missed a few bites. Things started coming together at about 9 o'clock and put his first keeper in the boat.

He figured he needed at least 13 pounds to have a shot at winning. However, when he culled up to 14, he had a gut feeling that he needed another solid bite and fished the rest of the day under a bit of mental duress, which was evident to viewers of the livestream.

He didn't get that bite, but it turned out he didn't need it.

"It made for better TV and it ended up being close at the end, but it was pretty stressful at times," he said. "I was just happy it worked out the way it did."

Variety of Offerings

Logan enticed the grass-oriented fish primarily with either a 5/8-ounce Dirty Jigs Matt Herren flipping jig (black/blue skirt) with a Zoom Big Salty Chunk trailer (blue sapphire) or a Dirty Jigs No Jack swim jig with a Zoom Super Speed Craw trailer. His big bag on day 3 also included specimens enticed by a frog.

He doesn't consider himself much of a cranker, but he caught two that bit a crankbait under a bridge adjacent to the launch in Gadsden, Ala. One of those was a 5 1/4-pounder.

All 20 of the fish he took to the scale were caught within a 10-minute drive of the launch.