The Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Neely Henry Lake stuck with the theme of the season — extreme conditions. During official practice, extreme thunderstorms covered the area, making it difficult for the Elites to efficiently cover the body of water. Day 1 of the event was postponed due to high water, so by the time the event started, the Elites were faced with a lake that looked entirely different.
Making adjustments day to day was a major key for those who were able to have success over the course of four days.
Picking a Fantasy Fishing team for the Neely Henry event proved to be a very tricky task. Although the event was won by local favorite Wes Logan, a good number of local anglers didn’t have the tournament you would expect. Overall, selecting shallow water power fisherman was a safe bet.
Haven’t created a Fantasy Fishing account yet? No problem! Sign up and play for free at BassmasterFantasy.com. Players win prizes at each specific event and there are prizes for overall winners at the end of the season as well. You can still play the remainder of the season even if you missed out on the first two events.
The overall winner at Neely Henry Lake was “KCL” who selected three of the five picks that would have made up the perfect roster. Overall Rank: No. 1, Total Points 1,520.
BUCKET A: Brock Mosley
BUCKET B: Wes Logan
BUCKET C: Bryan New
BUCKET D: Clent Davis
BUCKET E: Paul Mueller
The perfect Fantasy Fishing team at Neely Henry Lake would have been:
BUCKET A: Brock Mosley
BUCKET B: Wes Logan
BUCKET C: Matt Arey
BUCKET D: Bob Downey
BUCKET E: Paul Mueller
Total: 1,555
BUCKET A: MOSLEY
If you haven’t noticed yet, Brock Mosley has been the best pick in his bucket quite a bit this season. If it wasn’t for a bad start to the season in Florida, Mosley would be leading the Bassmaster Angler of the Year race pretty handily. With that said, he still has a shot if Seth Feider stumbles at Guntersville. Mosley did what he does best at Neely Henry, by covering shallow water with a number of reaction baits. The Mississippi native scored 313 points for the 3.1% that selected him.
Second best selection: Jason Christie actually had a better finish than Brock Mosley but didn’t receive the bonus points that Mosley did. You had to expect that Jason Christie would factor in a shallow water tournament like we had at Neely Henry. The Oklahoma pro scored 285 points and was selected by 11.7%.
Lowest scoring angler: It may be surprising to see John Cox as the lowest scoring angler in a shallow water event, but it likely had something to do with the fact that the Florida pro didn’t get a single day of practice prior to the event. Cox only scored 96 points for the 2.7% of players who selected him.
BUCKET B: LOGAN
After coming up short a couple of times, Wes Logan notched his first Elite Series victory at Neely Henry Lake. The Alabama native grew up fishing on Neely Henry Lake which allowed him to make decisions on the fly as the water levels changed each day. Logan scored 350 points for the 13.7% who selected him.
Second best selection: Gerald Swindle had a great event at Neely Henry. The Alabama local was another angler that was able to adjust with the changing water levels utilizing a buzzbait, swim jig and a crankbait. Swindle scored 290 points and was heavily selected at 19.2%.
Lowest scoring angler: Mark Menendez not having a good event on Neely Henry was a surprise to most. The Elite Series veteran only scored 115 points and was selected by 1.7% of players.
BUCKET C: AREY
Matt Arey is getting back on a roll. After a subpar start to the season, Arey has notched three consecutive top 40 finishes. The veteran angler was able to mix in a variety of baits to power fish in shallow water to finish the event in fifth place. Arey scored 280 points for the 4.2% of players who selected him.
Second best selection: After struggling in a Basspro.com Bassmaster Open at Neely Henry in 2020, Bryan New bounced back this time around with a Top 10 finish. New scored 276 points and was selected by 11.2% of players.
Lowest scoring angler: Scott Canterbury having a bad event at Neely Henry was one of the biggest storylines of the week. The Alabama native is historically one of the best fishermen on the Coosa River but never got it going in this event. Canterbury only scored 87 points for the whopping 49.5% of players who selected him.
BUCKET D: DOWNEY
Minnesota’s Bob Downey had a great week at Neely Henry Lake. The second-year Elite pro utilized his knowledge of fishing the Mississippi River to make his first Top 10 of the season. Downey scored 272 points for the 1.1% that selected him.
Second best selection: After a shockingly bad finish at Lake Fork, Clark Wendlandt got back on track at Neely Henry with a 13th-place finish. Wendlandt scored 251 points and was selected by 4.1% of players.
Lowest scoring angler: Carl Jocumsen never got it figured out at Neely Henry. Jocumsen only scored 91 points for the 6.6% that selected him.
BUCKET E: MUELLER
Paul Mueller was just over a pound away from winning his third Elite Series title. The Elite Series veteran finished the event in second place, scoring 340 Fantasy Fishing points. Mueller was selected pretty heavily in Bucket E at 17.8%.
Second best selection: Yusuke Miyazaki bounced back at Neely Henry after his lowest finish of the season at Lake Fork. Miyazaki scored 245 points and was selected by 4.0% of players.
Lowest scoring angler: Alabama’s Kelley Jaye struggled on Neely Henry Lake after having a good practice. Jaye scored 79 points despite being the second highest selected angler in the bucket at 20.5%.
