The Coosa River provided catfish anglers some night fishing action from Saturday through Sunday noon. The Bass Pro Shops Big Cat Quest traveled to Rome, GA for the all night tournament that began on Saturday, July 30 at 6:00 pm and lasted through the night until noon on July 31, 2016.
Fishing extended beyond state lines, but all tournament boats were required to launch in the State of Georgia. Anglers could launch their boats on the Coosa River or any of its tributaries. Weiss Lake in Alabama was legal waters as long as competitors followed the launch rules. Launch time was set for 6:00 pm on Saturday evening.
The best five fish tournament weigh-in was staged in the Kroger parking lot in downtown Rome. The scales opened at 10:00 pm July 30, 2016 and continued through the night until the final team weighed in.
Paul Blackwell from Anderson, SC and Kevin Breedlove from Clarksville Tennessee made the trip to Rome to fish the tournament. “The bite was awful,” reported Blackwell. “Water temps in the mid 90’s slowed things down. We were on good fish all night and could not get them to bite.”
The team caught one blue that weighed about 8 pounds, but later released it. Tournament anglers like Blackwell are very sensitive about the health of the fish they catch. “The oxygen level was low in the water and I didn’t want to take a chance on that fish dying,” said Blackwell.
The father/son team of George and David Harrison overcame the tough fishing conditions to take the lead in the Rome tournament at 3:05 am when they weighed in two big flatheads at 64.95 pounds. After their final weigh-in the team had amassed a total weight of 113.35 pounds to claim the first place spot.
Their 5 fish bag included the big fish of the tournament. David, from Tunnel Hill, GA, weighed in a handsome 40.5-pound flattie to take the big fish honors.
Second place went to the Chatsworth, GA team of Brad Gray and Aaron Stephenson. They broke the 100-pound mark at 101.10 pounds. Their big fish weighed 40.30 pounds.
Third place in the Coosa River bout went to the husband/wife team of Lonnie and Dawn Fountain. “We used cut bait,” reported Dawn. “We tried our traditional skipjack, but as often is the case it did not work on this river. We went back to what we knew would work, cut white bass.”
The weather cooperated for the most part. “It came the normal 6 o’clock Georgia thunderstorm just as we were putting in at the boat ramp,” continued Dawn. “That didn’t last long, then it was great weather until it got scorching hot around 10 am. The fish mostly started biting right at dark then again right before daylight. We caught 6 blues and 1 striper. We also lost 3 big fish.”
Aaron Churchwell and Jake Herman came from Acworth, GA to catch their 5 fish limit. Their Coosa River stringer of 95.10 pounds came to the scales at 10:53 am and held up to claim the fourth place honors.
“Over all the fishing was tough,” said Churchwell. “The river had almost no flow to it, which is unusual for the Coosa, and it had a 92 degrees surface temp. We fished heavy structure with live and cut bream. We marked a lot of big fish, just couldn’t get very many of them to commit.”
“Eighteen hours is a long time on the water,” joked Churchwell. “Jake and I had to cover a lot of ground to catch the fish we did.”
Fourth place went to the Jasper, GA team of Donnie 
Fountain and Grady Garrett. They were the last competitors to catch a 5 fish limit. Their fish weighed in at 35.75 pounds.
If you have any questions about BCQ contact Ken Freeman at 731-234-1888. Follow the BCQ Website and the BCQ Facebook Page for more information, updates, results and photos from the tournament.
The next tournament will be an individual One Pole Charity Tournament out of Mud Island River Park, Memphis, Tennessee on the Mississippi River. Anglers may only fish with one pole and weigh in only one fish. The entry fee is $100 and a canned food donation to the Memphis Food Bank. For details visit the BCA website.
For information on visiting the area you can browse the website at http://romegeorgia.org/