It was no surprise at the opening round of the Marshall Bass Trail the conditions were pretty brutal. The lake had rose over 12 foot in 2 days until reaching summer pool and they had began pulling the lake on Saturday all the way through Sunday to keep it at summer pool. All on top of a 38 degree take off with 10mph winds it was definitely not the ideal conditions.

Despite the conditions, WV anglers showed out in a big way and the Marshall Bass Trail had a record breaking boat count of 72 boats at its opening 2022 fundraiser event. The team was able to raise over $1,400 in order for travel and lodging expenses while competing on The Bassmaster College Series. The previous boat count record for the Marshall Bass Trail was 49 on Summersville Lake last September. Surprised by the 72 boat count was the eventual winners Mike Samples and Lloyd Coleman. 

“We was expecting 40 to 50 boats,” Coleman said. “Having that many boats was very exciting to see.”

With 72 boats crowded and awaiting take-off Coleman and Samples knew they had to execute their plan early, as that many boats on Sutton can almost seem like the lake is a parking lot.

“We knew we wasn’t the only ones with same plan,” Coleman said, adding that they knew what they needed to do. “We knew we just had to capitalize on each bite and land them to come out ahead.”

Most everyone in the field can attest that the early morning bite was pretty key in this event, those that caught them had most of their success before the 72 boat field really got to moving around around the lake.

“With that many boats you had to catch them early. We knew the fish were going to shutdown with all the boats so we fished as fast as we could the first few hours,” Coleman told us.

The duo in fact got the job done early that morning up shallow and earned their way to a $1,960 pay day + 100 points towards the Team of The Year weighing in at 13.83 pounds.

The Marshall Open Bass Trail will host it’s next event on Stonewall Jackson Lake on May 1st to continue the process for qualifying for The 2022 Cup. The event will be hosted from the Marina, and if the weather is kind I could definitely see that event being a big bass slug fest for the win.  The Cup will be held November 6th and 7th and only 45 boats will make it to the annual event, those who qualify will have to fish 3 out of 5 regular open events and finish inside the Top 45 in points.