BASS Nation of WV annual State Championship is set to kick off this Saturday, October 15th, and finish up October 16th out of Powhatan Point Marina on none other than the Ohio River. 140 competitors, 70 boaters, and 70 non-boaters are set to compete on what some consider “the best stretch of the Ohio River”.

From our knowledge, the latest “major” tournament held out of Powhatan Point was the Ohio River Challenge on June 25th of this year. Tim Schwall and Mike Hanson won the event with four largemouth and one smallmouth that weighed 13.45. Closest to them was the second-place team of Terry Tompkins and Corey Guinn who had four largemouth and one spotted bass that weighed 8.42.

With a little bit of digging, we found some results from an event BASS Nation of WV put on back in July of 2012 on the river. It was the last time BASS Nation of WV visited the Moundsville area. Robby and Robert Fleshman won the event with 9.16.

The dock talk about Moundsville is that the smallmouth fishing is rumored to be superior there. But looking at tournament results largemouth has dominated each time. Its fishing and conditions are going to be a key factor going into the event.

Peeking at the forecast there is a chance of some rain moving into the area on Saturday and Sunday. Winds on Saturday are expected to pick up in the afternoon as well.

We caught up with Ed Powell who we all know has success on rivers around our state.

“That part of the river can be crazy this time of the year,” Ed said. “There could be some giant weights if things line up right.”

Ed projects the winning weight for the winner of the event will be around 14 pounds after two days to win with the conditions we have now. 8 pounds to get inside the top 10 and 5 pounds to sneak inside the top 20.

“I think there will be two or three guys that catch over 12 pounds and maybe one over 15 pounds if we get the right conditions, Ed said. “You’ll see a ton of guys around that five-pound mark in this event.”

Information regarding the event can be found on the BASS Nation of WV website here: https://wvbassnation.org/

To keep up with updates on the tournament you can follow along with BASS Nation of WV on their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/WVBASSNATION