It is finally time here in the mountain state that tournament fishing gets underway. Temperatures are finally starting to warm and hopefully the fish get on their move towards the banks in here in the next few weeks. BASS Nation of WV will be kicking off it’s annual Buddy Trail Series this weekend at Stonewall Jackson Lake in Weston, WV. The Buddy Trail Series in WV consist of 4 tournaments + a championship. The top 15 teams in the point standings after the 5 tournaments will automatically punch their ticket to the 2022 BASS Nation of WV State Championship that will be held on the Ohio River in Moundsville, WV. To see the full schedule click the link here!

We had the opportunity to catch up with BASS Nation of WV President Ken Hackworth to get his prediction on Stonewall and what he thinks will play out this weekend.

“Water temperature is still cool, the bass will begin to start feeding and bustin’ crankbaits or slow rolled spinnerbaits. I think it will take around 14 pounds to come out with the win,” Ken told us.

Temperatures this week are surely to rise as Wednesday it is projected to see 77, followed up Thursday with a high of 73. That being said it looks like we have some harsher weather moving into tournament day, but I wouldn’t think enough to really affect it. Nothing really new as most WV tournament anglers know all to well about cold fronts on tournament days.

Although what is new for 2022, BASS Nation of WV is finally adding Burnsville back onto the regular season schedule after an absence of a few years. Burnsville has been having an issue with the water line that runs up under the lake that has been causing some issues staying underwater in the earlier months when the lake is drawn down. A lot of us saw this last year when the Marshall Fishing Trail had to do some rescheduling due to the line coming up in the middle of the lake and the ramps were inaccessible.

This week I definitely think we are going to see that usual pre-spawn deal play out and I’m actually kind of curious how much it will actually take to win. In my opinion, I think we are going to see that typical pre-spawn weigh in take place where a handful of guys will have a limit with chances to win and a large majority of the field will have 1 or 2 fish. Not real too sure, but I am excited to get it started and can’t wait to see everyone up there this weekend!

Ken would like to let everyone know that “We appreciate our returning & new members and look forward to a very successful & fun tournament season.”

For all other info about BASS Nation of WV you can find it on wvbassnation.org