Since 2019, the Fitzgeralds haven’t been able to close out a win with the Marshall Fishing Team.

But no longer.

The father and son duo team are now two-time champions with the Malone’s Marine Marshall Bass Super Series and this time sealed the deal in a tight race with 9.91 pounds on Sutton Lake. They edged out 2nd place finishers Cody Huddleston and Zach Horrocks by just 0.34 ounces. 

The last time the Fitzgeralds won with the Marshall Fishing Team was on Sutton in 2019 during the first season of its existence. They have never wavered and have never missed an event with the team in the four years, now going on five years of existence. 

“Finally,” said Dylan Fitzgerald. “It feels good to get a win and get the season started in the right direction,

“We had three fish pretty early, just some small keepers. But we made a run at about 11:30 up the river and got on a shallow bank where we filled our limit and eventually won the tournament,” said Fitzgerald.

The shallow bank would eventually produce the winning fish and cull out the three small keepers they started with. Culling up after catching over 10 keeper-size fish on the bank.

“We milked that spot from about 11:30 to about 2:05,” said Brian Fitzgerald. “We tried to hit some other stuff on the way in and nothing else produced. Fortunately, what we caught off of that spot was enough to win.”

Dylan accredits their success on the time they spent on the lake yesterday claiming he found the winning spot while running back in.

“I just stopped there and I never made a cast, I just went down through there and idled and I thought to myself this sets up just how I like and I marked it,” said Dylan. “We have never even fished this spot before.”

The Fitzgeralds stuck with a tried and true two-punch prespawn staple for their winning pattern. Giving credit to catching most of them on jig and a few on a jerkbait.

And while the Fitzgeralds might have struck gold on Sutton, they have a bigger goal on their mind for the 2023 season – Team of the Year.

“Obviously and by far Summersville is our best track record, but it has messed us up in the past,” said Brian “We are just hoping to be solid in that tournament and then the real challenge for us will be Stonewall. 

“The first time we go there, hopefully, the fish will be up shallow and biting, but our past tournament records there are not so good so we are looking to turn that around.”

Last year the Fitzgeralds finished up in 23rd on Stonewall, but if they hope to secure a Team of the Year Title in 2023, they’ll need to make improvements on that 23rd-place finish from last year. The Cline’s scored 482 points out of a total of 500 points, only dropping 18 points. Averaging no worse than a 4th place finish. 

The Fitzgeralds earned $1,536 for their win. Cody Huddleston and Zach Horrocks earned $768 for their second-place finish, while Jason Gillispie and Joe Bradshaw took home $500 for finishing in third.

Frankie DeLong and Brenton Davis yet again won big bass on Sutton with a 3.81-pound largemouth and earned $240 for that catch.

The Malone’s Marine Marshall Bass Super Series is sponsored by Highway Saftey Inc., Dock Talk WV, Horizon Financial, The Walters, Mohawk Tribe #11 Redmen Bingo, Brookshire Barrett & Associates, LLC, and Kureha