Tough would be understatement of how the Kanawha River fished over the weekend. But as always, in the field there is going to be the duo that catches them and this week it happened to be Bill Shelton and James Pack. The longtime fishing duo won the Malone’s Marine Marshall Bass Super Series at the St. Albans Parks and Recreation Roadside Park on the Kanawha River. They did it with the tune of a 5 bass limit of smallmouth that weighed 8.85 pounds. Now becoming the second team to have won both The Cup and a regular season tournament behind Cody Huddleston and Zach Horrocks.

It’s been since 2021 since Shelton and Pack have tasted victory on the Marshall Super Series but now have added another win in their column and bumped their total earnings with the Marshall Super Series up to $4,501 in just a few short years. Making them the 7th highest money winners on the series.

“It is definitely cool to be one of the two teams to have won a regular series event and The Cup,” said Shelton.  “A win against the group of fishermen that are in the trail definitely feels like an accomplishment.”

Shelton and Pack sure know their way around smallmouth and no one would deny that. Every check they’ve cashed with the Marshall Super Series has been with smallmouth so it is no surprise for them to get another one here when the opportunity presented itself. The duo capitalized on the changing conditions of the river and rode it for the win.

“The water coming from the New River definitely made a difference for us,” said Pack. “We had a good practice two weeks prior to the tournament, but the water was clearing up. It kinda made us nervous, but with the water coming down the New we thought we may have a chance. We decided to stay in pool because of the good practice day we had and the conditions were looking to be similar.”

“We managed a small limit early and caught fish pretty much all day,” said Shelton when asked about their day. “The current nearly stopped at one point so we had to make an adjustment but we kept catching one here and there.”

The win put the duo just 10 points behind the overall lead in the Team of the Year. A lot would have to change in the points for the duo to seal a Team of the Year win, but it’s not out of the question.

“You can rest assured that we will be giving it all we can at Stonewall to get those points but Stonewall is kind of like kryptonite to me unless I’m fun fishing,” said Shelton. “Although our goal is to have fun every time we go out and we are sure doing that this year.”

Second place was the Wayne County team of Kenny McSweeney and Randall Fields who caught 7.02 pounds.

Third place was Charlie Hanshaw and Jeffrey Hanshaw who weighed in 6.77 pounds to claim third and climb up the ladder in the Team of the Year race.

Big fish was caught was reeled in by Sam Nowalk and Ben Nowalk who weighed a 2.54 pound lunker.

The next tournament is at Stonewall Jackson Lake on September 16th to wrap up the Team of the Year race and Cup qualifications. We’ll have a full story out soon on the Team of the Year race, but in the mean time watch the Marshall Super Series Highlights on the Kanawha River. Stay tuned and keep up with the Marshall Fishing Team on Facebook!