The top prize for the Alabama Black Belt Adventures Best Fish Photo Contest’s beginners division was awarded to three-year-old Spur Knight of Valley Grande.
For the Knight family, fishing is certainly a family affair. Chase Knight and his son Spur, accompanied by his older brother Gauge, age seven, were fishing at the Dallas County Public Fishing Lake when they opted to cast their line into a new area of the lake.
They noticed tree limbs hanging into the water on the backside of the lake. They cast their line in the direction of the limbs in hopes that it would attract fish.
“I tried to help Spur make the perfect cast to get his hook near the structure without getting caught up, but he would have none of it and insisted he go it alone,” said Knight. “By the end, you can imagine the number of hooks and corks that were dangling from the limbs – easily 10 to 15. I honestly thought he was hung up again when he started yelling but, sure enough, he made a great cast and did it all by himself, eventually landing a huge shellcracker.”
For his catch, Spur received nearly 1,000 votes during the Triple D Ranch-sponsored contest. As winner, the young fisherman won a full day of fishing for two along with one night’s lodging at Triple D Ranch near Emelle in Sumter County.
Both Knight brothers can claim bragging rights as Gauge was a previous winner of an ALBBAA Best Fish Photo Contest.
This contest recognized a winner in two categories for both beginners and experienced anglers. ALBBAA awarded Brandon Sullivan of Tyler the top prize in the latter category for his catch of a nine-pound, 11-ounce bass retrieved from a private lake in Dallas County.
Pam Swanner, director of the Alabama Black Belt Adventures Association, touted the array of fishing opportunities in the Yellowhammer State’s Black Belt region.
“Having a winner from both a public fishing lake and a private lake speaks to the bountiful fishing opportunities in the Black Belt,” said Swanner. “The many water ways and impoundments found in the Black Belt have always had great reputations as abundant fisheries and the privately managed lakes at various outfitters are well maintained for the utmost in customer satisfaction. We’re extremely proud to recognize both an experienced and beginner angler this year and are very grateful to Triple D Ranch’s support and partnership of the contest.”
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
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