Birmingham, Ala- “It was the best day of fishing in my whole life,” a teary-eyed Randy Howell said as he weighed in a big day three bag.
According to the man himself, he cried the entire one and one half hour drive from Lake Guntersville back to Birmingham. Even for those of us covering the event, we new he was having a special day.
But no one knew just how special it would turn out to be.
With a hometown crowd, and a cheering section comprised entirely of King’s House attendees, Randy Howell would put a monster bag of 29 pounds, 2 ounces on the scale.
Despite the big bag of the day, a sense of relief was not to be found. Howell weighed in early, and the top 6 anglers still had to weigh in behind him.
The Super Six Take The Stage
With anglers like Ott Defoe, Edwin Evers, Randall Tharp, and a charging Paul Mueller ready to put their fish on the scales, Randy had a nerve racking several minutes in the hot seat.
When it finally shook down, Evers and Howell hugged each other waiting for Evers’ final tally. In that moment, you could see both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
Howell raised his hands in the air as the confetti flew, and trophy was placed in his hands. The arena exploded for the hometown hero. A hero who couldn’t hide his emotion nor what he believed led to the victory.
“I just had a feeling guiding me. I can’t explain it. I just knew God wanted me to turn around and change plans. I followed that feeling and had an overwhelming sense of peace.”
Turns out, the Almighty was right, as Howell found a spot that would take him from 11th place, all the way to a trophy. Following that inner intuition places Howell in the record books for the largest come back in BASS history.
The Winning Baits
There weren’t many secrets on Guntersville this weekend.
Most people were flinging some type of trap, in some variation of red. The Red Eye Shad was a popular choice.
Howell however, would take a different approach. Armed with an as-yet-unnamed Livingston Lures crankbait which he was given on media day, he would land the fish that earned the trophy.
“I only had one, and I got hung up a few times. Luckily I never lost it,” Howell would say during the press conference.
Besides this mystery prototype, Howell also threw a DT6 in Demon (a version of red).
And The Rest
It was a long tournament for everyone, with Guntersville proving quite stingy with the big fish it’s known for.
During the press conference, while everyone agreed Randy deserved his win and is a wonderful person, you could feel a cloud of disappointment. Edwin Evers, while always being quite cordial, wore the face of a man who gave it his all and came up just short.
“I just didn’t get those big fish,” he said.
The rest of the field was equally deflated, save for BASS Nation angler Paul Mueller and college angler Jordan Lee.
But no one showed more disappointment than Randall Tharp.
An early favorite to win it all, Tharp battled changing conditions, unprecedented boat traffic, and mechanical issues to post a respectable finish. Still, there’s only one winner, and “good” finishes don’t count in the minds of these elite anglers.
An incredible weekend of touch conditions concluded with an ending out of a fairy tale.
Congratulations Mr. Randy Howell!