February 5th, 2023
Triston Abbott (L) and Christian Nash (R) hold up their winning Lake Guntersville stringer
Guntersville, AL- Triston Abbott and Christian Nash topped the 212 boat field for the 2023 Battle of the Brands presented by GSM Outdoors on Lake Guntersville today. Abbott and Nash weighed a 23.91 pound, 5 bass limit to take home the win and $5,000.00 first place prize. The duo only had 5 bites throughout the day, but they were the right ones.
“We caught all our fish throwing a 1/2 oz Chrome/Blue trap,” stated Abbott. “We only had five bites all day and only had two fish until 1:00.”
“We had two four pounders by 1:00”, added Nash. “Then he caught that six and a half and we were able to finish our limit out late in the day.”
Abbott and Nash, fishing out of Triston’s Triton, stated they were enrolled in the Triton Gold Rewards program, which would earn them up to an additional $8,000.00 incentive for winning the event.
The former Rat-L-Trap Classic, turned Battle of the Brands event from the acquisitions made by GSM Outdoors the last 12 months, allowed anglers to now use products from Bill Lewis Lures, Yamamoto Baits, Buckeye Lures, and Steel Shad. Guest co-emcee, and Major League Fishing Pro, Fletcher Shryock exclaimed how surprised he was at the percentage of anglers who still caught all their fish throwing the trap, even though they had the opportunity to use other techniques.
Guest co-emcee and Major League Fishing Pro Boyd Duckett agreed. Though the winning team of Abbott and Nash focused on throwing the tried and true Chrome/Blue, an overwhelming majority of anglers stated they caught their fish throwing a Rayburn Red trap.
Ray Langston and Heath Thrash hold up their 3rd place stringer, including the event’s overall Big Bass-an 8.43 pound lunker
Dylan Nutt and Smith McGregor took home a solid 2nd place finish with a 22.91 pound, 5 bass limit and earned a $2,000.00 payday.
Ray Langston and Heath Thrash were the first team to the scales and set the bar high with a 21.86 pound 5 bass limit that eventually landed them in a 3rd place finish overall worth $1,500.00. Langston and Thrash anchored their bag with the event’s overall big bass, an 8.43 pound Guntersville Lunker that netted the team an additional $2,500.00.
Justin Strickland and Tyler Crawford inked a 4th place finish with a 21.60 pound, 5 bass limit to earn $1,300.00. They took home an additional $540.00 for the event’s 3rd biggest bass weighed for the day, a 7.78 pound kicker.
John Carman and Gary Tyree anchored the top 5 with a 21.56 pound, 5 bass limit to finish the day in 5th place, taking home $1,200.00.
Chad Jones and Danny Crockett landed the event’s 2nd big bass overall, an 8.12 pound G’Ville Toad to take home $1,200.00
“We were blessed with great weather and a great turnout for this year’s event,” said tournament director Brian Stahl. “The top 10 teams each had over 20 pounds and we weighed more than 1,257 pounds of bass during today’s event on just 85 of the 212 registered teams. It really shows the quality of fish Lake Guntersville is known to produce.”
Full results from the 2023 Battle of the Brands presented by GSM Outdoors can be found here.
Photo gallery of today’s event can be found here
