To say that Bo Spence and Tyler Temple have been on a roll is an understatement as they’ve become a team with several big wins to their credit since teaming up to fish a few tournaments about a year and a half ago. They have won back to back in their last two tourneys at Miller’s Ferry on the Alabama river.

McNider Marine Tournament

It’s never good to receive a text in the early morning hours and it was a worst-case scenario in early June on the morning of the McNider Marine tournament for Bo Spence. His fishing partner Tyler Temple had come down with a stomach bug and had to back out of the tournament.

“I really didn’t have time to think about it,” Spence said. “I just got in the truck and headed for Miller’s Ferry. It was a long ride and I knew it would be a long day, but I got there in time for blast off.”

Spence started slowly and caught one small bass on the first spot. On his second stop the fishing was still slow but he caught a 4-pounder, so things were looking up.

“I moved to a slough and went in there caught a 5.87-pound lunker that turned out to be the big fish of the tournament,” Spence said. “I kept fishing and caught a couple smaller bass and then nailed another 3-pounder.”

Things were suddenly looking up for the lone angler fishing a team tournament with the odds stacked against him.

High Noon came and Spence knew he had some decisions to make as he had three good bass but need a couple more to put him in contention. He went for broke and decided to go for the win.

“I decided to move out deeper since the bite had been tough and was getting slow,” Spence said. “About 1 p.m. I caught another 3 pounder and then lost a good one. Time was dwindling when I caught another bass that was just shy of 3 pounds.”

Turns out that Spence’s five fish limit tipped the scales to 17.42 pounds, which was good enough to win the McNider Tournament!

Winning any competitive money tournament is a big accomplishment but to do it fishing solo at Miller’s Ferry against some of the best competition in Alabama is quite a feat indeed. While the day had been tough for Bo Spence he persevered and ultimately triumphed by staying in the moment and focusing on each cast and controlling what he could.

Miller’s Ferry Classic tournament

Last Saturday, the talented duo of Temple and Spence were back on the water and this time both contributed to another big-time win.

“This time we fished deeper and caught another big string of bass,” Spence said. “We had a five fish limit that weighed 17.20 pounds.” We won first place as well as the money pot that each boat could join by putting up $50.”

First place was good for $10,000 and they added another $1,600 to that for a total purse of $11,600! That’s about as good as it gets around these parts for tournament purses.

“It’s an honor to compete with Tyler against that group of anglers over there because they are some of the best anglers around,” Spence said.

By the looks of their recent wins I’d say that Temple and Spence are right up there with the best of them, also!

Call Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or email mikegiles18@comast.net.