Vicious Fishing Line pro Kevin Short won the Alabama Charge on Pickwick Lake with a four-day total of 20 bass weighing 75 pounds, 1 ounce, for his second career Bassmaster Elite Series win. Short, of Mayflower, Ark., led the first two days before falling to third on Day 3 and then surging on the final, weather-shortened day of competition. Despite just four hours of fishing time on the last day, Short caught the biggest limit of the tournament, weighing 23-5, to easily eclipse the final 12 anglers and win by five pounds.

Short won his first Elite Series tournament in 2009 on the Mississippi River. He joins only a handful of  anglers who have won multiple Elite Series tournaments including Kevin Van Dam, Skeet Reese and Mike McClelland. Short pushed his career earnings to $627,486.  

“Sunday while I was fishing after catching about 20 pounds and was thinking I might win, and I realized there haven’t been as many who have done it more than once,” Short said. “That in itself is pretty amazing and shows how hard it is out here. You have to make every right decision every day and have things go right for you.”  

Short caught all of his fish on a Peeper's Baits WEC balsa square-billed crankbait, either in chartreuse for sunshine or chartreuse-black during cloudy conditions. He focused on cypress trees in the back of a creek where pre-spawn females were around isolated trees. Short’s biggest bass on Sunday weighed 6-12.  He used 17- and 15-pound Vicious Fluorocarbon, switching to the lighter line Sunday after water levels and clarity changed in his creek. The lighter line allowed his crankbait to have better action.  

“I had to hit the tree with the bait or I wouldn’t get a bite, so I was casting into them, around them, between them … getting right in there with it,” he said. “Four of the five I weighed in Sunday were caught on 15-pound test Vicious Fluorocarbon. I could feel the action of the bait better with the lighter line, even though it’s only a slight difference in size. But it made the difference.”

The anglers faced challenging situations on Pickwick with water levels fluctuating up to 18 inches, pre- and post-spawn bass and turbulent weather. Tornado warnings, heavy rain and persistent strong winds raked North Alabama during the final two days of competition.  

“The Vicious Fishing family is proud of Kevin, and his wife Kerry, for the win and all their hard work,” said Chris Dutton, director of marketing for Vicious. “To have two Vicious anglers win two of the four Elite Series tournaments this season is quite an accomplishment. We’re equally proud of John and Kevin, and look forward to the rest of the season.”  

The Elite Series is at the midway point of the season and resumes May 6-9 on famed Guntersville Lake in Alabama.