> Series News > Lopez, Frey Win 2024 Battle of the Brands Event at Lake Guntersville
Lopez, Frey Win 2024 Battle of the Brands Event at Lake Guntersville
February 18, 2024
Guntersville, AL-Steve Lopez and Rich Frey topped a 142 boat field for the 2024 Battle of the Brands presented by GSM Outdoors on Lake Guntersville. Lopez and Frey weighed a 24.01 pound, 5 bass limit to take home the win and $3,000.00 first place prize.
“We didn’t have a fish until 9:30 or 10:00,” stated Frey. “We started catching them off and on the rest of the afternoon, we caught the last one right before it was time to come in.”
“We caught fish all over the lake,” stated Lopez. “We definitely mixed it up now that it’s a Battle of the Brands,” Lopez explained.
The 2024 GSM Outdoors Battle of the Brands event at Lake Guntersville featured products from companies Yamamoto Baits, Bill Lewis Lures, Buckeye Jigs, SteelShad Lures, and Big Bite Baits. Competing teams have the ability to use currently manufactured products from any one of these companies during competition.
Lopez and Frey caught their winning limit utilizing multiple baits, including the Bill Lewis Lures ScopeStick, a Bill Lewis Lures Rat-L-Trap, and a Buckeye Lures Mop Jig.
With the win, and with Lopez being enrolled in Nitro’s Nitro Rewards Contingency Program, it netted an additional $8,000.00 in contingency money for a payday totaling $11,000.00.
Steve Lopez (R) and Rich Frey (L) with their winning catch
Johnny Patterson and Bryan Douglas, winners of the 2019 Rat-L-Trap Classic at Lake Guntersville, took home a solid 2nd place finish with a 23.83 pound, 5 bass limit and earned a $1,750.00 payday.
“We caught all our fish on the new Bill Lewis Lures Hammer Trap,” explained Patterson.
“We caught 15 or so fish throughout the day,” added Douglas, explaining they caught all their fish on multiple colors of the new Hammer Trap.
Joey Nance and Peyton Nance landed a 3rd place finish overall worth $1,500.00. Nance and Nance weighed a 23.42 pound, 5 bass limit in their efforts by throwing a Bill Lewis Lures Chrome/Blue Rat-L-Trap, the #1 selling color of Rat-L-Trap.
Rounding out the Top 5 were the teams of Blake Tully & Greg Milatz in fourth place with 23.15 pounds, followed by Bryan Sharp & Grant Smith in fifth place with 23.14 pounds.
Big Bass of the event was caught by the team of Bronson Jones and John Kist. The duo weighed a 7.65 pound Guntersville toad to take home $1,590.00. Kist caught the fish on a Black/Blue Buckeye Jig around rocks in about 3-1/2 feet of water about 2:00 in the afternoon.
John Carman & Gary Tyree weighed the 2nd Big Bass of the event with a 7.48 pound fish to earn $750.00.
Jeff Gardner & Shannon Gardner weighed the event’s 3rd overall biggest bass with a 7.27 pound kicker to earn $500.00.
Tyler Phillips topped a 41 angler field in the Kayak division with a 5 bass limit totaling 92.75 inches. Ron Butler, Jr. finished the event in 2nd place with 91.50 inches, followed by Ronald Butler in 3rd place with 90.25 inches. Keith Lamberth caught the largest bass in the kayak division with a bass measuring at 20.25 inches.
“We were blessed with another year of great weather for this year’s event,” said tournament director Brian Stahl. “24 teams brought in bags weighing over 20 pounds and we weighed more than 1,589 pounds of bass during today’s event on just 91 of the 142 registered teams.”
“The lake has had some pressure the last few weeks, and I really thought we’d see a 30 pound bag brought in today,” stated Stahl, “I think Friday’s cold front paired with the added pressure caused the bite to fall off a bit.”
A full list of results can be found here.
About GSM Outdoors:
Few American outdoor companies enjoy a mutually respected relationship with their customers that span over five generations. GSM Outdoors is among those few! For over 70 years, the GSM family of brands has been helping passionate hunters, shooters, knife enthusiasts and anglers succeed through innovation and the manufacture of high-quality, reliable products that continue to prove themselves in the field, on the range and on the water. GSM Outdoors continues to leverage the latest technology and provide customers with the best products on the market. Tradition, heritage, and loyalty to outdoor enthusiasts of generations past and generations to come…that’s the GSM Outdoors guarantee!
