Crank 4 Bank - Smith Lake and Lake Martin

Crank 4 Bank:  Innovative Fishing Event Makes Waves at Smith Lake 

A whooping $1.6 million worth of prizes is up for grabs - so grab a pole and start fishing!

Crank4Bank - 2024 Official Logo

Anglers of all ages have been invited to participate this spring and summer in a unique fishing event being held for the first time at Smith Lake, lasting from April 1st until July 4th, 2024.  The prizes will be awarded Sunday, July 14th, 2024.  (Venue to be announced – all winners must be present to claim prizes.)
 
The event, Crank 4 Bank, hosted by OGS Tournaments, lets anglers register and purchase a $120 ticket to have a chance at catching tagged spotted and largemouth bass and crappie worth $1,500 dollars each, along with a chance at being drawn to win one of four $60,000 prizes: a Bass Cat from Russell Marine, a Nitro bass boat from Sylacauga Marine, a new pontoon boat from Trident Marina, and a new Chevrolet truck, from Alan Embry of Step One Chevrolet of Bessemer. Ticket holders are also eligible to win prizes through the first ever virtual fishing tournament on Smith Lake that runs concurrently with Crank 4 Bank.
 
“This is the first time we’re doing it on Smith Lake,” says Vivian Autry, who owns Crank 4 Bank and OGS Tournaments alongside her husband Mike Autry. “We call it a tagged fishing event and a virtual tournament. It’s two separate things for one entry fee, and $120 gets you both.”
 
Vivian says the idea behind the virtual tournament is that as you try to fish for tagged fish, you’re likely going to catch a lot of non-tagged fish. With the Fishing Chaos app that you need to download and use to register, you simply take pictures of the length of your fish on an approved bump board (no tape measures), upload it, and the system will automatically cull your top five fish. At any point in time, you can see who’s winning. 
 
“We give out various weekly prizes for bass and bi-weekly prizes for the longest fish of the week, and the longest crappie of the week or every other week,” she says.

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Crank4Bank - 2024 Official Sponsor Poster

The tagged fish for the event include 75 crappie and 200 largemouth and spotted bass.
 
“They’re dispersed all over the lake, in Winston County, Walker County and Cullman County,” Vivian says. “It’s a lot to put them all out like that, but it’s the only way that it’s fair. If you dumped them all at Big Bridge or somewhere, that’s just not fair. You want to make it where they’re all over the entire lake. Although they swim, and you can’t say ‘fish stay’ by any means, you can still think and hope that they are staying within the vicinity of where we put them out.”
 
There will be a separate but identical Crank 4 Bank tournament held simultaneously on Lake Martin, where the event has been held for 4 years.
 
“Just for context, we had 16 winners on Lake Martin last year, and the same amount of fish were tagged as this year,” Vivian says. “We had 35 caught, but only 16 were registered. A couple of years ago, we had somebody win one of the bass boats. It’s 100 percent doable, it’s just a matter of getting out there and getting registered.”
 
Luckily for anglers with a busier schedule or from out of town, a registration deadline is not an issue for those who wish to participate.
 
“I think the biggest thing we need to tell people is that they can register all the way up to July 3, 2024 if they want to, because the whole idea is that some people - especially at Smith Lake because you have lots of rentals (Vrbos and Airbnbs) - will come in just for a weekend with their family,” Vivian says. “If they’re fishing off the dock or somewhere else, and they register and catch one, they may not come but one time, so we just want people to know.”
 
At the end of the Crank 4 Bank and the virtual tournament, prizes for first place, second place, and overall big fish for both crappie and bass will be awarded on July 14th. All tagged fish winners and virtual tournament winners will be subjected to a lie detector test with questions to validate the legitimacy of the catches. At the time of this article’s publication, the weigh-in location is still to be announced, but a spacious venue is currently being secured. 
 
“One of the things that’s cool to mention is that it’s outdoor friendly, something to get you outside and fishing on your beautiful lake, and that it’s something fun you can do as a family together, no matter the age” Vivian adds. “You don’t have to have a boat, either. You could fish off your dock or off the shore, and you can use live bait.”
 
As for the rules, participants will need a valid Alabama freshwater fishing license, fish must be caught using a traditional rod and reel (no trotlines, snagging, hoop nets, shocking, etc.). Only the angler who first hooks and lands the prize-winning fish will be eligible to submit the fish. No transfer of the rod during or after the landing of the fish from a non-registered angler will be allowed, and anglers must be registered on the Fishing Chaos app and entry fees must be paid for two full hours prior to landing a prize-winning fish to be eligible to submit a catch.
 
For more information on this growing event, including a comprehensive list of tournament rules and regulations, and contact information, visit crank4bank.com. Also, stay tuned for the location for the July 14th event to give out prizes to the winners!  The venue and time will be announced on the event’s social media pages.  ​

Updated:  April 1, 2024
Writer:  John D. Palmer

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