Russellville’s Terry Ezzell has always had a love of fishing but was never able to put much time into it because of commitments with his children and family. Now that he has a little more time on his hands, he is slowly getting back into large fishing tournaments.

Ezzell’s first series back was in mid-February at the Major League Fishing Toyota Series in Guntersville, where he placed in the 10th – out of 230 competitors from across the state in country – in his division.

“I am sort of dipping my toe back in the water to see if I can still compete, so to start off with 10th place, I was tickled,” Ezzell said.

His wife, Kristie Ezzell, said her husband has always had a love for fishing and a desire to get back into competing.

“I was just tickled for him,” she said. “I wasn’t able to be there because of the weather, but I kept up with it each day on the computer.”

The series occurred during the week north Alabama endured an ice and snow storm, but Ezzell said he was lucky the roads were clear by the time he made it to Moulton Tuesday morning.

“We still had the cold temperatures, but luckily we did not have any of the snow,” he said.

The series involved three days of fishing, and Ezzell ended the series with seven catches for a total of 19 pounds, 9 ounces.

Ezzell said he decided to enter this series because it was during the week and would be easier on his schedule.

He said it is difficult to find tournaments that work with his schedule, especially during the spring, because of traveling to watch his son, Landon Ezzell, play baseball at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

“I’ve been looking for a chance to get back in it, so this seemed like a great chance,” he said.

He has been fishing small local tournaments over the years but rarely had a chance to fish in large tournaments. He said it has been more than 15 years since he competed in a large tournament similar to this, but he has always kept up with the sport.

“I’ve been a bass tournament junkie even during the time when I was only fishing locally,” he said. “I keep up with fishing the way most people keep up with other sports.”

Ezzell said he will compete in another series in this month, with a goal of hopefully qualifying to fish in the championship in the fall at Pickwick Lake.

“We will see where this takes me,” he added, “but I’m just excited to be back out there.”