The start of a new season is always exciting, but this year, I’m especially fired up for Stage 1. That’s because we’re opening the 2026 Bass Pro Tour season on my adopted home lake, Lake Guntersville.
Any touring pro will tell you that it’s nice when you don’t have to travel and get to sleep in your own bed for a major tournament, and I’m happy about that – especially given that this is the earliest start to a season that I can remember, so it was a sprint to get everything ready to roll. But starting the year at home is also a big opportunity for me.
For one thing, I’m always excited to show Guntersville off to a national audience. I truly believe this is the best lake in the country, and it’s the perfect venue for a Bass Pro Tour event. Our every-fish-counts format should highlight just how many healthy bass live in this fishery. I’ve always said that, if we could hit the timing right, an every-fish-counts event on Guntersville would shatter BPT weight records.
This is also a big deal for the community around Guntersville. Part of the reason I relocated from Florida to the area in 2010 was the community embraces tournament fishing unlike anywhere else I’ve experienced. I’ve been fortunate to partner with several local businesses, and I’m excited to represent them this week – First South Farm Credit, Guntersville Chevrolet, Foodland, Wintzell’s Oyster House and Frogg Toggs.
This event is also a key opportunity for me as a competitor. Having done this for a while now, I understand that the chance to win doesn’t come around very often. And while I’m not necessarily predicting I’ll have a shot to win this one – too many factors outside of your control have to line up for that to happen – I’m hopeful that my knowledge of the lake can help me out a little bit.
I think this is going to be a very interesting event. I mentioned earlier that Guntersville could break records at the right time of year. I don’t think this one is going to be record-breaking. But I’m OK with that.
To my knowledge, Guntersville has never hosted a top-level tournament in January before. With it being so early, that opens the door for some unusual conditions – maybe a big cold front moves in, or a storm muddies up the water. Personally, I wouldn’t mind something like that. I think that’s about the only way you can have a local advantage on Guntersville anymore given how often everyone competes here, if we get some wild circumstances that only the locals have seen before.
Regardless of the weather, though, I think this event will be characterized by change. I’m not anticipating a deal where someone finds the winning fish during practice then stays on them for four straight days. I think this will be a tournament with big shifts in the standings, as some guys land on a school of fish at the right time one day, then struggle the next. I wouldn’t be surprised if whoever wins finds a fresh group in a new spot on the final day – one of those things where you go, ‘oh my gosh, they just showed up here,’ and then you catch the fire out of them. Hopefully, knowing a few extra spots to check improves my odds of finding such a group.
Of course, there’s a great chance that happens with forward-facing sonar. I’ve been on record that I don’t love forward-facing sonar. In fact, I took it off my boat for my Top 10 at REDCREST on Guntersville last April. But the reality of this time of year is it’s probably going to be the most productive tactic. Now, with our rules, guys are going to have to do other things, too, which I appreciate. And there’s still a part of me that is holding out hope that this event can be won fishing traditionally. But I have forward-facing transducers ready to roll on my Nitro. I’ll at least use it in practice and build my game plan from there.
Even living on Guntersville, it’s not too often you have an opportunity to compete for a six-figure payout on a body of water you know so well. I’m excited to try and take advantage of it.