HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Before the competitors laid eyes on Lake Guntersville during official practice for Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Presented by MillerTech, there was some thought that championship might produce unprecedented weights. After the anglers spent three days scouting the legendary lake, though, the consensus seems to be that while there’s still plenty of bass biting, winning the $300,000 top prize won’t come down to whoever can reel them in fastest.
A few factors have converged to present anglers a tricky puzzle. It’s prime spawning time, but not all the fish are on beds – in fact, they seem to be moving by the day (perhaps even by the hour) from prespawn staging areas to spawning grounds and back again, and it’s hard to find a concentration of fish. Add in rapidly changing weather conditions and the ever-present fishing pressure on Guntersville, and it’s highly unlikely an angler will be able to ride the same bite from Thursday’s opening day of competition to the winner’s circle on Sunday.
Still, with 50 of the world’s best anglers on arguably the most famous fishery in the country, we’re bound to see some fireworks.
“It’s Guntersville; this place is phenomenal,” Justin Cooper said. “It’s definitely one of the top bass fisheries in the country. So, it’s got ‘em. … When you land on them, I think you can catch them quick out here.”
The spawn is on, but not the only game in town
Viewers on MLFNOW! can expect to hear lots of chatter about the spawn this week. And while it seems to be the case that most of Guntersville’s bass are in some phase of their annual reproductive ritual – either late prespawn, on beds or early postspawn – most anglers seem to believe that catching bass off beds won’t be the way to win.
Windy, sometimes rainy weather has stirred up the water and made sight-fishing difficult, and those fish anglers can visibly see have proven leery. Plus, given the event’s every-fish-counts scoring format, the methodical process of catching bedding fish likely won’t be able to keep pace.
“The ones you can see on the bed, if you pitch something to them, almost every one of them immediately swims off,” explained Bass Pro Tour rookie and REDCREST first-timer Jake Lawrence. “They’ll come back in a little while, but it’s not like they’ve already spawned and they’re protecting it and they’re real aggressive about something getting close to them. It’s almost like the males are up there and kind of making the bed, forming it and waiting on the females. To me, those are the hardest ones to catch.”
Skeet Reese, whose decorated résumé includes two tour-level wins on Guntersville, echoed that sentiment. He believes finding groups of fish that are staging prior to spawning will be paramount.
“You can target just bed fish, but I don’t think you can catch enough bed fish to win this thing,” Reese said. “I think the prespawn bite will be the bite that will win this event.”
Of course, one way anglers might target those prespawners is with forward-facing sonar. Like all Bass Pro Tour events in 2025, REDCREST competitors will be able to utilize the technology for one of the three periods each day.
Taking advantage of that period will be important, but perhaps easier said than done. This isn’t a time of year when big schools of bass are chasing bait offshore, which typically makes them most susceptible to forward-facing sonar. Hayden Marbut, who lives near Guntersville and qualified for REDCREST by winning the Toyota Series Championship on neighboring Wheeler Lake last fall, also noted that an influx of pollen in the water made it difficult to spot fish using foward-facing sonar during practice.
Lawrence said he was able to find a bite using his Garmin LiveScope that he thinks he can replicate during the event. He thinks it could be a popular strategy for anglers to start their days using forward-facing sonar to target staging fish, then spend the latter two periods plying shallower water.
“If we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that you better have a ‘Scope period; you better have something dialed for that,” he said. “There’s no question, you’ve got to have that, or you’ve got to have something really, really special on the fishing side to compensate for not having a ‘Scope period.”
All about the adjustments
Adapting as an event unfolds is usually key to succeeding on the Bass Pro Tour. REDCREST competitors believe doing so might be even more vital this week, thanks in large part what Reese described as “typical Alabama weather – very volatile.”
Heavy thunderstorms greeted the field during the first day of practice, pumping dirty water into the fishery. Then, temperatures rose into the 80s and a strong south wind buffeted the lake during anglers’ off day. Those conditions are forecast to persist for the first couple days of competition.
Cooper noted that the wind will be a factor not only because it could move the dirty water around and make it difficult to make accurate presentations, but because it repositions the floating vegetation prevalent in Guntersville. Too much grass can make it virtually impossible to wind a bait through a given area.
“It pushes that floating grass around,” Cooper said. “Floating eelgrass and coontail and everything is a big deal on that lake, and if it pushes it into an area where you want to be, man, it could be really difficult to get a bait through there and absolutely detrimental to your day. Or it could do the opposite and push it out of an area that you want it to be pushed out of, and you could have an awesome day.”
While Guntersville typically fishes big, especially for a 50-angler field, Marbut believes the wind might concentrate the competitors.
“I really focused on just figuring stuff out with the wind that’s not going to be quite as affected,” the 22-year-old said. “But you could tell a lot of guys were, because parts of the lake that’s not going to be as affected, there’d be 10 or 12 boats around you, tournament guys, and there’s only 50 guys in this tournament. So, I think guys will definitely be fishing around each other.”
Weather aside, this is always a dynamic time of year as bass move to and from staging areas and spawning beds. Lawrence believes it will be important to find an area with fresh fish arriving during the event. The trick will be covering enough water to find such a sweet spot without fishing too fast – a delicate balance.
“You’re having to cover a ton of water, but you can’t fish real fast to do that,” he said. “So, it’s kind of this weird, in-between stage where you need to go really fast, but you have to fish slow.”
What will it take?
Expect to see fish caught on a diverse range of techniques, especially early in the event as anglers look to cover water. Guntersville staples like bladed jigs, lipless crankbaits and jerkbaits should all be popular offerings – maybe even a few topwater lures, too. Slower presentations like Texas rigs and worms will also shine.
“My gut is telling me that this is going to be a jerkbait, drop-shot, Neko rig, wacky rig event,” Reese said. “And probably a bladed jig. That’s going to wrap up probably about 70% of the fish caught.”
Predictions about how much weight it will take to qualify for the Knockout Round and ultimately hoist the trophy varied just as much. Some anglers expect it to take about 80 pounds across the two-day Qualifying Round to advance to the weekend; others said it might be 100 or more. Lawrence thinks the winner could hit triple digits during the single-day shootout on Championship Sunday, something we’ve never seen before at REDCREST.
“I think somewhere around the 45-pound (per day) mark will get you through Qualifying,” he said. “It could take somewhere like 60, 63 pounds for the Knockout Round. And Championship Round, I’m going to say you’re going to need to have 90, maybe even 100 pounds.”
Be part of the action
All four days of competition will be streamed live on MLFNOW! from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT each day at MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and the Major League Fishing channel on Rumble. Additionally, the REDCREST Outdoor Expo will coincide with the event April 4-6 at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Admission is free – come check out the product showcase, interact with anglers and watch live interviews with the competitors each evening.