Wall continues to whale on Guntersville’s ledge bass
GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – Bass Pro Tour rookie and Guntersville resident Jacob Wall continued his Lake Guntersville dominance Thursday to claim the Group A Qualifying Round win at Toro Stage Four Presented by Bass Cat.
The Oregon native, who moved to New Hope, Alabama, four years ago, set the pace with 26 pounds, 8 ounces to kick off the tournament on Tuesday and stacked 21-5 more on SCORETRACKER® today – his 47-13 aggregate was the best in Group A heading into Saturday’s Knockout Round.
Wall caught his fish quickly today, stacking an early limit to expand his lead. No other angler came close to threatening his position at the top, with fellow Alabamian Jesse Wiggins in second and over 5 pounds behind with 42-4.
Wall is learning more every day
Although he’s made it look easy through two days on Guntersville, Wall is ready to see what his areas can truly produce as he’s laid off the throttle early each day.
“I’ve been holding back after 11:30 or noon each day,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot each afternoon after I caught the bulk of my weight, either finding new areas or how fish would respond to different baits. All of that should help me as the event continues.”
Wall shared that he’s fishing offshore ledges between 10 to 35 feet deep and has several areas located that are holding schools of bass. He’s also not worried that he’s leaned on the fish too hard, as he believes more bass are on the way.
“Only one of the spots I fished today was somewhere I also fished the first day,” he said. “I have some schools I haven’t even looked at yet, and I feel like the fish are moving towards me. More fish are coming offshore every day and some of the fish I’m catching still have bloody tails from spawning. The size of some of the schools seems to be doubling every day.”
Wall has relied on an array of ledge-fishing baits to catch his bass and plans to continue that approach into the Knockout Round.
“I’ve got about 15 rods on deck with all the normal ledge stuff,” he said. “I have the jigs and magnum shakey heads for dragging and spoons, crankbaits, and hair jigs for the reaction stuff. You have to mix it up, some schools are different and you also have to fish lures based on how the bass relate to the bottom.”
Wall quickly admits that all his hard work on Guntersville is paying dividends. Since moving here from Oregon, he’s tried to refine his offshore skills, which have been impressive this week.
“I put a lot of time on the water out here in the last four years,” he said. “It was an awesome feeling to win against this group of guys, including all of the phenomenal anglers that are also locals here. Even though winning the round means nothing, being on top is a huge confidence boost for me.”
News and notes
Coming into the event, Ott DeFoe led the Bally Bet Angler of the Year race by 13 points over Chris Lane. His first day at Stage Four, and for much of today, it looked like there would be a new leader. DeFoe was mired in 38th after the first day and it took him until 1:15 p.m. to record his first keeper.
After that point, DeFoe stacked up a day best 24-15, which included the Berkley Big Bass of the day, a 6-10 that was caught with five minutes left in the day. DeFoe’s comeback and Knockout Round appearance this week will give him a shot to keep his points lead and perhaps extend it, as his closest follower, Lane, failed to advance this week.
The 20-pound-plus mark is becoming more common on Guntersville. There were five of those on the first day, eight yesterday, and eight more today. That number should continue to increase as anglers further dial in their patterns.
WHAT’S NEXT
Group B will continue their Qualifying Round tomorrow, with anglers vying to place in the Top 20 to advance to the Knockout Round. The MLFNOW! live stream starts at 7:45 a.m. CT and will end 30 minutes after lines out at 4 p.m. CT. Day 4 action can be seen on the MLF website and app, and on MOTV. Official live scoring updates are available throughout the day on SCORETRACKER®.