Wall wallops 26-8 on Guntersville, jumps out to Day 1 lead

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – In the weeks leading up to Toro Stage Four Presented by Bass Cat, Alabama pro Jacob Wall admitted his eagerness to fish a mid-May tournament on his adopted home lake, Lake Guntersville. Wall, an Oregon native who moved to the Guntersville area four years ago to further his fishing career, was confident in his knowledge of the fishery, and about his chances to compete in an event stacked with pros with stellar résumés on the Tennessee River.

Wall’s confidence was warranted. 

Boosted by a pair of 5-pounders caught early in the first period, Wall gradually upgraded throughout a productive first day on Guntersville, finishing atop Group A’s first qualifying day with 26 pounds, 8 ounces. Employing a mix of tried-and-true Tennessee River offshore baits and adding a dose of glide bait late in the day, Wall established himself as an angler to watch this week.

“I threw a little bit of everything you’d expect fish to bite offshore in 35 feet of water,” Wall said. “I started with a crankbait, boom, 5-pounder right off the bat, but I had 17 rods on deck and used all of them. I just came down here and fished your standard offshore stuff: scrounger head, flutter spoon, hair jig, big crankbaits, nothing really unusual.” 

Wall caught fish consistently throughout the day, working his way through multiplf white bass and multiple smaller largemouth in between the 4- and 5-pounders that would eventually make up his five-fish bag. The Phoenix Boats pro spent the majority of his day on a series of ledges and offshore spots on the lower end of Guntersville, eventually moving off of his primary area and pattern in the final hour to graph around and throw some less traditional baits. The results: two upgrades in the final hour with a 4-14 and 5-10 on a glide bait.

“My first cast with that big swimbait was a 5-pounder, and then I caught a 4-14 and a 3,” Wall said. “I couldn’t believe how they responded to that bait, they were fighting over it when I was reeling it in. I couldn’t get these fish to bite in practice – all of the grass, it was hard to fish a bait like that. But I guess they’ve never seen that big swimbait before.”

Wiggins mixes it up

Although he’s known for his expertise just down the road on Smith Lake and you’d maybe expect him to be a semi-regular on Guntersville, Jesse Wiggins made the most Tuesday of limited experience on the fishery. Mixing it up with shaky head, crankbait, swimbait and Neko rig, Wiggins worked his way to 23-12 and a comfortable spot in second place. He made three sizable upgrades late in the day, adding a 4-4 and a pair of 5-6s in the latter half of the third period.

“I’ve been here a few times, but I really don’t know Guntersville well,” Wiggins admitted. “My brother fishes here a bunch and he’s always told me how he’s caught them in the past, so I guess I’ve ‘kept in touch’ with the fishery over the past 10 years, but I really don’t come up here much. But I caught ‘em today the way you’re supposed to catch them on Guntersville. I found a couple of good spots in practice and got to settle in and work on them today.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The second group of 40 anglers in the 80-man field will take its shot at Guntersville on Wednesday when Group B fishes its first qualifying day. The MLFNOW! live stream will carry all of the on-the-water action, starting at 7:45 a.m. CT and ending 30 minutes after lines out at 4 p.m. CT. Day 2 action can be seen on the MLF website and mobile app, and on MyOutdoorTV. Official live scoring updates are available throughout the day on SCORETRACKER®.