SCOTTSBORO, Ala. – The Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine Choo Choo Division will start the season on Feb. 15 at Lake Guntersville. All fall, Guntersville tantalized the bass-fishing world with giant bags, and this event should be spectacular as the lake’s fantastic population of bass will be catchable with many standard techniques.
Also of note, as sign-ups for this event are in full swing, in 2025, the BFLs will feature an expanded slate of Regional events, which will give anglers more chances to qualify for the All-American and further minimize travel costs. This expansion ensures that grassroots anglers can fish closer to home on lakes they know and love for a chance to win a $50,000 Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200-horsepower outboard as a boater and a new $20,000 cash award as a co-angler, plus qualification into the BFL All-American.
What to expect
A guide on the lake, Alex Davis expects the fishing to be wonderful.
“They had the ABT (Alabama Bass Trail) 100 last weekend,” Davis said. “I thought it was miserable and caught 17 1/2 pounds, and that puts you in, like, 40th. We’re fixing to get about two weeks of warm weather, so the water temperature is going to probably pop up to like 48, 49 degrees. I think the grass bite will be very, very, very good, and the fish are weighing really heavy.”
Per Davis, standard wintertime fare should be the deal at Big G.
“I’d say that probably the main two things for most people are going to be a ChatterBait or a lipless,” he said. “There will be fish caught ‘Scoping — that’s just the nature of the beast anymore in fishing — but I would say the majority will be caught fishing grass.
While 30-pound bags seemed to be a common occurrence in the fall when many fish were roaming on bait, Davis thinks that’s less in play now. But, he expects the weights across the board to be excellent.
“If you catch 27, you did really well,” Davis said. “But it wouldn’t shock me if 20th place was 20 pounds. It wouldn’t shock me a bit. If I heard there’s 20 bags over 20, I’d think, ‘yeah. I figured that.’”