SCOTTSBORO, Ala. – The famed Lake Guntersville will host the season finale in the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine Choo Choo Division with a two-day Super Tournament slated for Sept 20-21. This will mark the third time the division competes on the lake this season, and the late summer grass bite should be excellent.
This year, BFL anglers benefit from an expanded slate of Regionals, which minimizes travel costs and provides more opportunities to qualify for the $120,000 BFL All-American while fishing familiar, closer-to-home waters. Click here to find out more.
What to expect
Bass Pro Tour angler and Guntersville local Jacob Wall expects the fishing to be great for this event and shared that he may even enter the tournament if his schedule allows it. He says this is when many things are happening on his home lake, but the vegetation will get the bulk of the attention from the anglers.
“It’s going to be a lot of frogging and flipping. This is when Guntersville is known for that,” he said. “The hydrilla looks pretty dang good and is in many different places. In the last few years, we have had a lot of other grass, including a leafy pond weed that was prolific all over the river, but hydrilla has been making more of a comeback on the river bars this year. That other grass would hold some fish, but nowhere near the quantity of fish that hydrilla does.”
Because of the resurgence of hydrilla, Wall expects it to get a lot of attention. But he added that some other things could still play a role.
“I presume that most of the best fishing will be shallow, either in the grass or on flats,” he said. “It’s possible somebody still might find some fish offshore, but typically that bite’s dwindled to about nothing by now. I won’t say it’s impossible, but it’s hard to find them on ledges in late September.”
He also says the ever-present forward-facing sonar bite could come into play.
“I believe some guys will probably still do well with it offshore,” he said. “It’s always a viable pattern here, but it will be more focused on hard cover than ledges, if I had to guess.”
Baits to bring
According to Wall, your frog of choice and go-to flipping baits will be must-haves for this event. He’s also banking on there being a reaction bite to be had.
“You can catch them on topwaters, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, and ChatterBaits,” Wall said. “All of that winding stuff should work.”
What will it take?
Wall says that this time of year produces the lowest weights of the season – at least by Guntersville standards. They should still be solid compared to basically anywhere else in the country.
“It’s hard to get those bags in the mid to upper 20-pound range this time of year, so it should take around 22 pounds per day to win this one,” he said.
He predicts tight weights throughout the field with a lot of similar-sized fish in the system, and it could take upwards of 18 pounds to make the second day.