GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. — Few, if any, lakes have faced more tournament pressure than Lake Guntersville so far in the young year. The Alabama gem has already hosted the Bass Pro Tour, Bassmaster Elite Series, Toyota Series and the first Choo Choo Division event of the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine season.
Yet the famed fishery just keeps on producing. Expect more of the same when the Choo Choo Division returns for a two-event doubleheader on March 7 and 8, with the shallow bite possibly getting even better.
What to expect
The Toyota Series Central Division wrapped up a thriller on Guntersville last week, which saw two anglers top 70 pounds over three days. Guntersville local Benjamin Travis finished just 1 ounce shy of Kane Weekley’s 70-11 total for the win.
Travis, who competes collegiately for Auburn, thinks that event – and particularly the explosive final day – is a good indicator of what Choo Choo Division anglers can expect. With warm weather on Day 3, three anglers topped 25 pounds, including a 28-11 megabag from Jimmy Neece Jr. He thinks the fish’s instinct to push shallow and feed up ahead of the spawn will trump the tournament pressure.
“It’s gotten its teeth beat in,” Travis said of Guntersville. “But I think if any lake can take it, it’s Guntersville. And it’s taken it pretty well. Which, I honestly think the time of year has a lot to do with that. The clock is kind of resetting on the pressured fish, it seems like. Every day more fish are pulling up.”
Across all the MLF events on Guntersville so far this year, we’ve seen a consistent mixture of anglers targeting suspended bass with forward-facing sonar and catching them out of the lake’s ample submerged vegetation. Given the three-hour limit on forward-facing sonar use, Travis expects more of the same. He noted that there’s healthy populations of bass in both places (chasing baitfish offshore and staging in the grass), and he thinks anglers will need to catch them both with and without forward-facing sonar to have a shot at winning, and especially to contend both days.
“I don’t think you’re going to see something be one way or the other when you have such little forward-facing time at Guntersville and you have such good grass fishing,” Travis said. “It kind of seems like it was that way for everyone that did well (at the Toyota Series event). You might only weigh one or two off of a traditional pattern and four off ‘Scope, but then it was like, the next day, you’d weigh four out of the grass and one off ‘Scope.”
The one X-factor could be the weather. On the final day of the Toyota Series event, Travis said he started to observe big fish feeding in water as shallow as 12 to 16 inches. If this doubleheader coincides with another warming trend, the shallow bite could be tough to beat.
“I fished all day that third day in a t-shirt, and just that one day of real warm, sunny weather, them fish went from a prespawn pattern to they were up there in a couple inches in a matter of two hours,” Travis said.
Baits to bring
The Top 10 baits from the Toyota Series event largely consisted of familiar prespawn favorites, and Travis expects those to continue to produce. Anglers using forward-facing sonar will of course utilize jighead minnows, and Alabama rigs should put some fish in the boat, too. For those targeting shallow grass, Travis advises rolling with the tried-and-true, one-two punch of a bladed jig (in either green pumpkin or fire craw) and a lipless crankbait like the Berkley Jack 6 (in either red or a translucent shad pattern).
What will it take?
Travis expects to see more 20-pound bags and a higher check weight on Saturday. But he thinks it’ll still take 24 to 25 pounds to take home the trophy both days.