Wheeler Locals Preview the Cup

Lambert, Nick and Dunkin weigh in on Wheeler Lake

As the Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart on Wheeler Lake creeps nearer it’s time to take a closer look at just how this tournament will shake out. FLW has never hosted an event on this pond in August, so we asked around to find out what some locals think could unfold.

Jason Lambert, Luke Dunkin and Blake Nick are all Wheeler experts who, fortunately for the competition, did not qualify for the Cup. Here’s what they think will happen Aug. 4-7.

Jason Lambert

I think this Cup is going to be a Junk-Fishing 101 deal. Guys will catch them flipping shallow wood, schooling on flats, and out deep on a ledge or brush.

Wheeler isn’t your typical Tennessee River fishery. The one thing that is different about it is it doesn’t have a lot of offshore structure like Pickwick Lake or Kentucky Lake. The shad start pulling up shallow a lot earlier on Wheeler than any other lake because there is so much shallow water. That’s why the schooling bite can be so good.

The one thing people don’t think about is there are a lot of good smallmouths [3- to 5-pounders] that get up shallow with the shad. I’d say at least 50 percent of the winning bag will be smallmouths. When I went out and spent time on Wheeler last summer after it was announced as the Cup location I caught anywhere from 14 to 22 pounds every day. At least two of my five I would have weighed would have been smallmouths each day.

The lower end of the lake will have guys stacked up because that is where most of the offshore structure and some good shallow stuff are found. I bet 80 percent of the field will be down there.

The dams might play one day, but it’s just too early for that bite.

I bet the winning weight will be anywhere from 62 to 65 pounds. Junk-fishing is going to be better than anything.

Luke Dunkin

Water level is going to be a huge player in this event. Right now the lake is a foot or more off summer pool. That means a lot of the really good shallow stuff doesn’t even have water on it. It also means there is really no current flow to speak of.

We haven’t had any rain down here, and because of that I don’t think there will be enough flow to really keep the fish out [offshore]. But the river ledge fish will play to a degree. It’s going to be a junk deal where you might catch one or two off brush, then go run up shallow and catch three.

There will be some random schooling fish that play. That deal typically starts every year in late July or early August. You can catch some big ones doing that.

The wild card will be the upper river portion around the Guntersville Dam tailrace. I’m not as familiar with that stretch of the lake, but there are a lot of big ones that live up there. There are small windows where those fish turn on, but it also fishes really small, so it can’t hold up to a lot of pressure.

I think the top 10 in this tournament will all be doing something different. You’ll see everything from a swimbait to a drop-shot.

I can’t wait to see how this shakes out. From a fan perspective you’ll see a lot of different techniques. It’s going to be one to remember for sure.

Blake Nick

There is no other lake in Alabama where water level affects as much as at Wheeler. Over the course of a day the lake can rise and fall a few inches, and that can be the window to catch them.

I feel like deep wood on the lower end of the lake should be a winning pattern. Brush piles will produce fish, but I’m talking more like random trees that got lodged on a river ledge or against a dock with 30 feet of water under it.

The topwater bite could be really dominant. You can throw a Spook all day for four days across the shallower bars and catch good fish.

Of course, the Guntersville Dam will be a key area. The biggest fish in the lake live below that dam, and whoever figures it out could win it.

To me one of the biggest wild cards is the Elk River. There is just so much cover and wood in there that it holds some good fish if you figure it out.

I think that guys who have never seen the lake before aren’t at a disadvantage. Wheeler changes hourly, and it’s a great pattern lake, so it can be easier to figure out in a short practice time and into the tournament.

You can just catch them so many different ways on Wheeler. That’s the cool thing about it. There are so many things you can do. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens.