Toyota Series Championship practice reports from Wheeler Lake

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – With practice winding down for the Toyota Series Championship Presented by Bass Boat Technologies, the pros are running out of time to put a gameplan in place for the event. After the fourth practice day on Tuesday, everyone takes Wednesday off for registration and rigging, and then competition gets rolling on Thursday morning, with a champion crowned Saturday evening. The final day will be streamed live on MLFNOW!, which could provide some really good action.

Alabama Bass Trail sets the stage

On the first day of practice, there were no shortage of boats out on Wheeler. In addition to the field of Toyota Series Championship competitors starting practice, an Alabama Bass Trail 100 took off out of Decatur. ABT events tend to have very strong fields, and this was no exception, with a bunch of pros in the field and good locals to boot.

Weighing 21.76 pounds, Walt Roberts and Robert Greenberg earned the win, followed by Allen Johnson with 20.5 and Justin Atkins (who is fishing the Toyota Series Championship) with 20.44. The fourth-place team weighed 19 pounds, and a number of teams managed to get into the mid-teens. So, while the fishing was not mind-blowing, it was still pretty good for Wheeler. Notably, smallmouth and largemouth both played pretty well, and it certainly looks like we could see a pretty diverse event. 

Mixed bag on the table for Hartman

A pretty good hand on the Tennessee River, Jordan Hartman has won at Chickamauga and calls Kentucky Lake home. From the sound of it, he’s spent some serious time running traditional fall patterns.

“It’s been hit or miss, honestly,” said Hartman of practice on Monday afternoon. “I mean, I’ve got a couple places I can catch them on topwater and couple places I can catch some smallmouth, but been kind of a grind — one here, one there. I think I’m doing the right thing, but let’s see if we can get the bites later this week.”

Per Hartman, there’s a good amount of current flowing, and the water is low, as is typical for many of the Tennessee River reservoirs in the fall.

With some time left for things to develop, he’s hoping a mixed bag could carry him through the event.

“I got one topwater spot; it’s actually largemouth,” Hartman said. “And then I’ve got a couple of smallmouth places. So, a mixed bag would be ideal.”

Hartman revealed a few other tidbits as well. For one, there is grass, but it’s not anything he’s used to seeing and doesn’t seem to be particularly key for holding fish. Two, word is there’s a ‘Scope bite down lake, which could prove interesting considering the recent history of bass fishing.

Also, he thinks the low water will prevent some of the intense crowding that can occur in the summer on Wheeler.

“I think it’ll be spread out,” Hartman said. “I don’t think you have to worry about people fishing all together. Maybe in a few areas, but not a whole lot, I don’t think. Because on these flats, it’s so low, so it can only hold so many boats.”

According to Marbut, the fish know it is fall

The winner of this winter’s Toyota Series event just over the dam at Guntersville, Hayden Marbut is one of the hotter young anglers going and certainly qualifies as a local favorite in the event. He’s also staying with Paul Marks Jr. and Banks Shaw this week, which seems like a fairly deadly combination.  

With good proximity to the lake, Marbut put some solid time in pre-practice.

“This summer, I was fishing around and stayed around Guntersville, but I didn’t want to overdo it out there. I wanted to wait until it got closer for more similar conditions,” he said. “The last month around here has been pretty stable conditions, so I went eight days in a row the last eight days before off limits. I just wanted to really get familiar with the place. I’m sure glad I got that pre-practice in, because it’s been really windy. It’s hard to cover a lot of water out there right now.”

According to Marbut, practice has been “medium,” which sounds pretty good.

“I think it’s got some potential,” he said. “It’s gonna be interesting to see where the boats settle in and what I can get on and stuff like that come tournament time. It’s really the same conditions as it was when I was pre-practicing. So, I’ve bounced around and checked a couple places, but I haven’t fished a whole lot.”

Interestingly, Marbut doesn’t think the mild conditions have held fish in summer patterns. With the fall drawdown in progress, the fish know what’s up.

“I feel like the fish want it to be fall more than it is just based on what they’re doing,” he said. “They kinda know when the water starts drawing down like this on Wheeler that it’s time for the whole fall transition and to start getting ready for winter and everything like that. So, I feel like they’re acting more like it’s fall than it actually is.”

We’ll know a lot more come tournament day, but so far, it certainly seems like Wheeler is primed to be a fun event.