GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – Lake Guntersville continued to pump out big bags of bass Thursday at the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Central Division event. While overall weights were slightly down, 20-pound bags were common, and several anglers caught ‘em two days in a row. That group included Florida’s Kane Weekley, whose 22 pounds, 4 ounces pushed him to a two-day weight of 45-4 and the lead going into the final day.
The weights are stacked tightly below Weekley. You’ll have to go down to 19th place to find someone below the 20-pound daily average, meaning it’s anyone’s ballgame when the Top 25 returns for the final day.
Even the co-angler leader, Mississippi’s Alan Hults, hit that mark with 40 pounds, 10 ounces over his first two days. Even with those impressive weights from the back of the boat, he’s not safe and has two challengers less than 4 pounds back.
Big bite buoys Weekley
Weekley found himself in seventh place coming into the day with 23 pounds even; though he caught less weight on the day, he jumped to the top of the standings, in part thanks to the day’s big bass, a 7-11.
Weekley’s history with MLF is limited, with this being just his fifth event, including college fishing with Southeastern University. His listed address is Lakeland, Florida, where the school is located, but he’s from Fort Lauderdale and says his experience on Lake Okeechobee is helping this week.
“I’ve never fished Lake Guntersville, outside of practice and these two tournament days, but it’s a grass fishery,” he said. “That’s pretty much all we have in Florida, so I just rolled with that, and I spent all week looking for the clumps of grass – the right stuff. There’s a lot of grass on the lake, but it’s not grown up yet this early in the year, and I only found a few places with what I’m looking for. I’ve got two areas, and they’ve held up so far, and I think they could be good for one more day.”
Weekley’s two days were also very different in terms of how he caught his fish.
“It was a little bit weird today and different than yesterday,” he said. “Yesterday, I caught all the fish I weighed in the grass after ‘Scoping in the morning and culling them all out. Today it was a little bit slower with my forward-facing sonar in the morning, but I was able to catch that giant and some other good ones, and I never culled anything after I ran out of time.”
The big bass also produced a good fish story.
“I saw her floating out there real high in the water column and hooked it and thought it was a drum and started reeling it in fast and not really paying attention, to be honest,” Weekley said. “Then it came up jumping, and thankfully, I had a net. I never use one, but went to Walmart last night and bought one, and we got her in with that net I bought last night.”
Travis vaults to second
Weighing in 23-14 today, Guntersville local and Auburn University angler Benjamin Travis jumped from 25th to second, a tie with Georgia’s Tallis Morrison. Travis came straight into this event from the Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia National Championship on Lake Murray in South Carolina, where he secured a top-40 finish fishing solo. .
“I was happy with today, definitely better than yesterday,” he said. “I started on my ‘Scope fish and had my weight by 7:45 this morning. I had this gut feeling at blast off to start on a place I didn’t even go to during practice, and it worked out.”
Things went sideways after that fast start, but Travis is still confident going into the final day.
“It was kind of a train wreck after that, trying stuff, and nothing worked out,” he said. “Then, around 1 o’clock, I had boat issues that cut my day short, but thankfully, I’m good to go tomorrow with a borrowed boat. I feel pretty confident that the fish I found will still be there in the morning and that I can catch at least 17 pounds, bare minimum, in the morning during my forward-facing time and then go fish the grass.”
Travis plans to start the morning with a jighead minnow, as he did the first two days, and then switch to a lipless crankbait for the rest of the day.
“Yesterday, my big ones all came on a Berkley Jack 6,” he said. “Those grass fish saved the day yesterday.”
Top 10 pros
1. Kane Weekley – 45-4 (10)
2. Benjamin Travis 44-13 (10)
3. Tallis Morrison – 44-13 (10)
4. Gavin Cloutier – 44-9 (10)
5. Cal Lane – 44-8 (10)
6. Johnny Patterson – 43-15 (10)
7. Andrew Jeffers – 43-15 (10)
8. Matteo Turano – 43-6 (10)
9. Justin Atkins – 43-3 (10)
10. Austin Pemberton – 42-12 (10)