Another Low Weight Guntersville Tournament

Bass Nation Results

I think it's bad we're to the point of saying a 19lb sack is low weight. Just like deer hunting every one thinks the top 10 should have 20+ lbs.

For that bass factory it is. I would be happy with 19lbs anywhere, but that lake one does consider that to be low. I fished a tourney 2 fridays ago and it took 25lbs on the warrior river.lol

The Warrior has been putting out good weights over the last couple of years. I'd say it's fishing better than Gville right now.

SHHH WILLIAM. we dont need them northern lake fisherman down here with us. lol

Guntersville is toast, the tournaments need to start going elsewhere

Guntersville will be fine. It will pick back up in about ten years. Just one of those things. The big fish is still here. Catching em ain't as easy as it use to be. So much pressure I believe as for the mega schools busted up and there are a lot of small schools that are harder to catch.

Ten year? I don't think there is anything wrong with it now.

Wait till the weigh in this weekends BFL. The regulars will pull 25-30lbs off the ledge.

G'ville isn't "broken", but it ain't what it was 5-10 years ago. Even the average guy could go up there without knowing anything and catch big numbers of heavy fish (4+ pounders). It's down from that, everybody is saying it for a few years now.

Pickwick is the new Guntersville.

From what I've seen and from the guys I know fishing Chicamagua, Chicamagua is the new Guntersville. Either way, as long as Guntersville gets a little less pressure for a little while, I don't care where everyone else goes.

I wonder if Guntersville gets raped as much as other popular lakes. The worse I saw was at West point. Every spring fishermen from Ky and Tn descend upon it like vultures. They stay a week or more. They catch several limits a day and filet them. Thats 8 limits a day(2 guys,4 ea)Around 56 limits of fish in a week. Then you consider there are 10 doing this in each of the State camp grounds on the lake. Do you get the idea why I call it rape?

Chickamauga is the hot one to fish on right now. I'd go there first, then probably Pickwick or Kentucky, and then Guntersville.

IMO what's wrong with Guntersville is just a normal down cycle combined with unending pressure from February to November. March through June is crazy. And I don't believe on a lake that size that attempting to stock it with bass "to help" would do nothing more than a waste of money and time.


As to Perch's mention about the spring folks coming to catch multiple limits, it definitely happens. I'm unsure if it's as bad as it was in the 2000s during the last big upcycle but it happens. Morning fishing and filleting, lunch, afternoon fishing and filleting.

you can catch numbers of 12 to 14 inch fish, so maybe if they make it a couple of years it will be back on track, what you dont catch is three to four pound fish like used to be.

I think most people have not adapted to the style of fishing that Guntersville has been conditioned less to. Sure, used to catch them regularly using the same ole soft plastic presentation but they have become conditioned to that and the smaller younger fish aren't. Case and point, most people aren't willing to buy 3 or 4 bull shads to tie up for different depths and different lines but I can go out to a few places every morning and usually either get a big bass to boil over or hook up on it. Yeah it's a $50 bait but it works. Also, ledge fishing is as good as it ever was and will remain this way until the fish become conditioned to more people getting out deep and using electronics to locate shell beds and shad. Bigger fish react more to fishing pressure than the 14.5" squeakers

Funny you mention that. My buddy won the tournament I referenced. He caught his kicker on the bull shad.

Exactly! You've gotta be willing to change up. Learn new things. Spend a little money. Why I really only like to throw SPRO cranks. They are the only bait maker with a coated tungsten rattle but it's unique. It's something that bass don't hear as much. It's also a $15-20 crankbait depending on size. I've even gone to a new shakey head worm that has an air pocket in the tail and a shakey head jig that's skirted. Tackle Warehouse gets a lot of my paycheck every month or so.

People have been fishing this way at Guntersville for 40+ years. They used Humminbird flashers, then paper graphs and on and on to today's SideDownHeyBassEatMyLure Scanners that show ever blip and tickle. If bass were going to get conditioned to ledge fishing it already would have happened by now. Also, same on the Coosa, Warrior and other river systems.

If conditioning were a reality with bass in an open, wild reservoir then no one would catch fish drifting minnows or plugs below Wheeler Dam (or other dams) in the tailraces. A minnow on a hook is different from a minnow in the wild. People have fished the seams for 60+ years and still catch largemouth, smallmouth, hybrids, stripe, jacks, cats and other fish below Wheeler.

Pound for pound, I vote that Logan Martin gets equivalent pressure to Guntersville. Gville on the TN river, Logan on the Coosa, they both get absolutely donkey-punched 24/7/365.

I'd rather go anywhere on the Coosa than Logan Martin.

Fishing pressure is nothing new, ledge fishing is nothing new, 19lb to win a spring tournament is relatively new.

I wish the out of state folks would visit one of the NY glacier lakes in the summer. They can easily fill a limit of 4lb LM, multiple limits if they wanted.

Beats me, I live a mile or less from the lake and On any given day that I fish during "ledge season" it's pretty well bumper to bumper out there. People have been ledge fishing with big baits as long as big bass have been living on the ledge. Pressure has a lot to do with the down cycle, but I wouldn't say that the fish are necessarily trained to avoid certain baits. They are just a dumb little fish, they eat when they are hungry or when opportunity prevails. Don't give them too much credit.

Most Bass fishermen that I know have no problem spending money on bull shads or any bait for that matter and cost is usually the least of the factors.

This area trying to kill every stitch of grass in the lake for the last few years, lack of stocking programs and unrealistic pressure from tourneys/ anglers are all reasons for the down cycle. Sure, it may be a "natural" cycle in nature, but man have definitely helped.

On a different note, I've seen ALOT more grass this year in a few coves that I fish regularly than the last few years. These were coves that they completely eradicated the grass in the last few years. Will that stuff come back thicker after they get rid of it? Kind of like after an area gets logged?

Found this online about the weed spraying program. Looks like a cut back may be happening.
http://www.waff.com/story/35091236/tva-to-cut-back-weed-spraying-program-for-lake-guntersville

Marina Owners and big wigs that live on the lake looking for someone else to keep the lake sprayed . Figures. I could definitely tell that City/County Park and the whole Roseberry Creek area are more grown up than the last few years.

I wish more folks would fish and leave the turkeys alone!

I never said the grass spraying wasn't a problem. All I'm saying is that the habitats are changing and it will take new( to you) approaches to finding them.

There may be hope for bream fishermen after all. I hope the weights keep dropping.

Man, that's just plain mean.