Anticipating Guntersville Action

 

When the Bassmaster Elite Series kicks off the 2026 season at Lake Guntersville later this week I’ll be tuned in — eager to see which patterns and areas produce best and which angles find the most success. The season opener always brings fresh excitement for bass fishing fans, but Guntersville takes that up a few notches for me.

I’ve been fortunate in getting to spend quite a bit of time on Lake Guntersville over the years with longtime guide and tournament pro and good friend Jimmy Mason. We spend a few content days together every year, fishing for bass and shooting photos and video content for YUM, BOOYAH, War Eagle and other brands that are part of PRADCO-Fishing, which is my employer and one of Jimmy’s sponsors.

That’s Jimmy in the photo from one day last winter, and, yes, I realize be Elites can’t use YUMbrella rigs! They are part of Guntersville’s heritage, but that’s probably another story for another time!

Over the years, I’ve been all over Lake Guntersville and have gained a fairly decent understanding of the fishery, controlling factors and key types of areas. That familiarity adds fun to watching live events and tracking patterns. During the MLF Bass Pro Tour event a couple of weeks back, I watched anglers catching bass from specific spots I’ve fished.

Adding to the personal interest, PRADCO has several sponsored anglers fishing the Elites. Additionally, I’ve spent time in the boat with other anglers in the field during my years as a freelance writer. Knowing some of the competitors deepens the interest in every Elite Series event.

Personal interests aside, Guntersville is an iconic fishing destination and one of best bass lakes in the country, so the fish-catching action will be fun to watch. Undoubtedly, some big bags will come to the scales.

The anglers definitely face challenges. This will be the first of several Elite Series tournaments where no live sonar may be used. In addition, the region is coming off the two hardest winter fronts of this winter. Unlike normal season openers in Florida or Texas, this is shaping up to be a genuine winter pattern tournament.

The Elite Series pros will figure out the bass. They always do. I have my guesses on the patterns that will prevail. Lure-wise, I’ll pick a BOOYAH Flash Point Jr Deep and a One Knocker as winning lures. We’ll find out how it all goes down Thursday through Sunday!

Full Stride for Bass Tournament Season

The 2018 bass tournament season hits full stride this week, at least from my perspective. The season is well underway and has been for a few week. In fact, an FLW Costa Series event, an FLW Tour event and a Bassmaster Open are in the books. The Bassmaster Elite Series begin this week, though, and to me, the tournament season hits full stride once the FLW Tour and the Elite Series are underway.

The Elites are fishing Lake Martin in Alabama this week. Practice begins this morning. Last word I heard was that the lake was muddy and the water was cold. This week's weather looks pretty mild, though, so it will be interesting to hear practice reports and more importantly see tournament results!

I don't suppose will see anyone bring 31 pounds and change to the scales, like Bobby Lane did on day 1 on the Kissimmee Chain! That said, I suspect some of the guys will unlock good patterns and bring in some fat sacks of pretty spotted bass.

Three Days, Three Leaders at West Point

Tommy Biffle led at West Point after the Day 3 weigh-in. Day 4 competition is going on now. B.A.S.S. photo by James Overstreet.

Only the Top 12 anglers remain in the hunt for title at West Point Lake, where the B.A.S.S. Elite Series has been competing this weekend. Each of the first three days has ended with a different angler atop the leaderboard, and based on BASSTrakk, which keeps a live tally of estimated weights, none of those three is in the lead early this morning (although one is in second place).

All three anglers who have led -- Greg Vinson, Aaron Martens and Tommy Biffle -- made the Top 12, so one of those three certainly could emerge as the West Point Champion. More so than is the case in many tournaments, all the anglers who are fishing today are in legitimate contention. Only four pounds and one ounce separate first and twelfth place, and while West Point has been extremely stingy this week, it has some very large bass in it that could be real game changers.

The top of the leaderboard isn't all that has changed during this tournament, though. The weather has been sporadic, and the pros don't seem to locked onto patterns or fish. Most have been searching anew each day, and the same thing is likely to be going on today, as yesterday's all-day rain almost certainly poured a bunch of new mud into the lake and changed things even more. They have found a few. BASSTrakk shows half the remaining field with at least one fish caught as of 8:05 eastern.

The pros will weigh in this afternoon at 3:15 eastern, and you can watch the weigh-in live on Bassmaster.com

Falcon Not Exactly Floundering

Day 1 Falcon Leader Keith Combs, BASS Photo

Falcon Lake isn't as dazzling as in '08, when Paul Elias set the Elite Series record for four days of fishing and when everyone was catching limits of jumbo fish. In fact, most pros have reported not getting a tremendous number of bites and having to grind it out their limits. That said, this big impoundment along the Texas/Mexico border obviously is still a pretty impressive fishery. Leader Keith Combs, who brought plentiful local knowledge into the tournament, weighed in five fish that averaged very close to 7 pounds (34-13). To put that into perspective, Combs' Day 1 weight would have landed him in eighth place for all four days last week at the Sabine River.

Combs wasn't alone with an impressive catch. Sixteen anglers brought in more than 25 pounds on Day 1, and 45 anglers broke the 20-pound mark. Three quarters of the field brought a limit to the scales. Big fish for the day was a tie between Edwin Evers and Rick Morris, both of whom toted a 9-11 to the scales. Contrasted with last week, when limits were very tough to come by, and decent fish were even tougher to find, Falcon still probably seems quite impressive to most of the Elite Series field.

No one ever says a tremendous amount about patterns after only one day of a four-day tournament, but reports I've heard suggest that fish are being caught both shallow and deep. Some bass are still up on the beds or staging just after the spawn, while others have already moved offshore. Combs focused on key deep-water areas that he expected to produce big fish -- if they produced at all --and said he had to work for his catch. Cliff Prince of Palatka, Florida, who is in second place after the first day, split his efforts between deep structure and shallow trees, which he fished by flipping.

They'll be back at it in another hour or so. Watch the Bassmaster blog for regular updates and even a few peeks at big fish anglers catch during the day.

Sabine Survived -- On to Falcon

Todd Faircloth of Jasper Texas won the Elite Series opener on the Sabine River with a four-day weight of 49 pounds, 6 ounces. BASS photo by James Overstreet

I feel safe saying that most Elite Series pros are happy to have put the very challenging Sabine River Challenge in the rear-view mirror and to be beginning practice on the legendary big-bass waters of Falcon Lake. Falcon, from my understanding, is not quite what it was in 2008 when Paul Elias broke the four-day record with his 132-pound, 8-ounce winning weight and everyone was hauling in monster bags. It's still Falcon, though, and when contrasted with the stingy Sabine and its muddy equipment-wrecking waters, Falcon is likely to look mighty grand.

Todd Faircloth won the Sabine event comfortably, topping second place finisher Dean Rojas by 6 1/2 pounds. Despite the big winning margin, Faircloth's four-day weight of 49 pounds, 6-ounces was the second lowest winning weight in the history of the Elite Series. The same weight at Falcon would have landed him in 51st place and outside the money at Falcon in 2008.

To give a better picture of the Sabine River event's toughness, 12th-place finisher Dennis Tietje weighed in 31 pounds, 5 ounces over four days. The last time the pros were at Falcon, the biggest single-day bag would have outweighed Tietje's four-day catch by more than 10 pounds. The weight for making the cut after two days and cashing a check at the Sabine was 10-pounds, 11 ounces. That meant catching a limit each day of fish that averaged a little more than a pound. If an angler was catching 2 pounders, three fish per day was sufficient to take away a check.

I don't know exactly what Falcon's fertile waters will produce this week, but I'm pretty sure that 1- and 2-pounders won't do the job.