Guntersville Lake 4-22-23-2013

Well, it is off to Guntersville Sunday afternoon, April 21. Jack Neal and I are meeting Duke Dunsford and his father, Gary, at the Hampton Inn in Scottsboro, Al,  to fish the lake Monday and Tuesday. The weather projected to be pretty good Monday and Tuesday. Over dinner, we plotted our strategy for the next day. Neither Jack, Duke or Gary had been on Guntersville before. I suggested several areas to try but it has been about 5 years since I had been. Monday headed to Waterfront Grocery for a quick, excellent biscuit breakfast, launched our boat and headed for an area called Mountain Lakes. I had had some success in this area in the past. We fished hard but had no luck. We did watch a commercial fisherman running a very long trot line pick up 2-4 pound channel catfish on almost every hook. Left this area and went to Church house area. Finally picked up one bass here about 1.5 on a lizard and lost one on a squarebill. From here we motored to South Sauty creek and was unable to find fish. We are getting somewhat discouraged by now. After all, Guntersville is rated the fourth best bass lake in the country. Headed back to Waterfront to meet the Dunsfords for lunch. They had had similar results. We did speak to a guide who said he had been getting 60 fish a day but only had 6 that morning. He said the cooler water had cooled the fishing. We felt a little better.

In the afternoon, Jack and I headed to Mink Creek, a familiar area to me. Jack picked up a fish pretty quickly on a point but sadly the grass was much sparser than expected. We continued to fish around this area until I finally caught a nice bass off the point of a tiny island on a lizard. She weighed 5 lbs 10 oz. We then began to fish some grassy shoreline that had a type of grass I hadn't seen before. It was small green leaves with under water very tough vines and was quite thick on top. Jack picked up 3 nice fish by targeting holes in the cover. Had one nice 3 lb 13 oz fish. He was fishing a Hoo Daddy, yep a Hoo Daddy. The fish seemed to be moving toward the shallow water as it warmed up. Started the morning at about 63 degrees and got up to 70 degrees in the afternoon. We finally headed back to Waterfront bay to fish before calling it a day. I soon caught a drum that was in the 6 lb range that put up quite a tussle. Not to be undone Jack set the hook on a monster fish that turned out to be another drum but about 12 lbs. What a fish. And that completed our day.

5 lb 13 oz

3 lb 13 oz

Tuesday we went back to Mountain Lakes area hoping the water had warmed but it was still about 63. Jack caught 1 on a Tomahawk worm and I picked up one on a Excalibur rattle bait. I haven't mentioned the wind but I should. Monday it started out from the North at 10-15 mph. Later in the day it switched to from the South at 5-10 which was the original forecast for the day. Tuesday it began again from the North at a good clip and later switched to the South East at 15-20. You could get out of the worst of the wind but the main channel was pretty choppy. We next motored to the Preston Island area. We found one small area with scattered grass without the black, mossy snot grass that has been our nemesis both days, fouling our lures. Jack picked another 2 lbs bass here and I had a couple of bites. We finally headed to Waterfront for lunch somewhat deflated. Spoke to a guide coming in with a client. He said they caught 46 that morning on crank baits. A little more deflation but optimism springs eternal. After an excellent barbecue sandwich we headed back to Mink Creek.

12 lb Drum

Jack picked up a bass on the worm and I changed strategies with a Watermelon Candy Centipede on a mojo rig. I began to catch a few fish most around 1.5-2 lbs on a flat in the open water. I had one 3 lb 13 oz. As we moved toward the grass that Jack had fished so well the previous day, he apologized to his Hoo Daddy for abandoning it for the worm. However the Hoo Daddy sulked and wouldn't do his proper work. I stayed with the Centipede and set the hook on another nice bass that weighed 5 lb 3 oz. Two 5 lb plus fish in two days is pretty satisfying for me. Let it clearly be known that I generously offered Jack a centipede for only $4.00 each...rental. I don't know why he turned me down. I finally caught a total of 7 bass in the area with 8 for the day. Jack had 3 for the day. We left the lake around 4:30 headed back to Franklin. Duke stayed a bit longer and called to tell us they caught several more in the late afternoon.

5 lb 3 oz

It was obvious to us that the afternoon bite was much better which is typical for Spring fishing. Again, Guntersville is a wonderful lake but fish can still be elusive. You must know spots that consistently produce and that is what the guides do so well at. The grass has not come up well and was non existent in some traditional places. The mossy gunk was a real problem in some areas. When the water warms a bit more the topwater bite should explode.

Osprey

3 lb 13 oz