The Bassmaster Elite Series tournament schedule has the best fishermen in the world fishing Alabama’s Lake Guntersville May 7-10. I got to fish this fantastic body of water April 14-15, and here’s what happened.
Bass in shallow water, a little coontail and milfoil here and there and some sparse shoreline weeds – you gotta love that. That’s what we encountered at Guntersville when I fished with Jimmy Mason and Kyle Maybrey, a couple of tournament anglers who know Guntersville like their own backyards.
We fished the North Sauty area of the lake, about the midpoint, where just days before a tornado churned its path of devastation across lake homes and campgrounds. Then only a day prior to our arrival, another storm with super-strong straight winds blew through and toppled trees and caused power outages.
As I headed east that morning, in fact, a nice lady called from the beautiful Goose Pond Colony where we were to stay. “You can come on if you want,” she said, “but I can’t guarantee you’ll have any power.” I arrived in the evening and understood her concern. Hundreds of mature pines and hardwoods lay horizontal and workers were busily clearing roads to the buzz of chainsaws. (see a slideshow of the devastation)
Since most of the locals were busy with clean-up efforts, the lake was almost deserted. In fact, Mason and I saw only one other boat for the entire first half day of fishing. Anyone who has ever fished this popular lake knows how rare that is.
Mason and I found bass just about every spot we checked. Most were taken on Xr50s in Royal Red, Royal Shad or Oxbow, and on ½-ounce Booyah Boogie Baits using 3.5-inch Money Minnows as the trailer. Color patterns on the Boogie Baits were Ozark Smoke, Limesicle and Cortez Shad, and we used Foxy Shad pattern Money Minnows. We left the skirts on the Boogie Baits. (see a slide show of Guntersville fishing images)
The first half day of fishing produced about 20 largemouth from 2 to 4 pounds, and a couple spots approaching 2 pounds. We did hit one offshore ridge with Carolina-rigged YUM Lizards and picked up fish there, too, in about 6 feet of water. Mason caught his biggest fish of the day at that spot.
We met up with Kyle Maybrey and former Huntsville Times Outdoors Editor Alan Clemmons for a late lunch. Maybrey and Clemmons had similar luck fishing even shallower water. So after lunch, Mason and I headed to a shallow arm of the lake and were catching a bunch of fat 2- and 3-pounders when we began hearing what sounded like fireworks.
We started smelling smoke, and then a larger explosion revealed flames through the trees. Mason grabbed his cell phone and began dialing 9-1-1 when we heard the first sirens. The house was engulfed in short order and with plenty of firetrucks arriving we moved on. Mason caught the biggest bowfin I’ve ever seen, and we wrapped up the evening.
The following day was more of the same, albeit minus the house fire, thankfully, and I fished with Maybrey and outdoor photographer Glenn Wheeler. At one point, both Wheeler and Maybrey had 5-pound-plus fish at the boat before Maybrey’s came unbuttoned. It was Wheeler’s biggest bass ever at just under 6-pounds. It was taken on the Boogie Bait with a Money Minnow trailer.
The rest of the trip was more of the same, although Maybrey switched over to a Dancin’ Eel in Dancin’ Shad pattern and outfished me 4-to-1. “It’s the original swimbait,” Maybrey said. “I’m going to win a tournament on it, just wait and see.”
It was two fantastic days of bass fishing, and the only other highlight was dinner with Kay Smallwood and Angie McNeal and crew from the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association at a more than 100-year-old home that is now the home of the Blue Willow, an upscale dining establishment. I figure our group of anglers were probably the worst dressed folks ever to eat there, and in fact noticed that the crotch of my pants were ripped when I got back to the cabin. Nice way to make a good first impression, there.
Editor’s note: While I was writing this I received a phone call from legendary Texas angler and fishing instructor Will Kirkpatrick who told me the Boogie Bait-Money Minnow combo had struck again, and this time it netted the angler $2,500. While fishing the McDonald’s Big Bass Tournament on Sam Rayburn, Army Sergeant Gilbert Miller collected the first hour’s big bass check with a bass that weighed 7 ½ pounds. That fish took a half-ounce Boogie Bait with a 5-inch Money Minnow trailer.