The second stop of the 2015 Elite Season is on Lake Guntersville. Everybody knows by now that Guntersville is a big bass factory and there is no doubt that this tournament will be an absolute slugfest. Growing up in Middle Tennessee, I have spent a good deal of time on the lake, and although I don’t consider it my home lake, it is probably as close to home as I’ll ever get to fish an Elite event.
It will take a lot of weight to do well in this tournament. I’ve heard predictions of it taking more than 100 pounds to win, and frankly, I would be real surprised if it doesn’t take that much. I just hope I’m one of the guys lucky enough to find a few schools of those size fish.
The techniques used in this tournament will be from one end of the spectrum to the other. I suspect there will be fish in all stages of the spawn and scattered from dirt shallow to 25 feet. One bait I think will play a major role for us, though, is a swimbait.
Swimbaits have evolved a lot in the last few years, and you’re subject to see several different types come into play. No other bait does a better job of mimicking the big shad that Guntersville bass thrive on. My particular favorite and probably the most versatile is a hollow belly swimbait. My favorite is the Strike King Shadalicious, but there are several good ones on the market I throw, too.
For fishing shallow around grass, I rig it with a Mustad 5/0 belly-weighted swimbait hook, and for fishing really deep, I rig it with a Conquistador Shad Head which also has a sturdy Mustad 5/0 hook.
When I’m around big fish, like those on Lake Guntersville, I throw the 5 1/2 inch size all the time. The Tennessee River is full of big gizzard shad, which is what the bass eat, so the closer you can get to matching the size of that bait, the better off you’ll be.
My swimbait setup starts with a 7-3 MHX-MB-874 rod that is a heavy power. I like the length of the rod for making long casts and covering water. I use a 6:4:1 reel and 17-pound Vicious fluorocarbon line. It’s very important to have a pretty beefy setup when fishing with swimbaits because you never know when the fish of a lifetime may bite.
For me, I hope he bites this week at Guntersville.