Flashback: 2009 Elite on Guntersville

Boyd Duckett is one of the five Bassmaster Elite Series anglers who live on Lake Guntersville, where the next Elite Series event will be held. This gallery goes back to May 7-10, 2009, when the pros visited the same fishery, and four pros topped 100 pounds on the weigh-in stage!

Alton Jones limited every day in the 2009 event, fishing a lipless crankbait along a 200-yard grassbed on the edge of the main river channel. He caught more than 89 pounds there over the four days, ending in 12th place.

Todd Faircloth led on Day 1 in 2009 with a 31-pound sack! He ended the tournament in 11th place with 91-14.

Byron Velvick demonstrated his swimbait prowess on Guntersville in 2009. He caught 29 pounds in just two hours on Day 1, fishing transition areas where milfoil met gravel near points.

Mike Iaconelli, who finished in fourth place with 101-1, used four different crankbaits around rocks, shellbeds and isolated stumps on the main river channel and in the mouths of spawning coves.

Traditionally, the first day of a tournament results in the biggest bass and the biggest average weight per bass, but Day 2 dawned brighter for the pros than did the first day.

Velvick went back to work on Day 2. His efforts resulted in an eighth-place finish with 94 pounds.

The sky was soupy during the 2009 event. Tornadoes swirled nearby during practice, but by the time the tournament began, the weather calmed down and competitors only had to deal with a little rain.

Randy Howell is all smiles because he got to sack more than 65 pounds of fish over three days here on Guntersville. But maybe that’s a knowing smile; maybe he could foresee himself 5 years later holding the Classic trophy he scored here with just a little bit more weight than that.

Everyone wants to see what the other guys hauled in, especially when the average weight is more than 4 pounds.

Kevin Wirth is one of the four anglers who topped 100 pounds. He caught 102-3 over four days, ending in third place. Wirth is now retired from the Elite Series, so he won’t be a threat this year.

Nice ones, Velvick! He was working in 4 to 5 feet of water.

Aaron Martens was the ultimate victor. “I may have caught as many as a thousand bass this week,” he said after his win. “I fished nearly 20 miles of the lake, and if bass were on a spot, they’d usually hit on the first cast.”

Clark Reehm caught the biggest bass of the tournament, a 9-2. He caught it casting to shallow rocks near milfoil in 6 feet of water, in the same spot where he had caught a 4-pounder earlier. He was using a 3/8-ounce Title Shot Jig with a Kicker Fish Kicker Kraw trailer.

Martens began Day 3 in the lead after his 29-12 sack at the Day 2 weigh-in. The TVA had been pulling water on Day 1, he said, but from Day 2 on, the current slowed and the bass gradually moved. “After I’d catch my fish in the first couple of hours, I’d just go looking for other spots, and I found at least one good one each day.”

Denny Brauer, now retired from the Elite Series, flashed his signature smile at the beginning of Day 3. He caught 70 pounds total and ended in 18th place.

Kevin VanDam was fresh off a win on Smith Mountain two weeks prior. He was in the lead for the Bassmaster Angler of the Year race (which he ultimately won), and he had won on Guntersville just two years earlier when the winning weight was just 66-3. He was heavily favored for the 2009 tournament, but he finished in 20th place with 69-11.

Greg Vinson was making a run at Bassmaster Rookie of the Year during the Guntersville event in 2009. He fell short, but he did score 63 pounds, 2 ounces at this tournament.

Martens identified the dominant pattern early in practice. The majority of bass had spawned several weeks earlier and were en route to their deeper summer haunts.

Not only were they concentrated in huge schools, they were in shallow, predictable places along channel breaks near milfoil.

Martens had put around 30 waypoints into his GPS during practice, and he ended up only fishing half of them.

Crowds of spectators were great for the pros, but some pros had issues with local anglers hearing where the pros were catching ’em and taking over their spots before the pro arrived the next day. Martens said the best-laid plan was to have multiple areas to choose from in case someone was sitting on a spot.

Pros fished all over the 69,000-acre Tennessee River impoundment.

Kelly Jordon fished hard on Day 3 …

… but that’s where his tournament ended. He was at the edge of the 50-cut, finishing in 48th place with 58-7.

Iaconelli heads in for the Day 3 weigh-in.

Marty Stone was eager to show off his bag …

… because he busted 30 pounds, 1 ounce on Day 3 to jump into contention.

Meanwhile, Skeet Reese, who was the reigning Classic champion, waited in line to see how he would fare.

Stone had been cranking shellbeds surrounded by milfoil in 2 to 7 feet of water in an area only 50 yards long. He caught his 30-pound sack there before 10 a.m. on Day 3.

Mike McClelland had a good tournament, ending with 94-4 in seventh place.

Matt Reed ended in 10th place with 92-9.

Reese caught more than 500 bass in the four-day tournament, releasing multiple 5-pounders that wouldn’t improve his weight.

Martens brought another haul of 28 pounds, 11 ounces on Day 3, and it was enough to keep him in the lead.

Davy Hite finished in 23rd place with 67-14, but he came back the next year and got a runner-up in the May 2010 event on Guntersville.

Terry Scroggins caught the biggest fish of Day 3, an 8-2.

And then there were 12 …

Stone caught 60 bass in the first three hours of Day 4, but they were all small.

The rain was coming down on the final day.

Martens was catching ’em, but not the same size as the previous days.

At weigh-in, Reese had bigger ones than the other pros did, totaling 27-11.

Fans came out to get photos with the pros as they came off the water.

Velvick had one to show, but it wasn’t the size he was accustomed to.

Reese had concentrated his fishing at the mouths of several creeks as well as along main lake ledges, fishing shellbeds surrounded by milfoil in 4 to 6 feet of water. The majority of his bass came from a single 200-yard stretch of the main Tennessee River channel.

The final weigh-in coincided with Mother’s Day, forcing some fans to make tough choices.

Wirth caught the biggest bass of Day 4, a 6-6.

Reese sacked more than 27 pounds on Day 4, giving him 104 pounds, 4 ounces, good enough for a runner-up spot. But he exacted revenge the next May when the Elite Series went back to Guntersville. Then, he caught 100-13 and took home the win.

It was this moment when Martens’ fish went on the scales and he realized he had enough to take the trophy.

Lightning doesn’t often strike twice, though, and in the tournament on Guntersville the following May, Martens ended in 57th place with 35-9, only getting to compete two days.

Martens and his family live in Leeds, Ala., less than 100 miles from Guntersville, so it was almost a hometown win.

“I was tense all day,” said Martens of his Day 4. “I had local anglers on my best spots, and the bass I was catching were not the quality fish I had been catching earlier. It was terrible.”

“But now, this feels really good.”

His children, Jordan and Spencer, were right by his side. (Now, they’re a lot taller!)

“I used a very erratic retrieve — reeling, stopping and sweeping the crankbaits with a fast 7.1:1 reel.”

“I’d reel down into the milfoil, then when I ripped the bait out, the bass would hit.”

“I lost several 5-pounders the last day because the fish just weren’t taking the lures that well.”

He combed the shellbeds with two Lucky Craft RC 2.5 DD crankbaits, one painted in chartreuse/shad and the other in tomato. He also used a black/red Megabass Vibration X medium diver.