At first glance, it appears Lake Guntersville was it’s typical superb bass fishery on Day 1 of the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Elite: 14 bags of 20 pounds or better, 67 of 75 anglers weighing 5-bass limits, an average of 3 1/4 pounds for the fish weighed-in.
But when you heard from leader Paul Mueller, who had 22-14, you began to realize how tough consistency is going to be over the next three days at Lake Guntersville. The Naugatuck, Conn., pro caught three fish Friday morning, then struggled for hours before catching numbers four and five.
“It’s a grind, one here, one there,” he said. “It’s amazing how good these guys catch them. You always look at the weight, but you never see the story on how tough it is to catch a weight like that. Everything has to go together to have a day like I had.
“I still don’t have a good handle on it. It may look like it on paper. But I feel like I’ve got to keep learning, just find a few clues and roll with it.”
So an open mind will be a big key to success for all 75 pros today, when the field will be cut to the top 35 after the weigh-in. A little wind and some current flow would help too.