It won’t be long before I’ll be heading to Alabama for the first Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series tournament of 2026. Lake Guntersville is a great lake for us to start the season, but recent weather patterns will probably play a big role in how this one turns out.
We’ve had a late winter and that’s definitely gonna bring changes to the lake. A lot of that hydrilla and other grass that was still green might go away.
After a pretty warm fall, that grass was probably in good shape, but the cold we’ve had in January, plus a couple more weeks of winter weather, will probably knock it back a good bit.
Of course, we always like to see the grass in good shape, but this seasonal cycle can actually work to your advantage by concentrating the fish. When you have too much grass, it can spread them out and it can take forever to find the fish. But when you only have isolated patches of green grass, it can really consolidate those fish, and you can catch multiples out of one spot.
I’ve had pretty good success on Guntersville; I think I’ve only missed one cut there. I’ve had a couple of Top 10s there, and I placed 15th during the 2020 Bassmaster Classic when it snowed during practice.
One thing I can say: Guntersville that time of year can see some absolutely brutal conditions. The first of February, I have seen some miserably cold days, but I’ve also seen 65-degree days. You don’t know what to pack, but you’d better bring plenty of clothes.
I’m gonna say the way the weather is shaping up, I think we’ll have full-blown winter patterns. I don’t think there will be much of a prespawn bite this time.
That said, Guntersville is a pretty shallow lake, and as a river system, those fish still hold shallow and they have an abundance of cover. There’s grass of some level end to end, and no matter how cold it gets, you can still catch fish shallow in the grass.
Guntersville is going to give us an interesting start to the season with this being the first event with no forward-facing sonar. If it’s full-blown cold, the minnow game is at its peak. You can really catch those isolated roamers better.
But with as much grass as that lake has, you don’t really have to have it. You can still catch a big bag throwing a Booyah Hard Knocker lipless bait, a ChatterBait or something along those lines.
The way I see it, without forward facing, I don’t think you’ll see a guy catch a 25-pound bag every day. Somebody’s likely to catch 30 pounds one day and then they’ll come back with 18 to 20.
If this event had forward facing, I could have seen several guys with more than 100 pounds. It will still take a total in the 90s to win, but I think the weights are gonna be pretty tight from top to bottom, instead of just a couple of heavy hitters at the top.
I love my ‘Scope, but I think it’s gonna be fun not having to worry about that X factor. You’re going to go back to instinctual fishing. It’s gonna change up some things for a lot of guys, but I think it will be a lot of fun.
I’m looking forward to getting this season started, and even though I was a little behind in my preparation, I recently got it all wrapped up. I took a couple of days and got everything finalized with my boat and truck wrap, my engine check and my electronics rigging.
I’m running all Garmin units this year, but aside from that, I’m with all the same companies like Booyah, Falcon Rods and Sunline. I’m still running a Falcon boat with a Yamaha, so I have a lot of comfort going into a new season with the brands that have supported me for a long time.
Those relationships are really important, because they give you a sense of stability to starting a new season. I’m eager to see what 2026 will bring, and it all starts at Lake Guntersville.
