Welcome to the Live Blog for the 2026 FXR Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville!
Your go-to page for up-to-the-minute information that is happening during the tournament, including reports from our on-the-water photographers, links to video highlights, photos from AmBASSadors, and much more!

Day 1

2:30pm -- With the weights packed so tightly, particularly in the middle, this last half hour of the day could prove to be critical. The sun is beating down, warming the waters, and it's actually tolerable to be outside at long last. Certain areas have been pounded, but Guntersville is a big lake and there are big fish top to bottom. One key move and one perfect cast could mean a difference of 20 or 30 places.

1:58pm -- Photographer Solomon Glenn reports that despite only catching five bass over three days of practice, rookie Caleb Hudson has landed 10 today. His approximately 16 pounds isn't being helped by a bunch of 2 1/2 pound cookie cutters. He just caught four in a quick flurry, but only one helped the cause.

1:30pm -- As the competition day nears its conclusion, the 50th place weight is far lower that most of us expected. Granted, some anglers don't have marshals and other anglers sandbag or underestimate, but BassTrakk has 50th place under 13 pounds. That'll shift over the next two hours and as fish hits the scale, but the relatively few 20 pound bags means that it's still anyone's ballgame. Big shifts can happen in a hurry.

12:56pm -- Rookie Fisher Anaya just said on BASS Live that he had an “OK” limit but was hoping to catch a big one that would really help out — and things were starting to look more positive for him. “I’ve caught more fish in the last hour than I have all day,” Anaya said just before missing a fish. “They’re starting to bite. I like it!"

12:48pm -- Nick Trim is making a strong rookie debut on day 1. "As of 12:30 p.m., he’s the only rookie currently in the top 10 according to BassTrakk,” Bassmaster photographer Dalton Tumblin noted. "He’s fishing a main-river grass bar using a red-colored bladed jig. He told me that his practice went surprisingly well, and that the bite today has been slower than what he expected.

"He’s only caught 5 fish total throughout the day. His main goal right now is to find a giant to cull out the 2-5 in his livewell."

12:40pm -- Just after we wrote that Evan Kung had no reason to lay off his fish, he reached the opposite conclusion. "I don't want to keep sticking these 3-plus pounders when I might need them tomorrow," he told photographer Chase Sansom. "I'm going looking for a big one."

12:35pm -- Jamie Hartman, another angler who has crossed the 20 pound mark, is currently “head hunting,” according to Bassmaster photographer Solomon Glenn. "He’s looking for one big bite to boost up his bag,” Glenn said. "He has left his primary area so as not to burn too many 3 1/2- to 3 3/4-pounders, which he was catching quite a few earlier."

Glenn said Hartman is probing a gradual drop with a jerkbait and a jig head minnow. "He also mentions that you don’t need scope to catch them on a minnow,” the photographer said.

12:30pm -- Trey McKinney is sharing a shallow flat in a popular area with Sam Hanggi and Emil Wagner. BassTrakk has him at 17-12, probably not what he wanted or expected, but there's still plenty of time to cull -- and it's a slap in the face to anyone who thinks he can't catch bass without his forward-facing sonar.

12:28pm -- On a day when many anglers are struggling just to eke out bites, Evan Kung is having no trouble getting fish to commit -- although he reports "lots of little fish today mixed in with a few good ones." He's throwing a lipless crankbait like most other competitors, but not in the standard Guntersville Red. At just under 21 pounds, he has no reason to lay off these fish. In fact, he probably needs to cull a few times to get some breathing room.

12:18pm -- We expected there to be some local advantage, but at least through mid-day it's not showing up. You have to go down to 9th place before you find an angler from a traditional southeastern local -- Paul Marks of Georgia. Above him are two Canadians, an Australian, an angler from New York, one from Idaho and pros from Illinois and Maryland. Hunter Shryock lives in Tennessee now but spent his formative years in Ohio. Justin Atkins in 16th is the top Alabama resident.

11:35am -- Steve Kennedy and Tyler Rivet each entered back-to-back fish catches into BASSTrakk. Rivet caught two quickly, with one being a 3-pounder that pushed his total to just over 13 pounds. Kennedy’s two catches came nine minutes later, with one adding to his 11 1/2-pound limit. 

11:31am -- Photographer Chase Sansom reports that Brandon Palaniuk's starting area seems to have gone dead. BP picked up the trolling motor to move, but couldn't commit, reporting that his "second best spot" is 20 miles away.

11:12am -- After an uncharacteristically tough 2025 season, Jeff Gustafson is fishing like the Gussy of old on the first day of the 2026 Elite Series campaign. He's been at or near the top of the leaderboard all day, and currently sits just behind Hunter Shryock on BassTrakk. Photographer Solomon Glenn captured a great gallery of the Canadian Snow Leopard's morning. Click here to check it out.

11:10:am -- Despite the frigid temps, no competitor is laying off the throttle today, Day 1 of the 2026 Elite Series schedule. Check out this Runnin' and Gunnin' gallery from Grant Moxley of all of the horsepower getting flexed.

11:05am -- Bassmaster photographer Dalton Tumblin watched Hunter Shryock catching what ended up being a non-keeper. "He’s the first angler I’ve seen today throwing a shad colored jerkbait over top of grass. He’s fishing by the observations he’s made, being that he’s found several shad spit up in the livewell (pictured above). He told me his main goal right now is simply to find a giant or two."

10:40am -- It’s early in the day, but two rookies are making the most of their first Bassmaster Elite Series event. Tristan McCormick and Caleb Hudson are sitting in ninth and 10th, respectively. Tied for 10th is Russ Lane, another angler who qualified through the 2025 Opens EQs. Lane is not considered a rookie because he is a returning Bassmaster Elite angler, with over a million dollars of BASS winnings in his bank account.

10:36am -- From AmBASSador Neil Paul: The folks at Bassmaster and the anglers have well documented this week the frigid temperatures of North Alabama with practice pictures and videos of ice covered pockets and bass boats idling along breaking up sheets of ice like something out of an Alaskan television series. 

Something I haven’t witnessed personally since the 2015 Bassmaster Classic at Lake Hartwell has been freezing line and ice-filled guides. 

The front deck of the Jacob Powroznik Falcon is littered with ice pellets that have fallen from his guides and used rods are on the front deck collecting ice as well. 

Listening to Powroznik and Greg Hackney trade cold practice stories this morning prior to takeoff, I chimed in and reminded them of that frigid morning in Anderson (the 2015 Bassmaster Classic) when we launched the coldest Classic in history at 9 degrees.

“It’s colder here than it was there,” Hackney chimed in. “There’s more ice here than we had in that Classic.” Reluctantly, I sat back and listened to more stories about ice and water temps. 

“Ah, I don’t pay attention to water temps anymore,” Powroznik said. Hackney laughed and said, “Well, try skipping a buzz bait across the ice in the backs of some of these creeks and get back to me.” 

10:28am -- Bryan New went all-in on red. Lots of lipless variations -- size, the size and numbers of rattles, along with varying colors -- may make a big difference.

10:07am -- The sun has popped out and it's noticeably warmer outside than it was outside just an hour or two ago....as long as you're out of the stiff wind. Behind the Elite Series stage the fish holding tanks still have a layer of skim ice on them.

9:45am -- After a strong start to the day, rookie Fisher Anaya went through a lull of several hours before adding his third keeper to the box. He's only 19, and yet somehow we all have incredibly high expectations for him, especially here on Guntersville, so close to his Eva, Alabama home. Lots of time left to fish, but he'll need to add two good ones -- and probably cull a few -- to be competitive on this frigid day.

10:30am -- BassTrakk has Brandon Palaniuk in second place currently, with 17 pounds 8 ounces. He's in the same general area with Greg Hackney and hoping to start strong this year. Last season he won the second event, on Florida's Lake Okeechobee, and eventually slid into the 2026 Classic as the result of some double qualifiers. This year he'd certainly like to avoid that late-year drama. Perhaps a third AOY award?

9:09am -- At takeoff this morning the pros seemed to pull out every trick in the book to stay warm because 27 degrees in Alabama somehow seems colder than 27 degrees in New York. Nevertheless, Tyler Williams of Maine is running around the lake hat-free. Coming off a top ten finish in the AOY race a strong start at Guntersville would show that he's not "just a scoper."

Who says that you have to have forward-facing sonar for a jighead minnow to play? Amidst a field of heavy string slingers, Jeff Gustafson estimates he has a 19 pound limit -- with a spinning rod. He is both casting and vertically dropping on fish he sees on his 2D sonar and 360.

8:30am -- Fisher Anaya's hot start has slowed to a morning crawl. He's pulled the plug on his starting spot and is running 20 minutes south to another grassy area.

8:19am -- Lots of red lipless crankbaits, flat sides, squarebills and vibrating jigs on the anglers' decks this morning. Craig Lamb asked Greg Hackney to explain the significance of RED: Is it science or just psychology -- CLICK HERE.

7:56am -- Photographer Chase Sansom said that most of the river section is a "ghost town," but gradually came to a wad of 20 or so boats at the mouth of one major creek. Clearly, there are no secrets on Guntersville, and these guys are the best in the world, but as the tournament develops we'll have to see if this tournament is won out of a community hole or if someone can find something a bit off the wall that they'll have to themselves.

7:46am -- Per BassTrakk, sophomore pro Paul Marks is the first angler to a limit, with five bass totaling 11 pounds, 12 ounces. It has to give him some comfort to have a full livewell, but at the same time he'll likely have to cull every one of those five Guntersville bass to be competitive. The largest of them is estimated at 3 pounds, and from what I heard at yesterday's registration meeting and at the docks this morning, 15 pounds a day may not make the cut.

7:22am -- By the time most fans tuned into live coverage this morning, 19 year-old Fisher Anaya had already caught his first Elite Series bass....on camera. We'll never get a pic of KVD's first Bassmaster catch, or Mike Iaconelli's, or perhaps even Trey McKinney's, but if Anaya goes on to a Hall of Fame career -- still a big "if," of course -- his could be the first that BASS documents from start to finish. Just as notably, three of the first four catches we've tracked were on the ends of the lines of Guntersville locals or transplants: Anaya, Andrew Loberg and Tucker Smith.

6:50am -- After an offseason away from competition, it's easy to forget the most basic aspects of tournament fishing -- like keeping track of check-in times. That's especially true for rookies. Tristan McCormick got a quick sharpie assist this morning to ensure that he won't be late on Day One of his Elite Series career. It might seem minor, but those are the sorts of potential mistakes that can doom a cut, a Bassmaster Classic qualification, a Rookie of the Year award or other markers of success.

6:18am -- Welcome to the official start of the 2026 Bassmaster Elite Series season. We're on an iconic venue -- Alabama's Lake Guntersville -- and most of the players are the same, but we're already starting to see some differences compared to 2025. Walking the docks this morning I saw nary a spinning rod. Lots of red lures, a fair number of big glide baits and swimbaits, but not a single minnow to ping. Maybe I missed a few, but the dynamic has clearly changed. With no forward-facing sonar allowed this week, it's almost certain to be a return to old school power fishing.

Official Practice

Day 3 Easton Fothergill Practice Gallery - Click Here.

Day 2 John Cox Practice Gallery - Click Here.

Day 1 Practice Story - Click Here.