Elite

A look at Lake Guntersville 2026

Arctic blast ices expectations for Elite kickoff to 2026 season.

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Written by
Mike Suchan
This week’s FRX Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville kicks off the third decade of the series under conditions that are icing expectations.
The ninth Elite tournament on the famed Alabama fishery might have been record-setting, but no forward-facing sonar combined with an arctic blast has tempered thoughts that all 10 finalists might weigh more than 100 pounds. Guntersville’s Randy Howell, who won the 2014 Classic there, still thinks the winner will earn a Century Club belt.
“It is a very unusual setup for north Alabama,” he said. “I think the bass thought the winter had come and gone … With this no ‘Scope deal, and the cold, it could make the bass more lethargic, and numbers may not be as good and consistency could be difficult.”
Anglers are reporting ice on parts of the lake and water temperatures in the upper 30s, which might be the coldest water the Elites have ever fished. Temperatures during morning launches will stay around freezing, but some sunshine will warm things up on competition days.
This will be the 27th pro level B.A.S.S. tournament on Guntersville, the second most-visited venue by the Bassmasters. Guntersville is 69,000-acre impoundment of the Tennessee River in northeast Alabama that’s known for producing big bass and has ranked high in Bassmaster Magazine’s list of Best Bass Lakes. Howell said the fishery is in good health as much of the grass remained after an initially mild winter.
Goose Pond Colony at 417 Ed Hembree Drive in Scottsboro, Ala., is tournament central. Launches will take place at the award-winning facility at 7 a.m. CT each morning with weigh-ins there each day at 3 p.m. CT. The expo opens at noon Saturday and Sunday, and there will be live music from noon to 2 p.m. All B.A.S.S. venues are free to attend.
A coin flip decided where forward-facing sonar could be used this season, and conditions would have most of the 101-man field relying on it. “If it was in play, you’d see a bunch of guys chasing bass around structure and bait balls. The Top 10 guys would 100% be doing that,” said rookie Fisher Anaya of nearby Eva, Ala. “You’d see a handful of 30-pound bags if we could use ‘Scope. … To be honest, catching 20 pounds out of the grass is more consistent than ‘Scope.”
Caleb Kuphall fished grass near the takeoff in his wire-to-wire victory  in the most recent Elite here. In 2021, his second Elite season, Kuphall caught the event’s big bag on Day 1, 27-10, and ran away with the title. He won with 85-14, scoring what was then the second largest margin of victory at 17-14.
Big bass are helpful, but they need friends. Caleb Sumrall caught the biggest of the 2021 event, a 7-6 birthday bass he called a “total lifesaver.” Although being half his Day 1 weight, coming up one fish short of a limit caused Sumrall to miss the cut — on a tiebreaker. In the 2020 Elite won by Frank Talley, Chris Zaldain landed the big bass, an 8-6. The Guntersville record is a 14-8 caught in Feb. 1990.
Hank Cherry started big en route to winning the 2020 Bassmaster Classic on Guntersville. Cherry opened with 29-3, tying for third largest bag in Classic history, then he went on to win the 50th championship wire-to-wire with 65-5. Cherry became just the fourth angler to win in consecutive years with 2021 title on Lake Ray Roberts.
The record single-day weight in a Bassmaster Classic came at Guntersville in 2014. B.A.S.S. Nation champion Paul Mueller, in his first Classic, had a 25-pound flurry in 20 minutes in totaling 32-3, surpassing the old mark of 29-6. Mueller, who was two fish shy of a limit on Day 1, finished second, missing the title by 1 pound.
Those events added to Guntersville’s special place in B.A.S.S. lore, which began with Rick Clunn’s victory in the 1976 Classic. There have been several two-time winners and the two winners topping 100 pounds in four-day events. Aaron Martens has caught the biggest total on Big G, his 107-8 winning the 2009 Elite.
There are 101 anglers in the 2026 Elite field, which has turned over in recent years with the additions from the EQ series. Forty-three anglers who fished the 2021 Guntersville Elite are no longer with the Elites. The incoming rookie classes have fared well, taking several titles in each of the past three years. With live sonar in half the events, the debate that younger anglers are too dependent on the technology should play out this year.
Watch it all go down. Bassmaster LIVE coverage from Guntersville will be available on Bassmaster.com and Roku Thursday and Friday beginning at 8 a.m. ET and running until 3 p.m. Coverage on Saturday will be available on FS1 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. before moving to Bassmaster.com from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Championship Sunday coverage can be found on FS1 from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with afternoon action to follow on Bassmaster.com.

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