Gear

Top lures at Guntersville Elite 2026

See the lineup of old school lures that dominated at Lake Gunterssville.

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Photography by
Chase Sansom
West Virginia
Photography by
Solomon Glenn
Minnesota
Photography by
Andy Crawford
Photography by
Shane Durrance
Photography by
Grant Moxley
Photography by
Dalton Tumblin
Captions by
Craig Lamb
The talk of the week centered around the new rule prohibiting forward-facing sonar at select events, and the screens were turned off at the FXR Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville. That also dictated lure choices of the pros with top producers including lipped and lipless crankbaits and jerkbaits. 
Hank Cherry chose different. The star of the show was a simple, old-school soft plastic grub rigged on a diminutive jig head. “I felt like I was 10 years old again; it was incredible fishing,” Cherry said. “I was throwing a bait that’s older than (much) of the field. I’ve been waiting my whole life to be able to fish a major tournament and do that.”
Happy birthday to me. Cherry achieved his goal on his birthday. The icing on the cake was his first career blue trophy that now joins two world championship trophies on his mantle. Cherry’s winning weight of 88 pounds, 11 ounces came from daily weights of 16-3, 22-11, 22-2 and a tournament high 27-11 on Championship Sunday. See the lineup of old-school baits fished by the Top 10. 
Click here to buy these lures at Bass Pro Shops.
Dakota Ebare (10th; 74-4)
Ebare relied on a personal confidence bait also highly productive this week at Guntersville for locating and catching bass.
That choice was this 1/2-ounce Strike King Red Eyed Shad 2 Tap in Rayburn Red.
Trey McKinney (9th; 79-9)
McKinney focused on submergent grass zones with a shallow diving crankbait and jerkbait. Strikes occurred on a pause with the latter bait; a slow pumping rod and reel action produced best for the crankbait. 
McKinney used this 6th Sense Pressure Series PD4 in Natural Shad pattern. 
For fishing over submergent vegetation he used this 6th Sense Provoke Series 97X DD Slow Sink Jerkbait. 
Kyle Welcher (8th; 80-6)
Welcher covered water to locate schools of bass with a lipless cranbait. When encountering concentrations of bass he switched to a vibrating jig. 
He used a CrushCity Freeloader with the vibrating jig. 
For other presentations he used this Rapala Snare 50. 
Brandon Card (7th; 80-9)
A lipless crankbait for finding concentrations of bass and a bladed jig for keying on individual bass were the lure tactics for Card. 
Card relied on this 3/8-ounce Yo-Zuri Rattl’N Vibe in Matte Rayburn Red. 
Alternatively, he used the 3/8- and 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer with Yamamoto Zako. 
Justin Atkins (6th; 80-13)
A versatile, mid-depth plastic crankbait designed to deliver balsa action was the top producer for Atkins. 
That choice was a Berkley Dime 4. 
He also used a Berkley Dime 6 for deeper coverage. 
Click here to buy these lures at Bass Pro Shops.
Wes Logan (5th; 82-7)
Logan rotated between a lipless crankbait and bladed jig, depending on depth and strike zone. 
For covering water, he used this Team ARK Elite Z-Series 53 Lipless Crankbait. 
For slower presentations he used this 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer with Zoom Shimmer Shad 4.25 for a trailer. 
Jamie Hartman (4th; 85-11)
Hartman rotated between a jig head minnow rig and jerkbait. 
A primary bait was this Missile Baits Freedom Flyer 4.25 rigged on 1/8-ounce jig head. The Freedom Flyer features pitch elevators on the back half of the bait, causing it to easily roll with a darting action. 
Hartman also used this jerkbait for covering areas. 
Matt Robertson (3rd; 85-13)
Robertson used a jerkbait and swimbait with an inline harness rig. 
That choice was the 6-inch Berkley Cull Shad. 
For faster presentations he used this Berkley Stunna Jerkbait 
Stetson Blaylock (2nd; 86-14)
Blaylock fished a ditch running through aquatic grass while targeting prespawn bass.
 He used this BOOYAH Hard Knocker lipless crankbait, Rayburn Red. 
Another top lure was this BOOYAH Hard Knocker, Tennessee Shad. 
A YUM Money Minnow rigged on 3/8-ounce Scottsboro Tackle Co. Recon Swimbait Jig Head was another top producer. 
Hank Cherry Jr. (1st; 88-11) 
An abundance of bait and the absence of boats gave Cherry the opportunity to exploit his old-school tactic with the grub. Casting and slowly swimming the grub along grass edges produced the winning weight. 
Cherry’s primary bait was this 3-inch, hand-poured single curl-tail grub in chartreuse/silver flake. He rigged it on a 1/8-ounce jig head. 
For covering water, he used this BassMooch HC 115 Jerkbait in Table Rock Shad. 

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