LeBrun's Big Bag Seals Ultimate Angler Championship Title
Damon Abernethy of ADCNR’s Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division said Guntersville is indeed a special place.
“There are a couple of things that make it really good,” said Abernethy, Fisheries Section Assistant Chief. “It’s a good-size reservoir. It’s the biggest one in Alabama. Some of the top bass lakes in the nation are even bigger than Guntersville if you can imagine that. I think what helps Guntersville keep up with those is that so much of the lake is overbank (shoreline zone) areas – shallow water areas that are used by fish. A lot of lakes have deep, open water that really doesn’t get used a whole lot by the fish. Almost the entire area of Guntersville is prime bass habitat. It fishes a whole lot bigger than it really is.”
Abernethy said if you’re not familiar with the lake, you might think it could be a deep reservoir. However, that is not the case.
“The channel is deep, but once you get out of the channel, you’re in bass habitat,” he said. “It’s a little deeper on the lower end, but anything under 20 feet is going to be real good habitat. On the upper end, it’s a lot shallower. That’s where the grass gets growing up there. In the early spring on that upper end, you’ll see that grass start growing and greening up earlier than it does down at Guntersville (city).”
Abernethy said the fish and fishermen love the grass, although one grass species can be a headache for the anglers.
“The fishermen aren’t that wild about the eel grass,” he said. “Eel grass is relatively new compared to milfoil and hydrilla, which are great fish habitat. Eel grass is good fish habitat, but the fishermen don’t necessarily like it because it’s ribbon-like, and it will foul your line and bait. It’s just hard to fish in it. But the bass use it just like the other grass.”
Lake Guntersville was created in 1939 when the Guntersville Dam was completed, but Abernethy said the lake really became a productive and renowned bass fishery in the 1980s when milfoil became established and submerged vegetation eventually covered 30% of the lake
Abernethy said the fishing technique used during the Ultimate Angler Championship is a consistent way to catch bass on Guntersville.
“People love to come to Guntersville in the fall and frog fish in the fall,” he said. “That’s always been really popular and still is. In the early spring, if they can find some good green grass, a Rat-L-Trap type bait is very productive. After the spawn, they’ll fish the shell beds on the river with a variety of things, Carolina rigs, big worms and jigs. A lot of things are effective on the shell beds. You could probably throw anything in your tackle box.
“It’s just an unbelievable bass factory. Guntersville is just laid out perfect to be a great bass lake.”
Abernethy said the weights from the Ultimate Angler Championship were phenomenal for the fall. LeBrun finished the three-day event with 69 pounds, 2 ounces, followed by Bryan Schmitt with 67 pounds, 8 ounces; Buddy Benson with 64 pounds, 8 ounces; Ron Nelson with 62 pounds, 12 ounces; and Cory Johnston with 62 pounds, 4 ounces. Kyle Welcher of Valley was the top Alabama angler with a sixth-place finish at 61 pounds, 3 ounces.
Abernethy said not to overlook the other reservoirs in the Tennessee River chain for outstanding fishing for a wide variety of species.
“The topography of Wheeler is similar to Guntersville,” he said. “The upper end is kind of shallow with a lot of overbanks for really good fish habitat. The lower end is deep, which is the one thing that’s different from Guntersville. It’s more of a smallmouth area. The reason Wheeler’s grass sometimes comes and goes is they do a 5- to 6-foot drawdown on Wheeler, and they don’t do that on Guntersville.
“Wilson Lake is just deep. It doesn’t really have any submerged grass to speak of. It has shoreline grass. It’s a smaller lake and doesn’t get as much publicity, but the local people would rank it right up there with Guntersville. It has largemouth and smallmouth bass, trophy catfish, crappie and shellcrackers. If you like to catch different species of fish, that’s probably the lake for you. Pickwick has always been known as an excellent smallmouth fishery, but you can catch big largemouths too.
“If you look at our Tennessee River reservoirs and the quality of fishing, I don’t think there’s anything you can compare it to in the entire country.”
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