Final EverStart Eastern event under way
Fishing on Lake Guntersville will be good, but maybe not as good as last year
GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – A full field of 200 pros and 200 co-anglers blasted off this morning into a muggy dawn on Lake Guntersville in Alabama for the fourth and final event of the EverStart Series Eastern Division.
Along with a Lake Guntersville EverStart title, the Eastern Division points title will also be decided here. Currently leading the points race is Tony Christian of Hull, Ga.
Christian, however, did not get in as much practice as he would have liked to defend his top points position this week. “I only got one day of practice,” he said. “That’s a lot less than the five or six days I’m used to, so I’m a little worried.”
He should be worried. Just 17 points behind him is Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn., who finished second in the Guntersville EverStart last June.
But anglers are saying that the “Big G” may be slightly off pace from the fast and furious catches of last June.
“You could stick your finger in the water and one would bite it last year,” said Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., who finished third in the 2002 Guntersville EverStart last June. “It’s not that easy this year. There will still be plenty of fish caught, but you will have to work much harder to catch them.”
FLW Tour pro and former EverStart winner Ricky Shumpert of Lexington, S.C., agrees. “Last year you could run up to the Goose Pond flats, pull off anywhere on the river channel, blindfold a man and give him a Zara Spook, and he would catch a limit,” he said. “It’s not like that this year.”
Recent floods have ripped up some of the main-river grass beds up the lake, leaving bare humps and little to which the fish can relate.
“Some of the hydrilla is gone, but plenty of milfoil remains in the near-shore pockets,” Morgan said.
Birmingham, Ala., angler Todd Ary predicts that fish will be caught in two ways: “Fishing ledges or flipping the milfoil.” He said, “A lot of fish are out on the ledges, but a few are still in that shallower milfoil.”
Some anglers have reported catching skinny fish as well. “That’s a normal postspawn deal,” said Morgan. “The fish just finished spawning, so they are a little thin. The water temperature hit the mid-80s for the first time this week and that tends to curb the bite a bit, too. I think 12 or 13 pounds per day will make the cut.”
Last year a two-day total of 27 pounds, 10 ounces made the top 20.
Morgan believes Carolina rigs, top-waters and crankbaits will figure heavily into many anglers’ game plans.
“I am afraid it’s going to be won cranking structure like it was last year,” surmised Morgan. “The water is dropping and the fish are moving out, so that kind of plays into the crankers’ hands.”
The weigh-in starts at 3 p.m. at Lake Guntersville State Park today.
Wednesday’s conditions:
Sunrise: 5:30 am
Temperature: 75 degrees
Water temperature: 80 degrees
Forecasted wind: from the south at 5-10 mph
Relative humidity: 88 percent
Day’s outlook: scattered severe thunderstorms
Day-one links: