FLW preview: Wheeler or Guntersville?

Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wheeler Lake, May 11-14

When the Wal-Mart FLW Tour returns to the Tennessee River this week, the biggest decision anglers will face is whether to fish the Wheeler Lake pool or lock up to Guntersville.

On the surface, this appears to be a no-brainer. Anyone familiar with this stretch of the Tennessee River knows that Guntersville Lake is one of the premier bass fisheries in northern Alabama. The FLW Tour has visited the Wheeler-Wilson-Pickwick pools no fewer than four times previously, but this is the first time in recent years that Guntersville – and its potential for 20-pound limits – is open to competition, as well.

“Everyone who receives a check here will be locking into Guntersville,” pro Randy Blaukat of Lamar, Mo., said last week.

However, some pros prefishing Monday weren’t so sure about the prospects on the Big G. Trussville, Alabama’s Matt Herren, currently ranked second in the standings, was concerned that the fishing on Guntersville wasn’t living up to its reputation.

“I’ve been able to catch around 16 pounds. By Guntersville standards, that’s pretty low,” he said. “The fish are in transition. They haven’t dropped off to their summertime positions, and they’re just kind of roaming up and down the river ledges. There are going to be a lot of fish caught, but there might be a lot of long faces in line at weigh-in.”

Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., agreed. A renowned river angler with a storied history on the Tennessee River, he was surprised by the trouble he said he was having catching fish on Guntersville.

“Actually, it’s pretty slow,” he said. “The fish aren’t bunched up like they usually are here in May. I don’t know if it was the cold spell they had last week or what, but the fish are really scattered. It’s nothing like I expected. I think you’re going to see a lot of disappointed people coming back from Guntersville.”

“I’m not sure if I should head to Guntersville or stay in Wheeler,” Herren said. “It’s going to be interesting to see what everybody does. I’m as curious as everybody else to see what’s going to happen.”

Added to the equation is the simple logistical issue of getting to Guntersville. The tournament is launching from Decatur on the Wheeler pool. Depending on where they fish, anglers could face up to a 90-mile trip to get where they want to go and back. Plus they’ll have to wait for a lock where barge traffic has priority.

“It’s not like the Ouachita (River, where anglers also locked upriver) for a couple reasons: One, there’s no barge traffic at Ouachita. Here, you never know what to expect. Two, the difference between the pool basins at Ouachita was only a couple feet. Here, it’s something like 35 to 40 feet. It could take 35 to 45 minutes just to turn that lock around. It could be up to two hours before you ever make your first cast,” Herren said.

“It’s going to be risky,” Morgan said. “Everybody that comes up here is definitely rolling the dice.”

Still, many pros were practicing on Guntersville Monday, which means they likely plan on competing there.

“It’s on, yeah,” said Aaron Martens of Leeds, Ala., who won the last Wheeler FLW tournament in 2003. “It’s Guntersville. It’s twice the lake Wheeler is, and the postspawn bite’s really good. If you know where they’re at, it doesn’t take long to catch them. I like Wheeler a lot, but it’s a tougher lake. There, it’s a matter of just being able to catch a limit. Here, it’s not a matter of catching them, but catching the right ones. It’s going to change this tournament big-time. Oh yeah, I’m excited.”

Both Morgan and Herren pointed to the spinnerbait bite on grass flats early in the morning as the possible key to tournament success on Guntersville. Jigs, crankbaits, topwaters and plastics will also produce some big fish on grass beds in both Wheeler and Guntersville.

But whether anglers can get upriver and back in time to capitalize on the big early bite remains to be seen.

“I’m going to have to hustle some to catch them,” Morgan said. “I need to zig and zag right, make the right decisions, and catch a limit early. If you zig and zag wrong, you could go four hours and not catch anything. But I’m definitely coming up (to Guntersville).”

“There’s going to be somebody on a sweet spot. The big thing here is to find seven, eight or nine key places to go where you can hop around,” Herren said. “What’s interesting is that I think Guntersville is where a lot of the weight will come from to make the cut, but it’s going to be won on Wheeler. With that short day (Saturday) I just don’t see guys being able to get there and back in time.”

Said Martens: “It’s going to be interesting. There’s not going to be any time to adjust. All your decisions have to be right on, because there’s no room for error here.”

Wheeler Lake history/facts

Located in north-central Alabama halfway between Birmingham and Nashville, Wheeler Lake boasts approximately 68,000 acres of fishing habitat. Formed as a result of the construction of Wheeler Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Wheeler ranks as Alabama’s second largest reservoir. In total, Wheeler Lake stretches more than 50 miles from the upper part of Guntersville Dam to the Wheeler Dam. The lake, which meanders past Huntsville and terminates approximately midway between the cities of Decatur and Florence, is sandwiched between Guntersville Lake and the Wilson and Pickwick reservoirs, known for their healthy smallmouth bass populations.

Due to its close proximity to Pickwick, Guntersville and Wilson lakes, Wheeler Lake exhibits an eclectic combination of fishing habitats and species associated with its neighboring bodies of water. On the lower end of the lake, anglers will find many steep banks and long points. In the middle of the reservoir, weed beds, creek channels and stump flats can be found in abundance. And at the upper end, the lake takes on many characteristics of a typical river system. Wheeler exhibits a diverse ecosystem and topography, featuring both shallow and weedy sections of water, which is consistent with Guntersville Lake, as well as deep, clear sandy bottoms like those found on Pickwick and Wilson.

Not surprisingly, a variety of fish species are found in abundance as well. Although largemouth bass are relatively common throughout Wheeler, there are also excellent pockets of smallmouth and spotted bass habitats. The lake is also home to striped bass, white bass, crappies, saugers, breams and catfish. In fact, the world-record blue catfish, which weighed in at a remarkable 111 pounds, was pulled from the Wheeler reservoir July 5, 1996.

Catch the action

The full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Friday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Friday’s weigh-in. The 10 pros continue competition Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest two-day weight.

Anglers take off each morning from Riverwalk Marina in Decatur at 7 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 2800 Spring Ave. S.W. in Decatur beginning at 5 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.

The community is encouraged to attend the Family Fun Zone Friday and Saturday outside the weigh-in tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot. The Family Fun Zone features interactive displays, product samples and games for the entire family to enjoy. The Fun Zone will open Friday at 3 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m.

Coverage of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour is broadcast to 82 million FSN subscribers as part of the “Wal-Mart FLW Outdoors” TV program. “Wal-Mart FLW Outdoors” airs Sundays at 11 a.m. Eastern time.

You can also catch all the weigh-in action at FLWOutdoors.com with FLW Live. The first weigh-in will be broadcast Wednesday, May 11, at 3 p.m. Central time and will continue throughout all four days’ weigh-ins.

Previous FLW Wheeler/Wilson/Pickwick winners

2003 – Aaron Martens (Wheeler)

2002 – Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Ark. (Wheeler)

2000 – Rick Clunn of Ava, Mo. (Pickwick)

1998 – Randy Howell of Springville, Ala. (Wheeler)

Editor’s note: Gary Mortenson contributed to this story.