February 28, 2020
Guntersville Setting Up For Phenomenal Classic Celebration
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Mother Nature may be planning a blowout party when the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk comes to Alabama’s Lake Guntersville, March 6-8.
As B.A.S.S. marks the 50th renewal of sport fishing’s grandest event, the stage appears set for a celebration befitting the event’s magnitude.
Six years after the Classic’s last visited this storied Tennessee River reservoir (impounded in 1939), competitors will find Guntersville’s water level right at the seasonal norm of 593 feet. With most of the fish transitioning from late-winter patterns to prespawn mode, their reproductive priorities will usher them closer to shore and spur the feeding instinct that yields big tournament limits.
“I think the Classic will be won in 7 feet or less,” said Bassmaster Elite Series veteran and Alabama standout Matt Herren. “It’s been a little colder than average, but the local forecast shows a big warming trend all the way through the Classic. It could set up to be an absolute slugfest
Takeoffs will be held at 7 a.m. CT at Civitan Park in Guntersville, Ala., and weigh-ins will be held at Legacy Arena, which is part of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham. Doors open at 3 p.m. for credentialed B.A.S.S. Life and B.A.S.S. Nation members and 3:15 p.m. for general public.
The Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo will also be held at the BJCC, from noon-7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.
Making his Classic debut, 2019 Bassmaster Angler of the Year Scott Canterbury agrees with the shallow-water focus and notes the encouraging forecast for consistency. The Classic’s competition days will see highs in the upper 50s and overnight lows around 40 — a solid improvement from just a week prior.
“There was a chance the fish could have been spawning on Guntersville, but we’ve had some really cold weather, so that’s not going to happen,” Canterbury said. “It’s going to be pretty stable and I think the fishing is going to be good.
“With the amount of daylight hours we have, I think the fish are going to want to be shallow. It’s just going to set up a little further behind than some people would want. But for other people, it might set up perfectly.”
The rains expected early in the week should yield to partly cloudy conditions by the first day of Classic competition. Current is key on river systems, as it predictably positions fish; and with an overall wet winter dumping a large volume of rain on the state, the Guntersville flood gates are getting a good workout.
A week before the event, the TVA was releasing approximately 118,300 cubic feet per second from Guntersville, but the forecast has that number declining to about 107,000 cfs by the weekend prior to Classic Week. Fluctuations up or down, Canterbury said, could impact how the fish set up, but that’s a variable the anglers must address in practice.
With a length of 75 miles from Guntersville Dam to Nickajack Dam, the lake offers plenty of room for the field to disperse. Herren said the Classic warming trend should put the entire lake in play.
Given the prespawn prominence, most of the field will likely stick to the common early spring scenarios like riprap banks, shallow wood and grass. The latter has long been a key component of Guntersville’s productivity and, while Herren described the overall vegetation picture as healthy, the specific grass composition demands attention.
The clumpier hydrilla and milfoil remains, but the past handful of years have seen eelgrass taking the dominant position. Certainly fishable, this thin bladed grass requires different approaches than the other two species.
But as Canterbury said, eelgrass can present a significant challenge.
“There’s a lot of floating eelgrass and you can’t efficiently fish water when it’s covered up with mats of floating grass,” he said. “You can be on the winning school of fish and show up the first morning of the tournament and the wind’s blown a bunch of eelgrass in and you have to scrap that for Plan B.”
Herren and Canterbury agree that standard prespawn reaction baits — lipless crankbaits, bladed jigs, spinnerbaits, shallow-diving crankbaits — will dominate the show. Canterbury said he’ll also be looking for a jig bite and he’s not ruling out a jerkbait.
The deeper offshore spots could reward someone’s diligence, but Canterbury said he’d be concerned that warming temperatures plus lower water clarity from recent rains will make that a less-dependable option.
During the 2014 Classic held on Guntersville, 20-pound daily averages extended through ninth place — and Herren believes this year’s event could see similar fireworks.
“It’s shaping up to be similar to the 2014 Classic; it had been very cold and we hit a big warm spell and the fish bit,” Herren said. “There was a local tournament (mid-February) on Guntersville and it took a little over 30 pounds to win.
“The fish are there and if the conditions will hold and all the stars align, we could see some giant bags of fish. It could be really phenomenal.”
The winner of the historic event will receive $300,000, and the 53-angler field will share a total purse of just over $1 million.
For information about the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk, visit Bassmaster.com.