Tournament Trail: FLW Tour Lake: Lake Guntersville, Alabama
Dates: February 12-15th 2009 Angler: Jerry Green, Cullman, Alabama
www.JerryGreenFishing.com
www.Rangerboats.com www.PowerTackle.com www.Evinrude.com
Q. What does Lake Guntersville have for Structure and Cover?
A. “The predominate structure for Guntersville concise of river/creek channels, Rip-Rap walls, flats and some bluffs. Whereas the cover bass relate to the most would be vegetation! Guntersville is known for its massive grass beds made up mostly of milfoil and Hydrilla.”
Q. What do you believe will be the Tournaments Prevalent Patterns?
A. “This event in my opinion will be held during an early spring pre-spawn period. With that said most anglers would be looking for reaction strikes utilizing a variety of baits to locate schooling and staging bass.”
Q. Considering normal basic Early Spring Seasonal Patterns, which Techniques do you believe will be utilized?
A. “I believe we will see a lot of anglers incorporating techniques such as jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, lipless crankbaits, or any other baits they feel they may cover water quickly with. Once the bass are located or if the weather pattern harbors a cold front situation, slower presentations such as Carolina Rigs and jigs may be techniques anglers turn to.”
Q. Which Type of Baits will most of the bass be caught on?
A. “Lipless crankbaits would be my number-one guess, but once again anglers will side with their strengths, and this may be spinnerbaits or suspending jerkbaits? I can tell you I will have a variety of reaction baits rigged! My Rangers deck will have several Power Tackle #143 Paragon 6’10” rods rigged. The reason I’ll utilize this rod for all my presentations is that it allows me to incorporate matching rod/reels for baits as small as ¼ oz baits up to larger ¾ oz baits, yet it has the backbone to haul bass out the thickest weeds. And the ability to make long accurate cast! There will be only two items different on each set-up… the bait and the line I tie it to.”
Q. What do you look for during your Practice Days?
A. “I’ll be monitoring the water temperature, while comparing the vegetations color and growth in a variety of areas. With four-days of practice conditions are liable to change come tournament time, so it’s imperative to locate the bass’s transitional movement and the water depth they are relating to. Depth can range form as shallow as 4-5 feet to depths in the 12-14 foot range. Once I locate the bass, I’ll then look for nearby spawning areas.”
Q. With everything taken into perspective how much weight will you be looking for each day at the scales, and what will it take to win this event?
A. “Guntersville has a large population of 4-5 lb bass, and since bass seem to school by size, I believe we will see some 25 lb bags on both day #1 and #2. Making the Top-10 cut I’m estimating will take at least 42-43 lb. Ounces will make a major difference in who makes the cut and who doesn’t! The winning four-day total weight will be very close to 100 lbs.”
