Lake Guntersville is likely to draw lots of attention through Sunday as the Bassmaster Elite Tournament is held out of Scottsboro at Goose Pond, bringing many of the nation’s best-known bass anglers to the area. Spectators are encouraged, but the tournament group asks those following their heroes on the water to maintain adequate distance from the anglers to not interfere with their fishing. See details and the leaderboard at www.bassmaster.com.
For weekend anglers at Guntersville, Captain Mike Gerry reports good spring action on largemouths, with the fish scattered from the shallow flats out to the edges of the grass drop-offs. He said his usual favorites, including Picasso Spinner Baits, Tight-Line swim jigs and SPRO DD60 crank baits along with the Missile Bait D-Bomb soft plastics have produced action around grass and humps most of the week; www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com.
At Lewis Smith, the arrival of hot weather will mean both spotted bass and stripers head for deeper water, though there will be brief topwater bites in the first hour after dawn around points and humps until about the 1st of June. Otherwise, spotted bass anglers will have to revert to deep running crankbaits, jigging spoons and swimbaits around the herring schools to connect, while striper anglers will do best drifting live shad at 45 feet and more on the channel edges. Below the dam, the trout fishing is good anytime there’s steady current flow—worms under a bubble float is the winning combo, but good fly fishers with wet flies and streamers also catch plenty; www.riversideflyshop.com.
From Pickwick Lake, anglers report that flooded backwater areas are still producing some topwater largemouths early in the day, but otherwise most fish are on the edges of the drop. Catfish are biting deep along the rock walls on cut shad and skipjack drifted just off bottom. Crappie fishing is slowing with the heat, but still fair in Mill Creek, Goat Island and Yellow Creek on minnows drifted at 12 to 15 feet around brush and woody cover on the channel edges.
From Weiss Lake, guide Mark Collins reports crappie fishing is slowing with warmer weather, but enough for a fish dinner are still biting on the channel edges near brush and stumps. Troll Jiffy Jigs a few feet off bottom or drift with live minnows, he advises. Bass action remains fair to good on rip-rap, weed edges and around boat docks on soft plastics and spinnerbaits; www.markcollinsguideservice.com.
From the coast, surf fishing remains very good anytime the water clears, with lots of whiting, a few leftover pompano, jack crevalle, blues and Spanish. Catch the whiting and pompano on pink FishBites in the sand flea flavor, the other species on a 3 inch chrome spoon cranked fast outside the bar. On the flats, find clear water and you’ll find the trout—many are already deep, with slip cork rigs at about 8 feet catching dozens in a day. Some larger fish are still prowling the marsh creek outlets at dawn—throw a big topwater to get them, along with an occasional redfish. Offshore, lots of king mackerel and Spanish are keeping the boats busy—trolling a chrome spoon behind a number 2 planer is the sure way to connect; www.ateamfishing.com.
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