BREAKING NEWS:
April 26th, 2007 6:33am CST.
Due to unsafe weather conditions and in the best interest of all concerned, BASS announced today the first day of tournament action, scheduled for Thursday, April 26, for the Bassmaster Elite Series’ Southern Challenge presented by Purolator has been canceled. The tournament will begin Friday, April 27 and conclude Sunday, April 29 as scheduled.
The Southern Challenge at storied Lake Guntersville in Alabama most certainly has the ability to be a return, of sorts, to the swing through Texas and California at the season’s start. Conditions on the sprawling fishery couldn’t be better as the grass and shad are both reported to be in abundance.
From all outward indications, the lake – always capable of producing eye-popping limits – should be in a giving mood this week. Outside of McClelland’s win last week at Clarks Hill, the Alabama contingent has proven to be unbeatable so far this year. Now that the fifth stop of the 2007 Elite Series is in their back yard, all eyes are focused sharply on the boys from Sweet Home.
To get closer to the action, The Bass Zone’s roving (and sometimes roaming)
Mark Jeffreys will be on site at Guntersville this week. Beginning Thursday he and “The Legend” Harold Allen will be providing morning and midday reports to keep everyone in the know. What’s more, the online blog and interactive chat forum will be in full swing starting Thursday morning.
But before getting to that, here’s what a few of the hopefuls had to say about practice and the lake’s conditions prior to the day’s opening round.
Dave Wolak
“Guntersville is a place where you have to factor the grass into the equation. This place has milfoil, and a lot of it. Usually, on places that have abundant milfoil growth accounts for a lot of fish being in that area – whether it’s in a creek or main lake, or whatever.
“So, I’ve spent most of my practice trying to identify the good weed growth. As opposed to last year, the lake is up a little bit higher. It’s pretty much around the same time of the year, but with the higher water, finding the good grass is a little more challenging.
“I’ve found more fish off the main river. I do have a few fish found out on the main river, but most of the stuff I’ve found is shallower and off the main river arm. We’ll see if that holds true though because this lake changes with the current flow.
“It’s not uncommon to see the lake drop a foot, but I don’t think it’s going to change much. Everyone is going to catch them this week, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the weights were higher than last year. The biggest challenge at this lake is getting over the three-pound hump because they’re so many cookie-cutter fish in here.
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“It’s going to be a great tournament though.”
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Kevin Short
“This week it’s all going to be about who can figure out who can find the big fish. This is one of those lakes where you can beat the bank and pick up a limit of three-pound fish, but without the six-pound kicker, you’re not going anywhere.
“That’s an offshore bite too. Last year, I had found an offshore bite, but I couldn’t catch them up shallow. This year, I’ve found the shallow bite but I haven’t been able to get anything going offshore.
“That’s going to be the difference between who hangs around for the weekend, and who goes home early. Without having a deep bite where you can count on getting a six-pound fish, you’re not going to last long this week.”
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Gerald Swindle
“If it was a pre-spawn bite where the locals might have an advantage of knowing a few secret spot, I would say Alabama is going to take it home. But there are still so many fish up shallow and on beds that it’s going to be scattered out.
“Practice for me this week has been slow. I stayed out on the river checking stuff and trying to find the winning fish, but I only have one spot that I’ve gotten more than one bit from. So it’s been a pretty tough week on the G-Man…it’s just been one here and one there.
“If the weather gets bad like it’s supposed to tomorrow, I might have to change plans and just go beat the bank. The biggest difference this week is going to be one eight-pounder…that’s it.”
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Terry Scroggins
“Practice has been pretty tough. I could catch a few fish early, and then it would pretty tough. I did find one cranking hole that I think I can do pretty good on, but other than that it’s just one here and one there.
“I’m going to start the day off doing the pre-spawn deal until about nine o’clock, and then I’ve got a cranking hole that I think I should be able to quite a few out of. Other than that it’s going to be a lot of docks and some topwater to finish the day.
“The conditions this year are a little bit different than last year. We’re here a little earlier, so there’s still some fish up on beds which makes it tough unless you have a little protected pocket that no one else has found. So really, I think this year it’s going to be tougher than last year based on what I’ve found.”
Russ Lane
“I’ve seen some fish on beds, and I’ve caught some fish early on top water, and a couple bites out cranking. I feel like I’ve got a few things going right now, and that’s always a good feeling going into the first day.
“The time of the year that I really like on this lake is in late May or early June when fish get grouped up out on the ledges and points and you can kill them with a crankbait. This time of the year, it fishes pretty tough because the fish are in transition and you can’t really decide what you want to do.
“I think it’s really possible this year for an Alabama guy to do very well on this lake. We’ll just have to see what happens…”
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