By:  Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service

Summer Time Fishing on Lake Guntersville Alabama my Top Tips

With the summer time quickly approaching it’s time to start looking at winning patterns for bass fishing in Lake Guntersville Alabama. For purposes of this article I will break these tips into three categories, early summer, mid summer and late summer.
The “Early Summer Fishing” time frame has a lot to do with the heat but generally I am referring to the month of June maybe into the 1st week of July with water temps in the high 70’s to low 80’s. This time of year there are several ways to catch a limit of fish on the lake.

1. The early morning top water bite is probably the easiest and most productive pattern on Lake Guntersville, with the shad population starting to build the best way is to find the shad and work your Pop-R, Spook and Buzz-bait. This pattern requires you to hit the lake early and late in the day find the baitfish and start working those top-water baits. Guaranteed you will catch feeding bass and have a lot of fun doing it. You have about 2 to 3 hours in the morning and couple of hours late in the evening so make use of it and try this winning pattern.

2. As the sun moves toward high noon your worm fishing becomes your most productive pattern. This however is a lot slower fishing than the top-water bite, your fishing for a few bites so be patient. With the water temp at this point is still in the mid to upper 70’s your probably working in a strike zone of about 4 to 7 maybe 8 ft. of water. Your fishing the channel edges and deeper backwater humps in this pattern. It’s a little early yet for the suspending fish so the strike zone will generally not be real deep unless we get some real early hot weather. There are different ways at this point to work the worm, the traditional way would be to find unusual grass edges and fish the edges, the most obscure would be to swim the worm in that 3 to 4 ft. of water over the grass pulling it slow and easy to generate a bite using a 1/8 oz. Weight.

3. Still in the early summer there are still some patterns for fast moving baits especially if you can find areas that the grass seems behind compared to the thicker grassy parts of the lake. A rattle trap, or baby 1 minus have a real shot at producing numbers in this type of pattern. Look for humps, and pull that fast moving bait from about 5 ft. of water from top to bottom, watch out this could get to be fun especially if you find some fish gathering up chasing the shad.

4. You still during this time of year have a little more time to throw that senko; this bait still produces bites in early summer especially working this bait into the holes in the grass. The unusual fall of the senko will produce bites when the sun is low or high in the sky, this pattern does take patience, as you have to let it do its thing slow and easy.

5. Spinner bait is always a good bet in early summer, use a heavy ¾ oz. Spinner bait and pull that in the grass ditches and edges of the humps. Work it slow; let it tick the grass and change speeds constantly. This is one of those baits that you must be aware of the retrieve that creates a bite then repeat that bait action for the next bite.

Now we are into “Mid Summer” the water temps are in the 80s+ and its time to pull out the battle gear.
Yes! Pull out your flipping rod, load that 60 lb. test braded line, and buy some 1 to 1 ½ 0z. Jigs and start fighting Guntersville State Pets the “Knats.” This will and is the most productive mid summer pattern on Lake Guntersville. You will be looking for the holes in the grass on the channel and backside channel edges, maybe where the hydrilla and milfoil separate. This pattern is fun the bites are generally aggressive, the fight because of the grass is unbelievable and your generally catching big fish. Just don’t let the state pet carry you away because they sure will. If you can stand the “Knats” you’re in; this will bring the lunkers to their knees, win tournaments and produce numbers all mid summer long.

6. You’re still in this time period of catching top-water fish. I believe the buzz-bait becomes the bait of choice as this time of year the sound aggravates those bass so buy a buzz-bait that makes a lot of noise and causes reaction bites early and often. Throw this along grass edges in the main points of lake, look for grass edges and work this bait just over the top of the water that has grass under it. Parallel the edge and you will have some fun.

7. As this is the time of year the bass start suspending in the thermo cline for oxygen, its time to pull out that 20+ deep diving suspending crank bait. Go to the grass edges where you have the sharpest drop offs and parallel the edge with this crank bait. Work it slow, let it get deep and then leave it to sit in the suspending motion for 5 to 6 seconds pull it some more and do the same thing. Then move out to about 30 ft. of water and pull it perpendicular to the edge. This although exhausting is a great way to produce a limit. You can fish this pattern early, mid day or late in the day, there is always suspending fish this time of year, and the bait presented correctly will catch winning numbers and produce big time for you.

8. My last “Mid-Summer” suggestion is to hook up a “Carolina Rigged” lizard, or a traditional jig and look for water that transition from 18 ft. to 28 ft. over 20 to 30 ft. of distance. You will find the bass will make a transition to this deeper edge and these baits will fill the live well. Pull the Carolina rig don’t lift it, let the bait do the work, bring it slowly along the bottom, use a leader of about 2 to 3 ft. so you get the drop of the bait slowly, I’ve loaded the boat in the past with this pattern. The good news here is the grass doesn’t grow this deep and the “Carolina Rig” works for you. It’s easy and it catches fish at the edge of the change from grass to hard bottom as this is where the fish will ambush your bait. We use to call this a “Do-Nothing Worm” because all you had to do was throw it out and drag it back. In fact the rig had 3 hooks so the fish actually hooked themselves, now you have to set the hook when you feel the bite, but that makes it fun. A traditional jig is always good especially if you can find a deep bottom with stumps, or rocks at about 30 ft. of water, work this into the rocks or stumps shake and drop it again, the monsters are lurking in this deep water, so be prepared for that big bite. Guntersville is full of deep rock edges with big rocks forming an irregular bottom especially in the lower part of the lake.

9. The “Late Summer” pattern is now producing 90-degree water the grass is brown on top, and there is very little oxygen in the water. This is late August to mid September.
Rat time of year, its time now to get out that weighted rat, you want it weighted in the back so the head pops up this helps keep the hooks from getting caught, throw it at those holes in the grass, twitch it, pull it, pop it until you get a blow up, and have the time of your life. However before you set the hook make sure you feel them put some pressure on the rat or you will lose more bass than you catch. You have many depths of grass to fish from, it can be extremely shallow or over 8 ft. of water, and the common denominator here is grass close to deeper water. The bass will move in here to feed but they will want to get deep quickly, if spooked or pushed by the wind.

10. Lastly get in that grass, and work a “Fluke” or ”Whacky” worm, pull this to the holes in the grass, let it drop and produce bites. Also, jerk it and move it through the grass in irregular patterns, this imitates a wounded baitfish and this time of year they are looking for easy pray. The bass cannot stand the slow drop of these baits and attack it vigorously.

I know this presents a lot of options but fishing the summer requires you to try different patterns and work different types of baits in Lake Guntersville. The fishing pressure combined with so much grass makes this a time to be creative and do something different until the pay off brings you home a big bag of Lake Guntersville bass.

Come fish with me, let me teach you these patterns, and help you win your next tournament. I do not fish tournaments; therefore I have no conflicts with putting you on the big summer time Guntersville bass.