This massive impoundment in the northern part of the state is Alabama’s largest reservoir. With 69,000 surface acres of generally shallow water, the lake is still noted as, “America’s Best Big Bass Lake.” Guntersville Lake is an anglers paradise when it comes to a diverse amount of fishing situations.
Noted for a variety of aquatic weeds such as millfoil, hydrilla, lilly pads and coontail moss, Guntersville Lake offers the largemouth bass a number of hiding spots to inhibit. During Falls cool down period, the grass gets a lot of attention from trophy-seeking anglers looking to fool Guntersville’s shallow water bass. Many largemouth bass exceeding 10 pounds are taken in some very shallow water each Fall.
Guntersville Lake also has a lot of rock and wood cover, that gets little attention, compared to the grass that gets pounded most of the year. Rock bluffs and man made rip-rap rocks found around bridges and causeways in major feeder creeks, always deserve some exploring. These are virtually untapped areas in some places on Guntersville Lake, due to more fishing pressure in other parts of the lake around the weeds.
The majority of Guntersville’s largemouth bass do relate to some type of aquatic vegetation at some time during each season. As waters begin to cool down there are many ways to entice strikes from Guntersville’s largemouth bass in and around these many types of aquatic weeds. During Fall most bass either bury up in some very thick weeds or suspend offshore along weed edges and around bottom irregularities.
Early morning or late evening topwater bites are always possible for the shallow water angler. This is when these bass are very suseptable to your lures as they cruise the weed edges during these low light periods. As cooler water draws bass shallow and out of thick cover (especially on cloudy days), catching unwary bass becomes easier. Rainy days or periods of cloudy weather, can really turn on these shallow water bass this Fall.