I hesitate to write this column, since every boat ramp around Lake Guntersville is already jammed with trucks and boat trailers, but the fishing in this 69,000-acre impoundment on the Tennessee River has been on fire this fall.

It’s all about threadfin shad right now at Lake Guntersville in north Alabama, where some anglers are catching over 100 bass per day. (Frank Sargeant)

Some anglers who get on the prime spots at the right time with the right lures have been reporting over 100 largemouths a day, the sort of fishing that we old timers used to lie about.

To be sure, most of the fish are not lunkers. The majority of the catches are in the 12”-14” range, but enough 2 to 5 pounders are sprinkled in to make the fishing about as good as it gets.

The caveat is that we are slated to have the first really cold weather of the year this week, with overnights plunging into the 30’s, and this may bring the bonanza to an end. The prime water temperature is the mid and upper 60’s—a couple of frosty nights will drop it into the 50’s and likely put a major brake on the bite.

Feeding on Shad

The lake this fall has seen an incredible bloom of threadfin shad, with schools measurable in acres in some bays, and just about every bass in the lake has been chasing them. Anglers throwing on the schools are also catching big crappie, white bass and yellow bass, even catfish—pretty much anything that eats shad is swarming on the bait.

Captain Alex Davis reported anglers on one of his guide trips caught and released over 130 in a day on jerkbaits, topwaters and flutter spoons. Several other guides have reported catches in the 60’s in the past few weeks.

Vibrating lipless crankbaits like the Redeye Shad catch plenty of bass right now, as do many other shad imitating lures. (Frank Sargeant)

The fish are fat as footballs. Guntersville bass these days look almost like another species compared to fish from other lakes with less forage. They have small heads and football shaped bodies, and what would be a 4-pounder on other waters might weigh over 5 at G’ville.

In some of the creek bays where shad are thickest, anglers sometimes swarm almost within casting distance of each other heaving at breaking fish, and everybody who knows how to imitate the bait gets hooked up.

Of course, the guys with forward scan sonar can actually see the fish on screen and put their tiny shad darts in front of them, but for the rest of us, it’s pretty easy, too. Just look for a school of shad “buzzing” on the surface as they gulp down tiny zooplankton and cast near them—the bass are usually waiting below.

A variety of lures work, but I’ve had best luck with a Sidewinder Spoon in 1/3 ounce size. Flutter this down next to a bait school—or better yet where bass are crashing the baits—and there’s often a hookup on the drop.

It’s actually a bit tricky to know when a fish hits as the lure drops on a slack line, but if you feel a slight bump, it means a fish has it—set the hook and you might have a 5 pounder on the line.

Guntersville bass are fat thanks to months of stuffing themselves on the endless supply of threadfin shad in the lake this year. (Frank Sargeant)

Small Rat-L-Traps, Red Eye Shad and Cordell Spots in chrome finish also do a lot of business, either buzzed rapidly through breaking fish, where they get slammed, or activated with sharp pulls punctuated by drops to bottom—fish often grab them just as they’re about to hit the deck, and again the bite is just a tap on the line.

The cold front coming in as I write this column will no doubt slow the bite for a time, but we’re slated for some more 70-degree afternoons the following week. That will probably be the final hurrah for the shad bite this year at Guntersville, but it has surely been one to remember.

And spring will be even better, when all these 14” fish will soon become 15 and 16 inchers and the 4-pounders will weigh 5 to 6 pounds—2025 should give us a fishing season to remember and maybe move Guntersville back to near the top in the list of America’s bass lakes.

— Frank Sargeant
Frankmako1@gmail.com