"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Tournament: Fisher’s of Men National Championship
April 8-10, 2010
Lake Guntersville- Guntersville, AL
Anglers: Adam Starks and Philip Starks
Place: 108th Place- 10 fish- 27.26lbs
Practice & Thoughts:
I headed to Lake Guntersville New Years Day to spend the weekend on the water. I knew this lake
was big and needed some time getting to know the lake and figuring out how to run it and just look
around. When I arrived it was snowing and never got above 30 degrees the two days I was there
but it did help a lot being able to go to the lake before official practice began.
Dad and I headed to the Big G Easter Sunday. Official Practice began Monday at safe light. We
started off the day looking up shallow for fish and found several. I have never seen a place so
easy to catch a limit of 15 inch fish in my life. Day one of practice we had about 15lbs just messing
around checking spots. Practice day two we expanded and checked out channel ledges on the Big
G. Let me tell you, if you ever get the chance to go to Guntersville and do this, you need to do it.
The fish were stacked on the ledges….anywhere you could find shell beds mixed in with grass, it
was automatic. We even caught a few quality fish just checking the ledges so we thought we had
found a pattern that would work well, especially with the cold front set to come through on day one
of the derby. We hit a few more spots up shallow and had around 20lbs on the day. Practice day 3
was about the same as day two so we thought we had found a pretty good pattern.
April 8th- Day 1:
Tournament day began with us being boat #109 out of 148 boats. Thunderstorms were moving
through the area and launch was delayed an hour and a half. By the time our boat number was
called, it was 8:00 a.m. and we had a twenty min boat ride to our first stop, a ledge on the main river
channel adjacent to a massive grass flat. Well it was so rough that the 20 min ride took 30 so we
finally started fishing around 8:30. As we pull up I immediately hook up with a fish on an Excalibur
XR75 on my third cast, at the same time, dad ties into one on a Carolina rigged lizard. Double first
thing of the morning. His kept, mine didn’t. We continue working the ledge and I catch several
shorts and dad manages two more keepers with several short fish. What happened to our
Quality???? There today gone tomorrow?? We run a short distance to a spawning area we had
located and catch a few shorts. Back to the ledge….I finally stop being stubborn and pick of a rig.
Dad bags two more keepers so that gives us our limit. By this time it is 11:00. We work down this
ledge a little farther and I toss my rig out on the edge of the channel and before it hits bottom a fish
about jerks the rod out of my hand….I finally manage to get the 4lber in and culls a squeaker dad
had caught earlier. Light Bulb goes off….the quality fish are on the edge of the channel. So I do a
180 and go right back up the ledge, keeping my boat positioned in the main channel of the river. I
toss the rig down the deeper water and feel my line thump. I set the hook and the gears in my reel
lock up and my rod doubles over. That hook set hurt, let me tell you. I had the fish on for a few
seconds before my line broke in my reel. I immediately throw the 101 on high and head towards
where I last saw my line. I pick up my crankbait road and start tossing it out trying to snag my line in
hopes the big fish was still on it. After two or three cast I snag my line and hand line it in, but the
fish was gone. We kept fishing for about an hour and could only manage to catch short fish. Dad
and I made a short move to another area of the lake to a lily pad field up shallow where we knew
some fish were spawning. By that time the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. We move
up in the pad field and manage to cull 3 more times and catch about 20 or so other fish that wouldn’
t help. Where are the big females?? Time was running out, so we head to the weigh in with 14.66
lbs……yeah you read that right, 14.66lbs 101st place….
April 9th- Day 2:
As Dad and I were sitting in the boat waiting to take off the words that Kevin Short wrote in is
column for espnoutdoors.com during the Elite Series Clear Lake event the other day kept running
through my head. “What are you tying on now because that didn’t work?” His response, “Goin’ big
or goin home.” The thing is how can I make myself chunk a swimbait??? We needed 24 lbs to
make the cut and I knew it was very possible and I knew what we needed to do. Somehow though I
let the history from practice affect me. We started right back on the main ledge we had found. On
my second cast of the morning I about get the rod jerked out of my hand again in the same spot I
lost the fish yesterday…and as you guessed the fish broke my line again…30lb braid this time. Are
you kidding me, is this a sign? I quickly retie and throughout the first few hours of the morning
manage a limit again but still no quality. Where had they gone to? So we left the ledge and went
searching up shallow…back to the lily pad field…two shorts….up around some islands…short fish
after short fish…I hit every submerged hump I found at Lake Guntersville…short fish after short
fish….ok…back to the ledge….we manage to cull a few times but only ounces and time was running
out so I told Dad lets run back to the State Park (where we blasted off from) and fish the humps out
from it….as we pulled up there was a boat on one of them, the shallowest one, the one I wanted to
fish, and we watched them catch fish after fish but we couldn’t get a bite on any of the other three
deeper humps….so we run up to shallow water in desperation but can’t come up with anything.
Back to the weigh in….with our limit weighing 12.85lbs….I look at dad and said, “You think we can
make it back in time to fish the Monticello Bass Club Tourney on the Arkansas River tomorrow?” So
we cut out and headed back to South Arkansas….
Keeper Count: 10
Carolina Rig Zoom Magnum Lizard Watermelon/Chart- 10 keepers
Final Thoughts:
One thing I cannot do is complain about the fishing on Lake Guntersville. It is one of the most
amazing fisheries I have ever been on in my life. I learned a lot from this tournament. The big
females were up shallow in 2-4 ft of water….we knew they were there and had caught some in
practice. I thought, however, there was no way that pattern would hold up with the cold front
moving through….guess what…it did! A month from now though, that place will be on fire and the
ledge fishing will be phenomenal. If you don’t believe me just watch the Elite Series Tourney that is
coming up there in a month! We made the drive back in 7hrs and got a few hrs sleep and headed
to the Arkansas River for a little redemption….
Until Next Time……
Fish Hard,
Adam Starks
April 8-10, 2010
Lake Guntersville- Guntersville, AL
Anglers: Adam Starks and Philip Starks
Place: 108th Place- 10 fish- 27.26lbs
Practice & Thoughts:
I headed to Lake Guntersville New Years Day to spend the weekend on the water. I knew this lake
was big and needed some time getting to know the lake and figuring out how to run it and just look
around. When I arrived it was snowing and never got above 30 degrees the two days I was there
but it did help a lot being able to go to the lake before official practice began.
Dad and I headed to the Big G Easter Sunday. Official Practice began Monday at safe light. We
started off the day looking up shallow for fish and found several. I have never seen a place so
easy to catch a limit of 15 inch fish in my life. Day one of practice we had about 15lbs just messing
around checking spots. Practice day two we expanded and checked out channel ledges on the Big
G. Let me tell you, if you ever get the chance to go to Guntersville and do this, you need to do it.
The fish were stacked on the ledges….anywhere you could find shell beds mixed in with grass, it
was automatic. We even caught a few quality fish just checking the ledges so we thought we had
found a pattern that would work well, especially with the cold front set to come through on day one
of the derby. We hit a few more spots up shallow and had around 20lbs on the day. Practice day 3
was about the same as day two so we thought we had found a pretty good pattern.
April 8th- Day 1:
Tournament day began with us being boat #109 out of 148 boats. Thunderstorms were moving
through the area and launch was delayed an hour and a half. By the time our boat number was
called, it was 8:00 a.m. and we had a twenty min boat ride to our first stop, a ledge on the main river
channel adjacent to a massive grass flat. Well it was so rough that the 20 min ride took 30 so we
finally started fishing around 8:30. As we pull up I immediately hook up with a fish on an Excalibur
XR75 on my third cast, at the same time, dad ties into one on a Carolina rigged lizard. Double first
thing of the morning. His kept, mine didn’t. We continue working the ledge and I catch several
shorts and dad manages two more keepers with several short fish. What happened to our
Quality???? There today gone tomorrow?? We run a short distance to a spawning area we had
located and catch a few shorts. Back to the ledge….I finally stop being stubborn and pick of a rig.
Dad bags two more keepers so that gives us our limit. By this time it is 11:00. We work down this
ledge a little farther and I toss my rig out on the edge of the channel and before it hits bottom a fish
about jerks the rod out of my hand….I finally manage to get the 4lber in and culls a squeaker dad
had caught earlier. Light Bulb goes off….the quality fish are on the edge of the channel. So I do a
180 and go right back up the ledge, keeping my boat positioned in the main channel of the river. I
toss the rig down the deeper water and feel my line thump. I set the hook and the gears in my reel
lock up and my rod doubles over. That hook set hurt, let me tell you. I had the fish on for a few
seconds before my line broke in my reel. I immediately throw the 101 on high and head towards
where I last saw my line. I pick up my crankbait road and start tossing it out trying to snag my line in
hopes the big fish was still on it. After two or three cast I snag my line and hand line it in, but the
fish was gone. We kept fishing for about an hour and could only manage to catch short fish. Dad
and I made a short move to another area of the lake to a lily pad field up shallow where we knew
some fish were spawning. By that time the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. We move
up in the pad field and manage to cull 3 more times and catch about 20 or so other fish that wouldn’
t help. Where are the big females?? Time was running out, so we head to the weigh in with 14.66
lbs……yeah you read that right, 14.66lbs 101st place….
April 9th- Day 2:
As Dad and I were sitting in the boat waiting to take off the words that Kevin Short wrote in is
column for espnoutdoors.com during the Elite Series Clear Lake event the other day kept running
through my head. “What are you tying on now because that didn’t work?” His response, “Goin’ big
or goin home.” The thing is how can I make myself chunk a swimbait??? We needed 24 lbs to
make the cut and I knew it was very possible and I knew what we needed to do. Somehow though I
let the history from practice affect me. We started right back on the main ledge we had found. On
my second cast of the morning I about get the rod jerked out of my hand again in the same spot I
lost the fish yesterday…and as you guessed the fish broke my line again…30lb braid this time. Are
you kidding me, is this a sign? I quickly retie and throughout the first few hours of the morning
manage a limit again but still no quality. Where had they gone to? So we left the ledge and went
searching up shallow…back to the lily pad field…two shorts….up around some islands…short fish
after short fish…I hit every submerged hump I found at Lake Guntersville…short fish after short
fish….ok…back to the ledge….we manage to cull a few times but only ounces and time was running
out so I told Dad lets run back to the State Park (where we blasted off from) and fish the humps out
from it….as we pulled up there was a boat on one of them, the shallowest one, the one I wanted to
fish, and we watched them catch fish after fish but we couldn’t get a bite on any of the other three
deeper humps….so we run up to shallow water in desperation but can’t come up with anything.
Back to the weigh in….with our limit weighing 12.85lbs….I look at dad and said, “You think we can
make it back in time to fish the Monticello Bass Club Tourney on the Arkansas River tomorrow?” So
we cut out and headed back to South Arkansas….
Keeper Count: 10
Carolina Rig Zoom Magnum Lizard Watermelon/Chart- 10 keepers
Final Thoughts:
One thing I cannot do is complain about the fishing on Lake Guntersville. It is one of the most
amazing fisheries I have ever been on in my life. I learned a lot from this tournament. The big
females were up shallow in 2-4 ft of water….we knew they were there and had caught some in
practice. I thought, however, there was no way that pattern would hold up with the cold front
moving through….guess what…it did! A month from now though, that place will be on fire and the
ledge fishing will be phenomenal. If you don’t believe me just watch the Elite Series Tourney that is
coming up there in a month! We made the drive back in 7hrs and got a few hrs sleep and headed
to the Arkansas River for a little redemption….
Until Next Time……
Fish Hard,
Adam Starks