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Lake Guntersville Preview Story

Lake Guntersville Feature with Luke Kyle and Arch Cornett
By Jason Duran

The fifth and final stop of the Alabama Bass Trail North Division is on Lake Guntersville. Lake
Guntersville is home to some of the best bass fishing in Alabama and has been named many
times as one of the top bass fishing lakes in the country. The lake stretches 75 miles from the
Nickajack Dam to the Guntersville Dam. Lake Guntersville spans 69,100 acres making it
Alabama’s largest lake. The team of Luke Kyle and Arch Cornett are currently in 3 rd place in AOY
points and are looking for a solid finish.

Luke and Arch spent most of the week preparing for this event sharing they “feel the lake is a
little behind the typical June pattern. Normally, by this point in the year, the majority of fish
have made their journey out to deeper water and the river ledges. Because the lake is behind
the normal pattern, teams should be able to catch them in both the shallow grass and deep.
They’re still kind of in that transition. Somebody’s going to find them out deep, but we just
don’t think it’s like your normal June when it’s hot; we haven’t had temps in the 90’s yet.”
With fish still in transition, Luke and Arch shared some of the baits that could play into this
weekend. They include a crankbait, swimbait, and a jig. A key to finding the fish this weekend
will be using electronics like Garmin’s Livescope in the shallows to find the grass edge and
pockets in the grass that hold fish. In the deep areas, the Livescope will help find schools of fish
on the ledges. “Teams need to know what a grass bite feels like. It can be difficult to figure out
for teams that haven’t fished grass a lot.”

“There will be lot of teams fishing in the grass and boat number draw could be key to teams
having their choice of areas they wish to fish.” Luke and Arch shared, “boat position will be key”
along with knowing how to fish the “many types of grass” here. Eel grass is abundant in Lake
Guntersville and provides fish a great habitat, but it also provides the challenge to fishermen
when it is floating making it difficult to fish moving baits. Teams will have to slow down and fish
these type areas with flipping baits.”
Many events have been won on the bridges of Lake Guntersville including two Bassmaster
Classic wins and the 28.28 pound limit caught in the 2021 March ABT event. The bridges can be
hit or miss. Luke and Arch said if they drive under a bridge on Saturday, they expect teams to be
on all four sides fishing.

Teams looking to fish the deep water need to pay attention to the current. The key to winning
this weekend could possibly be if the current flows through the system. With recent rain fall in
the area, teams should expect the current to be flowing. This current will help the teams hoping
to fish the river ledge because “it will help group the fish up on the ledge.”
The AOY Points Race concludes after this event with teams looking take the title of AOY. Teams
also are fishing to be one of the top 75 teams to qualify for ABT Championship and the Top 9
Teams qualify to the BASS Team Championship. The Top 12 AOY currently are listed below:

1 Gregory Lamb/David Powell 833
2 Wesley Sams/Jordan Wiggins 826
3 Luke Kyle/Arch Cornett 803
4 Mitch Mitchell/Candler Mccollum 802
5 Justin Lane/Luke Mason 780
6 Jamie Smith/Michael Rains 765
7 Benjie Seaborn/Johnathan Seaborn 759
8 Nolen Spencer/Jonathon Reese 752
8 Jacob Davis /Chris Wages 752
10 Craig Grubbs/Matt Ferguson 740
11 Zachary Taylor/Josh Austin 738
12 Bryan Dowdy/Kyle Lewellen 727
12 Damien Willis/Tyler Kiker 727

All anglers should make sure they have checked text messages and emails for the latest
information and changes made to keep everyone as safe as possible during this time. There was
a virtual meeting posted on the ABT Facebook Page earlier this week.

All friends and family are welcome to attend this event, bring lawn chairs and see some of the
best bass teams in the country cross the stage. Everyone can watch the live weigh-in and over 4
hours of on-the-water live coverage on the ABT Facebook page, YouTube and the ABT website.
The Launch and Weigh In will be held at Goose Pond 417 Ed Hembree Drive Scottsboro, AL
35769
The sponsors of the 2022 Alabama Bass Trail include: Phoenix Boats, Academy Sports, Alabama
Power, America’s First Federal Credit Union, American Trailer Rental Group, BAJIO, Berkley, Big
Bite Baits, Bill Penney Automotive, Black Rifle Coffee Company, Buck N’ Bass, Anheuser – Bush,
Inc., E3 Sports Apparel, Fish Neely Henry Lake.com, Garmin, Jack’s, Lew’s, Mtn Dew, Alabama
Mountain Lakes Tourist Association, Power-Pole, Strike King, Sweet Home Alabama, TH
Marine, Wedowee Marine, Yamaha, YETI Coolers.