Please select your home edition
Edition
Maritimo 2023 S600 LEADERBOARD

Top 10 baits from Lake Guntersville - Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Central Division

by Major League Fishing 2 Mar 2022 19:49 UTC 22-24 February 2022
Lake Guntersville - Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Central Division © Major League Fishing

While smallmouth from Wheeler Lake below the Guntersville Dam looked like the pattern to beat after two days of competition in the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Central Division opener on Lake Guntersville, massive outflows above Wheeler put a monkey wrench in Nathan Brewer's plans and left the door open for Kent Ware to surpass him for the $80,000 victory on Championship Thursday.

Brewer's program was certainly an oddity compared to most of his 327 competitors, many of whom stuck with tried-and-true Guntersville staples: ChatterBaits and lipless cranks fished around grass. Nearly every angler in the Top 10 employed some combination of baits that included the hard-vibrating offerings, mostly in crawfish patterns.

Massive rains and ever-changing weather conditions kept anglers on their toes, but traps and ChatterBaits kept them grounded and led the way to a lot of top finishes.

Here's a look at the Top 10 pros and what they used to catch their tournament-leading fish at Guntersville.

1. One bait did all the heavy lifting for Kent Ware, who made the short trek back home to Guntersville $80,000 richer. To catch his 59-15, Ware relied solely on a 1/2-ounce Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap tied to 17-pound-test fluorocarbon spooled on a Lew's reel and a G. Loomis rod.

2. It was a three-pronged attack from Casey Martin to lock up his runner-up finish. Martin employed a 1/2-ounce Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap on 16-pound-test Sunline fluorocarbon and a Duckett Micro Magic rod (7-foot medium-heavy), a 3/8-ounce Z-Man/Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer with a Castaic Jerky J trailer on a 7-foot, 1-inch medium Duckett Pro Series rod and a Z-Man Leap FrogZ thrown on 65-pound-test PowerPro braid with a 7-foot heavy rod.

3. While Derik Hudson caught a few fish on an umbrella rig and a wacky-rigged stick bait skipped under docks, he caught 90 percent of his fish on a discontinued XCalibur XR50 lipless crankbait (5/8-ounce). He tied that to 17-pound-test Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon spooled on a Shimano SLX DC reel paired with a STIX Fishing No. 4 Reaction Stik (7-foot, 6-inch, medium-heavy, moderate-fast).

4. To keep his fish on their toes, Bo Collins threw a little bit of everything at them. He used a pair of Z-Man/Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammers (3/8- and 1/2-ounce) with a 4-inch Keitech Easy Shiner trailer and four different lipless crankbaits ("to keep them biting") in various sizes: a 1/4-ounce BOOYAH One Knocker, 1/4-ounce Berkley Warpig, 1/2-ounce Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap and 1/2-ounce Azuma Shaker Z, all in various craw colors. He mostly stuck with 16-pound-test Sunline fluorocarbon, Lew's reels and 7-foot, 6-inch medium-heavy Duckett rods for the task.

5. Nathan Brewer stuck with just a few baits to tally 51 pounds, 13 ounces of smallmouth in the Guntersville tailrace over the first two days. High, turbulent water quashed his plans on Day 3, but his 5-inch Zoom Swimmer swimbait on various heads (1/2-ounce, 3/4-ounce and 1-ounce) certainly did its job on Tuesday and Wednesday. Brewer tied those heads to 17-pound-test fluorocarbon spooled on a Shimano Bantam reel and custom-made 7-foot, 3-inch heavy Grassy Custom rods.

6. Ethan Greene kept it fairly simple to earn his sixth-place finish with a 1/2-ounce Z-Man/Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer with a Big Bite Baits Kamikaze Craw trailer and a 1/2-ounce 6th Sense Quake lipless crankbait, both tied to 15-pound-test fluorocarbon spooled on Shimano Curado DC reels and Shimano Poison Adrena rods.

7. Shawn Penn broke out the new Andy Morgan-designed Strike King Chick Magnet (with custom paint jobs) to do most of his damage. He fished those on 14-pound-test fluorocarbon on Lew's reels and Lew's KVD rods. Penn also caught some fish on a 1/2-ounce Strike King Thunder Cricket with a Zoom Z Craw trailer and a BOOYAH One Knocker lipless crankbait.

8. Kyle Palmer needed just one bait to catch almost all of his fish: a BOOYAH Hard Knocker (1/2-ounce) on 15-pound-test Seaguar Red Label fluorocarbon, a Bass Pro Shops CarbonLite reel and a 7-foot medium-heavy Carrot Stix Wild Wild Black rod.

9. While Miles Burghoff used multiple rods to notch his ninth-place finish, they all had the same thing tied on: a Z-Man/Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer (Hite's hot craw) in 3/8 and 1/2 ounces. He paired those with a matching Z-Man Razor Shadz trailer and fished the whole package on 20-pound-test Seaguar Tatsu spooled on Fitzgerald VLD10 reels (7.2:1 gear ratio) and 7-foot, 3-inch Fitzgerald Vursa rods.

10. Andrew Loberg fished grass lines all week, leaning heavily on a 1/2-ounce BOOYAH One Knocker in sunset craw using 20-pound-test Sunline fluorocarbon. His reel of choice was a Daiwa Tatula, which he attached to a Powell 755CB rod.

Related Articles

Top 10 baits from the Harris Chain
While many anglers didn't rely on whole tackle box, a lot of different baits worked for the field The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southern Division event at the Harris Chain on March 27-29 was dominated by two things: Dylan Quilatan and Lake Apopka. Posted on 3 Apr
Top 10 baits from Lake Chickamauga
Minnows were the name of the game at Chick, but there were other big players The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Central Division tournament on Lake Chickamauga was a big success, with heavy weights and lots of fish caught. Posted on 26 Mar
Top 10 baits from the Lake of the Ozarks
Breeden's consistency triumphs in Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Plains Division event at Lake of the Ozarks was one of the toughest events seen in a long time. Across the field, limits were almost impossible to come by - even the Top 10 couldn't guarantee full stringers. Posted on 6 Mar
Top 10 baits from season opener on Sam Rayburn
A variety of baits worked in frigid wintertime temperatures As usual, the season-opener of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southwestern Division on Sam Rayburn Reservoir was a good event. Posted on 30 Jan
Best baits for wintertime bass fishing in Florida
There's no such thing as wasted money when it comes to fishing Browsing your local shelves or the internet for tackle is always an enjoyable and rewarding task, with no downsides. There's no such thing as wasted money when it comes to fishing - at worst, you're "eliminating water." Posted on 9 Jan
Wheeler's cranking approach for fall and winter
It can feel impossible to talk about bass fishing without also talking about forward-facing sonar These days, it can feel impossible to talk about bass fishing without also talking about forward-facing sonar and soft-plastic minnows rigged on jigheads. Posted on 4 Dec 2024
Top 10 baits from Toyota Series Championship
The jighead minnow accounted for yet another big win While the infamous jighead minnow proved to be the winning lure for rising star Hayden Marbut at the Toyota Series Championship Presented by Bass Boat Technologies, it was far from the only way to catch bass on Wheeler Lake. Posted on 13 Nov 2024
Top 10 baits from Lake of the Ozarks
What you were doing really didn't matter, just so long as you were fishing docks with a jig or worm If you want old-school fishing, there might not be a better place for it than Lake of the Ozarks late in the summer. Posted on 2 Oct 2024
Top 10 baits from Santee Cooper
An interesting variety of baits and techniques worked The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southern Division event was not a catchfest, but there were still some highlights to be had in the Santee Cooper showdown. Posted on 25 Sep 2024
Top 10 baits from the St. Lawrence River
Many traditional St. Lawrence baits played, but a few extra things also worked this time around This year's Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Northern Division event on the St. Lawrence River was one of the best ever, with zero room for doubt. Posted on 28 Aug 2024
Palm Beach Motor YachtsMaritimo 2023 M600 FOOTER