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Some Detail on the Needs of Lake Guntersville |
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Written by Captain Mike Gerry
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Sunday, 12 December 2010 13:05 |
Some Detail on the Needs for Guntersville Lake
From this point going forward I will be referring to this as a movement for:
“THE IMPROVEMENT OF LAKE GUNTERSVILLE”
As a follow-up on my last article, I have been collecting ideas from the hundreds of emails I have received on this subject. The pure fact that Guntersville Lake is regressing and the catches are going down and the average fisherman is struggling is being confirmed by the many fisherman that fish our lake day in and day out. I believe that we need some very strong and quick responses addressing a multitude of issues and needs and here are my collected thoughts.
1. First and foremost we need the political clout from the Mayors of each town Guntersville and Scottsboro. Our leaders need to promote some change to ensure some lasting positive change to our lake. Clout that will get the attention of the controlling State agencies to take action quickly and put some programs in place that will not only help in the short term, but make for long lasting productive bass fishing on Guntersville.
2. First and foremost Lake Guntersville needs to be restocked every year with fingerlings for at least the next 5 years, preferable the Florida strain bass that will create size and enhance productivity. At that point, the lake should then be set up to be replenished at least every other year.
3. The lake should be off limits for all tournaments during the spawn for at least 3 years to allow for the spawn to become naturally stronger without the extreme tournament pressure it has been seeing.
4. Understanding the realization that money is an issue then its time we as fisherman realize that in order to keep this lake strong it takes money. I propose that every fisherman pay a $50 fee yearly that will be used solely for the enhancement of the Lake Guntersville. I also believe that every boat launched as part of a tournament should be accessed a $5 fee to help in our efforts to keep Guntersville productive. The thousands of fisherman coming to our lake need to help us keep it strong and I believe they will. This money collected needs to be used to enhance and promote good healthy fishing on Guntersville, and here is how we should use it!
a. Any costs we cannot get covered by the state for replenishment or restocking should be paid out of these funds
b. Every ramp in the Guntersville, Scottsboro area should be equipped with proper tournament equipment used to protect the health of bass caught and released during tournaments. This equipment should be maintained and in working order throughout the region.
c. Tournaments coming to our area should be made to practice catch and release programs that ensure to the best of their ability the safety of the fish. Our local Game officers should be checking these tournaments for safe practices, and have the right to issue citations to every club member when they do not.
5. It’s also time that the BASS and FLW realize that when they come to Guntersville for one of their events that there is a responsibility that they should bare to enhance and repair the lake from their event. These organizations are paying big money to their winners, they are becoming high paid athletes between sponsors and pay-outs, and they should be burdened in some way to target some percentage of this to keep our lake strong.
6. Summer fishing and creel limits are a topic that I believe need to be addressed, no one should be allowed to keep more than 10 bass per boat to eat. It is just a shame to see people coming here keeping 30 or 40 bass in a boat for eating purposes.
a. Size limits should be looked at yearly to better manage the lake
b. Limits of bass kept should adjust with lake changes, and conditions
c. When the water temperature hit’s the mid to upper 80’s tournaments should be forced to use 3 fish catch limits for weigh-ins
d. No angler should be allowed to keep a fish during the spawn; all bass should be released immediately after being caught, during this time of year.
People the time has come to make some serious changes to how we treat our lake, we need to pay for the right to play. Our leaders must feel our pain, the mayors of these towns Scottsboro and Guntersville must know that we are serious; and the time has come for them to stand up for the biggest tax revenue producing industry in our area. We all need to promote our lake, take ownership in the results and protect our resource. Without protecting Lake Guntersville and starting now we are in danger of Guntersville becoming another Lake Toho, FL just ask the guides who service that lake. Lake Toho became a dead sea overnight, because no one took a stand when the very signs that we see here on Guntersville showed their heads on Toho. Tournaments and pressure killed Toho right in front of them. We cannot let that happen, we must invest in the lake, make some tough decisions so we can keep enjoying the tax revenue from the tournaments and the anglers coming here from all over to fish. We have the responsibility to keep this resource strong and producing and make it a better resource for all of us to enjoy!
SAVE OUR LAKE, GUNTERSVILLE NEEDS OUR HELP I NEED YOUR HELP IT’S TIME WE WORK TO IMPROVE THIS GREAT LAKE
I will be willing to meet with any leader of any organization or Mayor of either of these towns or State Agencies who feel my pain and want to work seriously with me on “The Improvement of Lake Guntersville”
Let’s make Lake Guntersville the best, make it the number one lake in the country instead of looking back sitting around coffee tables talking about the good times and wishing we did. I encourage the leaders of every bass club or organization or business that benefits from this industry or tax revenue, to become a voice for the “THE IMPROVEMENT OF LAKE GUNTERSVILLE”
Let me point out that there are so many industries that will be affected by this movement from, restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, tackle stores, private rentals homes, motels to the improvement of our roads and real estate industry ETC. in general that will either go down as fishing gets worse or improve if we act now to make it better and prevent disaster. What are you going to do to do your part because we are at a critical junction, either act now with me or whine later when it’s gone! Help! “THE IMPROVEMENT OF LAKE GUNTERSVILLE” the time is now!
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry
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Some Needed Changes and Problems with Lake Guntersville |
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Written by Captain Mike Gerry
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Sunday, 05 December 2010 12:33 |
Some Needed Changes and Problems with Lake Guntersville
This past week I was fortunate to be involved in a meeting that included several FLW Pro fishermen including David Fritz. As I got to know some of these guys better and better over the course of the week, I just had to ask them what their opinion of Guntersville was after their summer tournament. FLW Pro David Fritz made some eye opening comments to me. Some comments that made me realize that these tough days we have had on Guntersville this past fall is just the beginning of Guntersville going downhill.
FLW Pro David Fritz said to me “the lake is getting so much pressure from so many fisherman that the fishing is going downhill.” He said that the patterns on the lake have changed drastically and that is a sign of too much fishing pressure. He personally noticed a big change from the beginning of their practice days to the start of the tournament.
These changes friends could be the downfall of the lake unless our local towns of Guntersville and Scottsboro get involved quickly to manage this great resource. I predict this next year will even be worse, and the pressure will increase again and those tax dollars collected from fishermen will start decreasing as word gets out and affect motels, restaurants and the like by the year 2012. This will be a tell tale year unless there are many changes made to improve this resource and we have to start now!
There needs to be first and foremost a replenishment program, the fishing pressure we are seeing is affecting the spawn as the numbers of small fish have drastically been reduced. The lake needs 200,000 or more fingerlings put in the lake every year. We have to strictly enforce creel limits and in my opinion lower the numbers allowed to be taken from the lake. This tournament traffic coming to Guntersville needs to be managed for tournament pressure and be forced to take better care of the bass being caught at every tournament no matter how big or small. I believe we need to manage the spawning time of year.
I hope that if you have an interest in this lakes productivity, whether you are a benefiting business or just a fisherman that you will become a voice to any and all that will listen to start now repairing our lake before it’s too late. The good times are gone, help before it’s to late!
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry
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Some Early Winter Time Tips |
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Written by Captain Mike Gerry
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Sunday, 28 November 2010 12:38 |
Some Early Winter Time Tips
As every year on Guntersville and other lakes we are presented with several changes and many challenges and we must adjust to the lake and make decisions that put fish in the boat. This year is no different the lake is going through changes, the many patterns that have been successful in the past winters may or may not offer the same results this year. The best fisherman will adjust and make changes to typical patterns so they can catch fish, and will have successful outings as the winter moves on.
I believe that this year will be a year where we must make adjustments, so here are some ideas that I will be doing to find fish as the winter moves on. Probably the best tip I can give you is to be focused on under water points. I believe that the grass will hold on under water points until we get late into the winter cycle, and as this year has been tricky already the 10 to 12 foot grass along under water points will hold the bait.
The bass will be in striking distance of the bait fish, meaning that they will be deeper and underneath the bait or pushing them up shallow on top of these points when they feed. The key will be finding a bait they will strike, presentation will be the key as bass as we all know just do not feed like they do in warmer weather.
Next will be the weather elements, the warm sunny days will offer different conditions than the cold overcast type days. There is no doubt that the bass will move shallower in the sun than they will on the cloudy conditions, these weather elements should be key to the types of baits and presentation you should use. In the cloudy conditions you will need to focus deeper and with slower baits like jigs or creature type baits; and on the sunny days big spinner baits or jerk baits will cause reaction bites in and around these deep points! Let the winter weather conditions help you adjust early in your day, with just some thought you can make a big difference in your results.
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry
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Written by Captain Mike Gerry
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Saturday, 20 November 2010 12:42 |
Cold Winter Days
When you get in your boat in middle to late December on a cold winter fishing day you start to wonder where do I start? You look out over the lake and there is no visible grass, there is no obvious structure and your mind says where do I start and how can I put some fish in the boat? I believe there are some obvious patterns, you just have to put a little thought into it; as every lake whether Guntersville or others they all form underwater points that make great winter fishing spots.
Bass move to points and deep structure in the cold, they become creatures of habit when those cold winter days are upon us you just have to locate the areas they have moved to. The first thing I suggest is you start surveying the bottom for depth change with your Lowrance HDS unit or a good lake map. Look for areas where under water points meet structure like deep stumps and old shell beds that form a hard bottom. In most lakes the deep points hold plenty of bottom structure and for Guntersville it always seems as though the grass has formed somewhere along the underwater point. So scanning the bottom for points and structure puts you in the area where the bass move to when it is cold.
Now that you have located some possible structure and under water points I suggest you fish the point from deepest area to the shallow top of the point; I believe that bass will work up and down the point as the day moves on. Your job is to thoroughly work the area until you’re sure you have covered it completely. Working from the deepest part of the point to the top allows you to be precise and cover all the edges and drops around the point, and I believe in most cases the bass will hold at the bottom of it and starting their puts you in position early in your fishing trip.
Finding deep points; cover them with slow winter type baits and fish them from the deepest part of the point to the top. This slow methodically method in the coldest part of the winter will produce good catches for the brave winter time fisherman.
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry
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Pre-Planning a Fishing Day |
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Written by Captain Mike Gerry
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Sunday, 14 November 2010 13:05 |
Pre-Planning a Fishing Day
As this year winds down to some cold winter days, I thought I would try to address some off-season tactics to help you have successful days when the pre-spawn hits us next year. One of the first things I do when the season turns down is clean out and organize my tackle in my boat. Thanks to some creative fishing engineering today’s new boats are equipped with tackle systems to help with the task. In fact my new Stratos Evolution has the biggest and best center boat organizing system I have ever seen.
The key to me is first of all a clean tackle system area. If it’s clean your tackle doesn’t deteriorate from moister and all is left to do is to have your tackle set up so you can use it and get to it quickly. As I spend many days on the water it is really easy to get your tackle spread from one box to another, and this can be a big waste of time.
With the many sizes and types of plastic boxes out there it easy to organize your baits, I separate tackle by bait, size and depth of travel. In other words, let’s take crank baits there are many sizes and manufacturers of crank baits. I have a separate box for the size of the bait, organized and separated by manufacturer, and by the depth they travel down in the water. This allows me to do a couple of things, the first being changing my tackle out to meet the conditions I expect during the day of fishing. If the fish are shallow I can trade out my deeper box type baits for shallow one. If I need a wide wobble vs. a tight wobble or noisy baits, I can also change out to meet the needs for that day as manufacturers have distinct differences, and can allow you to meet many different types of daily needs.
Lastly, when your tackle is organized, it allows you the ability to assess your past, present and daily needs for the up-coming fishing day. Soft plastics are no different for me, except I organize them into plastic bags instead of boxes and label them so I can quickly make decisions. Making changes to the tackle needed in your boat everyday is simple and easy to do, just put a little thought into it.
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email:
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Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry
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