By MLF Communications Staff

Major League Fishing is back at Alabama's Lake Guntersville for the fourth event of the 2022 MLF Pro Circuit regular season The tournament gets under way today and runs through Sunday.

Over the past 22 years, MLF has held 127 tournaments on Lake Guntersville, placing it in fourth among the Top 10 fisheries most visited by the organization. When the Pro Circuit last visited the lake in 2017, Mark Rose stacked up a four-day total of 79 pounds, 11 ounces to take home the top award of $125,000 while Larry Nixon showed off the big bass on the fishery, bringing in an 8-06 whopper. David Walker holds the MLF record for the highest one-day total on the fishery, bringing in a limit weighing 29-03 in 2009.

In Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit competition, the full field of 158 anglers compete in the two-day opening round on Thursday and Friday. The Top 50 pros based on their two-day cumulative weight will advance to Saturday. Only the Top 10 pros, based on cumulative weight from the first three days, will continue competition on Sunday, when weights will be zeroed and anglers will compete in a one-day shootout for the grand prize of up to $135,000, including the $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus for qualified anglers.

Pro Circuit angler Alex Davis is a full-time guide on Lake Guntersville and said he is excited to see how the fishery is setting up for the tournament.

“The bass were spawning everywhere on Lake Guntersville that last week in April, so I think we will see a spawn, postspawn and possibly a shad-spawn bite during the event,” Davis said. “The shad-spawn bite is hit or miss the last few years, so it’s just a roll of the dice when that will happen, but it could definitely come into play.

“The temperatures are supposed to be in the 90’s during the event, which is about 10 degrees above average for this time of year, so I expect we will see some fish moving offshore as well.”

Davis said with the broad range of techniques available on the fishery, anglers will be able to play to their strengths during the event.

“I expect we’ll see a lot of frogging and flipping grass in the shallow water, as well as wacky rigs, ChatterBaits, spinnerbaits, swimjigs and topwater baits being thrown,” Davis said. “A Shimano Macbeth Crankbait could be a pretty big player – that’s a good one that mimics shad during the shad spawn, so it could definitely come into play.

“Out deep, I expect we’ll see big crankbaits, football-head jigs, big spoons, hair jigs and that whole gamut of deep stuff being thrown as well,” Davis added.



Even more importantly than the warmer temps, stable weather is expected throughout the event, so anglers can expect their areas and patterns during practice to carry over during the competition days as well.

“Thankfully we’re not expected to have these crazy fronts and winds that we’ve been fighting all year on the Pro Circuit,” Davis said. “Unless something unexpected happens and the bass are just in a funk, this will probably be the best tournament we’ve had all year as far as numbers of fish catches.”

Davis said he anticipates it will take 17 1/2 to 18 pounds per day to make it into the Top 10, and 22 pounds to win the championship round.

“You know going in that you’re going to have bites and you’re going to have shots on goal all day on Guntersville, so catching a limit shouldn’t be a struggle,” Davis said. “This is going to be a fun event.”

After three events in the regular season, Spencer Shuffield leads a tight Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 538 points. Rose is 2nd with 532, followed by Mitch Crane with 526 and Jacopo Galleli each with 526 and Josh Butler with 524.

Anglers will take off at 6:30 a.m. CT each day from the Lake Guntersville State Park, located at 1155 Lodge Drive in Guntersville. Weigh-ins will also be held at the park daily at 2:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend the event or follow the live on-the-water action all four days of competition online on MLF NOW! beginning at 7 a.m. CT at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

As part of the event, on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, the MLF Fisheries Management Division in partnership with Berkley Labs will be participating in a Habitat Restoration Project supported by Mercury Marine and MossBack Fish Habitat at the Duck River Reservoir, located at 419 County Road 1650 in Cullman. Volunteers from the MLF-FMD and the Union Sportsman’s Alliance will build 85 MossBack fish structures and place the habitats at various locations throughout the reservoir.

Fans are also invited out to a free Expo on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. where they can join MLF staff, Alabama State Parks and the TVA Aquarium for Make and Take Outdoor Crafts, Camping 101, inflatables, animals, info booths, food trucks and a kids’ fishing derby from 1-2:30 p.m. Registration takes place on site and bait will be provided, as well as the use of 50 rods and reels during the event. Prizes will be awarded to the first and second place youth anglers who catch the most fish.

Fans can also meet PAW Patrol’s Marshall and Skye prior to the weigh-in from 1-2:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and Abu Garcia will be giving away a free rod and reel combo on Sunday from 12:30-2:30 p.m. to the first 100 high school anglers to check in at the MLF booth.