Frank Talley Wins Bassmaster Elite Lake Guntersville

Frank Talley didn't have to endure any near-misses before capturing his first tour-level victory. The first time he advanced to the final day, he finished on top. The 45-year-old Talley, known as "Frank the Tank," has endeared himself to fellow Bassmaster Elite Series anglers and tournament staffers during his 2 years on the tour. He didn't accomplish a whole lot with his rods and reels during his rookie campaign, finishing 69th out of 75 competitors in the Angler of the Year race, but has broken out in 2020 with placements in the top half of the field in five of the six events thus far. He rose from 6th place on the final day to claim the win at Lake Guntersville in Alabama last week, catching an 18-02 sack that outweighed any other in the Top-10 field by more than 4 pounds. His 64-03 total over 4 days left him 2-04 ahead of fellow Texas resident Randy Sullivan. "I've dreamed about this for 25 or 30 years and it's just unbelievable," Talley said a day after collecting his trophy and $100,000 winner's check. "To win on a legendary lake like Guntersville makes it even more special."

Didn't Dial in Quickly:

Talley said his pre-tournament practice time didn't amount to much. He caught five keepers total, with three of those coming on the first day. He went up the Tennessee River on the afternoon of the final practice day and tried the backs of some creeks, where were fruitless. He returned to the main channel and got a couple of decent bites from eelgrass patches on the main river throwing a Strike King Thunder Cricket bladed jig. He fished that 2-mile stretch of grass on the first competition day and came back with a 14-03 stringer that left him in 23rd place. He expanded on it on subsequent days, discovering that most of that part of the river featured the same setup, and he never fished the same place twice. A 16-05 haul on day 2 moved him up to 9th place and he gained four more spots with a 15-09 bag on day 3 prior to his epic final day.

The eelgrass started at the river's edge and ran out into the channel for about 15 feet. At that juncture, the bottom dropped off from about 2 feet to 8 or so and that's where his fish were sitting. "There were two reasons why they were there; the current, of course, and there were big schools of 6- to 8-inch gizzard shad swimming in and out. "Almost all of the fish I caught had bellies on them. Guys on the lake were catching 4-pound heads on 2-pound bodies because they hadn't fed up. The fish where I was had so much bait that they were all butterballs. They weren't getting the same amount of pressure." He also had a mat about 10 miles farther up the river that gave him a handful of fish enticed by a frog.

He stopped short of his usual starting destination on day 4 and it proved to be the winning move as he caught a fish that was almost 6 pounds and another almost 4 to lay the groundwork for his big bag. "I knew in the first hour and 15 minutes that something was going on because here came the drones and the camera boats," he said. "But on my way back, I didn't think I'd done quite enough and I thought I was probably going to finish 2nd or 3rd. "It was just a miracle day and I fished clean all week and never lost anything that hurt me, but I thought I needed one more big bite to finish the deal. I guess I was wrong."

Winning Gear:

Bladed jig gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Lew's Custom Pro Magnesium Hammer rod, Lew's Custom Pro casting reel (6.8:1 ratio), 17-pound Strike King Tour Grade fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce Strike King Thunder Cricket (green-pumpkin), Strike King Rage Swimmer or Blade Minnow (green-pumpkin/white pearl belly) trailer.

Frog gear: 7'2" heavy-action Lew's Custom Lite Magnum Grass rod, Lew's Custom Ti casting reel (7.5:1 ratio), 50-pound Strike King Tour Grade braided line, Strike King Sexy Frog (white).

Bassmaster Elite Tour Lake Guntersville Winning Pattern - BassFan 10/6/20 (John Johnson)

Randy Sullivan's runner-up finish was his highest - by far - in his 3-year Elite Series tenure. His previous best was a 16th at Lake Lanier last year. He finished 2-04 behind Talley - a deficit that likely could've been overcome had he boxed a limit on day 2. He disdained grass throughout the event and caught light-biting, highly pressured fish from bridges with a crankbait. "Those fish have been so beaten up that they'd hardly bite anything," he said. "Every fish I caught was just barely hooked." There were four bridges that he spent most of his time on and a few others he ran to occasionally.

"I knew based on the weather, which was getting cooler and cooler, that a certain amount of fish would be moving toward the backs of pockets," he said. "The bridges are where they stop along the way. They were reloading." Most of his bites came from rip-rap or steep banks that dropped into the creek channel. He caught three weigh-in fish flipping a Senko around docks, one of which was a 5 1/2-pounder.

Gear:

Cranking gear: 7' medium-action Sixgill Kraken Series rod, Sixgill Wraith casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 12-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, Berkely Frittside 5 (honey shad or cream pie).

Bassmaster Elite Tour Lake Guntersville 2-5 Patterns - BassFan 10/7/20 (John Johnson)

Luke Palmer's finishes at Guntersville keep improving - he was 47th on his first visit last year, then 15th in the Bassmaster Classic in March. A Top-5 last week wasn't something he was anticipating. "My thing was to get points and get inside the Classic cut," he said. "I was behind the 8-ball (in 48th place on the points list) and I was looking for a Top-40. This is icing on the cake for me."

He's now 36th in the Angler of the Year race - four spots ahead of where the Classic axe will fall at the conclusion of the season. The Oklahoman has very little experience fishing grass, but he was able to work a mat pattern. The mats had to have some open water under the surface canopy. He flipped a YUM Bad Mama and a YUM Spine Craw. "Five places were all I had and I think I had two of them to myself."

Gear:

Flipping gear: 7'6" medium-heavy Abu Garcia Veritas rod, Abu Garcia Beast casting reel (6.4:1 ratio), 80-pound Sunline FX2 braided line, 1 1/4-ounce tungsten weight, 3/0 or 4/0 straight-shank hook, YUM Bad Mamma or YUM Spine Craw (black/blue or green-pumpkin).

Bassmaster Elite Tour Lake Guntersville 2-5 Patterns - BassFan 10/7/20 (John Johnson)

Wes Logan topped the leaderboard headed into the final round, but the quantity and quality of bites dropped off substantially. "I only caught the five keepers and two shorts," he said. "I'd been catching eight or nine keepers a day. I knew I'd beat on the area really bad - along with about four other people. "I didn't have a great practice; I didn't catch that many flipping. The two areas I focused on, I caught three in one and two in the other so I just bunkered down in those. I'd never done very good here before and I think it's because I ran around to much. Finding a group of fish is where it's at on Guntersville."

He fished a lot of "trash mats" that featured a mix of eelgrass, dead hydrilla and milfoil. Most of his bites came from the 4-foot depth range. "I never could get anything going really shallow. I didn't spend a lot of time on it and it may have hurt me, but I did what I had confidence in."

Gear:

Flipping gear: 7'10" heavy-action Ark Randall Tharp Series Guntersville Special rod, Lew's Pro Ti casting reel (7.5:1 ratio), 60-pound Sunline FX2 braided line, 1 1/2-ounce Ark tungsten weight, 4/0 straight-shank flipping hook, various creature baits.

He caught a few weigh-in fish from grass flats on a 1/4-ounce Dirty Jigs Canterbury Buzzbait (white) with a Zoom Z Craw Jr. trailer (white).

Bassmaster Elite Tour Lake Guntersville 2-5 Patterns - BassFan 10/7/20 (John Johnson)

Kyle Welcher was the event's initial leader after he caught a tournament-best 19-05 stringer. His day-2 bag was more than 7 pounds lighter, however, and he spent the remainder of the tournament in either the 4th or 5th positions. His program contained more variety than any of the other top finishers as he flipped wood, punched grass and threw a ChatterBait in shallow water. He threw a jig for deeper fish and caught them down to 20 feet.

Gear:

He flipped a Missile D Bomb (green-pumpkin) on a 4/0 Gamakatsu Straight Shank hook below a half-ounce weight. His rod was a 7'6" heavy-action Point Blank flipping stick and the line was 25-pound fluorocarbon.

He employed a similar setup for punching, but with a 1 1/2-ounce weight and 60-pound braid.

His jig was a half-ounce prototype model.

Bassmaster Elite Tour Lake Guntersville 2-5 Patterns - BassFan 10/7/20 (John Johnson)