February Mistakes on Guntersville

February Mistakes on Lake Guntersville

Over the many years I have fished Lake Guntersville I have found that many of my customers repeat mistakes and make them over and over again affecting their performance and ability to catch fish. There are many things that make February a tough month on Guntersville and nothing more common than the constant change of weather; however, we cannot make those tough conditions worse by fishing to fast. Speed kills not only while driving a car but also fishing, bass are still lethargic in February and not slowing your bait down enough to leave it in the strike zone long enough can kill your bite.

There are several ways to slow your retrieve down, one of those would be to change to a slower retrieve reel like a 5:3:1 reel. Another way would be to change to a spinning reel as they by there own flaw are not as fast as a bait casting reel regardless of the speed listed on the reel when you purchase it. It is also customary practice to just consciously slow your hands down and do more mental slowing down of your retrieve.

Another common condition we all suffer from is leaving fish to find fish; one of the toughest decisions an angler makes is when to leave fish. It’s a question I get asked all the time my answer is always the same there is no right answer, but what you can do is make sure once you find a group of fish and they stop biting for a few, is make sure you fish the area from every angle possible before you leave. As many times changing your angle will reignite the bass and extend the bite before you have to leave to find more fish.

Lastly, do not ignore the grass if you are not catching fish on Guntersville in February, it may very well be because you are either not around grass, or maybe not in the right mix of grass. Green grass is always your best friend, scattered green grass is a better friend, scattered green grass with a slight increase in water temperature is even a better friend. Lastly green grass mixture like milfoil, and hydrilla and coon tail all in the same area with scattered holes in the grass is even better!