Capt. Mike Gerry has a tournament strategy for crowded lakes

Having a lake like Guntersville as your back yard is good news and bad news.

The good news: well, it’s Guntersville and fishing should always be great.

The bad news: on weekends the lake gets crowded and the fishing pressure is getting worse.

The question becomes what to do when every spot you have gets beat to death day after day.

There is probably a reason that an area or spot get beats to death or becomes a community hole. It holds fish. Everyone knows it and is probably catching fish off it. But, then, so are you, so my advice is don’t get run off your community hole. Have a couple spots where you know there are fish, get to them early, and fish them.

Most lakes offer up a couple of early hour fish that can make the difference between winning or losing a tournament. Take into account your blast off time and location, and identify a couple of these productive community holes that are close enough for you to get there first. Plan on going straight there and fish them first thing in the morning. This gives you first shot at those fish.

Have in mind a few areas that aren’t getting pounded every day, maybe a little ways out from the community hole. When pressured fish scatter from a heavily-fished zone where they usually hold, they generally don’t move too far. If you believe fish are moving out from an area that is getting beaten up, find some structure they would likely go to when fishing pressure forces them to move.

Lastly, go deep. Only one out of ten tournament fishermen is comfortable in fishing deep. So if you can find some deep fish when the pressure picks up on the common holes, your deep bite should produce and give you a shot at winning a tournament.

Captain Mike Gerry
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
Web: www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
(256) 759-2270