Late January means two things: playoff football and the kickoff of professional bass fishing tournaments. While teams battle it out for a slot in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, bass heads are just getting started. Major League Fishing hosted the Bass Pro Tournament Stage One at Lake Guntersville this weekend, marking the beginning of a season as one comes to an end.
The 2026 MLF Bass Pro Tour promises to be a good one, with new rookies joining the field. For bass fishermen, one question stands at the forefront of mind: Will forward-facing sonar techniques continue to dominate, or will traditional techniques make a comeback?
The rookies, veteran anglers, and young, household names took to Lake Guntersville for MLF Stage One from January 15 to 18 to give us answers.
How Lake Guntersville Shaped Up Pre-Tournament
Before the tournament, MLF interviewed a few locals on the lake to see what to expect. It looked like Lake Guntersville should produce well, with expected high weights.
Cal Lane, relative of BPT competitors Bobby and Chris Lane, said, “I would say 15 fish a day will be needed just to make the cut, and those fish will average around 3 pounds, with some bigger ones mixed in. I imagine we will see quite a few fish over 6 pounds each day. The fishing is the best I’ve seen since I’ve lived here, and the amount of 3- to 5-pound fish in the lake is insane right now.”
Over the course of the week, Guntersville lived up to the hype. On day one, single-day weights in the triple digits hit the scales. Yeah, you should probably go fish Guntersville this year.
A Hodge-Podge of Leaders in MLF Stage One
Days one, two, and three all lived up to the hype. Some giants were caught, and there were plenty of numbers.
Through the first three days of MLF Stage One, it seemed like it was anyone’s ball game. Ripping lipless crankbaits, fishing hydrilla with bladed jigs, and forward-facing sonar techniques all produced leading weights. Each day, there was a new leader.
By championship Sunday, when weights were reset to zero, some of the top dogs in the earliest parts of the tournament were eliminated. There were plenty of comebacks and Cinderella stories from the rookie class. That’s one of the coolest parts of the MLF Format. Anyone in the field is in the game up until the cutoff line for the championship round, when the field is cut to the top 10 anglers.
Championship Round for Drew Gill
With MLF restricting the use of Forward Facing Sonar to one period per angler, a certain element of strategy has to be employed with its use. Last year, it seemed like the most successful anglers used in the first period to leap ahead of the field every day.
Drew Gill continued that model on championship Sunday. At the end of the first period, where he used FFS, he had a substantial lead. But there were some scary names behind him. And he hadn’t necessarily been crushing it without the technology. The tournament was wide open, despite his lead. In the second period, his lead started to falter.
Could he hold on?
MLF Stage One: Championship Sunday Competition
At the start of the second period, Zach Birge was over 34 pounds behind Gill, but he very quickly reduced the lead to 11 pounds. There was plenty of time left for him to catch up, and Gill couldn’t use the tech that had given him such a big lead. Birge was catchin’ ’em like mad on power fishing techniques. No FFS needed.
Jacob Walker, the rookie who sold out to gain an automatic bid by winning the qualifying rounds, was also hot on his heels. Again, what made Walker so terrifying was his lack of use of FFS. It wasn’t part of his winning strategy. He had made his qualifying weight by ripping a bladed jig through grass. He was doing work through the entire tournament without the tech Gill relied on so heavily.
That wasn’t about to stop. In the second period, Walker ended up within less than 5 pounds of Gill, thanks to landing a 7-pounder. It looked like the tournament was his.
And, Jacob Wheeler, who is basically the Tom Brady of this era of bass fishing, was also making moves. By the third period, he had hit third place in the tournament. He pushed his boat on plane and decided to go on a long drive to pursue smallmouth. Had he been saving fish for this exact moment? It was a terrifying thought.
Meanwhile, Gill stood on the front of his boat, casting, watching the field catch up to his impressive morning. He really didn’t have much else to go on. FFS had been his deal.
The Mindset of a Champion
Drew Gill isn’t a chump, though. He was well aware of the situation at hand.
In period three, the live camera turned to him, and you could sense the tension. He knew a $125,000 paycheck was on the line, and the gravity of the situation was clear. The wolves were coming. Listening to him talk about it made viewers’ hands shake.
Yet, he kept his wits about him. He rode it as long as he could, despite a competitive field behind him. Toward the end of the period, when it seemed like all hope was lost, he said, “I don’t want to hit the point of decision fatigue, which is where I don’t have the time to make a decision and change where I am.”
It was getting dangerously close to that. It seemed like the best move would be to stick it out in the area he was in and grind out any bass he could.
But he left and made a decision to seal his own fate. In his new spot, he said, “I’m committed to where I’m at.” With four fish on the scales, he had caught more fish than anyone else in the field during the final period. He was prepared to lie in the grave he had dug.
The tournament ended up being a nail-biter, and Gill won by a slim margin of less than 2 pounds. The flurry of fish he caught in the first period with FFS was enough.
It’s frightening to think of what he’d be capable of if he had access to the tech for a full day of fishing. Unfortunately, the old-school techniques couldn’t keep up. FFS proved too much to overcome. Gill came out with a paycheck to keep proving the efficacy of the controversial tech.
What’s After MLF Stage One?
More nail-baiters are sure to follow. It’s clear that standard techniques are starting to catch up with FFS, and this may be the year of the resurgence of the traditional bass angler. It almost happened this weekend. Only time will tell.
If you’re looking for more Bass Pro Tour coverage, you’ll unfortunately have to wait until Feb. 19, when the field heads to Lake Hartwell. Pre-spawn and spawning fish should make for a diverse tournament.
For those who didn’t get enough Guntersville action, the B.A.S.S. Elite series kicks off the season on the legendary lake on Feb. 5-8.
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