This one hurts, but Daiwa pro Randy Howell will not be competing on his home waters of Lake Guntersville for REDCREST. He barely missed qualifying for the event last year while on the Bass Pro Tour with some unfortunate electrical issues on the season's final day. Still, he's intimately familiar with the venue. He's now on the Bassmaster Elite Series but knows the REDCREST competitors as well as anyone.
Howell has also won a Bassmaster Classic here and shares some insight on who to watch, how the lake should fish, and what he would do if he were fishing this marquee event.
Howell Expects Unbelievable Fishing
Living on the shores of Alabama's Lake Guntersville, Howell is front and center to watch what is going on with local tournaments. He reports phenomenal fishing for the last year and believes he could get even better when the field arrives for REDCREST.
"Man, I would love to be in this event with my history there and how well the lake is fishing," Howell said. "This tournament is going to be unbelievable. The lake is as healthy as I've ever seen, and I've been here for nine years now. It's got more clean grass everywhere than ever, and it's full of three to 6-pounders right now."
Howell reports great fishing in five-fish tournaments but believes it will be just as impressive in the every-fish counts format. "It takes a five to six-pound average per fish to win local events, and it hasn't slowed down, where usually there are highs and lows. It's been off the charts," he said. "With MLF's format, I still expect big weights and possible records. The other cool thing is guys can fish their strengths because there should be many ways to catch them."
With the fish shallow, Howell expects some power fishing techniques to dominate but believes forward-facing sonar will still be a factor.
"The period they can use forward-facing sonar will still be important, but I don't know if someone can catch enough weight to carry them for the whole day," he said. "I don't think you'll be able to catch them only during that period, and you will need to catch them all day long."
Who to Watch For
The REDCREST field is full of the top performers from the Bass Pro Tour, but several anglers are competing who won lower-level events. Howell says some of these are sleepers and picked a few to watch for.
"Of course, guys like Dustin Connell and Jacob Wheeler will be ones to watch, but there are some dark horses in the field who could be a factor," he said. "One of those is Hayden Marbut, who won the Toyota Series Championship. He's so good out there and good with forward-facing and knows the lake as well as anyone in the field."
Howell said there are even more to watch that some fans may not know. "Jake Lawrence is in the field, and man, he's so good anywhere on the Tennessee River," he said. "You also have Paul Marks and then Jacob Walker, both of those guys have the potential to win. Add in some of the guys from the Bass Pro Tour. This field is full of hammers who could all win this event."
How Howell Would Fish It
If Howell were in the field, he says he would mix in plenty of moving baits. He expects bass to be spawning, but he believes moving quicker would be the way to go.
"There should be quite a few fish spawning, but with the no-limit format, I don't know if you can slow down to fish for one without falling way back," he said. "I can see a vibrating jig being crucial, and I'd fish it on my Daiwa Tatula Elite rod; it's a 7-foot, 4-inch medium heavy composite rod that's great for vibrating jigs and lipless crankbaits. Brent Ehrler also has a good rod in that lineup, but it's fiberglass, and I'm more of a fan for a graphite rod for ripping it free from grass."
Howell prefers to fish his vibrating jigs on a Daiwa Tatula 100SV and 16-pound Daiwa J-Fluoro line. Another bait that could play is a plopping-style topwater like the Livingston Plopmaster or a frog.
"There could be some topwater fish, maybe even some frog fish happening," he said. "Those are two good baits for fishing for spawners around reeds and on the bank. I like Ish Monroe's Daiwa Tatula Elite frog rod for both of those baits. It's a heavy 7-foot, 4-inch rod, and I like the 8.1:1 Daiwa Tatula Pitch and Flip rod with 65-pound Daiwa J-Braid Grand for both of them."
While he's unfortunately not in the REDCREST field, Randy Howell predicts excellent fishing and knows the lake and competitors well. He'll be watching with all of us and predicts possible record-breaking weights in Major League Fishing's premier bass tournament.
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