Knight weighs in 28-6, grabs early lead at Guntersville
Clint Knight is off to a strong start on Guntersville with a 28-6 for Day 1. Photo by Jody White. Angler: Clint Knight.
FEBRUARY 14, 2024 • JUSTIN ONSLOW
SCOTTSBORO, Ala. – As expected, Lake Guntersville pumped out plenty of quality bags on Day 1 of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Central Division opener, punctuated by a 28-pound, 6-ounce limit from Clint Knight to prolong an incredible heater from a lake that’s simply fishing outstanding right now.
Knight joined 28 other boaters (and five Strike King co-anglers) in cracking the 20-pound mark on Wednesday. He finds himself with a 3-9 cushion over Austin Swindle in second place. Behind Swindle, 1-12 separates third place from 10th.
Knight, now in his fourth season fishing the Central Division (third as a boater), hails from Lewisburg, Kentucky, and loves throwing big baits just about everywhere he goes, including Kentucky Lake. At Guntersville, big baits get bit, and while he didn’t catch his early limit on his “prototype” swimbait that’s yet to be released to the public, the large offering did the heavy lifting; despite catching only about 10 keepers in his estimation, his biggest five flirted with weighing 30 pounds.
“I’m known for throwing big baits back home, even on the small lakes I fish,” he said. “It’s just what I enjoy doing. Today was a good day for it. … I think the warmer water is helping them commit to a bigger bait.”
Though Knight (understandably) didn’t want to get into specifics on the bait he used to catch 28-plus pounds, he did say he had some success in stained and muddy water, which he attributes to fishing pressure – of which Guntersville has seen a ton recently.
“I caught some of my fish in the muddy water,” Knight said. “I think getting into that muddy water helps because this place has seen so much pressure the last two weeks. I think if you can get your bait in front of these fish in the muddy water, they might bite a little easier. It’s just really hard to get them to see it.”
Knight got to Guntersville last Friday, the day before the Phoenix Bass Fishing League event that saw Charlie Murphy weigh in over 31 pounds for the win. Knight caught 18-9 for 28th, and while weather and water conditions changed quite a bit from Saturday to Wednesday, that event allowed Knight to get a good idea of how Guntersville is fishing – and how everyone else is fishing.
“The (LiveScope) fish are harder to get to bite just because I feel like everyone is doing it,” he said. “If you look out across the lake, every person is ‘Scoping and has a Damiki rig in their hand.”
While Knight loves ‘Scoping as well, forward-facing sonar wasn’t a magic bullet for him on Day 1. Instead, he identified areas with lots of bass – and not always lots of bait – because he felt he needed plenty of options just to get one to bite.
“I think my deal is you’ve got to find a group just to get one to bite just because there’s so much pressure in the lake,” he said. “Unless you find some fish that are competitive with each other in the grass or out on the main river, unless there’s multiple fish, I don’t think you can catch them.”
Along with a swimbait, Knight also employed a rotation of a craw-pattern lipless crankbait and another in a ghost color. Those might come into play more throughout the week as Knight runs some other stuff (including some “grass areas” he hasn’t checked out much yet), but it’s more likely the big-bait tactician goes for broke and tries to repeat his Day 1 success on Thursday.
“I’m going to be honest: I’m just going to swing for it,” he admitted. “I would love to have a big bag again tomorrow. I was just extremely blessed today.”
Top 10 Pros
1. Clint Knight – 28 – 6
2. Austin Swindle – 24 – 13
3. Chris Ferguson – 23 – 13
4. Aaron Stephens – 23 – 7
5. Jeremy Gordon – 23 – 6
6. Jeremy Bouldin – 23 – 2
7. Dillon Falardeau – 22 – 15
8. Mickey Beck – 22 – 14
9. Hayden Marbut – 22 – 10
10. Travis Alcock – 22 – 1
Bensel smashes 25-9 from back deck
It’s not often a Strike King co-angler comes to the weigh-in stage with more weight than the second-place angler on the boater side. And when it happens, you expect it to come from a local aficionado and not an angler who’s set foot on Lake Guntersville only once before (and not in a tournament setting).
Chris Bensel, a game warden with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, won Co-Angler of the Year in the Savannah River Division of the Phoenix Bass Fishing League last season and decided to step up to the Toyota Series in 2024. Despite having no familiarity with Guntersville – nor finding much in terms of similarity to his home lakes and rivers – had a plan, put in the work and dropped 25-9 on the scales Wednesday evening.
“My boater put me in a great location, and I was just able to capitalize on the opportunities I had,” he said. “I was fishing something a little different than what my boater was fishing, swapping up a few different shallow-water baits … and targeting different depth zones and doing different retrieves.”
While Bensel admits he has “zero experience” fishing submerged grass, he did find some comfortability with his various techniques in that they reminded him of fall fishing back home.
As for being able to repeat his success on Day 2, Bensel is just happy with his first tournament day on Guntersville and fishing the Toyota Series in general.
“So far this is pretty special,” he said. “Best day I’ve ever had. We don’t have these types of bags back home.”
Top 10 Strike King co-anglers
1. Chris Bensel – 25 – 9
2. Bob Thompson – 21 – 12
3. Josh Boone – 21 – 9
4. Mark Thomas – 20 – 14
5. Jp Sims – 20 – 8
6. Eric White – 18 – 13
7. Mark Lyons – 18 – 10
7. Rich Frey – 18 – 10
9. Brian Durham – 18 – 9
10. Todd Knois – 18 – 8