The ideal spawning temperature is around 72 degrees. Kitchens also thinks the first full moon in April triggers spawning activity.

Bass love stumps, and it is a plus if you can find flats with that type of cover. You can also catch them around boat docks, provided there is a good hard shell or gravel bottom for making beds.

If you’re after fish in really shallow water, you can fish the finesse worm without any weight. Otherwise, Kitchens uses 1/4-ounce or 3/16-ounce weights with it.

Though it can be hard to fish, Kitchens said his “old standby” in the spring is a black-and-blue jig-and-pig.

“You have to fish it real slow and you’ve got to have patience, so it’s not a very good bait to use with customers,” he admitted. “If you’re not used to fishing it and you’re not paying attention, it can be hard to detect strikes.”

To book a day of guided bass fishing on Guntersville Lake, call Tee Kitchens at (256) 859-1465 or Doug Campbell of Waterfront Grocery at (256) 582-6060.

EUFAULA LAKE

Another Alabama impoundment known for producing giant fish is Lake Eufaula, in the southeastern corner of the state. It actually ranked ahead of Guntersville for producing bass over 5 pounds, according to the latest Bass Angler Information Team (B.A.I.T.) report published by the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries.

According to the B.A.I.T. report, on average it took 132 hours of angling to catch a 5-pound or better fish on Eufaula, compared to 155 hours on Guntersville.

Lake Eufaula covers 45,181 acres and is situated on the Alabama-Georgia state line. It is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers impoundment stretching from Phoenix City to the Walter F. George Dam at Ft. Gaines, Ga. It was built in the mid-1960s.

When the Bassmaster pros left Guntersville last year, their next stop in the Cotton State was on Eufaula in late March. Denny Brauer of Missouri won the tournament there with 76 pounds, 14 ounces of bass over four days.

He caught his fish on a 3/8-ounce jig fished in shallow water around vegetation and stickups. Second-place-finisher Bink Desario of Idaho was just three ounces out of first place. He flipped and pitched a plastic crawfish and 1-ounce weight in heavy cover along the main river.

Guide Sam Williams reported that conditions are changing at Eufaula.

“We’re getting vegetation big time,” he said. “We have hydrilla in the lake now.”

In early spring, he focuses almost exclusively on fishing around those weeds.

“The fish aren’t just stacked on the underwater ledges like they used to be,” he said. “Eufaula has historically been famous for its fishing along the ledges. In the past, you would go to a ledge, find the fish and catch a limit in 30 minutes or an hour. Now you catch one fish, then go to another spot and try to catch another one. They’re more scattered.”

Williams likes to fish soft plastics around the grass in the spring. Worms work better sometimes and lizards work better other times.

“The bigger fish seem to bite the lizards better,” he noted. “You can do a little better if you’ll let your bait sit still a few seconds.”

Mossy pumpkinseed is a good color for the lures.

“It’s a real dark pumpkinseed with a big gold flake,” Williams explained. “When the water is dingier, red shad is good and pumpkin green is good.”

If you’re fishing around rocks, imitation crawfish are good baits on Eufaula as well.

For guided fishing on Lake Eufaula, contact Sam Williams of Hawk’s Guide Service at (334) 687-6266.

WHEELER LAKE

Although it suffered a down cycle in the last decade, the news from Wheeler Lake last year was a lot better.

“Wheeler had a real comeback after being down for several years,” said guide Doug Campbell. “They caught quality fish and some pretty respectable numbers in spring and early summer last year. We heard from so many anglers who said the fishing on Wheeler was better than anything they’d seen there in 10 years.”

Wheeler is a large impoundment. It is the state’s second-largest lake, at 68,200 acres, bested only by its Tennessee River neighbor, Guntersville.