Here is noteworthy intel on Brandon Lester, who currently is listed as fifth in BASSTrakk with three keepers in the box and a score of 27 pounds, 3 ounces.
Lester’s birthplace and hometown of Fayetteville, Tenn., is about an hour’s drive north of Lake Guntersville. He grew up fishing the Tennessee River lakes, from Chickamauga (where UTC is located), to Guntersville and Pickwick. It was Pickwick where Lester spent long days and weeks leading up to the tournament, honing his Tennessee River bassing skills.
“It’s not identical to Guntersville but it does have the same setup with the ledges and prespawn areas,” he said.
Lester told me that last week when I went to his shop shoot videos for Bassmaster.com. He went on to tell me that he spent a lot of time ledge fishing, to get conditioned on the migration behavior of the largemouth.
“No matter where you are on the Tennessee River, the bass move from those areas into the creeks, so it’s a matter of pinpointing where they are along the way during the spawning cycle,” he told me.
Well, as fate would have it, Lester is finding success in those areas on Guntersville. A friend told me that he specializes in this very tactic. Coincidentally, Lester fished on the UTC college team and has competed on many local tournaments over the years on Guntersville.