Shane LeHew knows he’s going to have slow down his presentations this week at Lake Guntersville. (Photo: BassFan)
February 04, 2026
BassFan caught up with a trio of anglers – Shane LeHew, Bryan New and Hunter Shryock – in advance of the Bassmaster Elite Series season opener at Lake Guntersville, which begins Thursday, Feb. 5. This marks the earliest start date to an Elite Series season in the circuit’s history, which dates to 2006.
The 101-man field dealt with frigid temperatures (both air and water) during the three-day practice session and while a slight warming trend is on the horizon, it may not be enough to demonstrably impact the fishing. Still, it’s Guntersville and big fish still live there. This will also be the first Elite Series event since the advent of live sonar that its usage will be prohibited. It’ll be allowed in five other tournaments this season and prohibited in three others.
To that end, we posed the same three questions to three anglers in the field this week. Below are their answers:
What will be the most challenging part of this event?
> Shane LeHew: “The water temperature and just paying attention to where you’re at. A lot of the creeks are so cold. The main lake is a litter warmer, but the backs of some of the creeks are frozen over.”
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> Bryan New: “Keeping your equipment running and keeping it from freezing up, especially in the mornings. Keeping your rods and reels from icing up and being able to fish efficiently. The first half of the first day of practice it was darn near impossibly to actually fish. I also think you’re going to have to lock in somewhere instead of running around. This is the coldest water I’ve ever seen. It has warmed up some, but it’s still pretty dang cold. Everyone I’ve talked to has ran their bait into fish. They just didn’t react.”
> Hunter Shryock: “Getting that bigger bite. The fish are going to bite. It’s just a matter of do you stumble into those 5-pounders and get fortunate and catch a 6? You can catch a 2-pounder, 2-pounder and then lock into a 5 1/2. Those are difference makers on this body of water under these conditions and a five-fish format.”
Hunter Shryock is hoping his ability to zero in on one or two techniques will serve him well at Guntersville. (Photo: BassFan)
Describe your level of confidence?
> LeHew: “I’m a confident fisherman, but I’m a brutally honest person, and I am not super confident after that practice. It’ll be a case of ‘Can you make the right decision here and land on them?’ Because you can make 15 of the wrong ones and never get bit. It’s fishing extremely tough. The fish don’t want to move. I caught a couple big ones and it’s like reeling in a wet sock.”
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> New: “Pretty high. I don’t think I’m on winning caliber stuff. It’s nothing special yet but I feel good. We don’t have to worry about the scope. It’s going to be a grind on everybody even the locals who know this place really well. I might be surprised but I don’t see anyone hammering them.”
> Shryock: “It’s good. I think everybody’s else’s is, too. I know how good of a place this is. The biggest thing for me is if you get to feeling like you’re on a good bag, you better keep going. You’ll also need to figure out the rotation and where everybody is at and what you have to yourself and what you don’t. What’s incredible is how cold this water is and how aggressive these fish are.”
How will your strengths benefit you this week?
> LeHew: “I want to say well. I’m not much of a grass fisherman and I think it’s going to be won out of the grass so I’m forcing myself to do that one thing. I like shallow-water power fishing, so I’m going to have to slow down my presentations. The slower you can work a (Berkley) Warpig or Slobber Knocker will help you get more bites. But having to slow down is not something I’m looking forward to.”
> New: “This will be the first tournament of my Elite Series career without the scope. The first year or year and a half it wasn’t as dominant as it is now. I am not a scoper. I do it, but I’m not great at it. It’s not my thing. I feel very confident that I don’t have to fight with that. It’s going to be a put-your-head-down-and-go kind of thing. I’m excited about it.”
> Shryock: “Being a no FFS deal, that helps. That locks me into fishing the grass and winding baits like Rat-L-Traps and bladed jigs. I’ll just lock those in my hands. I pride myself on being able to fish dumb. Where some guys get too many things going, I have the ability to focus on one or two things and stick with that all day. I have feeling that that will be a blessing.”
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