Brandon Cobb Explains What He’s Learned About Fishing the 2020 Bassmaster Classic at Lake Guntersville.
provided by John Phillips
Thirty-year-old Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, South Carolina, is in his seventh year as a pro angler. He started fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series in 2019. Brandon said:
"I actually double-qualified for the 2020 Classic because I won the Toyota Texas Fest Tournament last year and finished 32nd in the Angler-of-the-Year race. I won the Texas Tournament by finding a shad spawn and started fishing it with a Yo-Zuri 3DB jerkbait. I was fishing shallow gravel bars and caught post-spawn bass that were feeding-up. I weighed in 114 pounds of bass with a 5-fish limit for four days of fishing. I also won the Big Bass Award for the tournament with an 11-pound, 1-ounce bass. So, I got to drive a Toyota truck this year. Although the tournament had a 5-bass limit, we were only able to weigh one fish each day. The others had to be weighed in the boat and then released. I previously fished the FLW tour. Bassmaster offered invitations to fish the Elite Series to the top-10 anglers on the FLW circuit - before Major League Fishing (MFL) bought FLW. So, 2019 was my first year as a member of the Mossy Oak Fishing Team. I grew up in the outdoors, hunting and fishing with my dad. Mossy Oak was a household name at my house. When I had the opportunity to work with Mossy Oak, I could hardly believe I had a chance like that. I'm really excited to be in the Mossy Oak family and to carry its company banner into the Classic this year.”
Brandon has fished two tournaments on Lake Guntersville before and reports, “We had an Elite Series tournament on Guntersville where I finished in the top 30. Although Guntersville will be a great lake to fish for the Classic because of the number of big bass in the lake, the downside is that Guntersville is a highly pressured lake. Finding ‘off-the-beaten-path’ places to fish that everyone doesn't already know about will be tough. However, in the last Classic held at Guntersville, Randy Howell actually fished a community fishing hole and won the event.
“Any angler will have to fish multiple techniques and lures to win this 2020 Classic. I think an angler can catch bass that are in the pre-spawn and are moving up to the first cover and structure off the spawning flats. Some spawning bass will be caught, too. I believe the bass will be in a transition mode, which means if you locate a school of big bass, you may have to move where you're fishing for them every day of the tournament. Another unknown element to a possible Classic win is the weather. During March 6-8, we’ll be fishing possible drastic weather changes from 20-30 degrees, if a cold front moves in, or weather in the 60s-70s or even 80-degree temperatures, if a warm front hits.
“I consider myself a power fisherman and enjoy fishing top-water lures, buzzbaits and spinner baits, but the Classic will be somewhat early to fish power baits during the entire tournament. I think the major key in this tournament will be fishing the grass, whether offshore for pre-spawn bass holding on eel grass, or the more inshore bass moving to the bank grass. But I’m convinced the winning weight of bass will be caught fishing some type of grass. I think the angler who locates a concentration of big bass in a particular area and consistently can keep up with that school of bass throughout the entire tournament will be the contestant who wins.”
To learn more about Brandon Cobb visit his Facebook page.
