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Here are few shots from this mornings take off and some on the water action.

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The bass in Wheeler Lake showed up today for Bassmater Elite stop number 4. Here are a few weigh in videos from day 1.

The dashboard of Shaw Grigsby’s boat looked like an optometrist’s office got tangled up with a produce counter prior to Day One launch at the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Elite at Wheeler Lake.

While most anglers are highly superstitious about bad luck believed to precipitate from having bananas on a fishing boat – Grigsby had two on his boat’s dashboard, plus two inexpensive pairs of reading glasses, often referred to as ‘cheaters.’

“Hey there’s no point in spending money on pricey glasses to toss around and maybe lose out here on the water, but they sure do help me see to tie knots easier,” grins the always cheerful pro.

“That whole thing about bananas being bad luck on a boat is all superstition,” says Grigsby. “To be real honest, I center my fate on something way higher than superstition and bananas, but it does make for pretty good fun, especially around saltwater captains. Man, those guys completely freak out when I take a banana onboard,” adds Grigsby.

“A lot of times I’ll keep a banana hidden aboard a saltwater boat until we catch a really good tuna or whatever, then I’ll bust it out to prove my point– and man it just drives those captains nuts,” laughed the Florida pro.

There won’t be any tuna on Wheeler. In fact, according to Grigsby, bass will be tougher than ever to come by on the Tennessee River impoundment. “This place is typically an amazing shallow water fishery, with a great off shore bite too, but right now it’s tougher than I can ever remember to get bit shallow or deep,” says Grigsby.

“The water level is down far enough that there is very little habitat to pitch into shallow, so you try going out deeper to look for post-spawners on a hump or ledge, and they’re just not out there real good yet,” he adds.

An array of five Quantum baitcasters, complimented by two Quantum spinning reels decorated with lipless crankbaits, willow leaf spinnerbaits, plastic tubes, topwater frogs, shaky heads and drop shots indicated Grigsby is ready to mix it up to do whatever it takes to get a bite.

“I’ll start shallow and hope to get a limit, then probably have to go join the crowd on the deeper stuff,” says Grigsby, nibbling on beef jerky prior to sunrise.

Whatever the case, he won’t run out of fuel.

“Ken Hoover (a sports nutrition guru) taught me how to eat out here,” says Grigsby. “Man, I used to eat one big sandwich per day, and after I was done eating it, I’d just crash mentally and get really tired. “Now I’m constantly fueling with everything from jerky to Ensure, and those Honey Stinger Vitamin C packs I’ve got laying on the dash.”

Grigsby notched a Top 12 in 2008 at the Bassmaster Elite on Wheeler. But fishing was easier then, it was early June, and bass were schooled-up offshore. This week will be way tougher, but Grigsby is ready, fueled by beef jerky, good luck bananas, and ample cheap reading glasses to assure his knots are tied properly.

Sophomore Bassmaster Elite Series pro Matt Lee feels at home on Lake Wheeler, Alabama. So much so that the 27-year-old will gratefully sleep in his own bed during the fourth tournament of the 2016 season, and make a daily 55 minute drive to top-notch Ingalls Harbor Boat Ramp in Decatur from his home at Lake Guntersville. More specifically, and very ironically – his home inside Blue Heron RV Resort at Lake Guntersville.

Find the Blue Heron – Find the Bass: “This tournament is more about the shad spawning, than the bass spawning,” says Lee, who holds double engineering degrees from Birmingham Southern and Auburn. “And the easiest way to find out where the shad are spawning, is to look for blue herons on the shoreline.”

“Even though we both have to catch fish to make a living, blue heron are better at locating them than we are,” grinned Lee, a former member of the Cullman High School baseball team that won an Alabama State Championship.

“There are times when you’ll see 5, 10, 15 blue herons on one spot along the bank. When you see that early in the morning, you can bet they’re picking off shad that are up against the bank spawning, and you can also bet the bass are up there eating them too.”

Shad Spawn Activity Ends Shortly After Sunrise: “Shad will spawn on a lot of things, from rocks to Styrofoam under floating docks – but that activity peaks at sunrise and ends soon after,” says Lee.

“You’re gonna see all kinds of fish catches reported super early in the morning on Bassmaster.com – but you’re gonna see it slow way down after 10:00 a.m.. That’s because the shad will have stopped spawning – and the bass will stop eating so aggressively,” forecasts Lee.

Best Lures to Cast Near Spawning Shad: “White spinnerbaits with willowleaf blades, a shallow shad colored squarebill crankbait, like the Strike King KVD 2.5, and a white swim jig would be my top three choices,” says Lee, who claims Boston Red Sox infielder, and fellow Cullman, Alabama native, Josh Rutledge as a best friend.

Pick the Right Ratio of Reel: “I’m smart enough to take VanDam’s advice, and use his TourKVD 5.3:1 when I’m throwing the squarebill, but it’s really critical to use a faster ratio like a 7.3:1 Smoke when you’re fishing a swim jig, in order to keep it moving quickly just under the surface.”

Current Lake Wheeler Water Temps and Elevation: Water temps are ranging from 70 to 76 degrees, but water levels are far lower than they were when Tommy Biffle won at Wheeler by pitching to flooded bushes in early April, 2009.

“The water level was 4-feet higher here last month than it is now, and the really big deal is that it’s dropped nearly a foot since last week,” says Lee.

“If the water levels were 1 to 2 feet higher, it would make a world of difference, but at their current levels, it doesn’t leave hardly any habitat flooded,” says Lee. “You can’t just go down the bank flippin’ bushes – which makes keying on the shad spawn an even more prominent pattern,” Lee emphasizes.

Matt Lee’s Pick to Win, and Expected Weight: “I’ll say 16 pounds a day will put you in the Top 12, and Aaron Martens is due to show-out. He’s not having a typical “A-Mart” season, and we all know it’s only a matter of time before he has a great tournament,” concludes Lee.