Hartman has sights set on another triumph at Guntersville

7 pounds, 2 ounces separates top 10 entering final day

February 07, 2026 By Staff Report

Three days in and Jamie Hartman’s left thumb is already in mid-season form.

“Oh, man. It’s torn up and bleeding,” he said.

It’s one of those hurts-so-good scenarios for the New York native who has ridden three straight 20-plus pound stringers to the top of the leaderboard with one day to go in the Lake Guntersville Bassmaster Elite Series season opener.

While some of his competitors are content to generate eight or 10 bites a day this week at Lake Guntersville, where water temperatures are in the 40s, Hartman has been handling a good many more.

“I’m probably averaging 30 fish a day,” he said. “When I get on them it’s one after another.”

While Hartman is catching numbers, he’s also catching consistent quality, evidenced by his 23-00 bag today that catapulted him into the lead with 67-00. That’s 1-14 better than Wes Logan, who wrangled a day-best 24-01 to bump his total to 65-02.

Stetson Blaylock caught 22-11 and sits in third with 64-05. Matt Robertson had 23-09 and is fourth with 63-09 while day-2 leader Kyle Welcher slipped to fifth with 62-05 after catching 17-05.

Hartman and Logan are both chasing Elite Series victory number three with Hartman trying to claim a second win at Guntersville and Logan seeking a second triumph in his home state. In two previous Elite Series events at Guntersville, Logan has a runner-up and a fourth-place finish.

BassFan caught up with three anglers who qualified to fish the final day. Here are the notes from those conversations:

Describe your level of satisfaction with where you stand entering the final day?

Jamie Hartman: “Pretty good, but there are some hammers that are smoking them behind me. It’s got me concerned. I’ve got a 1-14 lead and unless I really crack ‘em that don’t mean anything. They’re around big fish. Each of those guys were showing off a big fish. I have more consistency than anything, but I’m leading. It’ll end up how it ends up, but it’d be so awesome to repeat at Guntersville. It’d be absolutely incredible.”

Stetson Blaylock: “I am 100 percent happy. When you have a good tournament on a lake, people expect you to do well, but after practice, everyone in the house I’m staying at was concerned with just getting a limit. On paper, it looks easy but it has not been. Today, I had an exceptional first hour, so to be in this position and have a chance after the practice and the week I’ve had I feel great about it.”

Justin Atkins: “I’d say it’s an 8.5 out of 10. I’m glad to be in the top 10, but I also expect to catch them here just because I’ve spent a lot of time here feel like I understand the lake. I let a couple key ones get away and I know everybody loses fish, but I’m ready to fish perfect and win. I get that aspect, but I’m ready for it to line up for me. These opportunities don’t come along that often. It is Guntersville and we’ve seen guys go from weighing 22, 23, 24 pounds and then catch 15 or 16. I’m going to fish tomorrow like I have a chance to win.”

Blaylock: “I have to go back to noon on day 2. I went into the back of this one creek where I’d caught one bass in practice. I caught 22 1/2 pounds there. I knew I had to start there today and I didn’t second guess myself. I shut down on a load of them, so that was about as good as it gets.”

Atkins: “I’ve caught several big ones off one key little stretch about 50 yards long. The eelgrass looks different on my (Humminbird) 360 and it might be the hydrilla in there or it might be different heights of eelgrass, but I’ve found I can’t keep cycling the same spot. I have to leave them for a while. I’m sure they’re just swimming around out there and I could feel how the day was doing that I was on the cusp. I saved it until the last 40 minutes and caught a good one there at the end of the day today. It was one of the smarter things I did. If I could weigh in later, I feel like I could catch what I caught all day there between 2 and 5.”

What is the one factor that will determine your success tomorrow?

Hartman: “Two big bites – two big 5s. If I get anything bigger than that, it’ll be a bonus. I don’t know if they’re there, but with some consistent mid 4s I’ll be happy with that.”

Blaylock: “If there is fresh fish moving into that creek. I have a pattern to run but it’s hard to catch big ones. It’s OK to catch 3-pounders but it’s hard to catch those 4 1/2s. It all depends on how that goes. I’m not saying it has to happen in the first hour but if I make a pass and it’s not happening it’ll have me worried about having a chance to win.”

Atkins: “Just landing them. I’ll get the bites. I know guys are talking about getting six or eight bites a day. I’m catching 25 to 30 so I’m fishing around a lot of fish. Maybe that’s why I’m not around a lot of 6s, but we are at Guntersville and I feel like if you can figure out how to get bites, the big ones will come.”