Trip log · Lake Guntersville · Aug 7–10, 2026
Four days. Three anglers. One four-pounder. Several preventable incidents.
The soundtrack to the Crook’d Hook’r crew’s rough Lake Guntersville weekend: one four-pound largemouth, lost gear, trailer trouble and enough bad decisions to fill a trip report.
Friday · The drive down
We left Gallatin around four—me and T in one truck, Mushy and his wife Danielle in the other. We call Danielle “11” because that’s where her volume knob lives, especially once the Bud Lights start disappearing.
Coming over Monteagle, 11 called wanting to stop for pictures at “the lookout” on the downhill side. The only pull-off I knew was the semi brake-check area, so that’s where T and I stopped. Mushy and Danielle rolled up looking at us like we were stupid.
She had mixed this drive up with the road toward Chickamauga. I told her the only lookout sign on this mountain said:
9:36 p.m. · City Harbor
Crab-and-shrimp dip for the table. Bacon-wrapped filets for me and Mushy, pork chops for T, steak bites for Danielle, plus baked potato, salad, and sweet tea. We got back to the cabin at 11:11 and talked ourselves into a 3:30 wake-up.
View Big Mike’s place detail →Saturday · The fast five
Mushy had been up sick since three and never made it out of bed. T and I hit the water and found floating mats catching on top of the hydrilla. Full-size Zoom Brush Hogs—green pumpkin red flake—put roughly a dozen keeper largemouth in the boat in about five minutes. Nothing huge, mostly around two and a half pounds, but it was fast.
By lunch we were back at the cabin. Sonic, a nap that became the rest of the day, and no supper. Saturday had quietly spent all of its luck.
Sunday · Aug 9 · The rough one
We stopped at Waterfront Bay before daylight for Mushy’s license, sausage-egg-and-cheese biscuits, desperately needed coffee, Brush Hogs, and a replacement hat. I got to the truck and remembered cigarettes, so Mushy and T left ahead of me for Mink Creek.
Just before the road opened to four lanes, hazard lights appeared. The wheel had come completely off the Pro Craft trailer and lodged perfectly under the fender. It cut through the tire to the steel belts, chewed up the bearing assembly and part of the brake caliper, and beat up the aluminum wheel.
We borrowed lug nuts from the other wheels, got the rig to the ramp, and went fishing. T’s buddy drove down from Dickson with a new bearing and had it repaired in about thirty minutes. That wheel had made it from Dickson to Gallatin to Guntersville before choosing Sunday morning to leave.
Verified route · public view
Every marker opens a Crook’d Hook’r place detail first. Maps and directions are available inside that page. Precise catch waypoints remain private.
South Sauty · Sunday afternoon
Back at the cabin, somebody had brought Willie’s. I pulled one from the cooler, popped it, and handed it to Danielle. She liked it enough for another drink—right up until T explained it had THC in it.
She seemed fine on the run from Mink Creek to South Sauty. Then, in about thirty seconds, her operating system shut down. Head tilted over the side of the boat, no interest in talking, no response to the commotion. Around the three-hour mark she started coming back online.
Explore South Sauty →
Trip best · roughly four pounds · Aug 9, 4:16 p.m.
While 11 was temporarily unavailable, Mushy caught the biggest bass of the weekend—a solid four-pounder. She could not open her eyes for the presentation, but the camera did its job.
Then a storm rolled in, everybody ran back to the cabin, and hamburgers closed out Sunday.
Final accounting
Monday · 6:49 a.m.
We left Angler’s Retreat Monday morning, stopped for fuel in Scottsboro and again in Lebanon, and reached Gallatin at 10:21. The ride home was completely uneventful.
After that weekend, it felt suspicious.
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