If any of the Elite Series pros harbored hopes of a dry tournament, they may be out of luck because it seems like we've had nothing but rain here for the last week.

A line of severe thunderstorms moved into North Alabama about 6 a.m. Wednesday and brought more heavy rain along with tornado warnings and sightings. The area has received at least 8-10 inches since last week. Tributaries feeding the Tennesse River are flooded very badly. With more water on the way Wednesday the mountain-runoff creeks will continue to dump more muddy, debris-filled water into Guntersville Lake.

The lake already was high as the Tennessee Valley Authority worked feverishly to lower Wheeler Lake so it could begin sending water through Guntersville Dam to lower Guntersville Lake. That probably will happen at some point later this week ... meaning anyone with a very shallow pattern could find the lake sucked down hard by Saturday or Sunday.

As for the fishing, it's been good. The shallow bite is on strong with a post-spawn bite of "numbers" fish along with a few bigger ones spawning or cruising. Local guides are reporting great days with clients including 50-80 fish a day, which obviously is good for business. For the Elite pros, weeding through numbers isn't fun. They want quality bites and most likely the winner will have post-spawn fish in transition to summer patterns along with maybe one or two spawners if the water clarity improves in some areas. But sight-fishing will not be the main thing for everyone this week.