with Wayne Miller
Cold weather this time of year makes many people want to go south for warmer climes. Bass fishermen are no exception. To find warmer water and more comfortable temperatures this time of year, and biting bass, plan a trip to the Mobile Delta. It contains a wide variety of waters to fish and the bass are biting right now.
The Mobile Delta region is an amazing place, especially to fishermen used to lakes and rivers in the north half of Alabama. Looking at a map shows a maze of rivers, creeks, sloughs and lakes to fish. The two main rivers, the Mobile River and the Tensaw River, twist and turn, with smaller rivers splitting off them and channels connecting all of them.
Tides affect water levels some every day but wind direction can make a big difference in how much. With no hills to block the wind it can create problems for the fisherman. The good news is there are always protected places to fish and you can get out of the wind. Rain upstream changes water temperature and clarity as well as the amount of salt in the water.
Usually a strong out-going tide is best for bass fishing. Dropping water will create current and position bass on cover, making them easier to find. Since the tide changes every day and wind make a big difference, check with Wayne to see what it is doing when you plan a trip.
Navigation can be a problem to the newcomer to the area and you have to watch for shoals, shallow flats, floating logs and barge traffic. And you can get turned around in a hurry if you don’t have a good GPS if you don’t pay close attention to where you are going. It is a good idea to choose a small area to fish, put in at a ramp near there and go slow until you learn that area.
Even with these problems the Delta is a great place to catch January bass. They stay active due to the changing conditions and feed all month long. They grow fast and fat but die young so you are likely to catch a lot of two to three pounders but a six pounder is a trophy. Patterns are fairly simple and you don’t need a dozen rods rigged with different baits.
Wayne Miller works at one of the big chemical plants and owns Fish’n Fever Tackle in Saraland. His job at night allows him a lot of time to fish during the day since he seems to need little sleep. Wayne spends a lot of time following the bass on the Delta and talking with bass fishermen there. He guides for bass there, too.
Fish’n Fever also sponsors a tournament trail on the Delta that averages more than 95 boats in each tournament. The tournaments in the warmer months attract a lot of fishermen and his championship at the end of the trail in October is always a hard fought event. He also runs a winter trail in the area. You can get tournament info as well as river stages and weather reports at http://www.fishnfevertackle.com/
Over the years Wayne fished a lot of BASS tournaments like the Top 150 trail. He also competes in local tournaments and has done well. His best five bass limit from the Delta was just over 20 pounds and he has a 7.5 pound bass from the area, a huge bass here. Touring pros often contact him for information before tournaments here.
In January the bass are in the creeks and lakes, according to Wayne. They pull off the main rivers and are likely to be found holding in deeper holes and outside bends of the creeks away from the main current. They like wood and water plants like eel grass, milfoil and spatterdocks. Cypress trees also attract bass where they grow in the water.
The primary food for bass in January is crabs. That may be a surprise to more northern anglers but think about it. The Delta abounds in small crabs about the size of crayfish, a food most bass fishermen are very familiar with in upland lakes. They also eat small baitfish this time of year. Although shrimp are a favorite food for bass here, the shrimp are gone in January and not a factor.
Wayne says three rods are all you need to catch bass now. Rig one with a jig and pig, one with a crankbait and the third with a spinnerbait and you can cover all bases for bass. No matter what the cover you have a bait that will catch bass from it.
Jigs like the Davis Bait Company Paca Jig, Strike King Pro Model and Lunker Lure Triple Rattleback are all good. A one-quarter to three-eights ounce jig in black and blue, peanut butter and jelly or purple/brown work well. Wayne tips them with the Net Bait Paca Chunk in matching colors.
For crankbaits Wayne likes the Bandit 100 and 200 Series in Spring Craw, Humblebee, Red Craw and Red Splatterback. The Bagley Balsa series in black and chartreuse, crawfish orange and crawfish chartreuse are all good since they look like crabs. A one-quarter to three-quarter ounce Rat-L-Trap in crawfish colors also work well.
Spinnerbaits in colors that represent baitfish and crawfish are also good. Wayne chooses a Hildebrant Snagless Sally in crawdad/professor with a #4 blade in the three eights ounce or #4.5 blade in the half ounce or a Mann’s Hank Parker three eights and three quarter ounce with chartreuse/white skirts and two gold willowleaf blades. He also likes the War Eagle three-eights or one-half ounce Screamin Eagle. He says the further up the rivers you go the bigger your spinnerbait should be.
If you love throwing plastic baits, as a fourth choice Wayne would have a 7.5 inch Culprit worm in Christmas color or a Zoom lizard in watermelon seed with a chartreuse tail ready. You can Texas rig these plastics for flipping heavy cover or use a short Carolina rig for fishing wood on flats.
Since the water is usually not real clear and barnacles are often on any wood cover you fish Wayne sticks with fairly heavy baitcasting tackle. His reels will be spooled with braid or mono that is 14 pound test or heavier. You need heavy, abrasion resistant line to get Delta fish out of cover that might be covered with sharp barnacles.
Wayne showed me the following ten spots to catch January bass on the Delta. We fished when the shrimp were still in the area and the bass were keying on them, but they are gone now. We did catch some fish on spinnerbaits, jig and pigs and crankbaits but landed over 35 keepers on live shrimp. You can catch bass like that now on artificials on the following places and patterns.
(Note – the following coordinates are in degrees, minutes and seconds [DGS), not the usual tenths of degrees {DS}. You can set your GPS to either and it will convert them. Be sure you are set to DGS when you put these in then you can change back to DS and they will be correct.)
1. N 30 43 50.4 – W 87 58 28.9 – Lower Crab Creek is one of Wayne’s favorite winter holes on the lower Delta. It runs from the west side of the Tensaw River over to the Spanish River and Delvan Bay but you have to come in from the Tensaw end. The GPS coordinates are at the Tensaw end where you enter.
You can start fishing right where you enter and work the whole creek or you can run it to the end near Delvan Bay. The creek channel is well defined all along the length of the creek. There is eel grass and milfoil and a little wood cover all along it that holds bass but Wayne’s favorite area is near the bay end. He will run down to near the first split on that end and start fishing, concentrating on the holes and points there.
Some of the holes and outside bends are six to eight feet deep and that makes it ideal for bass to stack up there this time of year. Anytime a smaller creek splits off, but especially if it is on the outside bend, Wayne will make repeated casts to the area. He also throws his crankbait right down the middle of the creek near those splits.
Fish the whole creek but concentrate from the first split to the bay end. Pitch a jig and pig to the grass and work a spinnerbait through it. Try your crankbait along the outside edges of the grass and across points and mouths of creeks. Run it right down the middle of the creek, too. Wayne says he often catches 12 to 15 bass out of one spot here.
2. N 30 43 33.2 – W 87 58 27.0 – On the east side of the Tensaw River across from and a little downstream of Crab Creek is Conway Creek. The north side of this creek has deeper outside bends with water up to 12 feet deep. The south side is flatter and shallower with grass. All along the length of this creek you will find eel grass, spatterdocks and milfoil to fish. There is also some wood cover to fish.
Work the creek trying both sides and all the cover. Concentrate on the type area you catch fish. Wayne says the north side is usually better this time of year because it is deeper. Work all your baits around any cover you encounter. When you catch a bass slow down and fish that spot hard since the bass usually school up tight this time of year.
3. N 30 44 18.0 – W 88 02 40.7 – Chickasaw Creek, also called Chickassbogue Creek because of the boat works in it, is on the west side of the Mobile River just north of the big bridge. It has a deep main channel with many shallow creeks branching off it. There are logs all along it but the further up you go the more wood you will find and there a cypress trees in the very back to fish.
Fish crankbaits and spinnerbaits over the logs but also slow down with your jig and pig and work them carefully. Bass will be more sluggish in the colder water. Pitch your jig and pig to the base of cypress trees and try to find the root ball of bigger trees. Bass will often hold right by the trunk of the tree so try to hit it with your bait and let it fall straight down. If they are in the roots you may have to really slow down to get in them.
4. N 30 48 09.5 – W 88 00 52.2 – Moving to the middle Delta, Bayou Sara splits off the west side of the Mobile River on the west side of Twelve Mile Island. It has a deep main creek channel and a good bit of mixed grass near the river. There are a lot of cypress trees the further up it you go. The water here is usually clear and it is a good place to try when the Delta is flooded with dirty water in other places.
Wayne says to fish your crankbait and jig and pig here. Work all visible cover. Also try dragging a short Carolina rig along flats and the outside of grass to find hidden cover and to attract sluggish bass. Pitch a jig and pig to all cypress trees.
Pay careful attention to where you get bit. Bass often hold on similar trees and similar places so if you are getting hits only on the outside tree, concentrate on them. If your bites are coming right beside the trunk make sure your bait falls straight down on a slack line.
5. N 30 55 41.6 – W 87 54 43.1 – Mifflin Lake is on the west side of the Tensaw River near the I-65 crossing. It has a deep channel with log covered flats and some stretches of deep cypress trees. Wayne says this is an excellent place to work a jig and pig and a crankbait in the winter and early spring.
Fish the logs on the flats with both baits. Bass will be on them pre-spawn and are looking for bedding areas. As the water warms in late winter, which comes early this far south, more and more bass will stack up on these flats.
6. N 30 53 56.6 – W 87 53 38.3 – Dennis Lake is off the east side of the Tensaw River a little further downstream of the I-65 crossing and is a smaller version of Mifflin Lake. Fish it the same way. Smaller creeks like this one are better on windy days since you can find more protected water to fish.
Much of the shoreline here is lined with cypress trees to give you more protection and lots of targets. Work each tree slowly and carefully until you find the keys. Fish the whole area from the mouth to the back but watch for deeper holes that hold concentrations of fish.
7. N 30 51 11.1 – W 87 54 45.9 – McReynolds Lake is on the west side of the Tensaw river just north of the railroad bridge and is a big lake with many small creeks branching off it. Most of the cover here is grass of different kinds but some banks are covered with laydown logs and there are a few cypress trees to fish. Spend some time in this area to locate fish, paying attention to the depth and type cover and you should be able to find fish in similar places all around it. This is a good place to spend a whole day.
8. N 30 51 54.5 – W 87 59 12.5 – Dead Lake is on the west side of the Mobile River between the I-65 and Railroad bridges. It is one of the smaller lakes in the middle Delta but there is lots of log covered banks and cypress trees to fish.
This is a good place to fish when a north wind blows water out of the Delta. Dropping water on flats here make the bass move to the deeper ends of the logs and are easier to pattern. This is true of several of the areas so when the water is dropping more than normal concentrate on the deepest end of the cover.
9. N 31 00 47.3 – W 87 54 00.9 – Tensaw Lake on the upper Delta is on the east side of the Tensw River north of the interstate bridge. It has s deep channel covered with logs and deeper cypress trees. Fish it from the creek mouth all the way to the upper end with crankbaits and a jig and pit. Wayne says this is another excellent winter and early spring spot.
10. N 31 03 22.6 – W 87 59 53.6 – Cedar Creek off the west side of the Mobile River just downstream of where the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers join to form it. Wayne says it is a deep creek lined with cyress tree cover and is a good spot to work with bigger baits. It is a clear creek that produces bigger than average fish. Stick with your bigger crankbaits and spinnerbaits here, and a jig and pig, for bigger bass.
Many of these creeks and sloughs are big enough to spend a full day fishing. Often in tournaments the fishermen that gets to one of these spots and stays there all day brings in a winning stringer. Give them a try, check out similar areas and have a great winter bass trip.
For current information, booking a guide trip with Wayne, tournament info and maps visit Fish’n Fever, check out the website or call Wayne at 251-675-6030. If you know the area you want to fish he can also suggest nearby ramps to use.