Category Archives: Bass Fishing

Bass Fishing Information

Find Fish

Beginner’s Guide to Finding Fish
By M.L. Anderson
from The Fishing Wire

Found Fishi


The first step to catching fish is to find them, and this isn’t always easy. Some people just get out there and start throwing various lures in random spots until they get lucky. Some seem to keep going back to the same spots over and over. If they get skunked, they say that the fishing is bad that day. Still others simply watch what other people are doing and try to copy that, whether they actually see the other guy catch a fish or not. Apparently, they assume that EVERYONE on the water is smarter than they are. There are some who spend hours on the phone, pumping their buddies for information and trying to duplicate their results. And then there are the pros.

The real pros know that you have to find your own fish. “It’s really hard to catch someone else’s fish,” insists Gary Dobyns. “If you weren’t there to find them and figure out what it took to catch them, it’s almost impossible for someone else to send you to that spot and have you catch fish.” A pro like Dobyns, who is able to find and catch bass consistently, has learned the secrets to patterning bass. Bass are animals with certain needs and instincts. They all respond alike to biological stimulus. This is certainly to the advantage of a bass fisherman: learn how bass behave under certain conditions, and you’ll know where to look for them. Years ago, legendary bass angler Rick Clunn told me his three-step process for patterning bass, and since then many other excellent fishermen have told me how they do it.

RICK CLUNN STEP ONE: SEASONAL PATTERNS

Even before you get to the lake you should be able to eliminate quite a bit of water. Take a map of the lake and divide it into sections. The deepest, clearest parts can be section one, midrange depths are section two, and shallow coves and river inlets are section three. Clunn also divides coves into those same sections – deep, such as a channel, midrange like humps between feeder channels, and shallow – backs of coves, flats, etc. You can add a section four if there is a river or a creek you can run the boat up.

Where do you start? You can make general assumptions based on the time of year. Generally speaking, bass will be deeper in winter and summer, shallower in spring and fall. Not all the bass in the lake will deep at one time, of course, but seasonal patterns give you a general idea of where to start.

CURRENT PATTERN

Once you have a seasonal pattern established, pick an area to fish. You may want to focus on a single large cove, especially if it has a lot of different depths and structures. Fish that cove as though it were a pond. Identify what kinds of objects are in the area: channels, humps, vegetation, rock piles, rip rap, man-made structures like bridges, etc., and work every kind of object until you feel like you’ve really checked it out thoroughly. Use a couple of different baits. It will soon become clear which kinds of objects are holding fish, and you can stop wasting time on the stuff that isn’t holding fish right now.

There are actually two kinds of patterns you can find this way. An individual pattern is when a certain kind of object is holding bass – say you’ve fished everything in your cove and have only caught fish on submerged logs in five feet of water. Now you can leave and visit other areas of the lake and fish other submerged logs at around the same depth with a pretty good chance of catching more fish. A concentration pattern is usually something like an expanse of submerged brush or vegetation that has a whole school in it. If you find one of these, stay there. The individual pattern is the most common, and if you put a bunch of those similar spots together, it’s usually referred to as a “milk run”. Fishing stuff between the pattern is a waste of time, says Clunn. Just go from object to object as quickly as possible. One of these patterns can last days or just minutes. If it fails, start over and figure out what the new pattern is.

SPECIFIC PATTERN

According to Clunn, a small percentage of elite anglers will be able to get to step three, which is identifying a specific pattern. It is something that very good fishermen do subconsciously for the most part. For instance, say our submerged logs are the current pattern. You go from log to log and fish them all. An elite angler will soon know an even more specific pattern — he will know exactly where on the log the fish will be.

LURES FOR ESTABLISHING A PATTERN

The only reason to pick a lure is confidence. A lure is first of all for finding fish. Clunn’s top three lures for finding fish are spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and plastic worms or jigs. He usually starts with a spinnerbait or a crankbait – choose whichever one you can keep in the strike zone for longer. In warmer water the strike zone is bigger. In colder water it is smaller. He doesn’t worry too much about color. Fishermen think about color more than they do about sex, he says. Your confidence in your fishing is in total control of your success, so pick a lure you feel confident that you can fish well. Pick any color you want as long as you believe in it. He usually picks natural colors. If you don’t feel good about it, you won’t fish it well.

OVERNIGHT CHANGES

Things like a cold front, a storm, a rising barometer, or weekend pressure and traffic can change things overnight. Let the fish tell you what’s going on. Try the pattern you established the day before, and if it isn’t working, you have to change. Cold fronts will move the fish either deeper or tighter to cover. The strike zone shrinks. Maybe you need to flip those logs today instead of running a spinnerbait past them. Maybe you need to go just a little deeper to the next structure. Clunn says that if you’re a beginner you shouldn’t worry that you don’t have a lot of years in the boat. Some anglers pay more attention and get more out of a year than others do in a lifetime. The biggest thing is to pay attention. Keep a log that you can refer back to.

JOHN MURRAY’S METHOD

John Murray started out bass fishing as a kid in Arizona, and is still considered to be one of the best bass fishermen Arizona has ever produced. His advice? “Don’t discount any part of the lake” is Murray’s first rule. “Fish all over, starting shallow.” Narrow your focus to your strengths at first–use lures you are proficient with and have confidence in. When you first start fishing and don’t really have a lot of confidence in any one lure yet, Murray says to try fishing just one lure all day until you know how it reacts to different retrieves and speeds, and you are confident of at least your ability to cast the lure accurately and fish it properly. Every angler should be able to fish spinnerbaits, crankbaits, plastic worms, and jigs with confidence.

“First of all, look for how deep the shad are,” says Murray. “Wherever the shad are, that’s where the bass are.” He uses his electronics to find balls of shad and pinpoint their depth. (The first time I ever fished with Murray, he was using a flasher and a paper graph, and he was kicking butt back then.)

MURRAY’S FIVE KEY AREAS

Once he has determined the depth of the bait fish, choosing which of the five key areas to try first is easier. Points are first on the list, and can hold bass at any depth. Murray will make several different presentations on a point using different lures, favoring spinnerbaits and crankbaits. The key to fishing a spinnerbait is the retrieve, says Murray. He usually keeps the lure one or two feet off the bottom and works it slowly, concentrating on the feel of the blades turning. If the “thumping” stops, he sets the hook.

Second on the location list is backs of coves. Topwater lures and spinnerbaits are prime choices here, and Murray likes Ricos, Zara Spooks, buzzbaits, and jerkbaits for shallow fish. For fish with lockjaw, flipping a plastic worm or lizard can be a better method. For shallow fishing (less than ten feet), Murray says to use a couple of baits and keep casting. Cover lots of water and look for bites, especially if you’re pre-fishing. If you know the fish are shallow but you can’t get them to take a fast-moving lure, make sure you flip into a few bushes or rockpiles before you move on.

If the fish aren’t in the backs of the coves, the next area Murray will try is a windy bank. He’ll throw crankbaits and spinnerbaits up into the brush, or pitch a lizard or jig to shore, looking for active bass that are foraging for shad and crawdads whipped up by wind and waves.

Steep banks, walls, and cliffs are fourth on our list of bass holding locations. These structures hold fish at different depths at different times. A worm or a tube bait is usually Murray’s first lure choice for steep shorelines like this. Getting the boat close to the bank, he casts the lure parallel to the cliffs and bounces it down the wall, feeling and watching the line to see if it moves differently than it should or stops where it shouldn’t.

If he still hasn’t found fish, Murray moves out to location five: outside structure. These submerged islands, rockpiles, underwater ridges, etc., often hold large concentrations of quality fish, especially in heavily fished lakes. Many anglers ignore this structure either because they don’t know it’s there or they don’t know how to fish it. The best structure is the stuff that isn’t marked – no buoy on it, in other words.

The key to fishing deeper water, says Murray, is learning to use your electronics. Murray makes sure he has good depthfinders on the console as well as the bow. The depthfinder on the console is the one to watch while you’re idling around inspecting structure, and the one on the bow is the one you keep your eyes on while you fish. If you know how to interpret what you see, you can position yourself right over deep fish and present your lure to them effectively.

A good depthfinder is invaluable for locating and fishing these underwater treasure troves. In the old days, fishermen would take years to study a lake, actually using a weighted string to map underwater depths, but with modern graphs you can do it in a day, especially if you have a topo map of the lake to get you started. Again, Murray says to look for the depth of the baitfish, then look for submerged structure that intersects this depth. Any lure that you have confidence in and can fish at the proper depth can be used to probe this structure: Ned rigs, split-shot rigs, drop shots, jigs, spinnerbaits, or crankbaits can all be effective.

Even on a strange lake or in unusual conditions, thoroughly fishing the five key holding areas with a combination of baits chosen from the top basic lures will help you find fish. Once you’ve determined where the active bass are, concentrate on that type of location only–don’t waste time fishing backs of coves after you’ve already discovered that the fish are on points. Cover the area thoroughly with a variety of lures. You have to find fish to catch them, and following this system is a proven way to begin.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO

Pick a process: Clunn or Murray. Fish methodically and eliminate areas and structure until you start catching fish. Then pass over everything but the stuff you have determined to be productive. Sounds too easy to be true, doesn’t it? The old adage says that doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Next time you’re at a loss, don’t keep going around and around doing the same thing. Remember Clunn and Murray. Find the fish.

How and Where to Catch September Lake Eufaula Bass

September Bass at Eufaula
with Dwayne Smith

September is one of the worst months for bass fishing in many of our Georgia lakes. The water is at its hottest and bass are deep and hard to find. But at Lake Eufaula the numerous ledges are full of bass and the grassbeds all over the lake entice some bass to feed shallow. You can take advantage of both patterns and catch bass there this month.

With 45,180 acres of water, there are lots of places to fish at Eufaula. Stretching 85 miles from the dam to Columbus, this long lake is mostly river bottom with lots of shallow areas and good drops into channels. Those are perfect places for bass to hold and feed this month.

Eufaula is a shallow lake with big flats everywhere. Grass grows on many of these flats and points leading to the channels, and willow bushes grow all over the lake, even on some mid-lake ledges. Bass like to feed around this shallow cover and can be found there all year long, but this pattern gets even better in late September when the water begins go cool.

Dwayne Smith won the Georgia Bass Chapter Federation Top Six tournament at Eufaula last April. He won it early, catching a limit of bass on spinnerbaits first thing each morning. Fishing with the Blackshear Bass Club for the past six years has taught Dwayne a lot about the lake since they fish it about four times a year, and he put his knowledge to good use in the Top Six.

Making the Top Six team each year that he has been in the club is something Dwayne is proud of doing, and he likes fishing the Top Six. He also likes Eufaula and can catch fish there most of the year. He says September can be a good month if you know were to fish.

“Start early in the grassbeds, then move to the drops as the sun gets on the water,” Dwayne said. That is a simple pattern but it works well for him most of the year, and September is no exception.

Dwayne will start each morning throwing a half-ounce white Terminator spinnerbait with a gold willowleaf and a silver Colorado blade. He likes a split tail white trailer and says the bait looks so good in the water sometimes he wants to eat it himself! The spinnerbait is fished in the shallows all over the lake, anywhere there is grass or willows.

Dwayne may start out on the main lake on humps but the sun hits those areas early. As the sun comes over the trees he will often move to the shady bank to get some more time with his spinnerbait. But when the sun gets bright, it is time to move to deeper water.

“Look for shallow water near deep water,” Dwayne said. A drop from the shallows to the channel is going to hold bass, and the steeper the drop the better it usually will be. Dwayne will fish a Carolina rig on these places, casting up shallow and working his bait down to deeper water.

A black Trick worm rigged behind a one ounce sinker on a 24 to 30 inch leader is Dwayne’s standard Carolina rig. He likes heavy line on both spinnerbait and Carolina rig, and uses 15 pound Trilene Big Game line on everything, including his leader.

You will often see bass busting shad on top during September, so Dwayne also keeps a chrome half-ounce Rat-L-Trap rigged and ready to cast toward them. And he will have a big Fat Free Shad on another rod to run across shallow drops in case the bass want something moving a little faster than a Carolina rig. He likes shad colored crankbaits if the water is clear and something with some chartruese in it if the water is stained.

I fished with Dwayne in early August to get a look at the way he fishes Eufaula. He showed me ten of his favorite places to fish in September to share here, and he explained how he fishes each. The following ten spots will give you some grassbeds and shallows to fish this month as well as drops to move to when the sun gets bright.

1. N 32 03.171 – W 85 03.321 – The bank straight across from the mouth of Little Barbour Creek has a good grassbed and is on the east side of the lake, so it stays shady for a good while each morning. Dwayne will start right across from the mouth of the creek and fish upstream all the way to the small creek.

Keep your boat out and easy cast from the bank and throw your spinnerbait back into the edge of the grass. Fish it back out, running it by any clumps of grass or any wood cover out from the bank. Dwayne fishes the spinnerbait fast, keeping is down under the water but running it back quickly at a steady speed. Making a lot of cast as fast as possible is important since this pattern does not last long.

2. N 32 01.997 – W 85 03.413 – Head downstream and the channel will make a sharp bend to the Georgia bank, then swing out toward the Alabama side. Right where the channel leaves the east bank there is a small island. A point runs off this island and follows the edge of the channel as it cuts across the lake. There is a red channel marker just off the island.

Dwayne likes to keep his boat upstream of the drop running off the island and casts up onto the flat formed by the point. He will work his Carolina rig or crankbait back to the boat, fishing some of the top of the flat and then covering the edge of the drop.

If there is current moving the lip of the drop is probalby the best spot. If the current is not moving Dwayne will work the Carolina rig down the drop and probe for any wood stuck there. He will work from the island out to the channel marker, fishing the edge all along there.

3. N 32 01.546 – W 85 02.876 – Head on downstream and the channel goes to the Alabama bank then makes a sharp turn back to the Georgia side. The mouth of Rood Creek is where the channel hits the Georgia bank, but just upstream is a small creek with a split near the mouth. The river channel runs near the mouth of it and the double opening has deep water in it.

The point on the split in the mouth of this creek has a hump off it that has stumps on it. It is only four feet deep on top and drops off to 25 feet or deeper all around. Keep your boat out in the deeper water and fish around the hump, making casts up on top of it and fishing down the slope.

This is a good place to run a crankbait across the top of the hump, then fish a Carolina rig on it. You will get hung up on the stumps but there will often be bass holding by them, too. Fish this spot carefully, taking time to cover it from all angles.

4. N 32 00.670 – W 85 03.605 – Downstream of Rood Creek the channel swings toward the Alabama bank and then right back to the Georgia side. A little further downstream it angles across the lake to the Alabama side, and just upstream of where it hits the bank is an opening to a big flat split by an island. This big area is actually the ends of two old oxbow river runs cut off from the lake by an island. Dwayne calls the big flat grassy area behind the island “The Barn.”

This very shallow water has lilly pads and other grass along the bank. Out in the middle you will see clumps of hydrilla. Bass will feed here year round, but move in more as the water starts to cool near the end of September.

Start fishing near the mouth and cast to every cut and hole in the grass and pads. Watch for dark clumps out in the middle of the open water and fish them with your spinnerbait, too. Run your spinnerbait along and through every fishy looking spot.

5. N 31 59.003 – W 85 04.129 – Head downstream past the mouth of the Witch’s Ditch and the lake will open up. The island that runs parallel to the river on the Georgia side, the one that cuts off the Witch’s Ditch, ends and the lake will open up. Just downstream of the end of this island is a red channel marker and there is a good river ledge here where the channel makes a small turn toward the Alabama bank.

Position your boat just downstream of the marker and you will be in about 40 feet of water. You can cast up onto the top of the ledge to 12 feet of water and fish the stumps on it. Fish all long this ledge, trying a crankbait and then the Carolina rig. When you hit a stump, pause your bait and let the bass have a good look at it. If you don’t get bit, cast right back to the same place to fish that stump again.

6. N 31 58.304 – W 85 03.888 – As you go downstream the channel will swing all the way to the Georgia side just below the mouth of Bustahatchee Creek. The red channel marker 103.1 will be near the bank and just upstream of it you will see some small willows sticking up out of the water about 200 feet off the mouth of a small creek called “The Watermelon Hole.” There is a big irrigation pump in this small creek and you can usually hear it running.

This hump was the site of a house before the lake was backed up, and the old brick foundation is still there. Fish all around this hump and the willows with your spinnerbait then back off a little and fish it with your Carolina rig. The river channel is just off the outside of it and the creek channel runs by it, too. Fish the drops into each with your Carolina rig and feel for the bricks. When you hit them fish them slowly.

Watch for schooling fish here. While we were fishing it some big shad scooted out of the water and Dwayne threw his Rat-L-Trap to it. He hooked a stong fish that fought more like a bass than a hybrid, and I was ready with the net when it got close to the boat. Unfortunately, the bass made a strong run and pulled loose before we saw it.

7. N 31 58.221 – W 85 03.924 – Just downstream of this hump, right at channel marker 103.1, the channel makes a sharp bend back toward Alabama and the mouth of Cowikee Creek. The water in the channel is 58 feet deep and it comes up to a shallow flat with a small point running out on it. You can see the small point as a buldge on the bank in the grassline.

Keep your boat out in the channel and cast up onto the flat. Some wood cover sticks here at times but the main feature is the drop. Fish the lip of the drop with crankbait and Carolina rig.

Dwayne told me this was a good spot hole as we pulled up on it, and he caught a small keeper spot here on his Carolina rig. Fish all long the lip of this drop as the channel swings away from the bank.

8. N 31 58.103 – W 85 05.776 – Run into the mouth of Cowikee Creek and head upstream until you get to the island on your right just outside the channel. The channel will make a wide sweeping bend all the way across the creek from the far bank to the end of this island and then back to the far bank. Stop just outside of the red pole channel marker that has a small number 271 on it that is standing off the end of the island. Keep your boat in the channel.

The outside bend here has brushpiles and stumps all along it. Dwayne will fish from this pole all along the outside bend all the way to the next red pole marker downstream. Near the channel marker at the end of the island Dwayne hung a strong fish on his Carolina rig but it got him down in the brush. He sawed it back and forth for a short time before it broke off.

9. N 31 54.845 – W 85 07.082 – Dwayne runs the Alabama side from the mouth of Cowikee Creek all the way to Old Town Creek Park. This is very shallow water and is dangerous if the lake is down any at all, which it may be in September. You are much safer following the channel.

When you get to Old Town Creek Park swimming area, just downstream of the fishing pier, a ledge runs way out from the swimming area toward the Georgia bank. It is called the “Closeline” because it runs so straight and far. Dwayne will keep his boat on the upstream side of this drop and fish all along it, casting up onto the top of the flat and working his Carolina rig down the drop.

There is some brush on this drop and the drop runs about even with the bank at the swimming area. If you look at the bank you can tell how it continues on out in the lake. If there is any current this is an excellent place and you can fish it out 100 yards or more. Current helps here just like on all other holes where there is a drop.

10. N 31 53.025 – W 85 07.843 – The last hole Dwayne showed me is a long point with rocks on it running out from the Alabama side. It is easy to find because there is a railroad on top of this point. The point he likes to fish is the railroad causeway on the Alabama side.

Dwayne will start on the upstream side of the causeway and work around the point with a crankbait or spinnerbait, casting up near the rocks and fishing back out. If there is current running around this point the bass will stack up on the rocks to feed on shad moving downstream. It is a good place all day long and is easy to find.

Give these spots a try and then use what you see on them to find others. There are acres of grassbeds on Eufaula and many of them hold bass. And the miles of river and creek ledges hold bass this time of year. Eufaula is one of our best lakes in September. Spend some time there.

Find the Thermocline

Find the Thermocline for Productive Late Summer Bass Fishing
from The Fishing Wire

Find thermocline for summer bass


The hottest two-month stretch of the year is here and largemouth bass anglers must make adjustments if they want to continue catching fish during the challenging dog days of late July through August.

Locating the depth of the thermocline is the first priority for bass anglers fishing Kentucky’s major reservoirs in late summer, as well as elsewhere throughout the South. Longer days and the higher sun angle of late spring warms the upper layers of a reservoir. By summer, the lake stratifies by temperature. The thermocline is the zone where the warmer upper layers mix with the oxygen-depleted, colder water layers below.

There is no dissolved oxygen below the thermocline for fish to breathe, so it is a waste of time fishing below it. The Louisville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provides a helpful page at https://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Water-Information/Water-Quality-Data/ that provides the location of the thermocline. Click on the lake you are interested in and select “Most Recent Lake Profile.” The right-hand column shows the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. The thermocline is the depth where the dissolved oxygen falls below five.

Water fertility and clarity play a role in the location of the thermocline. This week, the thermocline on mid-depth hill-land reservoirs with relatively clear water, such as Green River, Barren River, Rough River and Nolin River, is about 15 feet.

“Some clear lakes like Cave Run have a deep thermocline at about 20 feet,” said Mike Hardin, assistant director of Fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “The water at that depth is about 73 degrees right now, more comfortable water for bass. At a lake like Taylorsville, a shallow, fertile lake, you don’t have that cool water option as the thermocline is only 10 feet deep.”

Smart bass anglers fishing the mid-depth reservoirs should probe structures from 10 to 15 feet deep, such as points that extend out into the lake, submerged humps or channel ledges. Those fishing a shallow lake like Taylorsville should look for ambush cover just above the thermocline, such as a sunken tree-top, stump field or in flooded timber.

“Do not forget the basics of bass fishing,” Hardin said. “Bass hang out where there is food. Shad like to follow channels. Points near the channel or any cover along the channel ledge are money spots at this time of year.”

Jigs slowly crawled across the point or along the channel ledge draw strikes. Points with stumps or chunk rock hold the most fish. Jigs in the peanut butter and jelly color, black and blue or green pumpkin make good choices.

Boat positioning is important to keep a jig crawling on the bottom and across those points, channel ledges and humps. Some anglers use marker buoys to visualize the sunken structures.

Deadsticking a 7- to 10-inch straight-tailed worm rigged on a ¼-ounce Shakey head and cast on the point, channel ledge or hump is a technique to try if all else fails. After the lure reaches bottom, reel in the slack and let the worm sit there and wiggle. Occasionally squeeze the rod handle to impart a slight action to the worm. If no takers, reel it in about five feet and try again. Bass that ignored everything in your tackle box will often hit this presentation in late summer. Green pumpkin, junebug or plum glitter are productive worm colors.

Largemouth bass sometime suspend over the point, ledge or hump and ignore lures worked on bottom in late summer. A swimbait works well for suspended bass.

Pearl-colored swimbaits with shades of gray, blue and light purple work well. Fish the swimbait just above the point, ledge or hump with a swimming retrieve, stopping occasionally to let the lure fall. Bass often strike a swimbait on the fall at this time of year. Use the lightest weight you can.

It is hot and finally dry. Make the correct adjustments and continue to catch largemouth bass through the hottest stretch of the year.

Author Lee McClellan is a nationally award-winning associate editor for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. He is a life-long hunter and angler, with a passion for smallmouth bass fishing.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife news releases are available online at fw.ky.gov

Lake Guntersville July Tournament Details

Camping for five nights at Guntersville – $196.00. Gas for truck – 100.00 – Gas for boat – 50.00 – Food – 50.00 – Club tournament fee – 35.00 – Ice – 25.00.

Winning $25.00 for third place and $35.00 for big fish – priceless!!

Sitting by the lake after fishing, grilling dinner and relaxing is also priceless. I always camp on multiday fishing trips for several reasons. It is more relaxing than a motel and I can leave stuff in and on my boat without worrying about it getting stolen. I much prefer my cooking to eating out. And it is easier to go to bed at sundown and sleep better.

Although it was very hot at Guntersville, a fan in a screen dining tent helped a lot. Fortunately, my camper has an air conditioner, so I sleep comfortably. Both fan and AC felt great after a hot day on the lake.

In our July tournament at Guntersville last weekend, seven members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished for 15 hours to land 33 keeper bass, only four of them spots, weighing about 80 pounds. There was one five-bass limit and everyone caught at least one keeper.

Raymond English won with seven bass weighing 16.75 pounds and Jay Gerson had eight, including a limit the first day, weighing 16.08 pounds for second. My four weighing 11.65 pounds was third and my 4.55 pound largemouth was big fish. Fourth was Glenn
Anderson with four weighing 11.14 pounds.

I went to the lake on Wednesday and got my camper set up. Thursday morning I went out looking for something that might work for me. I checked the backs of several creeks, isolated places where I thought I could fish in peace, but got only two bites and lost both fish. That afternoon I rode and fished ledges and grass lines, the usual summer pattern there.

Friday I spent the morning looking at the same kinds of places on the main lake. I have never fished a tournament on that area of the lake. The area I usually fish and am more familiar with is about 20 miles by water down the lake and I was not willing to make that run.

I did have the advantage of many GPS waypoints from old articles on the lake. But many of them were from other seasons, not the hot summertime. But I did have many good spots marked on ledges.

That afternoon I had not had a bite so I decided to try something with which I am more familiar. I had seen a line of docks around a deep cove that looked good. When I went to them I caught two nice spotted bass. At least I had something to fall back on if the ledges didn’t work.

I noticed a mercury vapor light over the water at one dock was on during the middle of the day, so I figured it stayed on all night and attracted fish. I filed that away as something to remember at first light.

Saturday morning I decided to start on a grassline when we took off at 6:00 AM. I quickly caught one short bass, about 14.5 inches long. Largemouth and smallmouth at Guntersville have to be 15 inches long to keep, but any size spotted bass can be kept, so we could weigh in 12-inch spots based on club rules.

At 7:20 I hooked and landed a 15.5-inch keeper largemouth and knew I would not zero so I relaxed – maybe too much. I fished a second grassline where I had marked baitfish the day before and largemouth were schooling on top, but all I caught were too short.

When I headed to my third marked spot, there was another bass boat there and they were fishing it hard. Since it was almost noon and the sun was high, I headed to the docks where I had caught the two spots, but there were three boats already fishing them.

The rest of the day I tried several things but never caught another keeper. At weigh-in I was in seventh out of seven people!

Sunday morning I ran straight to the dock with the light – and it was not on. But the fish were there. I quickly caught a 15.5-inch keeper, and six other bass just shorter than 15 inches, all on a spinnerbait. I lost what looked like a 2.5-pound keeper that just pulled off my buzzbait. That was not good.

At 9:00, after fishing the docks without another bite, I want to the ledges. I headed to the one I had not been able to fish the day before, and no one was there. It was the perfect set-up – a long creek channel wound across a huge flat to dump into the old river channel in the middle of the lake.

I got my boat in position and caught a short fish. Then on my second bite I set the hook on a good fish. I guessed it weighted about four pounds when I put it in the livewell.

A few casts later I hooked and landed a largemouth a little bigger than the first. It was the big fish in the tournament. Then, I got a bite, set the hook and my rod bowed up just like on the first two four pounders and fought like them for a few seconds, then pulled off my hook.

I stayed in that area the rest of the day but got no more keepers.

At weigh in my three weighed 10.01 pounds, the heaviest of any for the two days, and moved me to third place.

Guntersville is famous for its bass fishing, ranked as the second-best bass lake in the US this year by
BASS. But with the 15-inch limit, it can be tough to fish, with thousands of acres of grass and lily pad fields, and many miles of ledges and grasslines on the main lake, and heavy fishing pressure on all of them.

Its only 4.5 hours away – give it a try.

Dave Precht to Retire

Dave Precht to Retire at B.A.S.S.
By Frank Sargeant, Editor
from The Fishing Wire

Dave Precht


Dave Precht, who has pretty much been the face of B.A.S.S. publications for the last 41 years, will retire at the end of July.

Dave Joined B.A.S.S. in 1979 as editor of Southern Outdoors Magazine after a stint as the outdoors writer at the Houston Post. In 1984, he replaced Bob Cobb as editor of Bassmaster, a role he’d maintain for nearly two decades.

During his 19 years as Bassmaster editor, the magazine grew to nearly 600,000 member/subscribers and was selected as one of the 10 “hottest properties” among magazines in America by Ad Age. Precht used the magazine to promote boating safety, conservation, sportfishing ethics and bass fishing as a family activity.

As B.A.S.S. evolved, Dave’s knowledge of the sport, company and industry helped move the organization forward with focus and perspective. He retires as Vice President of Publications and Communications as the most longstanding member of the B.A.S.S. organization.

B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin had kind words for Precht in announcing his retirement.

“We obviously know the incredible impact Dave has had on B.A.S.S., but his positive influence on the bass fishing industry has been celebrated, as well. He was inducted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame in 2011. And in 2018, Dave was inducted into the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, as well as the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame. Dave came to B.A.S.S. because of his passion for bass fishing, and now he will have plenty of time to spend on the water. The rest of his time will likely be spent chasing grandchildren,” Akin said.

On a personal note, it’s been my pleasure to have maintained both a professional and personal relationship with Dave for pretty much all of the years he has been with B.A.S.S., starting when I was a fledgling writer for Southern Outdoorsand continuing for several decades at Bassmaster before I began to focus more on saltwater than on bass fishing.

Dave is an avid angler both for bass and for saltwater species, and when he goes on vacation, fishing is often on the agenda—he and a crew head to the marsh country of the Louisiana Delta each year for a go at the reds, trout and cobia. During my time in Florida, he joined me occasionally for snook trips on Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor, trout and reds at Apalachicola and once on an epic sojourn that started in Key West chasing snapper and wound up at Lake Okeechobee cranking in largemouths. Dave is a great angler as well as a great friend—he’s given to starting at daybreak and staying out until the last glimmer of daylight, often the mark of those who become very good on the water.

Precht and his wife Linda live in Birmingham, and will remain there during retirement. They raised a successful, loving family. I started to say that was the icing on the cake, but in fact that is the cake, isn’t it? Birmingham puts them in the middle between grandkids to the north and the south.

West Point Tournament and Guntersville Plans

Saturday, Jully 13, 24 Potato Creek Bassmasters members fished West Point from 5:30 AM to 2:00 PM in our July tournament. We started out wrong, arriving at Pyne
Park to find the boat ramp blocked for Dragon Boat races that afternoon. We quickly moved everyone to another nearby ramp.

In 8.5 hours of fishing, we landed 24 keeper bass weighing about 47 pounds. There were two five-bass limits, but 14 people did not have keeper.

Michael Cox won with four weighing 10.82 pounds and his 5.91 pound largemouth was big fish. It was very skinny and would have weighed over seven pounds in the spring, based on its head size.

Mitchell Cardell had four weighing 9.31 pounds for second, Lee Hancock placed third with five at 7.19 pounds and my five weighing 5.46 pounds was fourth. Trent Grainger had one weighing 4.62 pounds for fifth. It was another big headed skinny largemouth.

Again, I had a feeling I could catch some fish early in a certain place, but after fishing two places where I though they would feed shallow before the sun came up I had not gotten a bite. So, I started fishing deep brush, changing patterns completely.

I was on a 20-foot-deep brush pile at 9:00 and quickly caught three keeper spotted bass. I had fished it with a big crankbait and big worm, hoping for a good size largemouth since I had heard that was a good pattern, but got no bites.

My first cast to the brush with a smaller bait, a shaky head worm, produced a short spot then my next cast got my biggest of the day, a spot weighing a little over a pound. I landed several more short spots there, too, so I went to more deep brush.

At 11:00 I had not gotten another keeper, although I stuck with a shaky head and drop shot worm, small baits spots like. Then while looking for an old brush pile I saw a new one nearby on my depthfinder and caught my fourth keeper from it.

I kept trying deep brush without a bite. On some of them I could see fish suspended over them, the perfect set-up for a drop shot but could not get a bite on it. Then, with less that 30 minutes to fish, I caught my fifth keeper on the dropshot, my first bite on it all day.

Persistence pays off sometimes.

The Sportsman Club is fishing legendary Lake Guntersville this weekend. Although you hear about the fantastic catches there, based on the Alabama Bass Information Trail creel census reports from bass clubs, it is the most difficult lake in Alabama to catch a keeper bass in a club tournament.

Fishing at Guntersville is “combat fishing” in my experience. It seems folks go there based on its reputation, get frustrated by not catching fish, and lose all respect for others.

If you catch a bass there you can expect several more boats, anyone seeing you catch the fish, join you immediately. There is no consideration for others. A couple years ago I saw 17 boats fishing a small area. They were so close together some boats were bumping each other, and every one of them could have cast into every other boat.

I do not enjoy fishing like that and will be looking for a secluded area to fish. It may not produce a good catch, but I will enjoy it a lot more.

Lake Sinclair July Tournament Details

Summer’s hot days are tough times to catch big bass, or any other size many times. The hot water makes bass metabolism high, but it also makes then feed less and confines them to smaller areas of water. And they feed mostly at night, especially during a full moon.

Bass are skinny, too. Their high metabolism makes them burn energy fast and they don’t feed enough to regain body weight lost during the stress of the spawn.
A bass that might weigh seven pounds pre spawn in April might weigh only 5.5 pounds in July, with a big head but thin body.

But some can be caught, as the West Point results below show. But both it and Sinclair results show how tough fishing can be for club fishermen. Not only is it hot, boat traffic keeps you rocking from waves, and getting bites is a slow process.

At Sinclair weekend before last eight Flint River
Bass Club members faced all those things at our July tournament. In eight hours of fishing, we landed 15 keeper bass weighing about 20 pounds. There was one limit and three people did not have a fish.

Chuck Croft won with three weighing 5.50 pounds and had big fish with a 3.60 pound largemouth. Don Gober had the limit and placed second with 5.40 pounds, Doug Acree was third with three at 3.75 pounds and my two at 3.0 was fourth. Alex Gober had two weighing 2.0 pounds for fifth.

I had one of those good feelings that if I started on a certain seawall with topwater I would catch some fish. Sometimes those feelings work, but at after an hour and a half, I had not had a bite on anything.

Then I caught a keeper by a dock on a shaky head worm. It was about two feet deep. Going between docks a few minutes later I made what I thought was a useless cast right against a seawall with a weightless Senko. I could see the bottom and I just made the cast to be doing something, but my line moved to the side and I landed my second keeper.

That was it. I missed one more bite from a bass that hit on top in the shade and caught some warmouth on the Senko on other seawalls, but no more bass.

August Bass at Lake Juliette

August Bass at Lake Juliette

Ready for an August bass fishing trip where you can fish, not bounce around from wakes of off-shore ski boats and yachts? Where the sound of skidoos never irritate your ears? Want to fish a lake full of big bass, where five pounders are brought in regularly and ten pounders are not unusual? Then plan a trip to Lake Juliette.

Located about 15 miles east of I-75 near Forsyth, Juliette is a 3000 acre Georgia Power lake. It is on Rum Creek but that creek is so small water is pumped in from the nearby Ocmulgee River to keep the lake full. Since there is almost no run-off, the lake is extremely clear for middle Georgia.

Clear water means lots of underwater plant growth. Grass grows thick in most parts of Juliette and breaks the surface from ten feet down in many places. In early July there was a distinct grass line 21 feet deep in most of the lake, with a 2 to 3 foot line of grass growing that deep. Bass love that grass.

You are restricted to a maximum 25 horsepower motor on your boat, so you will need a smaller boat to get around. In August a depthfinder is invaluable and you need one that will clearly show the grass. You can put in your bass boat and use the trolling motor but Juliette is big enough that you can not fish much of it that way.

Two ramps give good access to Juliette. Dames Ferry near the dam has a double paved ramp, picnic area and campground. Holly Grove on the upper end of the lake does not have any camping. The upper end of the lake if full of standing timber at and just under the surface, and you must follow the channel to avoid stumps and trees. Since you are restricted in the size of your motor, choose the ramp closest to where you want to fish.

Kevin Whidby grew up fishing Lake Juliette. He lives in nearby Gray and started fishing the lake with his father and uncle as soon as it was opened. He has been fishing the monthly tournament there most months for the past 15 years, first with his father and uncle, then out of his own boat a few years ago.

Over the years Kevin has done well in the tournaments. His biggest bass ever out of Juliette is a 10 pound 11 ounce monster, and he caught a 10 pound 6 ounce hog in a tournament there. It was not big fish that day, another fisherman had one a few ounces heavier.

In the June tournament Kevin came in second place with four bass weighing 9 pounds 12 ounces and had one bass weighing right at 5 pounds. There were two other 5 pounders brought in that day by 21 teams. A few days later when he and I fished the lake for a few hours after work, he landed a 4.25 pound bass on a spinnerbait and I landed one around 3.5 pounds on a Texas rigged Mag 2 worm. Bass that size are caught on most trips.

Kevin keys on the grass in August. He looks for a shallow hump or long point near deep water where the grass on top comes to the surface. Early in the morning and on cloudy days he says the bass move up in this shallow grass to feed. He will throw a topwater plug, Trick worm and Fluke, and a spinnerbait to these shallow feeding fish.

As the sun gets up the bass back out into the deeper grass. Then is when Kevin rides with his depthfinder looking for bass holding along the grass edge. He is also looking for baitfish since the bass will not be far from them. When he finds bass holding near the bottom he will cast a Carolina rigged Finesse worm, Trick worm or lizard to them.

Since the bigger bass tend to suspend off the bottom, Kevin likes to use a light 1/4 ounce lead on his Carolina rig and a two foot leader. The lighter lead allows the bait to fall more slowly and give suspended bass a chance to hit it. It also comes through the grass better.

Since the bass tend to hold right on the edge of the grass, Kevin will start by getting his boat over the shallow part of the structure and casting out into deeper water. Bringing the bait to the grass edge works best if the bass are concentrated. If they are scattered, he tries to hold his boat right on the grass edge and make parallel casts to it, covering as much of it as possible on each cast.

When the bass are suspended off the bottom and won’t hit the falling Carolina rig, Kevin will make a long cast with a spinnerbait and allow it to fall to them before making a slow retrieve, keeping it at their level as long as possible.

Bass will position on different parts of the structure and may move every day. Some days they will be on the steep drop side, others they seem to favor the more sloping side of the structure. There is so much grass on all the bottom that they can find the edge on whatever kind of bottom they want.

The following ten spots are all good in August and Kevin fishes them. They will give you an idea of the kinds of structure you should fish at Juliette this time of year. There are lots more similar places on the lake to discover, too.

1. N 33 02.908 – W 83 46.199 – If you put in at Dames Ferry Ramp, come out of the cove to the main lake and head upstream toward the power plant. The first long point on your right runs way out and continues underwater. The upstream side drops off fast and the downstream side slopes into a flat on the cove side, offering bass different kinds of bottom contour. Both sides have lots of grass on them.

Start by keeping your boat out in deeper water and casting topwater, soft jerkbaits or a spinnerbait across the shallow grass. Work all the way around the point with these baits, covering all the grass from different angles. When your spinnerbait hits a clump of grass, jerk it free and continue the retrieve. Bass will often hit when the bait jumps forward after being pulled free.

Watch your depthfinder as you fish around this point, and then ride it after casting to it. Go over the edge of the grass looking for bass near the bottom. If you find a concentration, move up on top of the point and cast out past them to the clean bottom. Work your Carolina rig up to them and then into the edge of the grass for any holding there.

If the bass are scattered, get out and cast parallel to the drop in the grass, keeping your bait as close to the grass as possible. Also cast a spinnerbait and let it sink almost to the bottom, then slow roll it back for suspended bass.

2. N 32 02.377 – W 83 46.016 – The big cove upstream of you has a point in the middle with a visible roadbed running off it. The point is marked “Quail Head” on some maps. The road bed comes out into the cove and turns toward the downstream point you just fished. There is a shallow spot out in the middle of the cove on the roadbed, too.

Keep your boat off the road and cast to the grass on top of it. Watch for visible grass sticking out of the water, sometimes it is just visible, depending on the water level. Fish it all the way across then come back with your boat shallow, casting out to the edge of the grass and fishing it from shallow to deep.

On this spot as others you can find a 3 to 4 foot tall wall of grass down around 21 feet deep. This wall is where the bass hold. Keep your depthfinder on and learn how the grass grows to help you find the bass.

3. N 33 02.047 – N 83 46.254 – Run across to the opposite side of the lake, the left side running upstream away from the dam. You will see some big rocks on a island near the dam, Taylor’s Island on some maps, and you want to fish the second main lake point upstream of it. There is a small pole out on the point on the downstream side that will help you identify it.

Idle in toward this point slowly since it runs way out in a big flat. On the downstream side of the point there is a good drop on the channel side and a good grass line on the drop to fish. Fish it like the other spots, fishing shallow first then working out to the deeper fish.

4. N 32 02.373 – W 83 46.346 – Back across the lake just off the upstream point of Quail’s Head, a hump comes up shallow about 100 yards off the bank. The point on the bank is clay and white rock and the hump comes up to about 8 feet deep when the lake is full. Grass grows on it and bass hold there all summer long.

Watch out when looking for it, there are two big rocks on it that will eat a lower unit if the water is down any at all. You should be able to see the grass sticking out of the water on this hump and the bottom color will show if the sun is out.

5. N 33 02.675 – W 83 46.943 – Head on upstream and you will see a small island on the left with a long point running out across the channel. The island is just downstream of Persons Point and the shallow point runs way out off the bank. There is a small patch of standing timber in the cove upstream of the point and a small pole on the point to help identify it.

Kevin says he likes to start way out on the point out near the channel and work up it toward the bank. Bass will hold on both sides of this point as well as out in the deeper water on the end. Check it all out, and don’t forget to cast across the shallow grass with your spinnerbait and topwater baits.

6. N 33 03.234 – W 83 47.215 – Straight across the lake are two big bays. The one on the left headed in is Buzzards Bay and it has some white box-looking structures in it. You want to go into the cove to the right of it. There is a point running across this cove and you will be almost on top of it when the box structures disappear behind the trees on the point between the two bays.

Wind often blows into this cove and that makes it even better. Wind will make the bass move up more shallow to feed, and position them on the windy side. Stay out from the point and cast across it first, especially it the wind is blowing across the point. Then get up on the point and cast out toward the lake, into the wind, and bring your bait back to the grass edge with the wind.

7. N 33 02.695 – W 83 48.404 – Back across the lake, directly across from the power plant, a rocky point runs out and drops off, then comes back up into a rocky hump a few feet off the bank. The bare rocks are visible off the point, but there are many others underwater. This point and hump are right at the mouth of the first creek with standing timber.

The timber, rocks and two creek channels make this an excellent place to find August bass. Fish all around the point working the rocks and grass on it from all angles. Bass will hold on either side of the point so check it all out.

8. N 33 02.801 – W 83 48.542 – The upstream point on the right going up, the one on the cove for the power plant, holds a lot of bass this time of year. It is deep on both sides but comes up real shallow. The main lake point is excellent and the smaller secondary point going into the power plant cove also holds fish. There is a flat between them with grass on it.

Fish both points and the flat shallow first. Then work around the two points and the outside edge of the flat, fishing the grass line off them. This is right where the timber starts on this side so bass have a variety of places to hold, and can run in and out of the timber to feed.

9. N 33 03.066 – W 83 49.397 – Head up past the Settling Pond Dam but go slow, there is a lot of timber in this area. The point on the upstream side of the cove with the settling pond dam in it runs out to the middle of the cove and there is an old duck blind on it. This point runs way out into the timber and is very shallow.

Fish the point all the way to the end and watch toward the channel. You will see a hump coming up that breaks the surface if the water is down any. You can see the red colored bottom if the lake is up and there is a big stump on it. Work around this hump like you fished the point running out to it.

10 N 33 03.029 – W 83 49.928 – Ease out to the channel and head upstream to the roadbed crossing just upstream of a point. You can see it well defined on the right and can see where it comes out on the left bank, too. Fish the drops on both sides of the roadbed as well as the point where it comes out of the water.

Kevin told me he has caught two bass over eight pounds each off this roadbed. Fish it with a spinnerbait down deep as well as a Carolina rig. You can cast across it, working both sides, or sit on one lip and cast parallel to the drop, working one side then moving to the other.

Kevin catches a lot of bass off these ten spots, and there are many others similar to them. You can discover some by studying a good map, but to really learn the lake you have to do like Kevin, get out there in a boat with a good depthfinder and ride the lake. It will pay off in quality bass this August.

The tournament at Juliette is the last Sunday each month out of Dames Ferry. Their end of year tournament is in October and the trail starts over in November, so now it a great time to learn the lake and start fishing the tournaments in a couple of months.

Entry fee is $50 per team and that includes a $5 big fish pot. Payback is one place if five boats enter up to three places if enough boats enter, and $10 per boat is held back for the year end Classic, which is the top 15 boats from the year, by weight.

They fish from daylight to 3:00 PM and you can show up at the ramp 30 minutes before daylight to enter, or call Greg for more info at 478-471-1254.

Topwater Fishing Tips

Basic Topwater Fishing Tips
from The Fishing Wire

Editor’s Note: Late spring is prime time for topwater bass fishing across much of the nation: Here are a few quick tips from Georgia’s DNR.

Pat Cullen with a 10.2 pound Largemouth Bass.

The late Pat Cullen with a 10.2 pound Largemouth Bass. Photo credit: Bert Deener

Topwater fishing provides anglers a top-notch fishing adventure. With the lure perched on the water’s surface, anglers can watch their fish zero in on its target, lurch out of the water, and snatch the bait. Whether you’re a seasoned topwater pro or a beginner, these tips are sure to help you enjoy a heart pounding adventure and kick off this year’s pursuit of the Georgia Bass Slam. Just make sure to grab your fishing license before heading to your favorite fishing hole.

1. The early morning and late afternoon anglers get the fish.

Bass are more likely to be in the shallow areas of a pond, lake, or river during the first and last few hours of daylight. With fish already near the top of the water, fishing in the early morning or late afternoon increases the chance of getting the fish’s attention. Pro tip: This tip works on both cloudy and sunny days on the water!

2. Check the weather and water temperature before you head out.

Beginning when water temperatures hit the low 60s, topwater fishing starts heating up! Also be sure to check the weekly forecast. If a front is headed your way and the barometer is falling, fish will feed on the surface just ahead of it.

3. Match the hatch.

Make sure your bait matches the prey bass are hunting for. Walking bait and poppers tend to get more bites in early spring. As waters warm, buzz bait becomes the favorite – especially of trophy sized bass. If you’re in an area with shad, use walking bait closely resembling the injured shad that bass are feeding on.

4. Choose the best lure for water conditions.

If fishing murky water, try using a bright, noisy buzz bait to make sure fish can easily see it. With a buzz bait, do not set the hook when the fish hits. Just keep reeling until you feel the fish, then sweep a hookset. As summer approaches and the water becomes clearer, make sure you mix in some clearer colors.

5. Adjust your fishing line to the lure.

Monofilament, 10-12-pound line is great for poppers and walking baits. For buzz baits, a heavier 14-17-pound line works best, and you can even mix in some braided line if fishing heavy vegetation.

6. Have a rod with the correct action.

A 7’ to 7’3” rod is ideal. You’ll want a medium-action rod with some give at the tip to provide more action as you work the lure – especially with walkers and poppers. Many folks actually prefer fiberglass rods for topwater fishing. The lighter tip will also let the fish inhale the lure and keep you from pulling the treble hooks out of the fish’s mouth as it is fighting. For buzz baits, a medium-heavy rod with a flexible tip will allow you to get a big fish out of cover.

Tallapoosa River Float Trip for Redeye Bass

Tallapoosa River Float Trip for Redeye Bass

By David Rainer
Alabama DCNR
from The Fishing Wire

The cast was about 2 inches too long, and the topwater fly plopped down gently on a chunk of flat rock underneath the blooming mountain laurels on the Tallapoosa River north of Lake Martin.

One slight twitch of the fly rod tip and the Ol’ Mr. Wiggly fly slid into the current. The fly didn’t have time to float downstream. It was immediately inhaled by one of the Alabama-specific species, the redeye bass.

I lifted the fly rod to set the hook, and the fish went airborne.

Guides Drew Morgan and Craig Godwin immediately pumped up the volume when they saw the fish.

“That’s a big one,” they both shouted. “Try to keep him out of the current. Keep the rod at about a 45-degree angle.”

After several runs near the three-man inflatable raft, Morgan finally stabbed the net in front of the fish to end its freedom – only momentarily, of course.

The tape measure hit 12 inches, and I was immediately eligible to be entered into the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division angler recognition program as a master angler. It also happened to be the first redeye bass of my long fishing career.

Horseshoe Bend was our origination point, and the river had settled down from recent rains to levels that would make the trip a breeze with no portage involved.

It didn’t take long for these aggressive, beautifully colored bass to make it a float trip that will never be forgotten. Although trips with Morgan, or any of his guides at East Alabama Fly Fishing, often result in hooking a variety of species of fish, including Alabama bass, striped bass, hybrid stripers, carp and numerous sunfish like bluegills and redbreasts, this outing produced a redeye bonanza.

Morgan, a history teacher at Auburn Junior High School, got into the guide business after gaining the necessary tool.

“I fished this river a lot with canoes and kayaks,” Morgan said. “I really enjoyed catching bass on a fly rod, but that’s hard to do out of a kayak or canoe. A guy I knew had this drift boat. He told me, ‘Take this out and start fishing with it.’”

The owner knew Morgan would fall in love with the diversity and comfort the drift boat afforded, and it wasn’t long before ownership of the vessel changed hands.

“I had to have the boat,” Morgan said. “I took the bait – hook, line and sinker. At the same time, I was thinking about starting a guide service. This stretch of river is big enough for guiding. I’m not moving people off their honey holes. It’s beautiful. The fish are predictable, and you can pattern them. I just needed the boat. Once I got the boat that was stable and was comfortable for clients, we opened the guide service.”

The drift boat gives Morgan and his passengers access to the whole river at decent water levels. It can float in 2 inches of water and slides over the slick rocks that crisscross the river in numerous places.

“We can go where other boats can’t,” he said. “And it’s stable so you can make casts to the best spots.”

Five years later, the business has grown to include three other guides – Godwin, John Agricola and Justin Wilson. Agricola and Wilson guide on the nearby Coosa River.

“Justin is really knowledgeable on spotted (Alabama bass), hybrid and striper fishing on a fly,” Morgan said. “And he has a power boat, so he can run all over the lakes. He fishes the tailwaters a lot on the Coosa.

“John has a flats boat, and his specialty is catching carp on a fly in the backwaters of the Coosa. That’s a really cool experience. You’re sight-fishing for carp. You try to drop that fly right in front of them. It’s kind of like fly fishing for tailing redfish or bonefish.”

Morgan limits his guide time to three days a week when school is out to spend time with his young family. During the school year, he’s limited to Saturdays.

“It was kind of a way to make a little extra income during the summer,” he said. “But I limit it to three trips a week. I want to continue to enjoy coming out here.

“Craig and I have been fishing together for a while, and he can guide during the week because he owns his own photography business.”

Our trip covered the middle section of the Tallapoosa from Horseshoe Bend National Military Park to Jaybird Creek boat launch at the north end of Lake Martin.

“That stretch is 6 miles and it’s mostly shoals the whole way,” Morgan said. “I find fish in this river like being in the shoals. The area we floated was Irwin Shoals. It’s very scenic. Even if it’s a tough bite, you get to float down the river and get to see things you normally don’t get to see.”

Morgan said the stretches of the smaller rivers are often overlooked by most recreational users.

“You don’t really feel like you’re in Alabama sometimes, but it is Alabama,” he said. “The lakes are really popular, for good reason. But people don’t realize there are beautiful rivers and streams you can float-fish too.”

Morgan mentioned scenic rivers in the Upper Piedmont area of Alabama that run from Fort Payne to the coastal plain, including Little River, Cahaba, upper Tallapoosa and upper Coosa.

“East and northeast Alabama have a lot of great places to fish, especially the redeye bass,” he said. “Redeye bass are endemic to Alabama, which means they don’t live anywhere else. These fish like current in cool Piedmont streams with a lot of flow. They like clean water. This river is so clean, and it has so much oxygen in the water that these fish live in the shoals on this big river.

“Redeye bass are our own version of trout fishing, but I think it’s cooler than that because the redeyes are native. They are colorful, very aggressive and eager to eat. I think this is something really special for Alabama to have in our waters.”

What fisheries biologists have recently discovered is that each river system may have variations in the black bass population that make them distinct to the rivers they inhabit.

“Presently the redeye bass of the Tallapoosa River are now called Tallapoosa Bass (Micropterus tallapoosae),” said Nick Nichols, Fisheries Chief with the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division. “We are conducting a research project in conjunction with researchers from Auburn University to better determine the status and genetic characteristics of these riverine black bass species in Alabama.”

When Morgan is targeting the Alabama (spotted) bass, he looks for water where the current slows from the upper reaches of the Tallapoosa.

“They can put a big bend on a five-weight rod,” he said. “A 2-pound spot that has lived in this moving water is a good fish on a fly rod. If you mix in bluegills and redbreasted sunfish, they’re a whole lot of fun to catch. It’s a fun day of fishing, especially during the summer when we’re catching everything on top. I don’t guarantee fish, but the fish in the summer are pretty eager to eat.

“What I do like about river fishing is I think it’s easier to find fish. You’re looking for ambush points and hiding places.”

Morgan and his guides will accommodate anglers of all skill levels.

“I have clients that are all over the board,” he said. “I think more people are getting into fly fishing. I hear this story all the time, ‘Yeah, granddaddy fly-fished all the time, but we started fishing the lakes and didn’t fly-fish as much. Now I want to get back into it again.’

“Then we have clients from all over the South who want to come catch a redeye. The word is getting out about this species. Fly anglers, especially, like to notch different species on their belt. And, I’ve got people who see this boat and want to fish in it to let the guide do the work so they can concentrate on fishing. You can’t do that in a kayak or canoe. There’s something for everybody in the Tallapoosa.”

Morgan also has other motivation to put a fishing rod of some kind in people’s hands.

“Mainly, I want to get people into the sport,” he said. “If they want to come with me, that’s fine. But I just want people to get on the water, buy a fishing license to support the state and appreciate what we have.”