Category Archives: Bass Fishing

Bass Fishing Information

New Fisheries Management Plan for Greers Ferry

New Fisheries Management Plan for Greers Ferry Includes Angler Input
By Randy Zellers
Assistant Chief of Communications
from the Fishing Wire

HEBER SPRINGS — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has completed its new fishery management plan for Greers Ferry Lake thanks in part to the input of anglers through recent public meetings and surveys. The plan addresses steps the AGFC will take to improve the fishing experience for all anglers on this popular body of water during the next five years.

According to Matt Schroeder, regional fisheries biologist at the AGFC’s Mayflower Regional Office, there are many aspects of a fishery beyond the control and capability of the AGFC to manipulate. There are, however, some factors the AGFC can address to try to improve the fishery for anglers.

“The lake is owned and operated by the (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers and its primary purpose is flood control, mandated by The Flood Control Act of 1938,” Schroeder said. “We have talked with them many times about changes to water management for fishery health, but they have to follow the plans handed to them for flood control as their primary purpose. That being said, they work within their mandate as much as they can to help recreation, and Greers is in the top 10 reservoirs in the country for recreational boating.”

Helping Habitat
Because of its primary purpose in flood control, the lake’s water level cannot be manipulated to promote the fishery by flooding shoreline cover during the spawn and lowering it after young-of-the-year fish have grown larger to establish next year’s shoreline vegetation. But that doesn’t mean biologists cannot do anything to improve the lake’s fish habitat.

“Since water level manipulation and seasonal flooding is out of our control, we can work to add as much habitat as we can in the aging reservoir to benefit both fish and anglers,” Schroeder said. “We already have conducted large-scale habitat projects on the lake to give different species year-round options for cover and likely areas for anglers to locate predatory fish such as largemouth bass and crappie. Our new plan will continue with these large-scale habitat projects.”

The new fishery plan also will continue to focus on establishing native aquatic vegetation on Greers Ferry where possible. Aquatic vegetation in a reservoir can add an exceptional amount of spawning and nursery habitat for fish, but it is extremely difficult to establish in reservoirs with highly fluctuating water levels. Efforts to establish aquatic plants in Greers Ferry, Bull Shoals, Greeson, and elsewhere have been largely unsuccessful so far because of massive annual water level changes, but biologists have not given up and are always looking for a better way. AGFC biologists meet regularly with biologists from surrounding states to discuss strategies that have worked elsewhere, but there are few examples of success in highland lakes.

“We will continue to identify suitable native plant species that will benefit the fishery without overtaking it,” Schroeder said. “Once those have been selected, we will conduct plantings of one or more of these species at different locations and depths and evaluate its effect on the fishery before adapting planting strategies for future establishment.”

Fish Food
A tried-and-true program initiated by AGFC biologists at Greers Ferry in the last few years is boosting the forage population of the lake through stockings of threadfin shad. The shad are stocked directly from hatchery trucks and from the lake’s nursery pond located at Mill Creek. Forage species stocked in Greers Ferry before this period consisted primarily of bluegill, which also serve as sport fish. In 2015, fisheries biologists evaluated the forage base and discovered that the lake’s threadfin shad population was depleted. Extremely harsh winters and an abundance of predatory fish likely had taken their toll.

Biologists immediately made plans to stock a crop of bluegill through the nursery and began researching the possibility of stocking threadfin shad the following year. In 2016, 36,500 adult-size and 563,856 fingerling-size threadfin shad were stocked into Greers Ferry. This was followed by an additional 10,000 adults and 1 million fingerlings stocked in 2017 to boost the population. Pre-spawn adult shad were stocked in the nursery pond and allowed to spawn. The shad were even more prolific than expected, and fingerling production was excellent.

“The new plan lays out the need for more focus on forage, calling for more threadfin shad stockings each spring and fall in all parts of the lake,” Schroeder said. “When shad are not available, we will shift to other forage species, such as fathead minnows and bluegill. We also have plans to try some new crayfish stockings once we do enough research to see if we can culture species native to Greers Ferry.”

Schroeder says many anglers present at the focus groups asked for increased stockings of sport fish, such as largemouth and smallmouth bass in addition to the forage, but the lake’s current situation is a lack of food, not predators.

“We would just be adding more mouths to feed into a fishery that already is pretty infertile,” Schroeder said. “And although Florida bass fingerlings have been stocked in the lake in the past, the lake has shown very poor characteristics for those genetics to thrive.”

Halting Hybrids
One management practice that has seen controversy over the last decade is the stocking of hybrid striped bass at Greers Ferry. A manmade cross between the native white bass and the non-native striped bass, the hybrid is a much-sought gamefish in some states and has seen popularity with Arkansas anglers at times. However, during recent creel surveys conducted at the lake, only 4 percent of anglers on Greers were targeting white bass or hybrids. Additionally, a follow-up mail-in survey of willing Greers Ferry creel survey participants conducted by AGFC biologists found that anglers opposed their stocking overall.

Ben Batten, chief of the AGFC’s Fisheries Division, says recent research also suggests hybrids at Greers Ferry could have adverse effects on forage at the rate they currently occur. Of particular interest is the hybrid’s ability to switch forage on Greers Ferry in the absence of open water shad populations.

“When shad populations decline, striped bass will suffer because they don’t readily adapt to different forage and habitat. This helps keep striped bass in check if the shad get scarce,” Batten said. “But recent studies have indicated hybrids may take after their white bass parents and switch to crayfish and other forage that bass, walleye and other gamefish use.”

The last time hybrid striped bass were stocked at Greers Ferry was in 2014. With the lack of angler interest and the concerns over the lake’s forage base, no more hybrids will be stocked for the foreseeable future.

One Foot Across the Black Bass Board
Bass anglers also will note the possibility of a regulation change regarding minimum length limits on largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass derived from the meetings.

“In 2020, we will propose a straight 12-inch minimum length limit for all three black bass species in Greers Ferry that will be effective in 2021 if it passes Commission approval,” Schroeder said. “There’s currently a 15-inch minimum length limit on largemouth, but recent research has shown no biological need for it to be so high.”

Schroeder explains that minimum length limits are placed on lakes when there is an issue with poor or inconsistent recruitment or when the species sees high mortality rates from harvest. It also requires a good growth rate for fish to move up into harvestable size quickly enough that they don’t overpopulate.

“Recent research suggests that it takes four-and-a-half years for a largemouth to grow beyond the 15-inch minimum length limit, and that the annual rate of mortality from natural and catch-and-release angling combined only reaches 30 percent of the population in a given year,” Schroeder said. “And our game fish species are currently at or above the carrying capacity that the lake can support, so we need to increase harvest of some fish to enable faster growth rates.”

Schroeder says adding the minimum length limit on spotted bass was part of the AGFC’s current goal of keeping regulations simple. A standard 12-inch length limit will be easier for anglers to remember and won’t penalize any tournament anglers looking to bring fish to the weigh-in.

“No matter which species, if it’s a black bass it will have to be 12 inches long to keep if the regulation passes next year,” Schroeder said. “Anglers won’t have to worry about trying to identify a spotted bass from a largemouth.”

Helping Hands
The good turnout at both Greers Ferry public meetings as well as at the recent town hall meeting with Commissioners gives biologists and administrators hope a new resource can be used more effectively in the future — the anglers themselves. Many focus group attendees said they would be willing to volunteer their time to participate in future habitat projects and other initiatives to help the lake’s fishery. Schroeder says habitat projects are an ideal way anglers can contribute to be a part of the solution, and the amount of habitat that can be added can be greatly enhanced.

“Moving forward, we will try to reach out through media outlets and create a volunteer distribution list for help,” Schroeder said. “We’re anglers too, that’s why we wanted to be fisheries biologists in the first place. I think there are a lot of areas where we can all work together to help the Greers Ferry fishery.”

The complete Greers Ferry Fishery Management Plan and management plans for other lakes in the state are available at www.agfc.com/fishmanagement.

Lake Oconee March Club Tournament

Sunday, March 24, 11 members of the Spalding County Sportman Club fished our March tournament at Lake Oconee. After casting eight hours, from 7:30 AM until 3:30 PM, we brought 27 keeper bass to the scales weighing about 48 pounds. There was one five-fish limit and everyone caught at least one keeper.

I managed to scratch out a win with four weighing 7.54 pounds, Raymond English with the only limit was second with 7.34 pounds and Wayne Teal placed third with four at 7.19 pounds. Niles Murray, Raymond’s partner, came in fourth with two keepers for 5.71 pounds and had big fish with a nice 3.47 pounder.

It was a tough day. I had mixed hopes since the BFL there the day before had been won with five bass weighing 21 pounds 11 ounces so I knew the big fish would bite – for some. But it took only 10 pounds 11 ounces to get a check in 24th place. That is a low weight for a check for those guys, so I knew it would be tough for fishermen like me.

I started casting a spinnerbait and crankbait to a rocky point at the mouth of a big cove. Prespawn bass should be feeding on places like that. With the full moon last week, I thought they should be on that pattern, but the 57-degree water temperature discouraged me.

The area I fished was much clearer than I expected. I could not get a bite on moving baits, even though I tried off and on all day. But about 300 yards down the bank, in a small dip, I got my first keeper on a shaky head worm at 8:00.

After trying a variety of things, I went to a brush pile on a big, shallow point I found last year. After a few minutes I caught my second keeper at 10:00 on a Texas rig. Although I fished the brush and others around it for an hour, I didn’t get another bite.

Since the sun was high and the water should be warming, I went to some smaller spawning coves. I caught several 13-inch bass but no keepers. Going between two pockets I cast a shaky head in front of the boat, just to keep my worm wet. That cast resulted in my third keeper at 11:00.

After trying some more things, I went back to the brush. It is about 100 yards off the point and a danger marker is about 50 yards off the bank. I would position my boat about 100 feet from the marker to cast toward it, the brush was about half way to it.

Although I caught my biggest keeper that at 1:00, I could not fish it. Several skidoos and big boats illegally ran between me and the marker, right over the brush and well within the 100-foot law. Either the drivers were too stupid to know the law, were inconsiderate slobs, or both.

I went to a big, calm cove and fished shallow, hoping to find one more keeper. I caught several more short bass but never got my limit.

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March Lake Eufaula Tournament

In the March Potato Creek bassmasters tournament at Eufaula, 23 fishermen cast for 16.5 hours to land 107 bass weighing about 211 pounds. Most of us caught fish but not as many as hoped. The cold, muddy water made fishing tough.

Tom Tanner won with nine bass weighing 22.60 pounds and had big fish with a 4.53 pound largemouth. Trent Grainger was second with nine at 22.23 pounds,
Lee Hancock was third with ten weighing 19.15 pounds and Mitchell Cardell placed fourth with nine at 18.36 pounds.

I knew I was in trouble when a couple of local fishermen told me most tournaments were being won on deeper ledges fishing big crankbaits. I am worse at that method than any other. And they were catching them near the dam, a 30-mile run by water from Lakepoint. With the wind and cold I knew that was not something I would do.

On Thursday I caught a couple of fish on spinnerbaits while checking out some creeks closer to our launch. Friday, I went out for just a couple of hours, mainly marking a GPS trail to follow to where I wanted to fish during the tournament.

We started well before daylight, trying to beat all the other tournaments. Lakepoint has two launch areas, one with six ramps and a parking lot that can handle about 150 vehicles with trailers, but there was a big high school tournament using it. We put in at the smaller launch, with a ramp barely wide enough for two trailers at a time and parking for about 50 rigs.

It was crowded, too. When we came in there were 35 boats sitting out from the ramp waiting to take out. There was a big tournament using it, too.

I did not want to run far in the dark so I started on the riprap and landed a small keeper spot at 7:50. After trying a bunch of other things I went to a creek and, as I idled across a point going into a cove, I saw fish on it, but could not get them to bite.

I did catch a three-pound largemouth in the cove on a spinnerbait, but that was it for me for the day, two fish.

Sunday, I went to that creek and caught three keeper largemouth on a jig and pig before 10:00, then tried the point. The fish hit, I landed four keepers on my first four casts and for almost an hour caught fish every time I got to the GPS waypoint and made the right cast from it. I landed 14 bass in that hour, so I had a limit. I really needed three of them the day before!

Springtime Largemouth

Jackpot Bassin’ for Springtime Largemouth
By Dr. Peter Brookes
from The Fishing Wire

March best month to catch bass

Photo: Shutterstock, via Virginia DGIF

Pssssst! Here’s a dirty little secret for you: If you want to catch your biggest largemouth bass of the year, this month—March—may be your best bet to net “basszilla.”

That may sound a bit odd, but, according to John Odenkirk, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) biologist, a lot of very big largemouth bass are caught this time of year as Mother Nature moves us from winter to spring.

As water temperatures increase, largemouth bass will shake off the cold and become increasingly active. In the pre-spawn, they’ll fatten up; while spawning, largemouth bass will become more aggressive, protecting against threats to their eggs.

As Virginians, we’re really blessed with some incredible largemouth bass fisheries right here in the state. Indeed, anglers are known to travel big distances from across our great land to throw a lure at an Old Dominion “lunker.”

If you didn’t already know from the number of largemouth bass fishing tournaments that take place there, Lake Anna is considered one of the top “bucketmouth” fisheries in Virginia.

One of the largest reservoirs in the state, Lake Anna is easily reachable from Northern Virginia, Fredericksburg, Richmond and Charlottesville. You just can’t argue with that sort of accessibility—or fishing.

And then, of course, there’s the powerful and plentiful Potomac River. It turns out that our beloved Potomac and its tidal creeks aren’t only an incredible fish factory, but one of the—if not the—top largemouth bass fisheries in the United States.

Nice.

The other awesome thing about these two water systems is that, as Odenkirk wisely pointed out to me, if the Potomac River is looking unfishable, Lake Anna may well be totally fishable or at least fishable in spots.

That means if we have a really rainy year like last year—which, I understand, was one for the record books—when the Potomac River is high and off-color, it’s likely, that as a reservoir, most parts of Lake Anna could be eagerly awaiting your fly, lure or bait.

The mid-lake region along Rose Valley, Ware Creek and the State Park along the outside edge of water willow beds can produce outstanding spring angling, Odenkirk told me.

In other words, while we all need to heed Mother Nature (e.g., thunderstorms, high water, etc.), there may be no good excuse for leaving your bass tackle box and rods at the back of the gear closet if the weather has been on the wet side.

Photo: Shutterstock, via Virginia DGIF

Of course, these fish are available in Virginia beyond the Potomac River and Lake Anna.

DGIF notes that Gaston, Buggs Island, Chickahominy, Chesdin, Smith Mountain, Prince, Briery Creek, Western Branch and Flannagan Lakes are all top-notch largemouth fisheries. For rivers, hit the Chickahominy (below Walkers Dam) and James (below the fall line).

According to DGIF, plastic worms and other plastic imitations, crankbaits, spinner baits, surface lures, jigs and other artificials, imitating minnows, crayfish, frogs, salamanders and nightcrawlers are good bets for the spin rodder.

Live bait options recommended by DGIF include jumbo shiners, small bluegills, minnows, crayfish, nightcrawlers and frogs. For the fly guys and gals, streamers and large poppers on the end of an 8-pound to 10-pound leader can be productive.

Nothing quite like the thrill of seeing a largemouth slam an artificial on the surface.

In terms of where to find largemouths this time of year, target horizontal and vertical structure (e.g., down wood and docks) and southern exposed flats near drop-offs late in the afternoon to bag these early season bass.

With an average weight of 2 – 4 pounds—with monsters tipping the scales at up to 10 pounds—there’s no question that the hard-fighting Micropterus salmoides is arguably America’s most popular freshwater game fish.

And, even better, this month would be an opportune time to bring a Virginia “bassquatch” to hand.

Dr. Peter Brookes is a DC foreign policy geek by day and a Virginia outdoor scribbler by night. [email protected]

Suddeth Crankbaits

Suddeth Crankbaits In Cold Water
with Joey Baskins

Some of the great colors from Suddeth Crankbaits


I wrote this for Georgia Outdoor News in February, 2012. Joey kept his promise of quality control for his crankbaits and you can count of them!

Bass fishermen dream of caching fish, but many also have the fantasy of working in the fishing industry, spending all their time fishing and thinking about it. Few make that dream come true but Joey Baskins did, developing and making lures for bass fishing.

Joey worked in a plant but loved fishing. He fished bass tournaments and made contact with many sporting goods stores, and saw a need for good, reliable baits that caught bass.
He developed Blademaster Lures then acquired Suddeth Crankbaits, and now spends his time coming up with new lures and colors and testing them out. He has been fishing for over 30 years and is fishing the some of the BFLs and Fishers of Men tournament trails.

The Blademaster side of the company produces spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, all kinds of jigs and jigs with belly blades. Suddeth Crankbaits were developed in South Carolina back in the early 1980s and Joey bought the company from the brothers that started it about ten years ago.

A few years ago there were problems with Suddeth Crankbaits. Joey had some health problems, took about a year and a half off from working with the crankbaits, and the crankbaits produced during that time often did not run right. Those problems have been corrected now. Each and every crankbait he produces is now hand tuned in a tank at the plant before they go out the door.

Joey has also invested many thousands of dollars in new molds to insure each bait is exactly right. The new molds mean better quality and uniformity of the baits. A thicker, sturdier wire is used in them to keep them from becoming “untuned” when they bounce off cover, too.

“I try to make the baits fishermen want, and will make any color bait a customer wants to order,” Joey said. All of the baits produced by Suddeth and Blademaster are hand made and painted. He has also teamed up with John Kissel of Kissel Krafts Custom Rods to develop the perfect crankbait rod, called the Little Early Rod.

Crankbaits in the Suddeth series include the well known Little Earl and Boss Hog. The Fat Earl is made to bounce off cover better and the new Pot Bellied Hog is coming out soon. It is a square billed bait that runs shallow and has a profile that should drive bass wild. He is also coming out with the Big Boss Hog, a bigger version of the Little Boss Hog.

All Suddeth crankbaits currently come with sharp hooks but the hook design Joey likes best is being discontinued so he is looking at different companies for future hooks. No matter which company he goes with he will make sure the hooks are sharp right out of the box and hold bass that hit.

Suddeth baits currently come in 67 different colors and color combinations. One of the best for February fishing in stained water is the 049 color. This bait has a brown back and chartreuse sides and produced most of the bass we caught a couple of weeks ago.

The most popular color of Suddeth Crankbaits is the GGG “dollar bill” color, or green/gold/glitter bait. The 026 color is very good in clear to stained water and looks like a baitfish. Both the 049 and 026 are good colors to have with you on any lake you fish this time of year.

Joey took me fishing in mid-January with one of his pro staff, Ken Cothran, who fishes the Bulldog BFL, Stren series and FLW Tour and FLW Series tournaments, the last two on the co-angler side. He also fishes many local team, pot and charity tournaments. They showed me where and how to fish crankbaits in February on Jackson Lake, a small lake in middle Georgia known for good crankbait fishing in the winter.

“Where you fish a crankbait in February is important,” Joey said. Points are always a key, with main lake points with deep water nearby usually producing the best bites this time of year. Rocks and hard clay are needed to draw bass to the point to feed, and some brush or stumps definitely help.
Main lake points are usually best in early February but as the days warm later in the month the bass will move back into the creeks and coves. Start out on the main lake but don’t hesitate to work back into the creeks, hitting points in them near deep water.

Sunny days draw bass up on the points in more shallow water and a little wind helps make them bite better. Some current running across the cover on the point definitely makes the bass more active. Bass will move in on these points and feed, so Joey and Ken keep moving, looking for active fish. If they catch one they will stick around for a while but will definitely come back since fish move in and out where they are feeding.

Crank the bait down with seven or eight turns of the reel handle then slow down the retrieve, working the bait very slowly across the point and through the cover. Suddeth baits are tuned to have good action at a very slow speed, which makes them ideal in cold water.

Ken says water colder than 40 degrees makes the bite extremely tough but water 45 to 50 degrees, which is more typical in February, means decent fishing. A few warm days in a row, making the water temperature increase, turns the fish on and we often have series of warm days this month like that. When the water temperature goes over 50 degrees the bite gets much better.

Keep your boat in fairly close to the point and work around it casting at an angle, fishing from the bank out. Angle casts like that keep your bait in the feeding zone and does not waste time. Bass usually feed from very shallow out to about ten feet deep on these points and that is the depth you want to cover.

We have all had it happen. The guy with us, using the same bait, line and even rod and reel, will catch more bass than us. The way you work the crankbait can make a huge difference. Joey and Ken both say try different things until the fish tell you want they want.

Try a steady, very slow retrieve first. Always try to bump the bottom with your crankbait. Most crankbait strikes are reaction strikes and bumping cover will make them hit. When you are reeling slowly the bait will turn on its side then move off, much like an injured baitfish, just what the bass want.

Also try a stop and go retrieve. Crank your bait down to the bottom then work it with your rod tip and reel, making it pause and then move forward. Again, it looks like and easy meal when moving erratically like this.

Suddeth makes both floating and sinking models of their crankbaits. With the floating models when you pause the bait will sit in one place, and then slowly rise. Try pausing floating baits for varying amounts of time, going from a pause where the bait just hesitates in one place, to one where the bait floats up several inches to a foot.

The slow rise of a bait will sometimes make a reluctant bass hit it. If you don’t get the reaction strike this pause and rise can make the difference. When a bass is not feeding actively they still can’t turn down such an easy meal.

With the sinking baits, do the same thing. The very slow fall of the Little Earl sinking model makes it look easy to eat, and the baits will settle to the bottom upright, looking like a baitfish that is trying to hide from the bass by not moving.

Wood cover definitely holds bass this time of year on the points and the square bill Pot Bellied Hog is made to bounce off shallow wood. It will run about three feet deep and is perfect for those sunny warm days at the end of a warming trend when the bass hold very shallow to take advantage of the warmer surface water.

Run it over any wood you see or know is there and the bait bill will hit it and make it deflect off it without getting hung like a round bill will do. Try the stop and go and the steady retrieve even when fishing this shallow, offering the bass different views of the bait.

Try to hit the wood. This seems like a bad idea when throwing a crankbait but the deflection off wood is often what is needed to get a bite. You may get hung up some, but you will get hung up on a bass more often if you bump your crankbait through the wood cover. The floating models of both baits work much better than the sinking models around wood cover.

With deeper wood try the Fat Earl. The shape of the lure will help it stay off the wood when you hit it, doing the same kind of action as the square bill in more shallow water. Bump the wood and pause it, or bump the wood and keep it moving, for different actions. But try both and let the bass tell you which they like best.

The line, rod and reel can make a big difference in crankbait fishing. A rod designed for crankbait fishing like the Kissle Little Earl rod has a parabolic action that makes for better casting and helps keep bass from pulling off when hooked. Reels are a personal choice but should have a good drag system and allow you to reel the lure at different speeds.

Joey and Ken like monofilament line like Trilene Big Game in ten pound test. Monofilament line has some stretch and is less likely to allow the bass to pull off the hook. Ten pound line is heavy enough to get bass away from cover but thin enough to let the bait work at the depth it is designed to run.

Most of the Suddeth crankbaits come with a rattle but some don’t, and Joey says he thinks bass in cold water often want a silent bait. If you are throwing a rattling model and not getting bites, try the ones without a rattle. This often happens in water that is clear. A rattle almost always helps in muddy water.

Crankbaits are great baits to fish right now, no matter where you fish. Give Suddeth baits a try and see if they produce for you like they do for Joey and his pro staff. You will be happy with the new, improved versions of the older models and the new baits coming out right now will offer you the ability to fish even more ways.

Joey’s website at https://www.joeybaskins.com/blademaster-lures shows all his lures and great colors. And you can check out more information on their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Blademasterlures

Many sporting goods stores carry Blademaster Lures and Suddeth baits and you can order directly from the site, as well as contact Joey about any custom colors you want him to paint a bait for you on the site.

Sinclair Bass in March

Sunday, March 10 only five members showed up for the Flint River Bass Club March tournament at Sinclair. Maybe the weather scared most off. After eight hours of casting we brought in 38 keeper largemouth weighing about 38 pounds. There were three limits and no one zeroed.

Niles Murray won again with a limit weighing 11.16 pounds and Chuck Croft placed second with four at 8.50 pounds, including a 4.25 pound largemouth for big fish. I placed third with five at 7.22 pounds, Doug Acree had five at 5.82 pounds for fourth and Brent Drake was fifth with four at 5.35 pounds.

The cloudy weather and fairly warm water temperatures had me excited. I just knew quality bass would be shallow and hit crankbaits and spinnerbaits. The day before Niles had placed fourth in an ABA tournament there with just over ten pounds but it took about 14 to win, so I thought bigger fish would hit.

Oddly enough, for the second tournament in a row, two of us headed to the same place to start.
Brent said he caught one there, but nothing hit for me.

At 10:30 after three hours of casting, I had not had a bite. I tried a bunch of different things, fishing deep and shallow and everything in between, with no luck. I finally caught a 2.23 pound largemouth on a crankbait on a deep rocky point, but others similar to it produced no bites.

At 1:15 I was even more disgusted Then I cast a shaky head worm to some deep brush and caught my second keeper, and the next cast to it produced a short fish. But repeated cast to it didn’t work.

The sun came out about 2:00 so I started skipping a shaky head under docks into the shade. I quickly hooked and lost a keeper, but then landed four more keepers on docks by 3:00. I was happy to finally catch some bass!

November Tournament Memories

Last fall 13 members of the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished our November tournament at West Point. We landed 47 keeper bass weighing about 71 pounds. There were at least four limits.

I won with five keepers weighing 9.75 pounds, Mike Cox was second with five at 7.66 pounds. Raymond English placed third with five weighing 7.55 pounds and Frank Anderson had five at 7.19 for fourth. Kwong Yu’s 2.94 pounder was big fish.

In comparison, Highland Marina held its Georgia State Championship that weekend. That tournament in invitation only that includes the top fishermen from clubs and other tournaments in Georgia. Entry fee is $300 per team and some of the best fishermen in the state, many of them West Point guides and experts, fish it. They are attracted to fish it due to the guaranteed first place prize of $12,000!

Guide Ken Bearden fished it and after Saturday, the same day we fished, was in fourth place out of 114 teams. He had 17 pounds! The two-day tournament was won with over 30 pounds. That just shows what really good local fishermen can catch on West Point!

I started slowly, not getting a bite the first hour we fished. I had heard some quality largemouth were feeding way back in the creeks and that is usually a good pattern this time of year. Shad move back in the creeks as the water cools and bass follow them.

At blast-off I ran to the back of my favorite creek. There are several brush and rock piles in it that I thought would have some feeding fish on them. Unfortunately, there is a boat ramp in it and when I arrived there were two jon boats, a kayak and a Bass Hunter boat fishing the key places.

That must have been a good pattern, since within five minutes of me getting there three boats from the big tournament came in the back of that creek, too. All day I saw fishermen in that tournament run into backs of creeks. But I never got a bite back in where I started.

After an hour I went out to a main lake rocky point and caught a keeper spot on a jig and pig, then a largemouth off a blowdown on it. So I started fishing those kinds of places. At 10:00, two hours later, I had my five-fish limit but all but the largemouth were just 13 inch spots.

I started fishing a little deeper on those kinds of places and caught my biggest fish, a 2.5-pound spot, at 11:00 and a keeper largemouth a few minutes later. With only 30 minutes left to fish I went to another deep rock pile and landed two good keeper largemouth and lost one. So I managed to cull all but one of the first five I landed and had four largemouth and one decent spot for the win.

From now to Christmas is one of my favorite times to fish. After Christmas the water gets cold enough fishing gets tough until late February, then it gets real good again. Enjoy the cool weather and good fishing while you can!

February West Point Tournament

Last Sunday eleven members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our February tournament at West Point. After eight hours of casting, from 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM, we brought 45 keeper bass weighing about 84 pounds to the scales. There were seven limits and everyone caught at least one keeper.

Wayne Teal found the right five and won with five weighing 12.12 pounds and his 7.15 pound largemouth was big fish. My fived weighing 11.63 pounds was second, Niles Murray placed third with five at 9.65 pounds and Robert Proctor came in fourth with five weighing 8.91 pounds.

With seven boats in the tournament, who would have ever thought two of us would head to exactly the same place on that big lake. Jay had told me he and Wayne had fished there on Thursday and caught a lot of bass. I wanted to start on the point where I had landed 14 keepers the weekend before.

When we took off I took my time, letting everyone else get out of the way and not running fast. I saw Jay was ahead of me but did not worry, until he turned into the mouth of Whitewater Creek. Sure enough, he stopped on the point I wanted to fish, so I turned and went back to another point nearby.

The wind was dead calm at first but as I fished the point and around a cove, a breeze started blowing, a good thing. When I got to the secondary point back in the cove where I caught my biggest fish the weekend before, the breeze was just right, and I got my first bite, a keeper spot, then caught another one.

After a few more casts I looked and could see the point Jay had stopped on, but he was gone. I ran back to it and quickly caught two keeper spots, giving me four at 8:30. At weigh-in Jay told me the only thing he caught there was a carp and a catfish. The wind had made the bass start biting, but he left too soon.

I fished there for another hour and finally caught my fifth keeper at 9:30. The sun had come out and moved the bass off it, I guess. I knew the sun was warming the water so I decided to try fishing very shallow to catch a bigger fish.

At 11:00 I was back in a pocket with very muddy water. I almost decided to leave it was so muddy, but as my trolling motor got stuck in the mud, I cast a spinnerbait to a stump in about a foot of water and got a thump.

It turned out to be a 5.35 pound largemouth, second biggest fish of the day. It was a miracle I landed it, it got wrapped up in my trolling motor. But somehow, I got it unwrapped. My line was badly frayed for about two feet, but it did not break.

That fish convinced me to fish a spinnerbait very shallow the rest of the day, and I landed two more largemouth and a spot, culling three of the four spots I caught early. But it was not quite enough.

Lake Mitchell In January

Two years ago I went to Mitchell Lake and fished with Auburn Bass Team member Cameron Mercer for my January Alabama Outdoor News Map of the Month article. Mitchell is a small Coosa River lake just northeast of
Montgomery and is between its more famous sister lakes, Jordan and Lay.

The lake is basically a river with its dam on the headwaters of Jordan and ends at the Lay dam. There are several big creeks feeding it and its shoreline is lined with rocks, docks, grassbeds and wood cover. Big Coosa River spots live in it as do big largemouth and it is a fun lake to fish.

Auburn has 42 members on its team and is one of the best teams in the nation, producing several pros, including a Bassmasters Classic winner, over the past few years. Cameron has finished high enough within the team to make the top 12 travel team.

We had a good day, catching a few spots although the big ones we hoped for did not hit. The skills and knowledge of college fishermen constantly amaze me.
I have been bass fishing all my life and competing in clubs for 43 years, but many of them are much better fishermen than I am.

Mitchell is about three hours from Griffin, but it would be a good weekend trip. There are several motels about ten miles from the lake on I-65 and plenty of places to eat in the area.

February Tournament At West Point

Last Saturday,24 members of the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished our February tournament at West Point. After eight hours of casting, we brought 68 keeper bass weighing about 104 pounds to the scales. There were nine five-fish limits and six members did not land a keeper.

Buddy Laster won with five weighing 11.54 pounds and his 4.01 pound largemouth was big fish. Michael
Cox was second with five at 8.51 pounds, Doug Acree placed third with five at 8.27 pounds and Dan Dupree came in fourth with five at 8.10 pounds.

I had fun catching them most bass I have caught in months although the day did not start that way. We put in at Pyne Park where tournaments are held every weekend. Since released fish restock that area constantly, I started fishing near the ramp.

A short spot hit my crankbait soon after starting and I got two more bites on it I missed, so I felt I was using the right bait. But then I got a bite on a shaky head worm and my line broke near may reel when I set the hook.

That I a stupid mistake. Using a baitcast reel, if you get a loop in your line and don’t get it out, the next cast will cause the line to burn against the reel and weaken it. I am sure that is what happened. I lost so much line I had to sit down and respool that reel, filling it with 14-pound test line.

Soon after that I caught a keeper spot on the crankbait but at 11:00, after fishing several places near the ramp, I had not caught another fish. I decided to go to another creek where I had found a small drop with rocks on it that usually hold fish.

As I entered the creek, I saw a boat fishing near it so changed to my next stop, a rocky point in another creek. But there was a boat fishing there, too. I am glad that happened. I went to my third choice, another rocky point in another creek.

On a rock ridge that runs off it I quickly started catching bass. They were all small and mostly just keeper spots, not weighing much but fun to catch. I stayed on it for over two hours and landed 14 bass, including a keeper largemouth and several short fish. But I had my limit.

I probably stayed on it too long having fun, but I did catch two decent size fish and kept hoping bigger ones would move up as the sun warmed the water. And I was having fun. The most frustrating thing was I broke my line setting the hook three times. I tried to check it after every cast since I knew the head bumping the rocks would fray it, but I was not careful enough.

The worst was when I pitched the shaky head to a stump barely visible under the water. A fish picked it up without a hard thump and started swimming toward the boat, often a sign of a bigger bass. I didn’t have much line out and when I set the hook the fish did not move, but then my line popped. I will never know how big it was.

With a little over an hour left I decided to try something else and with just 15 minutes left I caught my biggest fish of the day, a largemouth weighing just over two pounds. It hit on a small rocky point back in a cove. I ended up with 7.76 pounds, fifth place but not quite enough.