Category Archives: Bass Fishing

Bass Fishing Information

What Are the Best Three Great Lakes Area Smallmouth Bass Fishing?

Where to catch bragging size smallmouth

3 Best Great Lakes Areas For Fall Smallmouth Bass

By Abe Smith
from The Fishing Wire

If you’re seeking a smallmouth worth photographing, now is the time to head to the Great Lakes.

Great Lakes smallmouth bass provide some of the hottest bass action of the year during the fall. As their name implies, the challenge on these waters derives from their magnitude. Fish have plenty of room to roam from Duluth to the St. Lawrence River, and “roaming” is part of a smallmouth’s daily life. Here are three great Great Lakes fishing spots and how to catch them.

Lake Erie and Niagara River (Buffalo, Niagara, and Lewiston, N.Y.)

“In fall, it’s all about bait,” says Frank Campbell, a guide with Niagara Region Charter Service.

Campbell is considered by many to be the “dean” of an illustrious school of smallmouth guides on the Eastern Basin of Lake Erie and the Niagara River near Buffalo, New York. He says that smallmouth are looking for the quickest way to bulk up for winter and follow baitfish migrations and eat everything they find, from gobies to crayfish to sculpin to emerald shiners…anything that brings protein to their diet.

“If you’re marking baitfish, you’re in the right areas because the fish will find them,” he said.

The fall transition begins as water temperatures tumble into the low 60s. Campbell relies on his electronics to identify “balls of bait coming together…and lots of lasagne-type marks.” The baitfish concentrations position more and more near bottom as fall progresses.

Smallmouth can be active and aggressive while they are bulking up for winter, and Campbell matches their mood with active presentations, often employing a jigging spoon — the Cotton Cordell C.C. Spoon — and the Heddon Sonar, a “tried and true” vibrating blade bait.

Big smallmouth can be caught

Whopper smallmouth like this one are not hard to find in the cold, clear waters of the big lakes–but it takes a bit of know-how to get on the right spots.

“You can also work a YUM 2ube or a dropshot with a variety of soft plastics,” Campbell said. “But it’s easier to ‘spoon’ or ‘blade’ them when they’re active and suspended a little off the bottom. You can zoom it through their zone on the upswing and drop it back through again for the reaction bite. The fish can get very competitive. They figure they need to get to the bait first or another bass will.”

Lake St. Clair (Michigan/Ontario)

It’s a shallower bite for smallmouth in early to mid-fall on Lake St. Clair, home waters of Gerry Gostenik at Great Lakes Bass Fishing Guide Service. Smallmouth migrate toward the Canadian shore of St. Clair throughout the summer and concentrate near patches of vegetation on the flats.

Lipless crankbaits can be critical search tools.

“The XCalibur Xr50 Rattle Bait is one of my best search baits, and it is great when you find them, too,” says Gostenik who favors the Citrus Shad and Ghost colors in the Xr line. “On St. Clair — and the Great Lakes in general during fall — you can work a lot of water before you find a pack of them but then get into a bunch in a hurry. On St. Clair and Erie, smallmouth eat a lot of shad at this time of year, and the size of the Xr 50 is almost the perfect match.”

The XCalibur Xr series comes in three sizes and in low resonance One Knocker (Xrk) options. Their weight and density enable long casts, which can be important on the often ultra-clear and expansive waters of the Great Lakes.

Two nice smallmouth

A double-header of high-quality brown bass–expert guides say find the bait and you’ll find the bass.

Gostenik starts with a steady retrieve, but often alters retrieve speed and cadence if a simple moderate retrieve fails to produce.

“Let the fish tell you what they want,” he advises. “When you get a bite, pay attention to what you were doing.”

And don’t overlook swimbaits, a more-subtle search bait option in the fall.

“A Yum Money Minnow with a belly-weighted hook can be good, too, when fish are schooling in fall and feeding on shad,” Gostenik said. “I’m fishing it shallow in situations where the fish are schooling and birds are diving…smallmouth will kill that bait! Fall is one of the best times of year to be out here.”

Lake Michigan/Green Bay (Door County, Wisconsin)

Early fall finds smallmouth in transition in the picturesque waters of Lake Michigan and Green Bay in northern Door County, Wisconsin.

Guide Jimmy Doering of Cast n’ Catch Charters guides anglers to bass near his Washington Island home and the waters of the upper peninsula, including Sister Bay, Ellison Bay and Rowleys Bay.

His early season strategy is to straddle classic late summer and fall smallmouth locations.

“In late September I like to start in 3 to 5 feet of water and slowly move out,” he said. “Later in October and November, you can head straight to the bluffs. But you can still whack schools of 3-pounders in 4- to 8-feet of water in fall, especially if it is sunny and warm.”

The Sonar is a good bait

Deep running lures like the Sonar are among the favorites for connecting with fall smallmouth.

Doering’s bread-and-butter baits in early fall are the Yum 2ube and slightly larger (4.25-inch) Yum Vibra-King Tube fished on 1/8- to ¼-ounce jigheads. Jighead size will vary with depth and wind velocity. He backs up that presentation with a wacky-rigged Yum Dinger.

“I usually fish the Dinger weightless in summer and the early transition period, but I weight them to fish 15 or 20 feet of water and they still wiggle and shimmy,” he says. “I often recommend one guy throwing a tube and the other a wacky Dinger to see which one is producing more fish that day.”

Fish school by size and age in fall, and an angler who finds schools of 3- or 4-pounders will do well to stay with these “wolf packs” whether he finds them shallow or deep.

By late fall, bass settle into their classic cold water locations along the bluffs. These post card emblems of the Door County region are sheer rock walls that drop quickly to depths of 15-, 30- and even 40-plus feet. They can be late fall bass magnets, and they often yield the biggest fish of the season.

“Up here we find certain key bluffs that the fish seem to live on,” says Doering. “We still see them spitting up gobies and crayfish, but a lot of bass are feeding on baitfish high in the water column. We catch them on and Smithwick Rogue jerkbaits only about 4-feet down along 30-foot-deep bluffs.

“But, baitfish are the key. Fish are like us. Their mindset is food…now!”

Contacts:

Frank Campbell, www.niagaracharter.com; 716-523-0013

Gerry Gostenik, www.greatlakesbassfishing.com; 313-319-0100

Jimmy Doering, www.castncatchcharters@gmail.com; 920-535-3474

How Can I Catch Fall Georgia Largemouth?

October tactics for catching Georgia fall largemouths

October is an outstanding month to fish for bass in Georgia. The air has a crisp coolness not felt since early last spring, the leaves are turning beautiful colors, the water is nice and clear and it is a joy to be outdoors. But best of all Georgia largemouth are on a feeding rampage and you can catch them in lots of different ways.

Cooling water in Georgia lakes in October makes bass become more active for several reasons. It stimulates both male and female bass to feed up and store fat reserves for the coming cold months. Female bass have the added need to feed because of developing eggs that must be mature as soon as the water warms next spring. And the food bass eat is more active in cooler water.

As the water cools on big lakes the shad begin to migrate into the creeks and more shallow arms of the lake, drawing bass with them. Bream become more active, feeding up for winter and the bass take advantage of this activity. And one of their most favorite foods, crayfish, are at the peak of their numbers and are also feeding and getting ready for winter.

Any bait you like to throw will catch bass in the fall. Since bass are so active, a fast moving bait that covers a lot of water will help you find them and catch them. Once you locate schools of bass you can change baits and keep catching them in different ways. And the bass will fight hard in the cooler water no matter what they hit.

Crankbaits are an excellent bait in October. Since the shad and other baitfish are active you can fish them fast and use them as a search bait. A variety of colors work well in different situations this time of year.

Shad colored crankbaits are excellent around open water structure like points, humps and drops. Crawfish colors are good on clay banks and around rocks. And bream colored crankbaits work well around brush, blowdowns and weeds where bream hide.

Spinnerbaits are a good choice to cover water and catch quality fish, and bass hooked on spinnerbaits tend to stay buttoned up better then they do on crankbaits. Use white spinnerbaits with silver blades in clear water or white and chartreuse skirted baits with gold and silver combinations blades if the water has some stain to it.

Fish spinnerbaits around shallow cover like blowdowns, brush and grass in the water, but don’t hesitate to throw them on rocky or clay banks, too. Start by running them just under the surface for the most active bass but also slow roll them down deeper if the bass are not coming to the top to hit.

Topwater baits are the most fun baits to fish and bass eat them readily this time of year. Buzzbaits are great and bass will often explode on one run across shallow cover. White buzzbaits with silver blades in 3/8ths to 1/2 ounce sizes are excellent since bass are feeding on bigger baitfish and like a big meal.

Poppers can be fished slowly and will draw bass from many feet away, and bass will often come completely out of the water when they hit them. But be ready for a gentle bite when the bait just disappears without a ripple. That might be the biggest bass of the day. Try silver bottom baits and remember that bass see the bait from the bottom when choosing one.

Fish all topwater over any cover you can find, but don’t hesitate to throw them over open water, too. Bass will often come up from several feet down to hit topwater on points and off drops. Bass often suspend this time of year in open water and will come up for a topwater bait, so throw them anywhere you see baitfish activity in open water, too.

If you want to concentrate on big bass, a jig and pig is hard to beat. Bass love crayfish and this bait imitates that slow moving feast. Brown colors in clear water and black with blue or chartreuse in stained water are the usual choices, and they should be fished slowly around all kinds of cover.

Crayfish like to burrow into clay banks to survive the winter, so concentrate on those areas with a jig and pig. They also like rocks, so riprap and rocky banks are another good place to fish them. Crawl your jig and pig along the bottom then make it hop, imitating a crayfish feeding along then jumping away when frightened.

Structure and cover to concentrate on this time of year includes rocky and clay points, rock and clay banks, wood cover like brushpiles, stumps and blowdowns and any kind of grass from hydrilla to water willow. Fish them all until you find what the bass are holding on that day and you can usually duplicate it on other areas of the lake.

The following lakes all offer great bass fishing in October. Pick one near you and give it a try.

High Falls

Located just off I-75 between Macon and Atlanta north of Forsyth, High Falls is a 660 acre lake in a state park. There are two boat ramps, one at the dam and another in Buck Creek, but motors are limited to 10 horsepower or less. You can put in a bass boat with a bigger motor as long as you don’t crank it, using only your trolling motor.

State creel limits of 10 bass per day a minimum of 12 inches long apply at High Falls. You are not allowed to fish at night, you can fish from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.

High Falls is known locally for its big bass, and it has a good population of bass in different year classes. Drop by Berry’s Sporting Goods in Griffin on your way to the lake and admire the 11 pound, 4 ounce bass hanging on the wall for an example of why it has that reputation. Jim caught it at High Falls a few years ago and you can probably pick up some current tips for bass fishing there.

Since High Falls is one of the oldest lakes in Georgia, most of the channels have been silted in over the years. It is ringed by docks and many of them have brush piles. Backs of creeks like Buck Creek, Watkins Bottom and Brushy Creek are filled with stumps, many with bushes growing on them. There are also numerous blowdowns along the bank.

You can fish points at the mouths of the major creeks and wood cover on most areas of the lake. Rocks are hard to find but there are a few, especially in the river above the area where Buck Creek enters. Plan on fishing slowly and working all cover carefully since the motor limit will probably keep you from running all over the lake, anyway.

Juliette

Juliette is about 15 miles east of I-75 and Forsyth, Georgia. This Georgia Power lake was built for cooling the steam plant there and its 3600 acres are surrounded by a wildlife management area, so the only development is the power plant and two parks with boat ramps.

Motors are limited to 25 horsepower and you can use a bass boat with a bigger motor if you don’t crank it, but you will be very limited on a lake this size. You can keep 10 bass a day at Juliette and there is no minimum size. There are no restrictions on times you can fish Juliette and a campground allows you to stay and fish at night if you like.

Juliette produces excellent numbers of big bass but can be difficult to fish. A monthly tournament there usually has several six pound plus bass weighed in, and it often takes five weighing over 15 pounds to win. The lake is not very fertile and that is why there are no size limits on bass.

The water at Juliette is extremely clear and water weeds grow from the shallows to 20 feet deep or more in some areas of the lake. Water for Juliette is pumped in from the Ocmulgee River and there is very little inflow from runoff, hence the clear water and low fertility. Standing trees were left all over the lake when it was filled. The lower lake is covered with trees under the water and the upper lake is almost solid trees above the water.

The grass and trees are the key to Juliette. Locate some of the numerous humps and channels with trees or grass on them and you can catch bass on crankbaits. Use big baits and make long casts in the clear water. Spinnerbaits also work well when fished over the tops of the grass from shallow to deep. Topwater baits are also excellent over and around the grass.

Tobesofkee

Tobesofkee is one of our most urban lakes. Located just west of Macon, it’s 1750 acres of water get very crowded on nice days. There are two parks with ramps run by Bibb County and it is expensive to launch in them, with a cost of about $9 per trip. There are no motor restrictions and you will encounter many ski boats and skidoos.

State creel limits of 10 bass at least 12 inches long apply at Tobesofkee. Night fishing is often good since most of the pleasure boats are off the water after dark. The many lighted boat docks offer bass attractions after dark as well as during the day.

There are good numbers of keeper bass in Tobesofkee and four pound bass are fairly common. A night tournament during the summer, switching to a morning weekend tournament after the weather cools, often produces five bass weighing 15 to 20 pounds for the winner.

In addition to the docks, the lower lake has several bridges with riprap to fish. Long points have rocks on some and brush on others. The upper lake is less developed and you can fish points and drops on it, as well as a few docks and some grassbeds.

Goat Rock

Goat Rock is a river with dams at both ends. Located just north of Columbus, this old lake on the Chattahoochee River has 940 acres of water to fish. There is one small ramp near the dam on the Georgia side of the lake and another public ramp on the upper end on the Alabama side but access is not good. You can launch a bass boat there and there are no motor restrictions.

State creel limits and length limits of 10 bass a minimum of 12 inches long each day apply, and you can use either a Georgia or Alabama fishing license. You can fish at night but this lake can be dangerous with unmarked shallows, so be very careful. Since it is not developed, there will be no lights on docks to help you see.

The population of largemouth is good at Goat Rock and some big fish are caught there each year. You can fish the rocky shoreline of the old river channel and the humps and stump fields in it. There are a good many blowdowns along the steep banks to fish. A couple of small creeks enter and the mouths of them can be good in the fall.

Current plays a big part in the activity of bass at Goat Rock. Bartlett’s Ferry dam is located on the upstream end of the lake, and any time power is being generated there is a good current all through the lake. This makes the largemouth move to cover that breaks the current and they feed there, so use a crankbait or spinnerbait moving with the current past ambush points to catch them.

Banks Lake

Banks Lake is part of a National Wildlife Refuge located just west of Lakeland, about 20 miles north of Valdosta. This lake is actually a Carolina Bay, a natural depression found in south Georgia, with a dam to make it bigger and deeper. There are about 1000 acres of open water to fish but it is surrounded by 1500 acres of marsh and another 1500 acres of cypress swamp.

State creel and size limits apply and there is a free public boat ramp. Although no motor restrictions apply on Banks Lake, its average depth of 5 feet and numerous stumps and logs means you must be very careful in a big boat. The Refuge folks recommend idle speed only.

During the summer Banks Lake is hard to fish because of all the weeds in the water, but by October they are starting to die back and you can find open water to fish. The whole lake looks “fishy” and its waters are full of big largemouth. This is a good place to catch a personal record largemouth.

Fish spinnerbaits over the grass and drop a jig and pig into holes in it. You can find some deeper holes in the open water, up to 15 feet deep, and the bass often hold in the grass around them. Also try pitching a jig and pig to the base of cypress trees. A good tactic is to let it hit the tree trunk and drop straight down into the root ball. You will need heavy tackle for fishing Banks Lake.

Ponds on Fort Stewart

Fort Stewart Army Base near Richmond Hill just west of I-95 has about 20 ponds on it that are open to public fishing. They total about 500 acres although not all are open all the time. You can use a boat in all of them but not all ponds have boat ramps.

The creel and length limits vary for different ponds and can change. Generally there is a 15 inch limit on largemouth but some ponds, like #26, Big Metz, is managed for trophy largemouth and has a 24 inch minimum length. A bass that size will weigh between 8 and 10 pounds! You must check in and get a daily permit to fish, so check current regulations when you go.

Fort Stewart is known for its big largemouth. Since 1992, six of the top 30 largemouth taken in Georgia came from Fort Stewart. All ponds have them and your chance of catching a wall hanger are good. Some ponds are managed for trophy largemouth so concentrate on them if that is your goal.

The ponds at Fort Stewart vary a lot but all of them are full of grass. Fish spinnerbaits and topwater plugs over and around this grass. Pitch a jig and pig into holes in the grass, especially near the deeper water in the pond, for big bass. Use heavy tackle, when a lunker goes into the grass you need heavy rods and strong line to get them out.

All of these waters offer great October fishing in Georgia. All you have to do is decide where to head this month to take advantage of the good fishing.

What Are Some Georgia Rivers I Can Fish For Bass?

Georgia’s Best Bass Rivers

When Georgia bass anglers get together and talk fishing, it is almost always about lakes and reservoirs. That is a little strange since the world record largemouth bass came from an oxbow on a Georgia river. Georgia has many rivers that are full of bass.

If you have a big bass boat you can use it to fish most of the bigger rivers, but others are more suitable for jon
boats and canoes. No matter what your choice, new ramps on many of our rivers have opened them up to the fisherman. You can put in at one ramp and fish downstream to the next one or fish out of a specific ramp like you do on a lake.

No matter what river you chose to fish, bass are somewhat different critters in flowing water. Each river has specifics that work best on them so it is a good idea to get some tips in advance. Your lake and pond fishing methods will catch some bass, but it is best to adapt to what the fish want. The following three rivers will give you a variety of places to try, and the tips will work on them and on other rivers you fish.

Savannah River

The upper Savannah has been dammed and is flat water from the Clark’s Hill dam to its upper end in Lake Hartwell where the Seneca and Tugalo join to form it. There is also an old lock and dam in Augusta but downstream of it the river is free flowing. You can fish it for largemouth bass from Augusta all the way to the coast where it becomes brackish.

There are several good ramps along the river you can use. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources maintains five ramps on the river and there are also several commercial ramps. There are a few ramps on the South Carolina side maintained by that state as well as private ramps.

The DNR ramps are Tuckassee King in Effingham County, Yuchi WMA in Burke County, Tuckahoe WMA in Screven County, Burton’s Ferry in Screven County and Poor Robins Landing in Screven County. All these are good paved ramps and there is no fee to launch at them.

You can fish all the river and most of the oxbow lakes with a Georgia license, but some oxbows are totally in South Carolina and you need a license from that state to fish them. Get a USGS topo map to identify them. This map will also help you find some good spots to fish.

The release of water at Clark’s Hill affects the river for many miles below Augusta. When the river is running high from the release of water bass can get back in the woods and are almost impossible to get to. You can check the USGS river gauge at Clyo and Georgia DNR folks say the fishing is best when the gauge is at 5 to 6 feet.

Down the river near the coast the water will not change as much from the release of water, since the river is much bigger. On the far end of the river near the coast tides affect it, and you can time your bass fishing based on the rise and fall of water from it.

Bass fishing has been excellent during the past two years due to high river levels that gave bass access to a lot of new ground and food after our drought. Catch rates were up 14 percent in 2003 and the bass were larger.

The Georgia Bass Chapter Federation Tournament Results compiled by Dr. Carl Quertermus at the University of West Georgia can give you a good idea about the bass fishing on a body of water. Each bass club in Georgia sends in their creel census after a tournament and the results are studied and listed.

In 2003, the last year results are available right now, there were 28 club tournaments on the Savannah River that included 2623 hours of fishing by anglers in the clubs. An average of .195 bass per hour were weighed in, meaning it took just over 5 hours of fishing to land a legal bass. That compares to .214 bass per hour on all Georgia waters, so the Savannah River is about as good as any lake.

The bass weighed an average of 1.48 pounds and it took an average weight of 6.33 pounds to win a tournament. In club tournaments, 12 percent of fishermen weighed in a five fish limit and 35.5 percent did not catch a keeper. So fishing can be tough, but in all Georgia waters only 13.8 percent of club fishermen had a limit and 26.9 percent zeroed. Fishing the Savannah River compares favorably with most lakes.

Robert Ellis fishes with the Four River Bassmasters bass club in Vidalia and they fish the Savannah River in club tournaments. Robert made the state team last year by finishing 11th at Lake Eufaula in the Top Six and then was top man on the state team in the Southern Regional in Kentucky, which means he was the only Georgia club fishermen to qualify for the Nationals this year.

The Savannah River is a beautiful place to fish and Robert likes it from its upper reaches all the way to tidewater. He says the best fishing for him is upstream and the tide makes the fishing tough on the lower river, but his club catches bass all along it.

In the spring, bass move out of the main river into the old sloughs and oxbow lakes to spawn. This happens as soon as the water starts to warm, which usually coincides with the rising spring waters. This time of year Robert especially likes the oxbows above the Highway 301 bridge.

Go into these oxbows and you will find the outside bend a little deeper with the inside bend more shallow. Willow trees line the shallow bank and the deeper banks often have stumps and blowdowns on them to fish. You can often follow these oxbows and small creeks for a long way off the river.

Robert likes to start out with a buzzbait looking for active bass in these areas if the water is above 55 degrees. A Trick Worm in white or sweet potato colors fished under the willows or around the wood cover is his next choice, then a Suddeth Little Earl fished in the same places. Follow these up with a Texas rigged worm in black/red flake and you should find what the bass want.

The bass will stay in these areas until the water gets hot, then most will move back to the main river channel. Some bass can be found in the oxbows all year long, especially the deeper ones, but for more bass move out to the current during the summer.

If the river is muddy Robert will throw a chartreuse spinnerbait with big blades or a chartreuse crankbait around anything in the river that breaks the current. If it is stained to clear he will use the same baits as he used in the oxbows. The mouths of creeks and ditches are good as are trees and stumps in the water. Pilings should be fished just like stumps.

Also watch for riprap banks. Some stretches of the river have long sections of rocks placed there to stop erosion. Fish these rocks year round with crankbaits and spinnerbaits.

To fish the current, Robert heads his boat upstream and lets it drift slowly back down the river, keeping it in position and moving slowly with the current with his trolling motor. He likes to cast upstream and let his baits move back downstream naturally with the current. A strong trolling motor is needed for this kind of fishing.

Don’t hesitate to throw a buzzbait all day long on the shady side of the river. In one tournament Bob and his partner landed a 8.77 pound largemouth at 2:30 PM on a buzzbait by fishing the shade.

Ogeechee River

The Ogeechee River starts near I-20 about 40 miles east of Lake Oconee and flows south east to hit tidewater near I-95 south of Savannah. It is free flowing over almost all its length, with one small grist mill dam near its upper end. The rest of the river responds to natural rainfall, not release of water from dams.

There are shoals on the upper river making boat fishing difficult. Where highway 16 crosses the river at Jewell you can see some of the shoals and it looks more like a trout stream. Just south of there the river is suitable for fishing with a jon boat or canoe for several miles but is full of blowdown trees the often block the river completely.

When the river gets to Louisville it broadens to 35 to 50 feet wide and you can use bigger boats, but small bass boats and jon boats are still better then bigger boats. Below Millen the river widens and has big swamps and oxbow lakes on it.

There are four DNR ramps on the Ogeechee River and are kept in good condition and are free. The Morgan’s Bridge ramp is in Bryan County. The Highway 1 ramp is in Jefferson County as is the Highway 88 and the Highway 78 ramp.

The smaller river is not known for its bass fishing and there were no tournaments reported on it. Less then three percent of the creel of anglers fishing the river are largemouth, according to the DNR. But the largemouth population is good and the fish are healthy, they just don’t receive much pressure. The DNR reported over 23 largemouth per hour of electrofishing while doing their annual survey, an unusually high number.

Since there are no dams upstream to affect river flow, rains can change it fairly fast. When the river is high the bass move out into newly flooded ground to feed. Find a ditch or oxbow and go out in it, following the bass to the very shallow newly flooded water. Trick worms, spinnerbaits and topwater baits are all good.

When the water is lower and the river within its banks, fish anything in the current that provides and eddy for bass to wait in for food. The swirl of water behind a stump or the trunk of a blowdown is an excellent place to find a bass waiting on a meal.

Run a topwater plug or buzzbait over these eddies when the water is warm. Also let a Texas rigged worm float with the current into such hiding places. Use a light lead that will give you some control of the worm but that will not take it straight to the bottom.

Altamaha River

The Altamaha is one of our biggest rivers although it is fairly short. Formed by the joining of the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers just north of highway 221 north of Hazlehurst, it flows to the tidewater near Darien. Bass fishing is good along its whole length.

There are ten DNR ramps on the Altamaha and all are free. Most are kept in good condition. They are Williamsburg Landing in Wayne County, Morris Landing in Appling County, Carter Bight in Appling County, Town Bluff in Jeff Davis County, McNatt Falls in Toombs County, U.S. Highway 1 Ramp in Toombs County, Upper Wayne County Ramp in Wayne County, Pig Farm Landing in Wayne County and Highway 135 Landing in Montegomery County.

DNR sampling shows the largemouth population in the Altamaha has increased during the past couple of years, but the most noticeable change was the condition of the bass. They had fattened up a lot after the drought ended. High spring waters the past couple of years has made a lot more food available to them.

There are a lot of 12 to 14 inch bass in the river according to the DNR. Tournament results reflect this. There were 27 reported tournament there in 2003 that had a total of 2722 fisherman hours. The catch rate was .245 bass per hour, about one keeper every four hours, and the average weight was 1.57 pounds.

It took 7.01 pounds to win an average tournament and 23.8 percent of anglers had a five fish limit, a very high percentage. Even with that,, 36 percent of club fishermen did not weigh in a keeper bass, so it is tough if you don’t know the river.

Ray Odum, Jr. fishes with the Satilla Bass Anglers out of Douglas and that club fishes the Altamaha River a lot. He also fishes several buddy and pot trails on the river and it is one of his favorite places to fish. He does well in tournaments there in his club and in other tournaments.

The river level impacts the fishing a lot here, too. Ray likes to get back in the oxbows during the spring and also during high water levels. He will try to find the ditch or channel in the oxbow or creek entering the river and follow it. He says bass will move out into the very shallow flooded areas to feed but will hold on the lip of the ditch.

Fish a spinnerbait out on the flat shallow water and let if fall as it gets to the lip of the ditch. Also pitch a Texas rigged craw to the base of trees, especially those close to the channel. Ray likes a black craw with green flake. Fish all the cover carefully.

Out on the main river Ray likes to fish upstream against the current. He has a powerful trolling motor on his boat and he fishes upstream, allowing him more time to cast. Make cast upstream and work your bait back with the current, offering the bass a natural look.

A good spot to try when the river is at normal stage is the back sides of sandbars. Ray says there are usually steps of ledges on the back sides of them, and he will position his boat so he can cast up to the shallow water on top of the sandbar and work it back. A deep diving crankbait is his first choice followed by a Texas rigged worm.

On the lower end of the river where the tide affects it, Ray likes to follow the dropping water upstream. He will stop at each ditch where water is flowing out of the swamps and marshes and fish the downstream side of this current. He says he may make only 8 to 10 casts on a spot before heading upstream to the next one, keeping up with the dropping tide as it moves upstream.

These three rivers are similar in a lot of ways but each has its own characteristics. Plan a trip to one of them, or all three this year for some good bass fishing.

A river guide that contains a map, access sites and fishing tips is available for the Altamaha and Ogeechee Rivers from the Georgia DNR. You can call the Wildlife Resources Division, Fisheries Management Office at 770-918-6400 or contact your local fisheries management office.

Fishing Neely Henry, Allatoona and Lanier

Three lakes I fished in two weeks a couple of years ago gave me three very different experiences, all of them good. Neely Henry in Alabama is a river lake with a good population of spotted bass and largemouth. Lanier has become well known as a trophy spotted bass lake. And Allatoona proved its nickname “the Dead Sea” is not true.

I fished Neely Henry a little over a week ago for an Alabama Outdoor News article. We fished the mid lake area near Gadsden and it is much like fishing a river with some backwaters off it. The water was stained and flowing a little but it was just natural current. When power is being generated at the dam it flows very strongly and makes the bass bite even better.

In about five hours of fishing we caught about 20 bass. Most hit a jig head worm or a Texas rigged tube fished slowly on the bottom in just a couple of feet of water. I was lucky enough to land the two biggest bass, a three pound spot and a 3.5 pound largemouth. Both fought hard.

It would take about three hours to get to Neely Henry pulling a boat but would be worth the time. The Alabama DNR says it is a “sleeper” lake because of its good population of good size bass but not much fishing pressure. And the places to catch them right now are easy to find. Any cut going off the river will have bass feeding on the points of it.

I fished Allatoona for a GON article and landed a keeper spot and largemouth, but the fisherman showing me the lake landed about eight spots and his best five weighed about ten pounds. His biggest was a pretty two pound, ten ounce torpedo shaped fish that had very pretty colors.

Allatoona is a very pretty lake just outside Atlanta. I-75 crosses it and it gets real crowded during warm weather, but there were few people on it last Tuesday when we were there. And with the water down six feet the rocky points and banks where the bass were feeding were easy to find.

I caught my two bass on a small jig and pig and my partner caught his on crankbaits and a jig and pig. We fished from daylight until about 2:00 PM and quit because of the biggest problem fishermen from this area have. To get to Allatoona you have to go right through downtown Atlanta and traffic is awful if you are there from about 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM. I hate pulling a boat in that traffic and it is bad even on weekends.

Last Sunday the Flint River Bass Club fished Lanier for our November tournament. We had only seven fishermen and we landed 19 bass weighing about 42 pounds. There were two five-fish limits and one fisherman didn’t have a keeper. Four of the spots weighed over three pounds each and were very fat and pretty.

John Smith had four spots weighing 11.37 pounds and won, and his 3.42 pound spot tied for big fish. Kwong Yu was second with a limit weighing 10.01 pounds and he had the other big fish spot at 3.42. Guest Chuck Croft came in third with five at 9.04 pounds and my three fish weighing 7.12 pounds was good for fourth. I had the only largemouth weighed in.

Lanier has been my down-fall the past few years and I have had a tough time catching a keeper there. Last Sunday I knew I would win the point standings for the year if I caught just one keeper since several people were not there. But I was not sure I could catch even one keeper bass.

I started out in the fog throwing a spinner bait on a rocky point near where we started and got a hit and missed the fish. I figured that might be the only strike I would get all day with the way my Lanier luck has been running. For the next hour I didn’t get a bite.

At about 8:00 I went to a hump with some brush on it and landed a 13.5 inch spot from 20 feet of water on a jig and pig. Unfortunately, the size limit on Lanier is 14 inches so I let it go. I started to leave but decided to fish some docks nearby.

Nothing hit around the dock but there was a tree lying in the water between it and the next dock. I made about six casts to the tree and started to move on but on the last cast my line started moving out of the tree when my jig and pig got out near the end. I set the hook and landed a 3.01 pound spot. When I put it in the live well I relaxed – I had the one bass I needed.

After fishing a line of docks and some points , fishing slowly and not really trying too hard, I ran out and fished some points and other brush piles. I got several bites but did not hook a fish.

At 1:30 I was back at the tree where I caught the fish that morning at 8:15 and hooked and landed a 1.5 pound largemouth from another tree right beside the big one. I fished several more places but at 2:30 had not had another bite. We were quitting at 3:00 PM so I decided to hit the tree one more time.

At 2:45 I decided I would make one more cast and leave. As I worked the jig and pig through the tree I got a hit and landed another spot weighing just under three pounds. I put it in the live well and ran to weigh-in, making it with five minutes to spare!

Is There Any Such Thing As A Lucky Hook?

Scott used his lucky hook to catch this bass

Scott Martin’s Lucky Bass Hook
By Ron Presley
from The Fishing Wire

Bass pro Scott Martin, like a lot of top anglers, has a “thing” about his hooks–when money is on the line, he sticks with his favorites.

Stories of superstition and luck are not uncommon in the lore of the fishing community. One such story involves a lucky hook. Scott Martin is a bass fishing pro. He also hosts his own TV show, The Scott Martin Challenge. His tournament travels take him all over the place in search of big bags of bass. On one particular tournament trail he was heading toward Washington, D.C. to fish the 2012 FLW event on the Potomac River.

Like many conscientious tournament anglers he spent the evening before leaving for the Potomac in preparation. “As I was packing, getting ready to go to the tournament, getting my tackle in order, getting all my lures in order, getting all my hooks in order, I realized I was basically out of a particular size hook.” The missing hook was a Trokar TK130 4/0. A little bit of panic came over Scott as he realized he didn’t have a single one of his favorite worm hooks.

Scott immediately called Trokar with an urgent request. “Hey guys, overnight me some TK130’s immediately, I am leaving for the Potomac tomorrow and I am completely out.” The guys at Trokar responded, “no problem,” and Scott thought the dilemma was solved.

Morning came and in anticipation of the tournament he ended up taking off from his home in Clewiston, FL a little early. By the time the package of hooks showed up at Scott’s home he was on the highway travelling through north Florida. Decision making is a prominent part of tournament angling and in this case Scott had to make a decision to have his wife overnight the package again, at a personal cost of nearly $100, or pick up some hooks on the way. “The fact that I even considered overnight delivery tells you just how bad I wanted those hooks,” says Scott.

The Trokar TK130 in size 4/0 is Martin’s favorite for soft plastics in many situations.

With that decision made in favor of picking up some hooks on the way, Scott’s thoughts turned to prefishing. “Knowing that I had practice to complete I decided to stop at Bass Pro Shops. They carry Trokar and I planned to buy a couple packages to get me through the week.” Passing a few BPS along the way he waited until Washington D.C., where he walks into Bass Pro Shops the day before practice begins, looking for his hooks.

“I go to the Trokar Hook section,” says Scott, “and they have one pack of 4/0 hooks left.” There are five hooks in a pack, so Scott figures every thing is OK, at least for the next day of practice. “I was happy to find the one pack of TK130’s and I felt ready for practice the next day.”

Scott launched on the Potomac the next morning and wasted no time catching some nice fish. “I was flippin’ a worm rigged on a TK130 and the bass were tearing it up.” Scott likes the TK130 because it is a straight shank hook with a bait keeper on it. The offset hooks will sometimes grab pieces of slime or pieces of grass which fouls the presentation. The straight shank TK130 eliminates that. “It is a very weedless way of fishing a worm and contributed to my success on the Potomac.”

It is on the river that the suspense thickens. If there are two anglers in a boat and one is catching fish and the other isn’t, the one that’s not wants what the other one has, right? “So here we are,” says Scott, “catching some nice fish. My fishing buddy wanted a hook or two so I gave him a couple of hooks.” Scout thinks nothing about it, since he still has some spare hooks.

What he hadn’t planned on was what happened when he met up with his dad. When he did, he mentioned that he was catching a few fish on his worm rig and you guessed it, dad wanted a couple hooks too. Of course Scott obliged. “The next thing you know I am down to one hook. I’ve given all my hooks away except for the original one I tied on that morning. My idea was that I would run back to Bass Pro and hope they have some more in stock. I thought I would be OK.”

The first day of practice ends, but he doesn’t go to Bass Pro Shops to replenish his supply of hooks. The second day of practice ends and he still hasn’t been to Bass Pro. The third day of practice ends without Scott returning to Bass Pro Shops. “I kept checking that point on the only TK130 I had, and it felt super sharp, just like it did when I pulled it out of the package.”

Martin nearly ran short of hook-power in an FLW event on the Potomac River in 2012–and it could have cost him big money.

Day one of the tournament starts and Scott has one hook. It is the same “special” hook, on the same exact rod, that he fished all three days of practice with.

Scott goes out the first day of the Potomac River event and catches the biggest bag of the tournament at 22 pounds. He was leading by several pounds over his nearest competitor. “Now, I am getting a little panic stricken over this hook situation. I check the point again, realizing that Bass Pro Shops is an hour drive away; I am tired, the hook feels just like it did when I put it on. At this point it has become my lucky hook.”

So here he is, worried but tired. He caught a big giant bag of fish on his lucky hook. It is still sharp. He decides, “I am not going to change anything. It is kind of like not changing your underwear; I don’t think I changed that or my socks that day either. Call me superstitious.”

Now the one hook saga continues. The second day of the tournament comes around and Scott finished that day with the same TK130. Then the third and fourth day of the tournament come to an end. “At the end of the fourth day I am holding up a trophy with a $100,000 check in my hand, Potomac River champion, 2012. I caught every one of my bass on that TK130 4/0 hook.”

Scott Martin’s lucky hook now resides in a glass case at Eagle Claw headquarters in Denver, CO. Scott sums up the whole story by saying, “That’s why I love Trokar.”

Learn more about Scott Martin and The Scott Martin Challenge by visiting the website at http://www.scottmartinchallenge.com.

A Frustrating Tournament At Lake Lanier

Last Sunday 13 members and guests of the Flint River Bass Club fished our September tournament at Lake Lanier. It was a very frustrating tournament for all of us but one. There was only one limit weighed in and six people didn’t have a keeper. Three of those catching fish had only one keeper.

We weighed in 16 bass over the 14-inch minimum length after eight hours of casting. They weighed about 28 pounds. Five of the fish were largemouth, all the rest were spotted bass, as is expected at Lanier.

Kwong Yu wore us all out with a limit weighing 10.24 pounds and got the big fish award with a 2.35-pound largemouth. He also had another one weighing 2.33 pounds. JJ Polak was second with two keepers weighing 3.49 pounds, Gary Morrow had two at 3.23 pounds for second and Don Gober was fourth with two weighing 3.15 pound.

I was excited about this tournament. After doing a GON article with Rob Jordan on Lanier and seeing the size and numbers of fish that can be caught there I thought I could do well. Rob fished a tournament Saturday and I talked to him after it was over I was even more hopeful.

Rob and his partner had done well, catching a limit of spots weighing about 15 pounds and they got big fish with a spot weighing almost five pounds. They had caught most of their fish, including the big one, on a spot we put on the Map of the Month article.

Al and I fished a few places near the ramp since it was pretty dark. Then we ran down to Young Deer Creek. Rob said the spots were schooling on a point there and hitting topwater baits. They were getting a lot of hits on top but missing most of the fish. The big one was landed on a topwater bait but most of the fish were caught on Fish Head Spins.

We pulled up on one of the points and saw fish schooling but could not get them to hit anything. Then Al saw fishing breaking on the point across the creek so we went to them. We could see they were big bass but just did not seem to want our baits.

I did have two big fish blow up on my Zara Spook but didn’t hook them. After chasing them for an hour without any luck I tried a drop shot worm in the brush on the point and caught a keeper. But that was it. We fished there for another hour without a bite.

We left at about 11:00 to get closer to the ramp. The main lake gets terribly rough from all the big boats at Lanier so we wanted to get back across the big water before it got to be a miserable ride.

For the last three hours we tried docks without any bites but did catch some short fish on drop show worms in brush piles on points. But no more keepers.

The one keeper I caught and the small ones were in brush piles in about 30 feet of water. I am not used to fishing that deep but the spotted bass live in very deep water at Lanier, and you have to fish deep most of the year to catch them.

It was a good plan but as so often happens, the fish just were not on the same plan.

Fishing A Tournament At Lake Martin In Alabama

Lake Martin in Alabama is my favorite lake in the world. I have been fishing it since the mid 1970s and the bass clubs I am in fish a tournament there every October. Fall is a great time to be on Martin. Spotted bass are active and you can catch a lot of bass this time of year.

Two years ago in October the Potato Creek Bassmasters had a two day tournament at Martin. The 18 members of the club landed 162 bass weighing 215.03 pounds and there were 25 limits of five bass weighed in over the two days. Twelve of the members had a limit both days.

Lee Hancock won with ten bass weighing 18.77 pounds. Bobby Ferris was second with ten at 17.22 pounds, Tommy Reeves was third with ten weighing 16.4 pounds and Ryan Edge came in fourth with ten at 14.92 pounds. Jamie Beasley had big fish with a 3.89 pound bass.

The next weekend the Flint River Bass Club and the Spalding County Sportsman Club had a two day two club tournament at Martin. In 17 hours of fishing the 16 members of the two clubs brought in 130 keeper bass weighing about 166 pounds. There were 19 limits of five bass weighed in during the tournament and 8 members had limits both days.

I managed to win with ten bass weighing 15.57 pounds. Tom Tanner was second with 10 at 13.80 pounds, Gary Hattaway was third with ten weighing 13.39 and Mark Hawkins was fourth with 7 bass at 13.39 pounds. He also had big fish with a 3.93 pound bass.

It was fun catching a lot of bass even though the bigger fish were hard to find. I landed 31 keepers in the two days but my biggest fish was about two pounds. I tried everything I knew to find a bigger bass after landing my limits each day but never hooked one.

On the way to the lake last Thursday I called two people I have done articles with on the lake. One, a guide and tournament fisherman there, told me a pattern he was catching bigger fish on, but it only worked the first two hours each morning. He was fishing a spinner bait in blowdowns going into coves and creeks.

Friday morning I got up late and spend half the day riding and marking such places on my GPS, planning on fishing them fast each morning. At about 11:00 I decided to fish some and stopped in a creek I used to fish a lot. It is full of docks and brush piles but it gets fished so heavily now I seldom go there.

I quickly caught a 1.5 pound spotted bass from under a dock on a jig and pig so I started fishing docks. On about the fifth one I fished I hooked another 1.5 pound spot and, as I fought it to the boat I could see four more bass following it in the clear water. One of them was a solid five pounder!

A little further in the creek I cast into a brush pile, hooked another 1.5 pound spot and saw nine more bass following it! Four of them were bigger. The next brush pile produced another keeper spot and I saw six or seven following it. I knew where I would start.

Saturday morning I ran to that creek and thought I had messed up. I fished the docks and brush where I had caught and seen fish the day before and did not get a bite. I went across the cove at 8:00, after an hour of casting without a bite and cast a spinner bait across a point.

A solid fish slammed it and when I set the hook a nice two pound spot jumped. Since it was cool I was wearing a jacket with a hood. I had noticed the cord from the hood was hang down but had not done anything about it. Sure enough, it wrapped up in my reel handle as I fought the fish. Somehow it loosened the drag and I could not reel in line!

I managed to pull that bass in hand over hand and land it, so I figured I would have a lucky day. By 9:00 I had landed four more bass, one on a spinner bait and three on topwater. Bu 10:00 I had ten in the boat and culled down to the best five. I kept fishing that area but didn’t catch any more big enough to cull.

At 11:00 AM I ran way up the river where I have caught some big largemouth in the past but didn’t catch anything big enough to cull even tough I got five keepers up there.

Sunday was a repeat. At 9:00 I had five and had ten at 10:00. I tried something different, running down the lake to a hump where I had been told it was common to catch a big spotted bass in deep water, and I landed seven keepers there, but none were big enough to cull any I had caught first thing.

Did I mention I love Lake Martin?

West Point Night Bass Tournament

Night time did prove to be the right time for bass, at least for bigger fish, for a couple of us last Saturday night. Fishing was disappointingly tough at West Point though. Part of the problem was the wind. I have never fished at night with such a strong wind. The wind made it extremely hard to feel your bait and bites after dark.

Eleven members and guests fished the Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament from 5:00 PM to 1:00 AM. We brought 18 keeper bass to the scales weighing about 28 pounds after eight hours of casting. There were three limits but six people didn’t weigh in a fish. Three members left before weigh-in since they had one fish each and did not care about trying to get points.

I won with five at 8.36 pounds, Russell Prevatt had five at 6.51 pounds for second, Billy Roberts was third with five weighing 6.44 pounds and Niles Murray took fourth and big fish with one bass weighing 4.39 pounds.

Al Rosser fished with me and we started on a deep brush pile that I just knew was holding bass, but we never got a hit. After working it and some rock piles we started down a rocky bank at about 7:00 and Al got three small bass, too short to weigh, and I lost one small one.

Then at 7:30 Al got hung near the bank and as I moved the boat to try to get him loose I saw what looked like brush with fish in it about 20 feet off the bank. I turned and cast to it and landed a keeper spot, then threw right back and got my second one while Al was breaking off and retying his line. After 2.5 hours of fishing without a keeper I got two on back to back cast on a jig head worm. That is crazy.

About three hours later Al got hung up again and I cast a Texas rigged worm across a point the wind was blowing on and a two pound largemouth almost jerked the rod out of my hand. I landed it and kept fishing the point but the wind was too strong to really fish it effectively.

We went back to the rock piles to see if bass had moved into them in the dark but the wind was blowing right into them. I switched to a half ounce jig and pig trying to control my bait in the wind but even with it I could not really feel the rocks. We gave up and moved back to the deep brush we started on just as the small front blew through and the moon came up.

At 11:30 I felt a thump on my jig and pig and landed my biggest bass, a 3.32 pounder. After that the wind died some and we wore out the brush without another bite. By 12:15 we decided to try one last place and I got my fifth keeper, a spot bigger than the first two I caught, on the jig and pig.

I thought I might have big fish for the tournament but was shot down when Niles walked up with his bigger bass. Niles said he caught it on a spinner bait on the last cast he had time to make before heading to weigh-in.

So Niles caught the big fish after midnight and my three biggest all came between 10:00 and 1:00, so the bigger fish hit for the two of us late. Billy and Russell said they caught most of their bass before dark.

What Are College Bass Fishing Tournaments?

Blast off at a college bass fishing tounament

Today’s Collegiate BASS Fishing Angler, Tomorrow’s Leader

By Danny Blandford
from The Fishing Wire

As an angler that has been involved in college bass fishing since before there was truly organized college bass fishing, I find myself in awe of how far the sport and the participants have come. Likewise, I often find myself in awe at the public perception of college bass fishing among folks that don’t truly understand competitive bass fishing, let alone the value of it at the collegiate level. Only by being close to it since I was eighteen years old (closing in on half my life) have I really come to understand the role it is playing in shaping the future of our great sport.

Over the past year we’ve highlighted what it has meant to current and future professional anglers. Guys like Brandon Card, Justin Rackley, Miles Burghoff, and several other young aspiring professional anglers have recognized and capitalized on the opportunities to develop their competitive skills while fishing at the collegiate level. Fortunately for our sport, competing at the collegiate level is also producing an influx of a different kind of talent to the “other” side of competitive fishing, the industry itself. Many anglers are figuring out how to meld their talents and education, both on and off the water, into successful careers in the fishing industry.

We caught up with a couple of entrepreneurs who fully credit college bass fishing for where they are today and their path towards tomorrow. Brooks Woodward, the founding member of the Florida State Bass Fishing Club is a great example. Brooks rolled into Tallahassee, Florida in January of 2010. He had a passion for bass fishing and a desire to grow that passion into something more. Brooks channeled his energy into creation of the Florida State University Bass Fishing Club, a collection of anglers from across the country that shared his love of bass fishing, along with his competitive drive. Over the past three and a half years, the club has grown to approximately 25 members, competes in national events all across the country, and continues to grow in both membership and experience.

During that time, Brooks’ ideas and passion grew as well. According to Brooks, “It didn’t take me long to see that there was a huge community of like-minded anglers out there; which really opened my eyes to the potential in the fishing business and the size of the market. Once I started thinking about it, I knew it (the fishing industry) was for me and I felt like I had a few options. I looked at trying to land a job with an established company, I looked at starting a company from scratch, and I looked at what existing companies may be out there available to purchase. When it was all said and done, a purchase opportunity presented itself with Nichols Lures and I jumped on it.”

In regards to Nichols, Brooks went on to add, “The company was an established brand that had been producing good products since 1989 so I felt like it was a great place to start. At the time, my opinion was that things were just a bit stagnant and a lot of what was needed was creative work and fresh perspective, both of which I felt I could add. I’m a Graphic Design Major, so things like an updated website, updated packaging, and marketing collateral where all right up my alley.”

He started his journey as a fulltime student and part-time “tackle tinkerer”, and has transitioned into a part-time student and fulltime tackle company owner. When asked about the influence of college fishing and founding a club, Brooks went on to add, “I think college fishing is in large part the reason that I’ve chosen the path that I have. The relationships and camaraderie that I developed through the club made me want to stay in the industry and the contacts I’ve made along the way are helping me to succeed. As I look to grow the ranks here at Nichols, I’ll definitely be looking to likeminded collegiate or former collegiate anglers. I feel like college fishing teaches a unique set of skills and develops traits that I want to see in my own employees. I believe the more a person has been exposed to competitive fishing at this level, the more they can bring to future employers.”

After talking with Brooks I was left with the impression he was a traditional student that took a non-traditional route to pursue his passion, which I found to be a path I completely understood. With that said, it was the common thread of college, competition, and an entrepreneurial spirit that connected us and so many others.

For more content and a different perspective, I reached out to Berkley Product Manager, Stephen Britt. Stephen is what academia defines as a “non-traditional” student, and within minutes of being on the phone, it was clear “non-traditional” was a great adjective to describe Stephen and his passion for bass fishing. Academia uses the term because after high school Stephen spent four years in the United States Marine Corps; followed by two years at the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie, before enrolling in the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina’s main campus in Columbia, South Carolina.

Stephen’s story at South Carolina began with aspirations for a business degree with emphasis on management, insurance, and real estate. The “trifecta” for a young entrepreneurial businessman, but definitely “non-traditional” for a guy who had been thinking about life as a professional angler. Aspiration became inspiration when Britt learned that USC didn’t have a fishing team like the ones he had been hearing about at other schools. On January 26, 2009 Stephen hosted a callout meeting for a new bass club on campus and generated a total of five attendees, including him. Although small in size, that little meeting turned out to be a big step in the formation of the Anglers @ USC. The full story of their journey is an interesting one, and you can read it on their website here.

That meeting was important for the club, but it was also important for Stephen himself. It planted a seed that perhaps there are more ways to succeed in fishing other than casting for cash. The seed grew into something more when Stephen received a call from a friend. Apparently there was a guy from Pure Fishing standing in the lobby of the business school looking for people interested in angling and a potential internship. That call was all that it took for Stephen to head to the “B School” to see what was going on. That chance meeting led to an unpaid internship at Pure Fishing; the first internship at the new Columbia, South Carolina Pure Fishing headquarters to be exact. Although it was unpaid, Stephen found it very rewarding.

According to Stephen, “That internship really changed my path. I knew right away I wanted to work in the fishing industry and when it was over I changed up my courses to make me a better candidate for such work. I dropped my insurance courses, added marketing, and began looking for more ways to develop talents that could come in handy in the fishing industry. My time leading the Anglers @ USC was certainly a big part of everything.”

He went on to add, “As I wrapped up my courses and time at USC I started really pursuing Pure Fishing. I went to three different job fairs to keep getting in front of the Pure Fishing recruiter and doing my part to convince him I was the guy for the job. Ultimately, my persistence paid off. I landed the job as a Product Manager for Berkley and I oversee the fishing rods and rod and reel combo segments of our offerings, as well as some of our ice fishing products. I’ve been fortunate to spend the last two years working on something I really enjoy.”

“In summary, I’m excited to have landed where I belong. The subject of my work, the pace at which we do it here at Pure Fishing and my chance to remain involved in competitive fishing is absolutely awesome. I’ve got a career ahead of me…not just a job.”

Stephen and Brooks both spent a lot of time in the interview crediting their college bass club experience and being in the right place at the right time for where they are today. No doubt good timing was a pivotal part of their journey, but I’m convinced it was more than that which led to their early success. These young men “pushed” everything into place rather than waiting for everything to “fall” into place; which is a testament to who they are. With that said, it seems college bass fishing helped motivate them and provide a source of strength to keep moving ahead.

As someone that went through a long journey in academia, as well as the fishing industry, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that very few courses do what college bass fishing can do for a young impressionable man or woman. When coupled together, a passion for fishing and a sound education make a great recipe for success both on and off the water.

I think I can speak on behalf of everyone at the Association of Collegiate Anglers when I say we’re proud to be doing our part in making a difference in the lives of these anglers and the future of our industry.

Lake Wedowee and West Point Lake Club Tournaments

Lake Wedowee Club Tournament

Lake Wedowee can be a frustrating lake for a bass tournament, as members of the Potato Creek Bassmasters found out in mid-September. You can keep any size spotted bass there but the club has a 12 inch minimum size limit. And largemouth between 13 and 16 inches long must be released, so in club tournament a 12.5 inch largemouth counts but a 14 inch largemouth has to be released.

Niles Murray told me he landed several nice largemouth in the slot that had to be let go and he could not weigh them in. It can drive you crazy to have a 12 inch spot in the live well then have to release 14 and 15 inch long largemouth!

In their September tournament 12 club members fished eight hours to land 38 bass weighing 39.20 pounds. You can see not many fish over the slot were landed! There were three limits of five bass and everyone caught at least one keeper.

Michael Cox had a limit weighing 5.84 pounds for first place. James Beasley landed five weighing 4.98 pounds for second, Ryan Edge came in third with five at 4.82 pounds for third and Mike Gatlin rounded out the top four with four keepers weighing 3.97 pounds. Wesley Gunnels came in fifth with three fish weighing 3.87 pounds and his 1.76 pound bass gave him big fish in the tournament.

You can catch a lot of small bass to eat at Wedowee, and have fun catching some bigger largemouth, just be prepared to let them go!

West Point Lake Club Tournament

The last Sunday in September 13 members and guests of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our September tournament in the monsoon that afternoon. At West Point we can weigh in spotted bass over 12 inches long and largemouth over 14 inches long.

After eight hours of fishing we brought in 31 bass weighing about 48 pounds. There were four limits and four people didn’t have a keeper. Eight of the bass were largemouth and 24 were spotted bass.

Kwong Yu won with a limit weighing 11.68 pounds. I came in second with five weighing 8.36 pounds and my 3.41 pound spot was big fish. Third went to Niles Murray with five weighing 6.78 pounds and Sam Smith was fourth with four at 6.64 pounds.

My boat was still in the shop so Kwong let me fish with him. We ran to his favorite spot to start and cast for about 15 minutes without a bite. Then, for the next 20 minutes or so it seemed something hit our topwater baits on almost every cast. He landed four keepers and I got three in that time, and I missed over twice as many as I hooked. I guess my timing was off.

After about 30 minutes without a bite we left. I suggested a point I like to fish and Kwong got a nice keeper there on his first cast, but we got no more bites. From then till almost noon we caught some small fish including some little hybrids that came up schooling.

I landed my fourth keeper by a stump on a jig and pig that passed up Kwong’s Fluke. Then Kwong got two good largemouth of about three pounds each and I got my fifth keeper, a small spot, then the big spot hit.

It got real slow after the heavy rain started and we didn’t do much until Kwong got another three pound largemouth just before we had to head in. Kwong had four of the largemouth weighed in – half of them!

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