How To Catch January Lay Lake Bass with Matt Herren

 Its cold outside, the rut is making it a good time to go deer hunting and you might not be thinking much about fishing. But the big spotted bass at Lay Lake are on a very predictable pattern and you can catch some of the biggest spots of the year right now.

Lay Lake on the Coosa River east of Birmingham is known for its big spotted bass.  The Alabama Power Lake dammed in 1914 produces three and four pounds spots consistently and bigger fish are caught each year. There is also a good population of largemouth but in the winter the spotted bass fishing is more consistent.

Matt Herren grew up fishing Lay Lake and other Coosa River lakes in the area. His father took him fishing in ponds and on Lay Lake as a kid and they watched some tournament weigh-ins and got interested in tournament fishing.  They started fishing wildcat tournaments on Lay Lake in 1988.

From his success there he entered the Redman tournaments in 1989 and came in second in the points standings in the BAMA Division that first year.  By 2003 he was fishing the FLW Tour and now fishes the BASS Elite trail. 

Since turning pro, Matt has qualified for six BASSMaster Classics, including the 2016 tournament, and six FLW Championships.  This past year he tied for 10^th place in the Angler of the Year point’s standings in BASS. In his career he has won over 1.2 million dollars in tournaments.

“In January the shad are moving up the river an into the creeks and the big spots are following them and feeding,” Matt said.  He prefers to go after quality spots up the river if possible rather than fishing further down the lake.  He said you can catch fish any day in January further down the lake but for the big ones he wants to fish up the river from the Locust Creek area to the Neely Henry Dam.

The day we went in early December the river was not fishable. We checked the Neely Henry Dam and all floodgates were open and all generators running. The river was three or four feet high and the current extremely strong.  When it is like that the fish hunker down and are very hard to catch since you can’t even control your boat very well. So we made lemonade, fishing from the Highway 280 Bridge downstream, and Matt caught some fish under very tough conditions.

No matter which way he goes Matt will have the same baits rigged.  His prime bait is a three eights to one half ounce Santone Lures Texas Finesse Jig tipped with a Reaction Innovations Petite Twerk or Smallie Beaver trailer. He goes with browns and greens if the water is clear or darker colors like black and blue if the water is stained.

A Santone three eights to one and one half ounce white or chartreuse and white spinnerbait is good for covering water faster, and he uses heavier baits the deeper he is fishing. A DT 6 or DT 10 crankbait in shad colors is also good for covering water and finding fish.

A Megabass 110 jerkbait and a Santone Piglet Shaky Head round out his arsenal of lures. The shaky head will have a Reactions Innovations Pocket Rocket worm on it.  With those lures fished on a Kistler Rod with the action for that lure, teamed with Gamma fluorocarbon line, covers all the types of cover and structure he wants to fish in January.

The following places give you a variety of kinds of spots to fish, no matter what the conditions. If the river is high and fast fish the first six and similar places downstream. If it is normal, with some current but not so fast you can’t fish effectively, fish upstream from the Highway 280 Bridge.

1.  N 33 17.626 – W 86 21.462 – We put in at Pop’s Landing in Tallaseehatchee Creek in Childersburg and started fishing at the mouth of it.  When the current is strong the fish will often hold in the mouths of sloughs and creeks like this and feed in the eddies there.  Start by casting a spinnerbait right to the rocks on the riprap bank on the downstream point since the fish will often be right on the bank. 

As you get out into the river work downstream on the same side and fish all the way to the Highway 280 Bridge.  If the current is strong point your boat upstream and let it drift downstream holding it as slow as you can with your trolling motor. Cast at an angle upstream, letting your bait work back to the boat with the current. Fish a crankbait and spinnerbait here, then follow up with a jig and pig.

Cast the jig right to the bank and use a heavy enough jig to keep it on the bottom in the current. If the water is high try to get your bait down to the rocks along the edge of the normal full pool channel. Bass will often hunker down behind those rocks and feed on baitfish and crawfish washed to them.

When you get to the bridges work the eddies behind the pilings on both the railroad and highway bridge. Matt got a keeper spot on his jig behind one of these pilings when we fished.

2. N 33 16.711 – W 86 23.289 – Running down the river the houses and docks stop and you will go a good ways down to the mouth of Bailey Creek opening on your left without seeing any docks.  There is a picnic pavilion on the point and a dock just inside the upstream point, with riprap around it.

Stop on the upstream side of the slough and work the point as you go downstream. Cast into the slough and work a spinnerbait, crankbait and jig and pig back out to the eddy of the current. Also fish the downstream point of the slough.

If the current is real strong you can position your boat inside the mouth of the slough and cast your bait out, working it into the eddies on both points like a baitfish coming from the river into the slough.

3.  N 33 16.353 – W 86 24.664 – Running down the river just before it starts a bend to the right you will see some big rocks on the bank on your left. This marks the start of a bluff outside bend of the river and is an excellent place to catch spots in January.

Start at the first visible rocks and fish downstream, keeping your boat in about 25 feet of water and casting to the edge of the water. Work your bait back out to about 15 feet deep.  A jig and pig and a shaky head worm are both good here.

You can fish a long way down this bank since it is a sweeping outside bend and the rocks run all along it. Rocks are the key this time of year, if they have baitfish on them. Watch your depthfinder and if you are not seeing balls of bait don’t spend a lot of time in the area.

It is good to fish your bait with the current no matter how fast the current is moving. Some current is good and will make the fish bite better, even if the water is very cold.  If the current is normal work upstream, casting ahead of the boat at an angle as you work into the current.

4.  N 33 16.976 – W 86 25.636 – Across the river and downstream Deer Lick Creek enters the river as it starts a big horseshoe bend to the left. This big creek has a house trailer on the downstream point well back from the river.  The upstream point of it has a defined underwater point coming off it and bass will feed on it in all current situations.

Stop upstream of the slough and fish the upstream point as you go past it. Then swing around into the slough and fish across it, casting your jig and pig and jig head worm out into the river and bringing it up and across the point.  There are some stumps on the point that hold fish so probe for them with your baits.

5.  N 33 14.547 – W 86 27.443 – Run on down the lake to the power plant on your right.  This coal fired steam plant discharges warm water into the river and that warmer water draws shad and bass to it in January.  Stop just upstream of the discharge and fish downstream.

Cast a spinnerbait or crankbait into the discharge and let the current carry it downstream as you fish it back. The river current and the discharge current will make eddies here that the bass hold in to feed so concentrate on them.

Also, fish a jig and pig or jighead in the discharge and downstream of it, too. The warmer water will say near the bank going downstream, making it better this time of year. 

6. N 33 13.382 – W 86 27.840 – Further down the river the channel splits into three parts with islands separating them. The main marked channel is to the left side going downstream.  Just upstream of the first marker where the channel goes to the left is a bluff bank. There is a house trailer sitting on top of the bluff upstream of the channel marker.

Stop out in front of this trailer and fish downstream, letting the current take your boat downstream backwards. Fish to the shallow gravel point where the bluff runs out and there is a small cove. 

Fish the bluff bank and the big rocks on it with a jig and pig and jig head worm.  Your boat should be in 25 feet of water a short cast off the bank. The current was almost too strong to fish here the day we went, even this far downstream, but Matt got a good keeper spot and we both missed fish in the current.

When you get to the shallow gravel point near the channel marker fish all over it with your jig and pig and jig head worm, too. Fish will run in on this point to feed.

7.  N 33 19.766 – W 86 21.839 – The following places are all upstream of the Highway 280 Bridge and you can fish them for big spots as long as the floodgates are not open. One or two generators running produce enough current to improve the fishing but more than that makes it tough.

Go to the water intake tower on the right going upstream. It is just downstream of the golf course.  This big structure breaks the current and bass will stack up on the downstream side of it as well as in front where pipes or indentions create an eddy.

Keep your boat downstream and cast a spinnerbait and crankbait up past the building and let them come back with the current. If you can hold your boat on the downstream side just downstream of the structure cast a spinnerbait to the wall and let if flutter down it. Also fish your jig head worm and jig and pig down the walls in the eddies.

8.  N 33 20.157 – W 86 22.112 – Across the river and a little upstream is the mouth of Locust Creek. If the current is very strong you can fish it like the ones downstream but if the current is right start at it and work upstream.

Matt likes to slowly work up the river bank, casting at an angle ahead of the boat, all the way to the powerlines. He will work a crankbait or spinnerbait from the edge of the water back to the boat. If the fish are holding deeper along the bank he will go to a heavier spinnerbait to get down to them. He will also work a heavier jig and pig or jig head worm to keep it on the bottom deeper.

9.  N 33 22.176 – W 86 20.567 – Something different that is always good in the winter, no matter what the conditions, is the back end of Flipper Creek where there is a big spring.  The spring keeps the water a steady temperature, must warmer than the river water in the winter, which draws shad and bass, and it will be clearer if the river muddies up.

Go in the mouth of Flipper Creek and to the very back of it. You will be right beside the road and railroad that are in the back end of it just up the bank.  Fish all the way around the area in the back, working all your baits around the wood cover here. Also cast right down the middle of the area to cover the bottom there.

10.  The following spots are between the upstream railroad bridge and the Logan Martin Dam. Most of them are very similar and they are easy to find.  The first is the railroad bridge itself. Matt says to fish all the pilings on it with spinnerbait, crankbait and jigs.  Work the eddies caused by these pilings, just like at the downstream railroad bridge and the Highway 280 bridge.

Rateliffes Island is a big island that splits the river upstream of the railroad bridge. Just upstream of it is the mouth of Kelly Creek on your left and you can fish the mouth of it like the other creek mouths if the current is strong.  If the current will let you, Matt says fish the banks on either side of it for a half mile both ways. Work up the current casting ahead of the boat and fishing all your baits back with the current.

Just across from Kelly Creek and a little upstream the right bank going upstream is an outside bend of the river Matt says fish it for a mile going upstream, as long as the rocks hold up on the outside bend.  This is a typical bank that drops off fast and has rocks that you need to fish. Baitfish in the area makes it much better.

A little further upstream there is a small island not far off left the bank.  Fish the banks on both sides of it and behind it, too.  As in all places, look for current breaks to hold fish.

Matt warns that you should always wear your life jacket when up the river. The current is dangerous and the cold water can make you lose control of your muscles fast. Don’t take chances.

You can catch some quality spots right now on Lay Lake. Follow Matt’s suggestions for baits to use and kinds of places to fish and you will soon forget it is winter.

Matt does not guide but he is setting up an on the water electronics school. He will show you how to set up your Hummingbird electronics like his boat is equipped and show you how to use them to find fish. He can do the same for Lowrance units. You can contact him through his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/matt.herren.52

with Will Ayres

 Grass and bass go together in March like liver and onions on Lake Demopolis.  Longer days and warming water both draw bass to the shallows to feed and get ready to spawn.  They chase bait in the grass and you can catch them with a variety of baits.

Demopolis is a river lake with its dam just downstream of the junction of the Black Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers.  It is the second largest lake in the Black Warrior-Tombigbee system and runs 48 miles upriver on the Black Warrior River and 53 miles up the Tombigee River. Both rivers have creeks, sloughs and ditches running out from them.  These calm waters are where largemouth head to spawn so they can be found in or near the mouths of them this month.

There are spots in the rivers, too, and you can catch some big ones, but you need to have rocks for spots. So you have two good patterns in March, grass for largemouth and rocks for spots. Some baits are good for both and some are better for one or the other, but your bait choice is controlled more by the cover than the species you seek.

Will Ayres grew up in Demopolis and has lived there all his life.  When he was 12 years old he got his first boat and his dad would pick him up from school towing the boat and take him to the river where he would fish until dark.  He knows it well and fishes as many tournaments on Demopolis and Millers Ferry as he can.

When he was 16 Will joined the River City Bassmasters. He also fishes the McNider Marine trail, Bass Addiction team trail and other local and pot tournaments.  Since he has a young son with a daughter on the way, Will sticks with his local area. When the kids are older he hopes to move up to bigger tournaments but last year, fishing just two lakes, he won $26,000!

“Baitfish are the key especially early in March,” Will said. Warmer days kick in the largemouth pre-spawn feeding spree and the bass want a lot of food. And they will be near the spawning areas.  To catch them you need only a few baits.  Will rigs a Rat-L-Trap, a spinnerbait, a jig and pig and a Texas rigged worm to cover all his fishing bases.

For spotted bass fishing Will with have a 5XD crankbait in sexy shad color and a Davis three eights ounce shaky head jig with a green pumpkin or Junebug Trick worm on it. He likes to dip his worms in clear JJs Magic to give them a strong garlic smell and sometimes dips the tails in chartreuse for a flash spots love.

Will took me out the first week of February. The weekend before we went, he and his partner landed a limit of bass weighing 17.6 with a 5.5 pound kicker.  The fish were already on the pattern they will be on in March and were feeding when we went.  We caught about 40 keeper bass on the following holes and the best five weighed about 16 pounds.

N. 32 32.081 – W 87 51.192 – Going upstream the Black Warrior River splits to the right and the Tombigee River goes straight ahead.  Go into the Black Warrior and just a couple of hundred yards upstream on your left sawgrass starts lining the bank. In the middle of it a slough opens behind the grass. There are two ditches coming out of the slough with the one downstream much wider.

Stop just downstream of the lower opening and fish upstream.  While fishing watch for birds feeding along the edge of the grass and baitfish action against it. If either are present it means bass are likely to be feeding or holding just off the bank waiting to feed. 

The morning we fished there were a couple of birds on the bank and we saw baitfish dimpling the surface, and a few swirls as fish had breakfast.  In the next hour we landed at least a dozen keeper largemouth. The fish were hitting a red Trap for Will but he said the weekend before his spinnerbait worked better here, so try both.

Throw your Trap and spinnerbait right against the edge of the grass as you fish to the first opening.  At the opening throw into it across the points on both sides.  Fish on up to the mouth of the second ditch and a little way past it. Some current moving here helps.

Watch back in the slough, too, for baitfish, birds and bass activity.  The water is very shallow but it is the kind of place bass spawn so they will be back in here, especially later in March. Go into it and work all three of your baits in here, fishing the grass edges in the slough.

2.  N 32 31.088 – W 87 48.981 – Running up the Black Warrior you will see a big cement plant on the right bank.  It is on an outside bend of the river and there is a barge landing there. Downstream of the landing a tall bulkhead wall rises from the edge of the river.  Just downstream of the bulkhead is a small ditch and on the right side of it you can see an old railroad causeway.

This is a good place to catch spots but some largemouth feed here, too.  There are rocks on the bottom and current hits the bulkhead and old railroad causeway debris in the water, moving baitfish along the bank and drawing in bass. 

Stop just downstream of the ditch and cast a crankbait or Trap right to the edge of the water around it. Work up to the bulkhead and get you boat in close to it and fish crankbait and jig head parallel along it. There are rocks and other cover along the base of the wall.  Will stops when his boat gets to the upstream end of the wall, making a few casts to the bank past it.

3.  N 32 31.430 – W 87 48.302 – Run upstream to French Creek on the right and go into it. It is a huge creek but the opening is very small with a no wake buoy in the mouth of the ditch and another one back where the ditch opens up. Idle past the second one then go to the point on the right side just downstream of where the houses on the bank start.

This point has grass along it near the bank and some stumps out on the flat bottom.   Will says this is a good place to catch big largemouth and spots in March. They move in off the river and stop on this point as they work into the creek to spawn, holding here and filling up on baitfish.

Keep your boat out a long cast from the edge of the water and cast your Trap and spinnerbait close to the bank. Run both baits by any patches of grass out from the edge. Keep your bait moving slowly all the way to the boat since there are scattered stumps off the bank to hold fish.  Fish all the way around the point to the bank of it near the fist house.

4. N 32 31.546 – W 87 48.097 – Across the creek one docks floats way off the bank.  Go across just upstream of it. Be careful until you lean this creek, it is shallow.  Just upstream of the dock a flat anvil shaped point runs out and has big oak trees on either end of it.

Start out from the upstream end and fish downstream around that end of the point. Throw your Trap and spinnerbait against the bank and run them past clumps of grass just like in Hole 3.  Bass hold and feed along this bank, too, as they move in to spawn.

5.  N 32 31.403 – W 87 47.725 – Carefully going up French Creek, you will come to where it splits into two arms. The left arm goes back under a powerline. Go into this small creek and stop on the outside of the first point in it on your left, before you get to the powerlines.  It is covered with grass and is a good stopping point as the bass move into this creek to spawn. The point is fairly deep and has some rock on it, too.

This point is better from the middle of the month to the end. More and more fish will move back as the water warms and you can catch numbers of fish. But fish it early, too, since the bigger bass often move in to spawn earlier than the majority of bass. You may not get many bites on your Trap or Spinnerbait but could be grown one.

6.  N 32 31.320 – W 87 47.720 – Go across the mouth of the small creek to the upstream point of it. This flat point runs out to a small island and has grass all along the point, gap between the bank and island, and the island itself.  Fish the point and out to the island and around it with Trap and Spinnerbait.

Some wind blowing in on places like this helps move baitfish to the area and position bass to feed on them. A gentle wind will also move the warmer surface water to banks like this, warming them a little deeper than the main lake or points out of the wind. That can make them even more attractive to bass.

7.  N 32 33.422 – W 87 47.580 – Go back out to the river and head upstream. You will go under a set of big powerlines over the river then a straight before it  makes a right bend. While you are running up the straight stretch, when you see an orange roof house and dock ahead of you in the bend on the left bank, slow down and watch to your right.  You will see a small ditch that leads back to a big oxbow lake just off the river. We had to go through the ditch with the trolling motor since the lake was down a little. Go through it and when it opens up the water will get deeper.  This oxbow runs way back along the river and is a big spawning area.

Go in and ease to the point on the right where the oxbow bends to the right. A lot of standing timber starts at this turn and bass will hold in it. The point on the right is a prime feeding place for big fish and numbers of fish this month. We caught several keepers along this point and on the bank across from it, too.

Fish the whole area with all your baits.  Work the grass as well as the stumps sticking out of the water.  You can fish all the way to the back and Hole #8 or fish around the point, the key area, then idle through the stump field to the point in the back.

8. N 32 33.329 – W 87 47.542 –  Almost in the very back, where the oxbow makes a left then right bend, there is another very good point on the left. It is one of the last feeding areas before the bass bed, and they will bed all over this area.  Fish all around it on both sides and the outside bend across from it with all your baits.

I caught a couple of bass in here on a black and blue jig and pig. Will makes his own jigs that come through the grass and he gave me one.  I put a blue Zoom Fat Albert twin tail on it but Will prefers a black or blue Little Critter Craw.  He fishes the jig or a Texas rigged green pumpkin or June Bug Trick worm behind a three sixteenths ounce sinker

Both jig and pig and Texas rig are fished around the grass and wood cover, moving them slowly along the bottom until you hit cover, then shaking them before hopping the baits over the cover. Feeding bass will hit both as will bass already on the bad that you cannot see due to the stained water.

9.  N 32 34.342 – W 87 47.004 – Run up the river and watch on your right for red channel marker 226.8.  The numbers are on a small, faded sign near the red marker and hard to see.  Upstream of the marker a ditch goes out on the right and opens up into creek that is an excellent spawning creek and fills with feeding bass in March. Will says it is a great place to catch numbers and size.

This creek is small enough to fish all the way around it, and we did.  Start on the left at a cut going back – there is a matching ditch on the other side.  Fish the grass all the way to the back and out the other side.  You could stay in this protected creek all day.

Will picked up an individual fish as we worked around this creek on both Trap and spinnerbait, then we hit a small pocket behind a little point on the left going out.  The wind was blowing into the creek and the calm area behind the point held a school of fish.

Will caught fish after fish on spinnerbait and I caught a couple on a Chatterbait. We would see baitfish dimpling regularly and a swirl of a feeding fish every so often. We sat in one place and caught at least a dozen keepers without moving.  You can hit a school like that at any time on any of these places.

10.  N 32 35.169 – W 87 46.844 – Way up the river the Alabama Power Green County Plant sits on the left side of the river.  There is a canal going off the river on the left running up to the plant, and it has an outflow of warm water from the plant.  The right side of the canal is natural rock and the left side is riprap up to the barge unloading piers. The plant changed from coal to gas so there are no longer lines of barges with coal waiting to unload along this side.

Start on the downstream point of the canal.  Spots love this point and the canal itself. Will says so many tournaments were won with limits of big spots from this area the canal was put off limits by some groups.

Fish the point with Trap and crankbait if current is moving, then fish it with your shaky head.  Work into the canal, fishing up all the way to the plant.  Stay in near the bank and cast a crankbait up ahead of your boat to make it come back with the current as you go upstream. The current and warmer water both attract fish.

Will caught a couple of small spots here on a crankbait, but there was no current moving when we were there.  If the current is not moving you can stay in the area and wait on a discharge to turn on the fish, then load the boat when it happens.

All these places were already holding bass a few weeks ago and will be better now, and get better and better as March progresses. Check them out and you can find many similar places on Demopolis to fish this month.  

April Bass at Martin with Kelley Jaye

    April is the month most bass fishermen dream of, with big sow bass in shallow water on the bed and bass of all sizes roaming the shallows feeding.  It is a dream month for bass fishing, and you can make your dreams come true at Lake Martin.

    Martin is a big clear water lake north of Montgomery on the Tallapoosa River.  It is known for its spotted bass but it has a good population of largemouth, too.  By late March many largemouth buck bass will be in the shallows scouting for bedding spots and the big females will be close behind.

    Spotted bass will be feeding on deeper points and will start looking for bedding areas in April. They bed deeper and are hard to catch by sight fishing but are aggressive and will hit many baits fished where they are holding.  Spots are fun to catch and you can catch a bunch of them right now, but for tournament fishermen you want to fish for largemouth for a heavy stringer.

    Kelley Jaye has lived in Reeltown since he was 12 years old and has been fishing Martin since then. He has done well in tournaments on the lake, finishing second in the BFL Super Tournament there a couple of years ago.   This year he is fishing the FLW Everstart and BASS Open tournaments as well as local tournaments on Martin.

    On March 5 he came in 5^th in the BFL on Martin with five spotted bass weighing 14.9 pounds.  Since the largemouth were not bedding yet he stuck with a jerk bait all day and caught the big spots.

    “April is a great month for both spotted bass and largemouth,” Kelley told me.  Spots are concentrated on points and can be caught on topwater baits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, jig head worms, a jig and pig and a Carolina rig.  Largemouth will slam a topwater bait early in the morning then you can sight fish for them on the beds with a jig head worm, Trick worm and a lizard.

    In tournaments Kelley will go to the bedding pockets first thing and go around them with a buzzbait or big stick bait like a Spook.  He works around the shallows fast looking for a reaction strike.  After the sun gets up he goes back around the shallows and throws a Trick worm or weightless lizard to bedding bass.

    To catch a lot of bass Kelley will fish secondary points in the bigger creeks and coves, looking for schools of spots.  A spinnerbait or jerk bait worked across the point early will get hit, as will a topwater bait.  After the sun gets up a jig head worm, jig and pig or Carolina rig will catch them.

    Kelley does not have any sponsors at this time so he uses baits and equipment he likes best.  He prefers a G Loomis rod and a Johnny Morris DBS reel with BPS fluorocarbon line for jigs and jig head worms or Suffix Monofilament line for topwater.

    For April Kelley will have a peanut butter half ounce Chompers jig with a twin tail brown trailer and a BPS quarter ounce jighead with a Zoom green pumpkin Speedworm tied on for spot fishing after the sun gets up.  He likes a Rogue jerk bait, a Spook and a one half ounce white and chartreuse spinnerbait with one gold and one silver blade for early fishing on the points.

    For largemouth the Spook works early as does a buzzsbait.  For later fishing he ties a five-0 hook and threads a Zoom Green pumpkin Trick worm on it.  He also likes a Zoom six or eight inch lizard rigged weightless for throwing around visible beds.  He expects to find largemouth bedding down to about four feet deep. If he needs the lizard to go a little deeper or if it is windy he will tie a swivel ahead of it to get it down.   

    We fished in early March the day before the BFL and Kelley showed me the following spots for April fishing. We caught about 15 spots, they were already feeding on points and they hit spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, jig head worms and jig and pig. By now even bigger spots will be feeding and the largemouth will be moving in.

    1. N 32 43.104 – W 85 50.155 – The very back of Spain Branch has a good spawning flat and is the kind of place you want to look for largemouth. Go back to the powerlines where they cross on the right side and start fishing. There are a lot of stumps on the point that comes out just past the powerlines and all over the flats in the back of the creek.

    Work around it before the sun gets bright with a topwater bait like a Spook or buzzbait. Make long cast and work the baits fast. You want to cover as much water as quickly as you can, searching for a reaction strike from a big largemouth.  If you can see stumps cast to them but it will be hard to spot cover or fish under water before the sun gets up.

    After sun up go around the cove watching for bass on the bed. Throw a weighless lizard to bass that don’t run off when you cast to them.  You don’t need to waste time casting to beds when the           fish swims way off when you spook it. Kelley says they are ready to hit when they stay within five or six feet of the bed, come right back, and pay attention to your lizard.

    2.  N 32 45.145 – W 85 51.456 – Across Blue Creek just upstream of the point with Union Ramp on the South Side of the creek and the long point coming toward it on the other side, there is an island just off the bank.  Downstream of this island is a shallow spawning pocket where bass move in early. There are a few stumps and some brush in it and it has a hard bottom, a requirement to draw bedding fish.

    Start on the right side at the metal roof dock with a kids slide on the bank to the right of it facing it.  Work the brush there and around the next small red dock. There is a good bit of brush the left of the red dock that will be in six or seven feet of water at full pool, and bass will hold in it before bedding.

    When the water temperature is 60 to 62 degrees first thing in the morning and warms to 65 to 67 in the afternoon Kelley says he knows he will find largemouth back in these pockets.  He expects to find two to four beds in a small pocket like this when the spawn is on.

    3.  N 32 43.624 – W 85 51.043 – Go back across to Cooper Branch and go past the two long points on your left going in.  Just past the second one the very back of the cove where Center Port Road bends around it is a good spawning area.  It is protected and lined with docks all the way around it.

    You will see twin houses with tin roofs on the right side going into the cove. One is brown and one is green. Start working the docks in front of them and work around the cove, fishing topwater early around the docks and brush then coming back and looking for bedding bass.

    Bass like to bed beside a stump or dock post so look closely at those kinds of areas.  Bass on the bed can be hard to spot but practice helps. Look for the black tip of the tail or any movement.  Watch them to see if they hang close to the bed or move off so you will know if they are ready to hit.

    4. N 32 42.878 – W 85 50.901 – In the back of Cooper Branch a point comes out with small cabins on it. This is Lake Martin RV Resort.  A good creek enters on the left side of it, facing it. This long narrow creek splits in the back and holds a lot of bedding bass.

    Go in and you can fish the steep bank on your right, there is a good bit of brush on it. Start across from the cabin with a patio house down the slope from it then a dock. All three have green roofs.  Work around both sides and the back for bedding bass.

    Where the creek splits past the green roof dock the cove straight ahead, the left fork, has a good channel coming out cutting through a flat.  Channels help draw bass in and coves with a ditch or channel are best. Kelley says bass will stage on the ditch and work in to the bedding spots, the use it working back out, too.

     5.  N 32 42.797 – W 85 41.503 – Come out of the cut above and go past the RV Resort, following that bank to your left.  You will round a point and see a big gray house with lots of tin roofs at different angles on it. It sits on a narrow rocky point that is a good example of the kind of places spotted bass hold and feeding in April. They may bed on these points, too.   

    Kelley likes to sit on the channel side of the point and throw across it, working it from shallow to deep. Start with a spinnerbait, jerk bait or topwater bait early in the morning.  If fish are hitting the jerk bait Kelley will often keep throwing it all day. He says sometimes big spots will eat the jerk bait all day. You won’t get m any bites but can catch some quality spots this way.

    Drag a jig head worm or jig and pig across the point, too. Kelley says he seldom uses a Carolina rig because he seems to catch bigger bass on the jig head worm, or jig and pig, but if you use one try a half ounce sinker with a green pumpkin lizard or Finesse worm following it.

    Kelley likes a quarter ounce BPS jig for his shaky head worm fishing and a half ounce Chompers jig with a twin tail trailer.  Work both slowly across the point with small hops and drags, covering the entire bottom on the point.

    6. N 32 42.527 – W 85 51.333 – Keep going toward the back of Cooper Branch and it splits to the left and right. Stay to your left going in and this narrow channel goes way back. There is a no wake buoy in the mouth of it and a danger marker in the center near the back. The danger marker is on a flat point that comes off the right bank.

    A good channel comes out of this cove and the flats on both sides of it are good bedding areas. It is very shallow back in here, especially if the lake is down some.  Bass will bed anywhere in the back of this creek so fish all around it.

    7.  N 32 43.127 – W 85 51.665 – Come out of the above cove and past the danger marker. Watch to your left and when you pass three coves running back to the left, there is a big point with some big new houses on it on your left.  Watch for the point with the gray house and you will see a big stump on the right tip of that point just off the seawall.

    Way off this point a hump comes up to about ten feet deep with the lake down six feet like it was when we were there. There is a big log and some trees on this point and it is a good place to work a jig head worm, jig and pig or Carolina rig.

    Kelley keeps his boat out in deep water and works all the way around the hump, throwing up on top of it and working his bait out to deeper water.  Probe for the log and brush and concentrate additional casts when you hit cover.

    8.  N 32 43.452 – W 85 52.246 – Go toward the mouth of Cooper Branch and into the last big cove on your left.  Ahead and on the right side of this big cove are several points. One with a “For Sale” sign on it has no house but there is a sculptured concrete sea wall around it.  This point has shale rock on the downstream side and two flat points run off the upstream side, across the cove above it. These points have smaller rock on them.

    All three areas hold bass. Fish them will all your baits. Stay out in deeper water and cast toward the bank, working your bait from shallow to deep. Also go past the point and cast back across it bringing your bait at a different angle.

    Some wind blowing in on this and other points makes them better for spinnerbait and jerk bait but more difficult to fish with a jig or jig head worm. Heavy wind will make them almost impossible to fish because you can not hold the boat in position.  Choose your bait based on the wind.

    9. N 32 44.896 – W 85 51.930 – Go back across Blue Creek and into the bog pocket across from Union Ramp. It is behind a big island.  The pocket splits into two arms running north. Go in the left one and start fishing just inside the right point. It has a smaller side cove to the left and a bigger cove to the right. It has a big brown house on the main point and a dock inside the point on your right going in.

    Fish all around this pocket with a Trick worm and watch for beds.  Fish the points, especially the one between the two coves, with jerk baits, jig head worm and jig and pig.  The smaller left hand cove has lots of trash in it from cleaning the lots so fish it carefully.

    10.  N 32 44.889 – W 85 51.762 – Go around the big main point between the two big coves and watch for a flat secondary point on your left. It is in front of a brown house with a rock patio. Just past the house the dock has two orange floats in front of it.

    Stay well off the bank and fish the point with a jig head worm and a jig and pig.  Hop and slide both baits down the slope of the point.  Keep your boat out in deep water and throw shallow, and fish all the way around the point.

    These places all are holding bass right now on Martin. Check them out to see the kinds of places Kelley fishes and you can find many similar places all over the lake to catch spots and largemouth.

January Bass at Smith with Craig Daniel

    If you hate the cold and stay home this month you will miss out on some great fishing.  The spots at Smith Lake stack up in deep water and gorge on shad this month and you can catch them in a variety of ways.

    Smith Lake is north of Birmingham and its deep, clear waters are full of big spots.  Craig Daniel has fished it for years and is well known in the area.   After fishing professionally for about ten years and making the Bassmasters Classic twice and the FLW Championship twice, for the past ten years he has concentrated on local tournaments on Smith.

    Craig’s experiences on Smith helped him do well in big tournaments on other lakes to the extent he won four boats, a truck, and about $450,000 on the pro trails.  Smith can be tough but Craig’s patterns for January will help you catch fish there.

    “The key depth is 20 feet,” Craig said.  The spots hold deep and feed around that depth. On warmer days they may feed from 15 to 20 feet deep and on colder days 20 to 30 feet deep, but by starting at 20 feet you will be in the zone.

    A variety of baits will catch deep spots but Craig relies on a jig head he makes and sells and Zoom four inch Finesse worm.  Craig says the little jig head won him a lot of money and it will catch fish any time on Smith and many other lakes. 

    Back up your jig head with a crankbait that will get down deep like the Norman’s DD2N and a drop shot rig and you can cover any situation you might run into this month.  Craig uses PLine Fluroclear line on all his rods and he likes Shimano reels and American Rodsmith rods. 

    The bass may be on a wide variety of types of structure and cover, from points and humps to bluff walls and brush piles, but the depth is the key.  Some wind blowing in on the structure helps and the bass are more likely to move a little shallower to feed when the wind blows baitfish to them.

    The following ten spots are all good right now and you can catch fish off them. They are on a small area of the lake so you won’t have to do a lot of running in the cold air to get to them.

    1.  N 34 04.766 – W 86 57.763 – Put in at Smith Lake Park and go downstream around the main point. Ahead of you on the left will be a double flat point running out downstream of the big field between the water and the playground.  Both the points hold bass.

    The upstream point runs slightly upstream across the cove and has brush on it.  There is a brush pile on it you can find by lining the white sign in the field with the kids slide and the power pole in the park.  Keep your boat on the deep side of the point and cast back across it.

    Craig starts here with a big crankbait like the DD22N and says chartreuse is good in any color water. He wants a big bait to bump the brush and bottom so he throws a deep running bait no matter how deep the water.  The top of the brush was about eight feet deep with the lake at 500 feet above sea level – about ten feet low.

    After running your crankbait across the brush from different angles fish it with a jig head worm.  Work the area thoroughly. Craig says a million tournaments have been won right here and it is a good place to catch a big-un – four or five pounds.

     2.  N 34 04.366 W 86 58.773 – Run downstream and go through the gap on the right side of Goat Island.  Downstream of Brushy Creek is a big round point and the downstream side of it goes into a finger cove, the upstream one of two side by side.  On the downstream side of the point is a big brown wood house with a concrete lower level. 

    Start on the river side of this point and fish all around it, working a parallel with a big crankbait then fishing your jig head worm down the slope from 15 to 30 feet deep. When you find the depth the bass are feeding, concentrate on that area.

    I got a 14 inch spot here, not a keeper with the Smith Lake slot limit, but a very pretty fish. It hit a jig head worm in about 22 feet of water, right in front of the house. But bass will feed anywhere on this point so fish it carefully.

    3.  N 34 04.342 – W 86 59.066 – Go into the second finger cove and watch for a house on your left with a dock running out slightly toward the lake.  It is on a small point and the house is grey with a white railing around the porch, and is just downstream of a pavilion and small boat ramp.

    Just in front and downstream of the dock is a big pine tree Craig put into the water.  If you line up the pole on the right side of the house with the oak tree behind it you will be on line for the brush pile.  It runs way out so stay back. The brush topped out at five feet deep with the water ten feet low and ran out to be almost 15 feet deep top at its deepest.

    Run a crankbait across it then work your jig head worm through the tree.  Craig uses a one-quarter ounce jig head and its round shape helps it come through the branches of the tree. Move it slowly and be ready to set the hook on any mushy feel. Craig says the bass on Smith often just suck in the jig head and hold it. If you wait for a thump or a fish swimming off you will often miss the fish here and on all other spots.

    4.  N 34 03.459 – W 85 59.392 – Downstream of Bailey Mountain is a big cove and the upstream point of it is surrounded with a concrete seawall and covered with riprap.  There is a big three level gray house on the point.

     This point is beside deep water and has the kind of sharp drop Craig likes.  The river ledge goes parallel to the point and the point steps down, but it drops straight off on the river side.  Craig likes drops like this that might drop from 12 to 100 feet almost straight down.  He says big fish live on sharp drops.

    This is mainly a jig head point and Craig with work it very slowly.  When it first hits bottom he says let it sit a few seconds then move it very slowly, feeling for a fish. If you shake or hop it on that first pull you will often pull it away from a bass.  Feel for the fish then move it in short hops, shaking it as you let it sit on the bottom between hops.

    Craig also says if you do miss a hit, drop the jig back and let it sit. Spots will often come back and hit again so give them a second chance to take it.  We caught another 14 inch spot off this point in about 20 feet of water here after missing another hit, and it may have been the same bass.

    5.  N 34 03.227 – W 86 59.093 – Almost straight across the lake is a big round point with a small cut or gut just downstream of it. The point is just upstream of a travel trailer with a small dock in front of it on the other side of the cut.  The trailer has a red railing around a deck in front of it.

    Fish around this big point on the downstream side with your crankbait and jig head.  Bass will stack up on the point and feed. It runs out slightly downstream and has rocks and brush on it. Work around it with a big crankbait then fish the 15 to 30 foot depths with your jig head worm.  Watch your depthfinder for balls of baitfish on this point and others, too.  If you see baitfish you are more likely to find bass schooled up.

    6.  N 34 03.190 – W 86 59.045 – The cut just downstream of the point above is a good example of the kind of cuts or guts bass will stack up in during January.  They will hold under shad in 20 to 60 feet of water and these places Craig will fish even deeper than other places.

    The bass often hold on the point in hole 5 then move to the cut with the shad.  Craig will keep his boat in the middle of the cut and fan cast it at all angles, working down both sides and right down the middle.  A jig head worm is good but Craig will sometimes tie on a bucktail jig and swim it down the gut, too.

    Watch for shad. If shad are in the cut bass will be here.  That is a key. Also, watch for bass holding under the baitfish. If you see bass under them your drop shot rig is a good way to catch them. Craig ties his hook about a foot above a drop shot sinker and puts a Zoom Tiny Fluke in shad colors on it.

    7.  N 34 02.635 – W 86 59.009 – Run down to the mouth of Simpson Creek and start into it.  On your left just where the creek starts to open up there is another excellent cut between two points. One point is mostly chunk rock and the other is mostly clay.  The cut is very round.

    In cuts like this rain causes runoff that will draw the baitfish in and bass follow. Fish it like the one above, working it at all angles.  Craig says you can hit several of these cuts without catching much then load the boat in the one where the bass are holding.

    Wind blowing into this cut helps as it does on all other spots, but if the wind is so strong you can’t fish open water these cuts offer protected places to fish. The bass will be here even without wind so check out cuts if the wind is real bad.

    8.  N 34 02.170 – W 86 58.754 –Across the creek on the right going upstream is a cut that runs back off the main creek at an angle upstream.  On the left side is a dock with a red top and on the right is a dock with a green top and a green awning is on the cabin on that side. In the middle of this pocket, out even with the mouth of it, is a hump that drops from 12 to 30 feet deep very fast.

    The hump is about as big as a bass boat so you may need to find it then come back and fish it later. When you locate it fish a crankbait across it, bumping bottom. Then work your jig head across it and down the drop. There is brush and stumps and trees all over this hump and drop and you will get hung up but it holds fish.

    Craig says he has caught a six pounder and a bunch of fours here.  Since there is so much cover here fish your jig head very slowly. Move your jig head just a few inches at a time then shake it in one place before moving it a few inches again.  Let it fall down the slope and stop and shake it again.  Give the bass a chance to hit.

    9.   N 34 01.981 – W 86 58.294 – Across the lake on your left going upstream is a huge open area with small arms running off it. It is a big shallow flat with humps and ridges running half way out into the creek, called Simpson Flats. 

    On the bank on the flat side you will see a brick house with a green roof and green roof dock in a cut and a point running upstream on that side. Line that up with the four cabins on the far bank. The second one from the downstream side has a patch of riprap in front of it.

    If you get way out on this line you will come up on a long ridge that drops off very fast on the downstream side and flattens out on the upstream side. When moving around here be careful and watch your depth. There are areas that are just a foot or so deep at ten feet low. 

    When you find the ridge and point watch for baitfish and bass under them. Use your drop shot rig out here. Get right on top of the fish, drop your lead to the bottom then, with a tight line barely twitch your rod tip. This will make the Tiny Fluke dance in one place. Craig caught several small spots and a couple in the slot out here in early December when we fished.

    10. N 34 01.695 – W 86 57.568 – Run up the creek to the deep cut on your right with BB Calvert’s Launch in the back.  It is just upstream of where the creek bends back to your left going upstream and there is shelf rock bluffs on both sides of it. There are houses on the downstream side and the upstream bank looks like an old clear cut with no houses.

    Go in to the cut to the dock on a small rock point   It has a light on the  back corner.  Just downstream of this dock is a big brush pile on the bluff bank.  Get in close, your boat will be in about 25 feet of water a short pitch from the bluff. 

    Craig fishes his jig head on a spinning rod and pitches it rather than casts it overhand.  He will pitch his jig head right to the rocks then move it very slowly down the drop and through the brush.  Feel for bass before you move your bait each time. They may be holding anywhere from six to 30 feet deep here and the brush covers most of that area. 

Fish it slowly.

    Check out these ten spots and see how Craig catches January bass at Smith.  You can find many other spots just like these to fish after you see the pattern.

    Craig does some guide trips on Smith so you can call him to see first hand how he fishes the lake. You can also buy his jig head by calling 256-737-9021.

December Bass at Neely Henry with GPS coordinates to ten spots, baits to use on them and how to fish each one. Catch more bass with these tips from Johnny Osborn

with Johnny Osborne

    Thanksgiving Holidays. Christmas Holidays. Lots of people hunting. What a great time to be on the lake!  Compared to much of the year there are few people on the lake and the bass are biting from the end of November through December.  A good choice for catching spots and largemouth right now is Neely Henry.

    Located on the Coosa River just downstream of Lake Weiss, Neely Henry is a long river-like lake with just over 11,000 acres of water.  It runs 77 miles from dam to headwaters and has a wide variety of structure and cover, although many creeks and ditches are silted in.  Dammed in 1950, this old lake has lots of grass and there is still a lot of wood cover in the lake.

    According to the Alabama DNR there are a lot of 15 to 18 inch largemouth in the lake and the spotted bass population is “exceptional” for large fish.  The numbers of spots in the 14 to 20 inch range is one of the best in the state.   Just over half the bass weighed in during tournaments are spots, according to the BAIT survey.

    Johnny Osborne grew up in the area and has lived near Neely Henry all his life, except for a stint in the navy.  He has fished all his life and in the 1970s a co-worker got him started tournament fishing.  Fishing has been a passion all his life.

    This year Johnny fished the BFL series and made the regional tournament.  He also fishes the BASS Weekend Series and the ABA as well as many local tournaments.  He does some guiding on the lake and has helped many pros locate hotspots for big tournaments.

    Last year in the in the St. Jude’s Charity Tournament on Neely Henry he and his partner had five spots weighing 19 pounds, 2 ounces.  His best five from Neely Henry weighed over 26 pounds and his best tournament catch was five at 24-14.  He has landed a 6 pound, 3 ounce spot and an 8 pound, 2 ounce largemouth on Neely Henry.

    “Bass are following baitfish and feeding shallow from Thanksgiving through Christmas,” Johnny said.  You can catch them on a variety of baits and in several kinds of cover and structure.  Current makes a big difference and they bite much better when it is moving.

    Most of Johnny’s fishing this time of year concentrates on the mid-lake area, from City Ramp in Gadsden to the Rainbow Landing area.  Bass move to creek openings and shoreline cover and feed on shad as them move with the current, and you don’t have to make long runs to cover the area.

     Johnny will have a Stanley spinnerbait with a one gold and one silver willowleaf blade and a chartreuse and white skirt and an Academy XPO chartreuse crankbait for faster fishing. 

    For slower fishing he will rig a jig head that he pours himself with a watermelon red worm with a chartreuse tail, and have a Arkie tube Texas rigged and ready.  The tube is his favorite bait and Johnny likes a green pumpkin color.  He will also rig a Trick or Finesse green worm on a Carolina rig with a 32 inch leader behind a three-quarter ounce lead.

    A topwater bait like a Pop-R or a Sammy is also ready for low light times like early in the morning or during cloudy days.  Johnny says he catches bass at Neely Henry on top until the water gets to the low 50s so you can catch them on top most of the month.

    Put in at City Ramp or Rainbow Ramp and you can fish these spots without a lot of running. There were fish on them a couple of weeks ago when we fished and they should be even better now.

    1.  N 33 59.191 – W 85 59.996 – Head downstream from City Ramp and go under the bridges. On your right you will see a campground then a big white house on a narrow point between the river and Big Wills Creek.  The end of that point runs parallel to the river and is deep on both sides and is covered with rock.

    Stop on the river side and cast across the point.  You can run a crankbait or spinnerbait over it if there is current running and the fish are active.  If there is little current, work around the point casting a jig head worm up almost to the seawall and working it back down the point and across it at different angles.

    The day we fished there was not much current here in the early afternoon but we caught over a dozen bass on it on jig head worms. All were spots and the biggest was about two pounds. Johnny says you often get a lot of keeper size spots here since they stack up on this point.

    Before leaving Johnny will fish up the river side of the point for a hundred feet, working the steep drop along this bank.  Bass will feed here, too, especially if there is a good current running along the bank.

    2.   N 33 58.191 – W 86 00.004 – The mouth of Big Wills Creek is very wide since it makes a big bend, hitting the bank at the point above then swinging across to the far bank before turning and entering the river near the downstream point. Since the channel enters here, the downstream point of Big Wills Creek is good, too. 

    Stop on the river side of the point.   You will be across from the playground and old ramp at Dub Parker Boat Launch.  Fish the point that runs upstream parallel to the river and the flat on either side of it. Bass hold on the point and feed on the flats.

    Johnny starts on the river side and casts up on top of the point with a shaky head or his Texas rigged tube.   When sitting here you can see a three door white dock on the far bank of Big Wills Creek and the restaurant on the road across from it, but you will be a long way from it.

    Fish from the bank to the drop into the old creek channel.  Bump the bottom, probing for any cover where bass will be hiding.  Current running across this point makes it much better.

    3.  N 32 58.220 – W 85 59.331 – Run down the river and watch for the opening to a slough on your right.  It is near the end of a gently bend of the river to the left and is just downstream of a brown roof dock with a big wind chime on it.  The house behind it also has a brown roof with a white chimney. There was a “for sale” sign in the yard in early November.

    Keep your boat out in the river and fish the downstream point of this slough. The river channel runs right up to the mouth of the slough.  There was a stump sticking up out on the point and there is a hump in the middle of the slough. 

    Run a crankbait across the shallows, casting from the river channel and working your bait from shallow to deep. Bump the bottom as long as you can on each cast.  Make sure you work out from the point to cover the hump, too.

    After trying the crankbait try both a shaky head and tube. Drag them along the bottom, hoping them and then letting them sit still for a few seconds to wave in the current. 

    4.  N 33 57.475 – W 85 58.119 – Head downstream until you can see the upper end of Freeman’ Island, the big island in the middle of the river.  On your right you will see a small island just off the bank and upstream of it a big brown brick and wood house on that side.  The upstream point of the island has chunk rock on it and the flat from the island to the dock and ramp at the house holds feeding bass.

    Start at the island staying on the river side of the island and cast across the upstream point.  Keep working toward the dock, staying way out and making long casts. The flat has stumps on it and bass hold around them. 

    This is a good area to fish a Carolina Rigged worm since the heavy sinker will allow you to fish it quickly and find the stumps.   Your jig had worm and tube will work well, too.  Fish the area carefully, some big bass hold here.

    5.  N 33 56.910 – W 85 57.480 – Downstream of Freeman’s Island on the left going downstream you will see a electric pole on the bank surrounded by a chain link fence. It is not easy to see in the brush but it is the outlet for the Tyson plant wastewater holding pond.  Waste from the chicken processing plant dumps into the river here and it has a colorful local name that recognizes the “stuff” that comes out.

    This outflow draws in big schools of baitfish and big bass feed here.  You will see a path on the bank coming down to the water and out from it a pipe runs out to dump waste. This pipe is covered with riprap and you can see humps of rocks if you ride over it, but be careful if the water is low.

    Keep your boat out from the bank and end of the pipe and make casts to the bank with a crankbait, running it back across the rocks at different angles.  Johnny likes the Academy crankbait since it works well, runs right and is not too expensive.  You will lose crankbaits here on these rocks, but can catch some big stringers of bass.

    There are three different drops along here and bass will hold along any of them.  Johnny says a lot of six to eight pound bass have been caught here and many tournaments won on this spot so don’t pass it by.

    6.  N 33 57.037 – W 86 01.005 – Run a good ways down river past the right turn bend to where the river starts a left turn. On your right a creek enters upstream of the bend and Tommy’ Marina in the back of it.  There are some danger markers on the upstream side of the opening. 

    The mouth of this creek has several humps and drops across it where the river runs in close and many bass hold here.  Be careful, you can go from 20 feet of water to nothing in a few feet, and not all the humps are marked.

    Work this area with Carolina rig and shaky head and tube. The humps and drops are covered with stumps and chunk rock and you will get hung up a lot. Johnny says a crankbait would work well here but you lose too many to make it worth throwing them.

    Current running across these drops makes a big difference.  The fish will feed when the current is running so position your boat so you can cast upstream and work your bait back with a natural movement with the current.  Work around the area until you find the bass feeding.

    7.  N 33 56.737 – W 86 01.407 – Go around the bend and downstream toward the bridges.  Stop just upstream of the upstream boat shed on your right at Bucks Marina and work upstream.  There is a house here with satellite dish in the yard and a boat shed with a pontoon under it with a yellow and white cover.

    Fish all along this bank, working the cover and cuts along the bank, staying out in 20 feet of water or so.  Use your shaky head, tube and Carolina rig.  There is a good bit of wood cover on the bottom here so probe for it. 

    The channel makes a good ledge along this bank and bass hold on the lip of it and run in to feed.  It was along this bank where Stacey King got 2^nd place in a PAA tournament and where Johnny’s fishing partner, Gary Howington caught a huge seven pound, six ounce spotted bass.

    Work the bank and all cover from the boathouse all the way upstream to gray and white dock with a boat with a Mercury motor on it. Just downstream of this dock is a ridge or hump and this is where Stacey King caught his fish.

    8. N 33 56.499 – W 86 01.610 – Go to the upper bridge of the Highway 77 crossing and stop out from the riprap on the left side going downstream. Johnny says this is a great place to find bass pushing shad into the corner and feeding, especially in the morning.

    Throw a spinnerbait, starting on the end of the riprap and working it into the grassy pocket and fishing upstream about 50 feet. Work it at different speeds as much as you can in the shallow water. Watch for fish busting bait on top.  Current makes this spot much better.

    This pocket and pattern gave Johnny the bass he needed to win the two day BFL finale last year on Neely Henry. He said he was surprised to get here each morning and find it open, with no boats ahead of him stopping here.

    Work the upstream pocket then go around the point and fish the downstream pocket, too. Sometimes the current will make the bass go into this pocket and eat the baitfish here.

    Johnny will fish down to the second bridge, the bigger one, and work around the second piling from the left bank going downstream. There is a big rock pile around this piling and it is a good place to throw a jig head worm or a tube and catch spotted bass.

    9.  N 33 56.051 – W 86 02.322 – Go downstream to the first small island on the right bank downstream of Rainbow Landing. It is several hundred yards down that bank. Start at the small pocket just upstream of the island and fish upstream all the way to the ramp.

    Some bass released in tournaments at Rainbow Landing stay here and feed along this bank. You can fish it in either direction but current usually makes boat control better going upstream, and current helps the fishing. 

    Fish all the shoreline cover including docks, wood and rocks along this bank. It is shallow and your boat will be in only a few feet of water, but you can often catch a lot of bass here.  There are several private boat ramps along here and Johnny says you should never pass a boat ramp on Neely Henry without casting to it.

    We got our best two bass on our trip here, a 3 pound spot and a 3.5 pound largemouth. Both hit a jig head worm. Fish topwater baits along this bank and also work it with a crankbait, tube or jighead worm along this bank and work it carefully.  If you are catching fish it is worth more than one pass.

    10.  N 33 55.283 – W 86 03.615 – Past the small island in the hole above the river channel moves to the left bank then makes a swing back to the right bank below a big flat.  Near where it swings back to the right bank there is a small marina with boat sheds. Start fishing just upstream of the boat sheds and fish upstream.

    There are a series of small points and three riprap areas along this bank to hit as you go upstream.  Work the riprap and points with your tube and jig head if there is not much current and throw a spinnerbait and crankbait when the current is strong.  Watch for any wood cover along this bank and fish it carefully. 

    Johnny says big spots often get on these riprap banks and you can catch a big stringer quickly when you hit the right spot.  Fish all the way upstream to the brick house on the upstream side of the third patch of riprap.

    These places will give you a good idea of the kind of places Johnny catches bass on Neely Henry this time of year. Give them a try then find similar places on the lake that will hold fish, too.

November Bass at Lay Lake

with Josh Herren

    Bass fishermen often think of November as a time to start hunting bass deep with jigging spoons.  That is fun, but catching shallow bass is usually preferred. Fortunately, Lay Lake offers the chance to catch bass on a couple of shallow patterns this month so it is a great choice for a fishing trip.

    Lay Lake is on the Coosa River about 35 miles south of Birmingham.  It covers 12,000 acres of river and creek ledges, shallow flats and backouts full of grass.  It is an old lake, dammed in 1914, and the shallows are getting silted in. 

    For many years Lay has been a quality bass fishery for both largemouth and spotted bass.  In the Bass Angler Information Trail statistics for 2008 about half the bass weighed in during tournaments were each species.

    The average size of bass has been good, with tournament bass averaging 1.81 pounds in 2008 and average big fish in a tournament weighing 3.95 pounds. But in early fall tournaments average size has been down and winning weights have been lower than in the past.  There are lots of smaller bass so the next few years looks good. And cooler water this month will make bigger bass hit better.

    Josh Herren grew up near Lay Lake and says he has been fishing it since he could walk. His father Matt, who fishes the Elite Series on the BASS Trail, got Josh started tournament fishing when he was about seven years old and he started tournament fishing on his own as soon as he got a drivers license.

    In college Josh wanted to fish with the University of Alabama bass team but could not since he had won money in tournaments.  That rule has changed now, but it kept him from fishing with the team then.  He says he will follow in his father’s footsteps and be a full time professional bass fisherman.

    Josh now works for Reaction Innovations and helps sell their lures nation wide. He fishes as many tournaments as he can, including the BFL Bama Division.  Although he missed the first BFL this year due to them changing it because of bad weather, he still finished 30^th overall and qualified for the Regional.

    Josh is on the Legend Boat and Mercury Marine Pro staff working through Grammer Marine, where he is on their pro staff, too.  He is also sponsored by Transducer Saver and Reaction Innovations Lures.

    “Bass are predictable on Lay Lake in late October and during the month of November,” Josh told me. They follow the baitfish into the creeks and coves as the water cools, but will surprise you and move very shallow very fast. They may move from the mouths of the coves to the very back overnight, not in stages as on some lakes.

     As the water cools in late November the bass will move back out, more slowly this time, and can be caught in the first couple of hundred yards of the cove or creek.  All during the month they will relate to grass cover.

    The lower lake is the best area for finding bass moving like this since it is more “lake like” rather than river fishing. And the lower lake offers a second good pattern, bass feeding on rocky points early in the morning. That pattern is a good way to hook one of the huge Coosa spots in the lake.

    For fishing the grass in the pockets Josh ties on a Swamp Donkey Frog, four and a half inch Skinny Dipper swim bait, and a Sweet Beaver.  All work well around the grass and he fished them on 65 pound Power Pro Braid to get a better hook set and get big fish out of the grass.

    For fishing on points Josh has a Santone Get 5 white spinnerbait with silver willowleaf blades and a Vixen topwater plug. These baits are fished around the mouths of pockets where rocks give bass cover to attack shad moving into and out of the coves.   This fishing is best before the sun gets on the water.

    Josh makes his own rods and plans on starting a custom rod business. He teams his rods with a Shimano reel and uses long, heavy rods for fishing the grass and slightly lighter rods for spinnerbaits and topwater. 

    A couple of weeks ago Josh showed me the following spots. Some small bass were back in the pockets but bigger bass should be in them now.  Check them out to see the kinds of places Josh fishes right now.

    1.  N 33 05.612 – W 86 31.773 – Go back in Spring Creek to the right and you will see an island sitting in to your left.  It is the end of a point and grass is all around it, and the contour lines wrap around it, giving bass a path to follow on both sides.

    This is a good example of the kind of place bass will move to first when they move in. It is well back in the creek and there will be lots of baitfish moving around the grass beds here as soon as the water hits about 67 degrees. At that point bass will move into the big feeder creeks on the lower lake, and will often move far back in them all at once.

    Fish a Skinny Dipper swimbait in the grass and along the outside edges. Josh likes shad colors like bad shad green, pearl blue shad and white trash. He rigs them on a screwed up bullet, a weightless nose cone to make it come through the grass better, and a 6/0 wide gap Owner hook.

    This is a good bait to throw on bluebird days when you want a subtle presentation.  There will be cuts and lanes in the grass to swim the Skinny Dipper through, and running it along the outside edge of grass mats works well, too.

    2.  N 33 03.656 – W 86 31.544 – Across Spring Creek a huge grassy area starts on the right side going in and covers the whole back of the creek.  Since it has a channel running into it this is another good place to find bass moving all the way back in late October and early November.

    There are big clumps of grass in here and any of them can hold bass.  Fish all of them before you leave. Start on the right across from the island in hole #1 and work the whole back of the creek. Fish around the island back there, cover as much of the grass beds as you can.   You will often hit several good fish close together but fish won’t be everywhere in the grass.

    Look for a pattern. If they are on points where the grass comes out a little and are almost all the way back in a creek or cove, concentrate on places like that. Look for similar places in the creek you are in and the same kinds of places in other creeks.

    3.  N 33 04.956 – W 86 31.024 – As you come out  of Spring Creek and head downstream there is a big island sitting in the mouth of it off the downstream point.  Behind this island is a secondary point on your left going into the pocket behind the island.  There is a big grass mat all around this point that holds bass, especially later in the month as they move back out.

    Fish all around the point, working the grass with all your baits.  Look for transitions in the bass that hold fish.  A point sticking out further than the grass mat indicates slightly more shallow water and will attract bass.  A dip indicates deeper water and will also attract bass. Changes from one kind of grass to anther indicated a change in bottom composition and is an attractor. A hole or cut in the grass does the same thing.

    Fish these transitions with your best casts. Work them carefully, running all your baits over and by them from different angles.  Watch for patterns in the transitions to use in other spots, too.

    4.  N 33 04.451 – W 86 30.775 – The big pocket just upstream of Bozo’s Marina on the same side of the lake is one of Josh’s favorite tournament holes. He says he has won a lot of tournaments here and bass will be in it somewhere.  Fish all the way around the pocket, hitting all the grass with all your baits.

    As the water cools you will notice the grass starts to get a slime on top of it. This is the key to throw a Swamp Donkey frog.  When the slime forms the bass will be under it and a frog is the best was to fish it.

    Josh likes any black color frog to give a good silhouette against the sky if it is clear. He will throw a white frog on cloudy, overcast days.  Work the frog fast across the surface of the slime covered grass and be ready for explosive strikes.

    Bass will hit the frog even on bright, sunny days, but the best days are when it is messy, with rain and clouds. The kind of day you really don’t want to be on the water will often produce the best fishing in the grass.

    5.  N 33 03.980 – W 86 30.690 – Just downstream of Bozo’s Marina the river makes a turn to the right going downstream and the first cove on the right opens at a big grass flat. This flat is right on the river, not back in the cove. Bass will hold and feed in it every day.

    Fish all of this grass.  If the sun is bright a good choice is to flip a Sweet Beaver into the grass, dropping it through any small openings you can hit. Josh rigs his Beaver on a one ounce tungsten weight to punch through the mat and get under it.

    Let your bait fall to the bottom, jig it once then move to the next place. You have to be ready to set the hook hard and horse the fish out of the grass fishing like this because you will be in some of the thickest grass.  Use heavy rods and 65 pound Power Pro.

    6.  N 33 03.344 – W 86 31.294 – The next big open cove on your right going downsteam has an island in the middle of it.  It is not far off the main river channel and bass will hold on it and feed. Fish the grass all around the island.

    Look at your map or GPS and you can see how the island has a good contour line bending around it on both sides. This kind of structure makes a place much better, with deeper water near the grass beds in shallow water. 

    Look for this kind of depth change to find good spots to hit.  Bass follow these contour lines as they move in and out of the feeding area, following the shad.  Such changes mean a better place to fish.

    7.  N 33 02.636 – W 86 33.547 – Go into Reed Creek and you will see the mouth of a smaller feeder creek on your right on the outside bend of the creek channel.  Fish all of it, working the grass from the mouth of it as far back as you can go.

    These small feeder creeks often hold good numbers of bass and they may be all the way back in them.  If you catch a bass on the first pass it is worth the time to work around it again since the bass is there for a reason, and others should be in the same area for the same reasons.

    Always watch for baitfish.  Seeing schools of shad mean you are in the right area.  You will also often see bass busting the schools of shad showing you the area they are holding.

    8.  N 33 01.163 – W 86 30.853 – For a change of pace head down the river and watch for Camp Creek, a small creek on your left heading downstream. It is across from the mouth of Waxahatchee Creek.  There are rocky points on both sides of the creek mouth and standing timber in the mouth of it.

    Start before the sun comes up on these points for best results. Cast a spinnerbait or topwater bait right on the bank and work it out.  Big Coosa Spots come in to feed on these points early in the morning and you can catch some good bass before the sun gets on the water.

    Work around both points, keeping your boat out in 20 feet and casting right to the bank. Don’t go far back in the creek. Work the bank about 100 feet on both the inside and outside of the creek mouth. This creek has good points on both sides.

    9.  N 33 00.694 – W 86 31.042 – Go down the river past three small pocket to the next big one on your left.  Both sides of this small creek are also rocky and there is timber in the mouth of it. Both things are needed for a creek mouth to be good, a rocky point and standing timber.

    Work this one like the one above. Throw your spinnerbait right against the rocks. Bass will often be surprisingly shallow on these spots and seem to be looking toward the bank.  They may ignore your bait if it hits even a foot from the edge of the water.

    Josh likes two small willowleaf blades on his Get 5 spinnerbait and uses silver blades and white skirt. The small blades let him run the bait back to the boat fast. Fish these points quickly and cover as much water as you can before the sun hits them.

    10.  N 33 00.571 – W 86 31.049 – The next bigger creek, past two smaller coves just upstream of where the river makes a bend to the left, is also good.  It has rocks and standing timber and also a good channel going into it, a key that makes the spots marked better than the smaller pockets between them.

    A topwater bait will often get more hits than a spinnerbait so try both. Throw a stick bait like the Vixen right on the bank and walk it back to the boat. Fish it in a fast, steady motion, keeping it moving.

    All these places will hold bass now through the end of November. Check them out, catch some bass and see the kinds of places Josh likes to fish. Then you can find other similar places to fish.