January Lake Martin Bass

with Anthony Vintson

Spotted bass holding on deep rocks and brush on main lake points. Largemouth feeding around shoreline wood cover. If you want to have fun catching both on these patterns, head to Lake Martin this month.

Lake Martin on the Tallapoosa River near Alexander City is well known for its numbers of spotted bass, but as the BASS Elite tournament last February showed, there are a good many quality largemouth in the lake, and more big spots than many fishermen realize.

Anthony Vintson lives in Cullman and fishes Martin a lot.  After junior college he went in the Army for eight years and bought his first bass boat. He fell in love with tournament fishing and honed his skills on Martin, Smith and other area lakes as well as any station he was on that had a lake nearby.

Anthony is now a junior at Auburn where he is on the bass fishing team.  Auburn has produced some great pros that help mentor the team. And the team was fourth in the nation last year and is in the top ten this season. 

He fishes as many area tournaments on Martin and Smith as his college schedule allows.  This past year he had a limit weighing 15 pounds that included a six-pound largemouth in a local derby on Martin.

“January is a great month to find big schools of spots holding and feeding 20 to 40 feet deep on main lake points,” Anthony said.  Rocks and brush piles concentrate them deep. They will move up to feed but most of the time they are stacked up on deep cover.

Anthony goes out after a quick limit of spots in tournaments, hoping to put ten pounds in the boat. He then goes to more shallow wood cover to find a kicker largemouth or two.  This plan has helped him do well in many tournaments.

For spots, Anthony will tie on a jerkbait, drop shot, shaky head and jig and pig.  When trying for largemouth he likes a shaky head with a Rage Craw on it.  Those five baits will work all over the lake and cover the ways he fishes.

We fished the week after Thanksgiving on the second day of a strong cold front.  We found many schools of spots and caught a dozen small ones in the five hours we were on the lake, even though the heavy wind made it hard to stay on them. And we got some bites around wood cover, but the wind made it very hard to detect strikes.

Spots hit on all the first nine holes and there are quality fish on them as well as large numbers of smaller ones.  Anthony says you often catch several small keeper fish then a two pounder will hit. The smaller fish seem more aggressive. And the largemouth will bite much better under settled weather conditions on places like hole 10.

1.  N 32 43.599 – W 85 53.698 – Across from Ridge Marina a narrow point runs upstream from Fishbone Island.  Very deep water is all around it, with the river channel on the east side and an old channel on the west. Big rocks and several brush piles are one it, the perfect set-up for spots right now.

On this point and others Anthony will stop well off the point and ease in toward it, casting a jerkbait across the point and on the sides. He keeps two rigged, a shallow Strike King J300 in ghost shad and a J300D in chrome Ayu shad. 

He starts by casting the shallow one near the bank, switching to the deeper running one out from the point.  Spots will move in shallow to feed, especially early in the morning, and he can quickly cover the point with those two baits for active bass pushing baitfish up on the point.

As he fishes the point Anthony keeps an eye on his electronics, watching for brush and fish.  Spots will hold anywhere from 20 to 40 feet deep and will often suspend over brush piles or boulders and will hit a drop shot worm. If they are in the brush or right on the bottom, he will also try a shaky head worm and a jig and pig.

2.  N 32 43.296 – W 85 53.634 – Go down the river side of the island to the downstream point where you can see through to the other channel. It runs downstream, and the river runs in right beside it.  The big rocks on it above water run on out.  There are several brush piles here.

Work around the point with jerkbait. When you see fish or brush, use your drop shot to catch them.  Anthony rigs a green pumpkin Strike King Dream Shot worm on a VMC Neko rig hook 12 to 18 inches above a one quarter to three-ounce sinker.  The heavier sinker is used when the wind is blowing like it was the day we fished.

Anthony drops his bait right into the fish, jiggling the rod tip to make the worm move.  He will ease around the area the fish are in with a slow controlled drag, moving very slowly so his line is still at a sharp downward angle.  This moves the bait through the fish until an active one hits.

Cover both sides of the point before leaving.  If the wind is blowing down the side of the island or through the gap, try both windward and lee sides. Fish will move from the slight current on the windward side to the calmer lee side following baitfish.

3.  N 32 42.846 – W 85 53.596 – Going down the river channel, Chimney Rock, marred by graffiti, is on your right.  On the downstream end of the cliff a point covered with big boulders runs downstream, dropping fast on the river side.

There isn’t much brush here, but the fish hold on the big boulders. We saw fish suspended just over them from 20 to 40 feet deep.  That is the range Anthony expects the fish to hold when they are not up actively feeding. He will “wander” around with his trolling motor here and the other places until he finds them.

 If the fish are close to the rock let your sinker hit it then jiggle your worm. If they are holding well above it stay directly on top of them and watch your drop shot fall, stopping it so the worm is at the depth the fish area holding.

Fish all these places the same. Work around the boulders with jerkbait, then drop a worm to them.  Wind blowing on them helps the jerkbait bite a lot, and it can position the deeper fish as it funnels baitfish from the current it produces.

4.  N 32 42.193 – W 85 54.527 – Follow the river channel to the mouth of Kowaliga Creek.  The last island by the river channel before you can go over and into Kowaliga Creek has a small hump about 100 yards off the end of the island lined up with the sandy beach between two points. It comes up to 15 feet with the water down six feet like it was the day we fished it.

A hump coming up out on the end of a point like this makes it even better.  Stay off the hump and cast your deep diving jerkbait all over it. There are logs and brush piles on the hump where they hold. Fish in the cover on it will come up to hit a jerkbait at that depth.

    After working around the hump, try a shaky head worm and drop shot on it. You can cast both then get over the brush and fish with your drop shot straight down.  Anthony rigs a green pumpkin Strike King Baby Rage Craw on a one quarter ounce jig head and drags it along the bottom with little hops to make the tails wave.

    5.  N 32 42.318 – W 85 55.082 – Power lines with big airplane warning balls crosses the mouth of Kowaliga Creek.  On the left side going into Kowaliga Creek a hump comes up off the point on that side. It is under the gap between the third and fourth balls from the bank.

    This hump tops out 20 feet deep with the water down six feet and has brush on it. That is a little deep for a jerkbait but your drop shot works well here and you can catch fish on shaky head and jig, too.

    When working a drop shot to fish on the bottom, stay right over them and fish straight down then try a controlled drag. For brush piles start on the sides, especially if you see fish around rather than over the brush.  Then work into the brush so if you get hung and disturb the fish you have already fished the outsides of it.

    With fish suspended over the brush, play video game fishing, watching your bait as it drops then fishing it in the suspended fish. If you see fish holding way above the brush on these places your jerkbait may get deep enough to attract them.

    6. N 32 42.325 – W 85 54.876 – Across the mouth of Kowaliga Creek the second point on your left going back toward the river has danger markers all around it way off the bank. There used to be a long dock running out on this point so even with the water up it is very shallow. We could see the rocks above the water when we were there.

    Stop a long cast from the top of the point with your boat in about 20 feet of water and go all the way around it with both shallow and deep jerkbaits.  Watch as you go around it, there is a lot of brush and some stumps here. 

    Try drop shot around the brush under the boat. You can also catch fish here on shaky head and jig, fishing around the point casting from deep to shallow. Move your boat out deeper and watch for brush and fish, and work your jig or shaky head from a few feet deep out to 20 feet deep.  Rocks run well out from the top of the point and brush and stumps hold fish shallow enough that you do not want to get right on top of them for the drop shot.

    7.  N 32 44.320 – W 85 52.760 – The upstream point of Blue Creek is on a peninsular. There is a big rock pile off the bank on it that is marked but the big boulders on it were plainly visible with the water down.  Anthony says there is always a lot of bait here, a good sign this time of year, and holds big schools of bass feeding on them.

    Fish across the deep side of the rock pile with jerkbaits.  Also try drop shot on fish you see off it, and try dragging your shaky head and jig and pig from near the rocks to 20 feet deep.  Anthony fishes a green pumpkin half ounce Strike King jig with a matching Rage Craw trailer.

    8.  N 32 45.291 – W 85 52.850 – Up the river on the river side of the last island before the channel swings left and the lake opens up, a rock pile sits on the end of a ridge coming off the bank. The ridge and rock pile were visible when we fished and there is no danger marker on it.

    The river channel swings in right beside the rock pile. Get in close, you will be in 20 feet of water 30 feet off the bank, and fish your jerkbaits along the rocks.  Watch for fish and stumps on the bottom. There is not any brush here that we saw or that Anthony knows about, but the rocks and stumps hold fish.

    The ends of the rock pile are a good place to work jerkbaits and your jigs.  Bigger spots are often attracted to the jig and pig more than to the smaller baits, so try it if your goal is size rather than numbers.

    9.  N 32 45.615 – W 85 52.692 – Across the narrow gap where the river channel goes left, the upstream point runs downstream with the channel just off it.  Inside the point you can see the docks and buildings of Alamisco Camp.

    A good brush pile is out on this point and it was loaded with fish when we were there.  They really stack up on it when the wind blows through the gap from the north north west, like it was the day we fished.

    Fish jerkbaits over the brush first, especially when the wind is blowing.  Wind usually makes the jerkbait bite much better.  Then follow up with drop shot, shaky head and jig and pig. There are rocks and some brush other than the big pile scattered around this point that do hold fish, but the big one should be your main target.

    10.  N 32 51.023 – W 85 55.853 – For a change of pace to go after largemouth, Anthony goes up to the Wind Creek area where they are more plentiful.  There is a lot of wood cover in this area, both blowdowns and brush piles around docks, that largemouth love.

    One of the best is the left bank going in to the docks at Wind Creek State Park.  The bank across from the campground is steep and is lined with fallen trees, the ideal kind of place to find them. And tournament released fish constantly restock this area.

    Keep your boat in deep water off the end of the trees and cast a jig head worm to the wood.  Anthony fishes a quarter ounce jighead with a green pumpkin Rage Craw on it and moves it extremely slowly through the wood. 

    Although the cover is thick, Anthony uses 12-pound line since it is heavy enough to get the fish out but thin enough to get better feel of light bites.  Largemouth don’t seem to be as active as spots in cold water, so you must fish slowly and be ready to set the hook at the lightest indication of a bite.

    All these spots are good all this month. Decide if you want to catch a lot of small spots or quality largemouth and spots, and choose your baits and places based on that.  Try Anthony’s places and baits then use your favorite baits and find many similar places to fish them.

December 2018 Alabama River Bass
with Cole Burdeshaw

Big spotted bass actively feeding on river points and bluff banks. Quality largemouth looking for something to eat around creek grass beds and blowdowns. The Alabama River has both this month and offers you options for catching them.

The River, as locals call it, also goes by Woodruff Lake or Jones Bluff and runs right by the amphitheater in Montgomery. It starts where the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers join near Wetumpka and runs 80 miles west to its lock and dam. It is full of Coosa spots but also has a good population of largemouth.

Cole Burdeshaw lives in Headland and helped start the high school fishing team there. He is a senior on the Auburn fishing team now but also fishes many pot and local tournaments. He won the Alabama Nation adult division Federation State Championship tournament on Eufaula in October this year.

In September he teamed up with Peyton McCord, also from Headland and on the Auburn team, to fish the Reel Money Team Trail Championship on the Alabama River. They won with ten bass weighing 29.14 pounds, taking home $10,000 first prize. He knows how to catch bass on the river.

“The Alabama River may be the most underappreciated fishery in this area, or even the state.” Cole said. There have been big tournaments here like BASS Elite and Open tournaments, FLW, Alabama Bass Trail and the Reel Money Championship and they show how good the fishing can be, but it just does not get the publicity of other fisheries.

The Alabama Bass Anglers Information Team tournament results back this up. In pounds per angler day the Alabama River ranks ahead of well-known Eufaula and Guntersville. In bass per angler it ranks above those two and Pickwick.

By late November, most of the spots on the upper end of the river have set up on the main channel. Those are the ones Cole targets in tournaments, since their average size is better and there are many more of them. But some big largemouth are in the creeks feeding and one of them goes a long way when you need a kicker.

For December spots, Cole will have a jerkbait, jig and pig and crankbait ready to cast. When looking for a kicker largemouth he chooses a swim jig and spinnerbait.

The day before Halloween Cole and Peyton showed me how they won the Reel Money Championship and places they will be fishing in December. Some of them are the same places they won the championship since bass hold on them all year. Some of them get better and better as the water cools.

They fished a little different in September than they will be fishing in December. Most of their winning fish hit topwater and fast moving jerkbaits. This month topwater may still draw a few bites, and it is a good idea to try them, but jerkbaits and crankbaits fished slowly, and a jig and pig, will get more bites in the colder water.

1. N 32 25.582 – W 86 23.268 – Across from Cooters Pond, going upstream about a half mile, power lines cross the river. Just downstream of them on the right bank going upstream, a small ditch enters the lake. This is one of the kinds of places Cole targets in December.

Cole calls these places “U-ins” since they show a small indention on maps. Runoff in these places often build up a small delta, forming a point that breaks the current. This one and most others have blowdowns and wood cover on them, especially on the banks on both sides, offering more feeding places.

Stop downstream of the downstream point with your boat in about 25 feet of water and cast a jerkbait near the bank in the ditch. Work it back slowly, with a jerk-pause or jerk-jerk-pause. Make the pauses longer the colder the water. Work the jerkbait faster at the beginning of the month and slower later in

December. Also work a crankbait in the same areas, and drag a jig and pig through it.

After fishing the mouth of the ditch work the wood cover on both sides. Since so many released bass at Cooters Pond move to this area, Cole will fish the wood all the way from the ditch almost down to directly across from Cooters Pond. Work a jerkbait over the trees, bump a squarebill through them and bump limbs with a jig and pig.

2. N 32 22.557 – W 86 27.814 – Run down to the mouth of Catoma Creek on the left side going downstream. The mouth of it has a good point for spots and the
creek has grass beds and blowdowns that hold good largemouth. This is about as far downstream as Cole goes and it is his target when looking for a kicker largemouth.
Stop out in the middle of the mouth and cast over the downstream point with jerkbait and crankbait. It is gravel and clay, an ideal bottom for spots. A sexy shad or chartreuse sexy shad 5XD will bump the bottom, which it must do for consistent bites.

On the upstream point there is a good grassbed to fish. The water around it is shallow but the river channel is not far away. It was completely out of the water when we were there but the water was unusually low. Cast a three eights ounce chartreuse War Eagle spinnerbait with a silver and a gold willowleaf blade into the grass and work it out, looking like a baitfish coming out of the grass.

Swim a dirty white one quarter to three eights ounce Dirty Jig swimjig in to the grass and fish it out. If the water is high, cast back into the grass as far as you can work the jig.

Go into the creek and fish other grassbeds the same way. Try the spinnerbait and swim jig in blowdowns, especially on outside bends of the creek. Bump a jig and pig through the limbs of the trees before leaving. You could spend all day fishing for largemouth in Catoma Creek and have a decent catch, but you will catch a lot more fish out on the river.

3. N 32 24.070 – W 86 26.643 – Back upstream around the bend where the substation sits in the water, where the river straightens back out, a ditch enters the river where a big pasture starts up on the bank. The delta of this creek runs a little upstream from the downstream point and there are stumps on it that are key to fishing here. Blowdowns are on both sides of the creek.

When current is moving across this point and others Cole picks up his 5XD first. In slack water he starts with a jerkbait. Work both cross the whole mouth of the ditch. Then bump through the stumps with a jig and pig.

Cole fishes a three eights to one half ounce green pumpkin War Eagle jig with a tilapia Fighting Frog trailer. Use the heavier jig in stronger current. Cole says the Fighting Frog is by far the best trailer he has tried
.
4. N 32 24.748 – W 86 24.230 – Go under the Highway 31 bridges and stop on the small creek on the left just above it. This water is usually clearer, probably from a spring, and can be a little warmer in December, making the fish a little more active. It is always flowing.

The point here is sand and gravel and holds spots. Keep your boat in 25 plus feet of water and cover the area with all your baits. It is important to keep your boat outside the point. Don’t get closer than where the bottom starts to come up, around 25 feet deep.

5. N 32 24.537 – W 86 22.025 – Go upstream past
Cooters Pond and hole 1. On the right is a point with big rocks on the bank and under the water that hold big spots. The river channel swings right by it and the rock ledge drops off fast. This vertical drop is a good place to fish your jig.

Cast right to the edge of the water and keep your line slack. Slowly move the jig when it hits bottom and let if fall. Don’t move it more than an inch or two before letting it fall. The bottom drops so fast that if you move it more that that it will fall too far from the rocks.

A jerkbait or crankbait will catch fish here. Get your boat near the bank and cast upstream, running both baits right along the bluff drop. Spots love to hold on bluff banks like this in December and this is a very good one to fish.

6. N 32 23.700 – W 86 20.839 – Going up the river, just as the buildings in Montgomery come into sight, a good ditch is on the left. A sand bar comes off the upstream point and is your target. Across and about a half mile upstream from it is the ramp and pier at Powder Magazine access.

Stop downstream of the point out from the mouth of the ditch and cast your crankbait and jerkbait over it.
As you work upstream, keep your boat in 20 plus feet of water and cast to the bank. Bump the bottom out to ten feet deep with the crankbait and work over it with jerkbait. Then drag your jig along the bottom along this bar.

7. N 32 22.955 – W 86 19.678 – Downstream of the I-65 Bridge, near the power line crossing, the right bank gets very steep and turns into a bluff that runs all the way upstream past the amphitheater. It starts on a small point with flat rock ledges on the bank then gets deeper as you fish upstream.

Your boat should be in 40 plus feet of water at the point and fishing up the bluff. Cast your jig right to the bank and fish it like other bluffs, very slowly. Work your jerkbait right against the edge.

Current is very important here and in other places, it makes the fish bite much better. Water released at the Bouldin Canal on Jordan Lake creates more current than the Jordan dam release so checking the times of generation will tell you the best time to fish here.

Cole says you can spend all day fishing from here all the way up the bluff bank to the amphitheater. This big outside bend bluff wall holds a lot of big spots and is worth fishing slowly and carefully.

8. N 32 22.959 – W 86 18.815 – A small creek enters the river just upstream of the amphitheater and a rocky point runs out from the seawall where it enters. The rocks are shallow on top and run out to the river channel where it drops into deep water. Spots feed on this point.

Stop well off the point in 20 plus feet of water and cast across it with a jerkbait. Then try a 1.5 squarebill, bumping the shallow rocks. As you work out to deeper water, work your jig and pig on the deeper water.

Several big tournaments have been won here, and it gets a lot of pressure. Be patient, the reason it is a community hole is because so many fish are caught here. Try different baits and try to be on it when current is moving over it, turning on the fish.

9. N 32 23.387 – W 86 18.9.891 – A ditch with a flat sand point on the downstream side and riprap on the deeper upstream side is downstream of the Highway 152 bridge, about half way between Hole 8 and the bridge. The point provides a break in the current that the spots use to feed.

Stop on the downstream side of the ditch and fish the back side of the point. Current eddies on the downstream sides of these points and are a feeding and holding area. Cover the whole point since the fish will move up on it to feed, and the upstream side also create eddy feeding areas.

10. N 32 23.670 – W 86 19.189 – Just above the Highway 152 bridge another ditch enters the river. Just downstream of is a small shack sits up on the bank and a handrail runs down the slope of the bank. The ditch forms a flat point on the downstream side. Cole caught a good spot here on his jerkbait.

Start in front of the shack and work upstream, or you can fish from Hole 9 to here. Fish feed along the bank between the two points and you can catch some along it, but the key places, holding more bass, are the points.

Cole likes the Megabass 110+1 since it has a stronger bill and runs a little deeper. A bright and flashy color works best since the water is usually stained in the river. It will catch bass all month, but you have to slow it down in colder water.

Fish the entrance to the ditch and a little past it. Blowdowns on the bank hold some fish on them and you can catch them here and other places with a crankbait or jig and pig.
All these places hold fish right now. Give them a try, going for spots or largemouth, or both, with your favorite December baits.

Cole and Peyton are starting to guide some on Eufaula, Martin and the Alabama River. Contact them on
Cole’s Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008241942210 and you can also see some of his catches there.

Do you find these Map of the Month articles helpful? If so visit http://fishing-about.com/keys-to-catching-georgia-bass-ebook-series/ – you can get an eBook or CD with an article for each month of the year on Clarks Hill and Lanier.

December Bass at Wedowee

with Lee Byrd

     Many bass fishermen get so involved with the holidays they don’t think much about fishing from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  That is a mistake.  Some of the best bass fishing of they year is in late November to the end of December and Lake Wedowee is one of the best lakes to catch heavy stringers this time of year.

     Wedowee is the newest Alabama Power lake and is officially known as R.L. Harris Reservoir.  Completed in 1983, it was formed by damming the Tallapoosa River.  It covers 10,660 acres and has 270 miles of shoreline and most of the upper lake on both the Tallapoosa and Little Tallapoosa Rivers are winding channels and steep banks.

     Spotted bass are very common in the lake to the point the Alabama DNR has places a special slot limit on largemouth only.  You must release all largemouth between 13 and 16 inches long.  When first implemented this slot limit also applied to spots but they were removed two years ago and it only applies to largemouth now. Anglers are encouraged to keep spots of all sizes, especially the smaller ones.

     Lee Byrd grew up fishing in Georgia with his grandfather. He says they went “junk” fishing for anything that would bite.  He started concentrating on bass when about 12 years old and joined the Marietta Bass Club, one of the best clubs in Georgia the week he turned 18. That was natural since his father Bill Byrd was a member and a well know bass fishermen throughout the state.

     Lee moved to Birmingham 12 years ago and now concentrates his fishing on Alabama lakes. He is in the Birmingham Bass Club and fishes the Bama BFL and plans on fishing the Weekend Series this next year. He also competes in some local tournaments.  He is on the Grammer Marine fishing team and is sponsored by Champion Boats.

     Lee started fishing Wedowee in the mid-1980s, as soon as if filled.  Then four years ago a friend, Bill Roberts, from the Washington, DC area started visiting in late November for some fishing and they chose Wedowee as the best lake for this time of year.   Each year they catch a lot of big bass. Last year the first day of their trip Lee’s best five weighing 27 pounds.  The next day his best five weighed 23 pounds.

     There are some quality largemouth in Wedowee and Lee tends to focus on them. That is a results of his tournament fishing where largemouth usually weigh more than spots.  He does catch a lot of spots, too, but most of the better spots weigh two to three pounds.

     Lee says the bass are easy to pattern in late November and all during December. He concentrates on three types of structure, all related to deep water and channels.  Points where the channel swings near them, bluff banks on the main lake and creek banks where the channel swings against them all produce bass this time of year. 

     You can catch fish on almost all such places right now but Lee refines his fishing more. He looks for transitions. Changes hold bass so he wants to find a point of bluff where the rocks change to clay or where the water color changes.  Temperature changes can be just as important. Lee says he will often run up a creek and watch his temperature gauge.  If there are two bluff banks where the temperature is 58 then the next three show lower temperatures, around 51 or so, he will concentrate on the second and third bluffs where the temperature changes.

     A variety of baits work well and temperature controls what Lee throws to some extent. If the water temperature is still in the upper 50s he sticks with more active baits like crankbaits and spinnerbaits. When it hits the low 50s he relies on a jig and pig to catch most of his fish at Wedowee.

     Crankbaits with a tight wobble are Lee’s choice and he likes them in shad colors.  A Baby Little N or a Suddeth work well and have the wobble he likes.  Wooden baits are good and seem to do better, especially if the fishing is tough. Also, as a change-up, he will throw a bright chartreuse crankbait. That will sometimes produce hits when the shad colors are not drawing attention.

     Lee makes his own jigs and likes a three-eights to one–half ounce jig.  He will throw a quarter ounce jig if the fishing it tough and he wants a slower falling bait.  When the sun is out he fishes a brown or green pumpkin jig with a Zoom Super Chunk in green pumpkin or blue.  On cloudy and rainy days he uses a black jig and blue trailer.  Black and blue works better in off-color water.  For some reason Lee has found black and blue is good in very clear water, too.

     The bass are usually holding eight to 25 feet deep this time of year so Lee works those depths until he zeros in on a more specific depth.  If you are regularly catching fish at a set depth, concentrate on it.  Sunny or cloudy days don’t really affect the bite much other then which color Lee throws. He says a little wind helps move the baitfish so wind blown banks can be better.

     Lee concentrates on the upper one-third of the Little Tallapoosa and Tallapossa Rivers but there are some good areas down the lake, too.  You can pick and area to launch and stay nearby, there is no need to run all over the lake to find fish.

     The following ten spots are some of Lee’s favorites.  They are on different parts of the lake so some will be near you wherever you launch. Check them out and you will find many similar places nearby.

     1. N 33 21.098 – W 85 30.851 – Just upstream and across the river from the mouth of Wedowee Creek is an excellent example of the kind of  point Lee likes to fish this time of year.  It is on the upstream side of a cove that has a single small dock with a tin roof way back in it.  There are no houses on either side of the cove that you can see and both points are natural woods.

     The upstream point is at the end of a bluff wall and is a transition from a steep rock face to a flatter clay and rock bottom.  The channel runs right along the outside of the point but it is flatter on top and the point runs out shallow across the mouth of the cove for a short distance.

     Start with your boat on the river side and cast a crankbait across it, fishing it shallow to deep.  Fish all the way around the point making fan casts to cover all of it.  You can do the same with a spinnerbait if the water is in the upper 50s. Try hopping a jig and pig down the point from all angles if the water is in the lower 50s.

     2.  N 33 20.544 – W 85 30.572 – Run into Wedowee Creek and the channel makes a sharp bend to the right.  On your left you will see a white dock at the start of the sheer rock bluff.  Start fishing at this dock and work down the bluff, past a deck that is just above the full pool mark.   Not far past the deck is a small cove. Fish around it past the small gray house sitting on top of a concrete vertical foundation.  There is a fish feeder at it and you will see some small pine seedlings in the gutter.

     Keep your boat parallel to the bluff and work your crankbait and spinnerbait parallel to the rocks.  Cast right to the bank and fish the bait at an angle that keeps it close since the bottom drops off very fast.  Also try hopping a jig and pig down the face of the rocks.

     3.  N 33 20.523 – W 85 30.692 – Across the creek there is a point and a bluff wall where the creek makes a bend back to the left.  Start at the wooden dock on your right on the point.  It has a shingle roof and the house up on the point has a big deck around it. It is near where the bottom changes from a flatter clay area to a sheer vertical rock wall.    

     Fish all your baits along this bank, trying different speeds and depths.  You can fish all the way around past the five docks to the next transition where the channel moves to the left and the bottom flattens out a little more.  All along here watch for changes – a tree in the water, a change in water color or even the shadow from the docks to fish hard since the bass will hold on any change.

     4.  N 33 19.577 – W 85 32.117 – Headed down the river the channel makes a big “U” turn, swinging to your left then back to your right. On the outside of the “U” two coves cut back in offering a change.  Start fishing on the downstream point of the upstream cove.  It has some big rocks out in the water off the bank so stop way off it and ease in until you learn how far out they go.

     You will see two big whitish rocks at the top of the rock wall just downstream of the point. They sit right at the high water mark.  This point makes a change from big rocks under water to a steep rock bank.  I caught a chunky two pound spot just downstream from the point in early November on a jig and pig.

     Fish from the point down the bank, staying on the outside of it.  Fish the rocks on the point with a variety of baits then fish down the rock wall to the floating dock with a yellow slide and blue diving board on it.  On the downstream side of this dock is some brush that will still be in the water if it is not too low. The brush makes a nice change to fish and it holds bass.

     Fish on down past the deck at the high water level working crankbaits and spinnerbaits parallel to the rocks and hopping a jig down them.  When fishing a steep wall like this cast your jig and pig to the bank and let it hit bottom. Work it back with tiny hops of your rod tip, barely moving your rod tip. The jig will fall several inches to several feet with just a tiny movement of your rod tip.

     5.  N 33 19.451 – W 85 32.250 – The point at the end of the bluff wall in hole #4 is another good transition.  The bluff bank stops and a flatter point extends out, dropping off fast on both sides but with some shallow water on top. There is a floating dock attached to a dock on post with lattice around it. There is also a yellow boat house with a wooden ramp in front of it.

     Back off the point and make long casts with a crankbait and spinnerbait to cover the water from the top of the point down. Fish all the way around it, hitting it from all angles. Then go back around it with a jig and pig. You can make bigger hops here since the bottom does not drop quite as fast.

     6. N 33 17.703 – W 85 37.674 – If you put in on the lower lake the banks look very different but the channel swings still hold bass. Go in behind the big islands on the north side of the lake.  Be careful in this area there is lots of standing timber here. With the water down you can see most of it and know where to keep your boat.

     If you are coming downstream and go in behind them on the upstream side you will see a hump on your left with a danger buoy on it. With the water down it will be lying on top of the hump. All around the hump is standing timber. Across from this hump the channel makes a sharp turn to your left and there is another marked hump on your right. 

     Ease over to this hump that marks the end of a long point. The channel swings in on both sides of it, making it an excellent place to catch bass.  The best areas are where the channel swings in closest and the bottom makes the steepest drop.  Work all around this hump and point, keeping your bait out in the timber and fishing back.

     The bass might be holding suspended down along the tree trunks so fish your spinnerbait and crankbait through the timber as well as working the bottom.  It is harder to fish a place like this but it often pays off in bigger fish.

     7. N 33 17.961 – W 85 38.141 – Shad move into the creeks when the water temperature is below 60 degrees, according to Lee, and the bass will follow them.  Run into Fox Creek past the ramp and power lines.  The creek makes a fork and the point between the two arms is an excellent point to fish.  As you go up the creek one arm goes ahead and to the left and another makes a sharp turn to the right.  On top of the point is a dead kudzu field and a dirt track comes down to the water on the left side facing it and goes up the right side where people come to the bank to fish.

     Start fishing on the left side of the point facing it and work around it.  There are smaller points sticking out from the main point and some rock piles on them.  All make transitions where the bass hold. On the upper side the channel swings in then back out, making another transition area to fish.  Crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jig and pig are all good here.

     8.  N 33 20.313 – W 85 35.855 – Up the Tallapoosa River are some good spots, too.  There are fewer houses up this way and the channel is actually narrower then the Little Tallapoosa.  There is also a lot of standing timber along the banks.

     Run up past Indian Creek on your left and watch for a cove on your right.  The upstream point of the cove is the end of a bluff wall.  There is a sign nailed to a tree standing in the water across the river from the point advertising “Camping and Restrooms” with a phone number and arrow pointing upstream.  The fish often stack up on the point and they will also hold along the bluff bank upstream of the point. Work around the point with all your baits then fish up the bluff bank some, too. 

     Lee says the fish change year to year and even day to day.  If you found fish on the point the last time you fished there is a good chance they are still there, or on structure nearby. Vary your bait color, speed and depth of retrieve until you find them.

     9. N 33 21.174 – W 85 34.994 – Up the river on your right is a cove with a sign on a point back in the middle of it saying “Ratley’s Cove.”  The upstream point of the cove had a bunch of mallard decoys on it when I was there and there are big orange balls floating in the water off both points of the cove.

     Fish the bluff wall starting at the upstream point and working up. There are a lot of docks along this bluff wall and you should try all your baits, fishing all the way to the next cove. Watch for anything that is different and make casts to it.

     This bank as others on the east side of both rivers will stay shady for a good while during the day. Shade can also be a transition area and sometimes the bass like to hold in shady areas go check them out.

     10.  N 33 22.241 – W 85 35.873 – Head upstream to where the channel makes a sharp bend back to your right. There is a creek entering here and the mouth if full of standing timber. There are two big trees standing out in the water and one of them has an osprey nest in it.  A bluff bank runs above and below this creek. Fish both sides along the bank, working your baits on the rocks as well as in the trees.

     Here and in the other bluff banks Lee says to keep your boat in 25 to 40 feet of water when fishing a jig and pig. Make short casts ahead of the boat and hop your bait down the bank. Don’t get in too close. Let your jig fall on a slack line so you don’t pull it away from the bottom on each hop.  Let is sit a few seconds them make another small pull. Your jig will fall several feet even on slack line on a very small pull of your rod tip.

     These ten spots show you the kinds of places Lee likes to catch Wedowee bass this time of year.  Try them, see what he is talking about and you will find many other similar places all over the lake to fish.

with Brian Randall

     September can be a mean month for bass fishermen. The water is as hot as it gets all year and the oxygen content is at its lowest level. Bass are often sluggish and not feeding much. But some lakes like Logan Martin give us a chance to have good catches even now.

     Built in 1965 by Alabama Power on the Coosa River east of Birmingham, Logan Martin is 48.5 miles from dam to headwaters and has 15,263 acres of water filled with river ledges, grass beds and docks.  Water releases and power generation at the Logan Martin dam as well as from the Neely Henry dam upstream create current that helps make the bass feed.

     There is a good population of largemouth in the lake but spotted bass seem to dominate tournament catches.  In the BAIT survey for 2007 Logan Martin ranked first in percent of angler success and third in bass and pounds landed per angler day.  The average bass weight and hours to catch a bass over five pounds ranked 19^th.  So expect to catch a lot of keeper bass but bigger bass are harder to come by on Logan Martin.

     Brian Randall grew up in Tuscaloosa and is a fire fighter there now.  He is also sales manager of Grammer Marine in Vance and sells Champion, Blazer and Express boats on the days he is not on duty at the fire station.  He has fished Logan Martin all his life.

     In the mid 1990s a friend got Brian started tournament fishing and he has done well.  In 2001 he won the Neely Henry BFL and the Bama Division point standings for the year.  In 2002 he fished the Stren Series and finished 8th in his first tournament on that trail and then finished 15^th at Eufaula after leading on day two.  He got married the next year and took a year off from tournament fishing but is getting back into it now, fishing the Dixie BFLs, where he is in 10^th place overall for the year, and the Grammer Marine trail.

     Brian took me fishing on Logan Martin the last day of July, showing me how to catch bass there.  He said the bass are on their summer patterns from now on through most of September and you can catch them on ledges, brush piles and docks.  Near the end of September the bass will follow the shad back into the creeks and coves but you can still follow them and land them from docks and grassbeds.

     Logan Martin is a very versatile lake where you can always catch bass shallow, according to Brian.  The abundant cover and shallow structure mean bass don’t have to go real deep and current helps keep them in easier to fish areas. From now to the end of September Brian expects to catch bass 10 to 15 feet deep during the day on ledges.  He also catches fish on top early each morning and around docks during the day.  Those three patterns will serve you well.

     For topwater fishing Brian had a Spook, Jr., a Rico popper or a buzzbait tied on. He fishes them around grassbeds, rocks and docks until the sun get on the water.  Cloudy days will hold the fish shallow longer and fish will hit topwater around docks later than they will on open grassbeds or rocks.

     For ledge fishing Brian likes a big crankbait like a Norman or Poes. For the shallow ledges 10 to 12 feet deep he goes with a Deep Little N then switches to a DD 22N for deeper fish.  He says the Poes is a forgotten crankbait that will still catch bass and he likes it on the more shallow ledges.  All his crankbaits are shad colored with gray backs, like the citrus shad or gray ghost.  The gray back is a key for all his crankbaits.

     Crankbaits are thrown on 10 pound P-Line spooled on a bait casting reel. All his rods are Castaway Rods, one of his sponsors.  He makes long casts and the 10 pound line helps the plug get down deeper.

     A Castaway spinning rod with a reel spooled with eight pound PLine Fluorocarbon line is kept ready with a shaky head jig and a Net Bait worm for fishing brush when the fishing is tough.  He will also throw the shaky head around docks.

     Sometimes the fish on the ledges just don’t seem to want a crankbait and Brian will throw a Net Bait worm on a Caroliana rig to them.  He will also keep a football head jig ready to drag on the ledges for those tough days.

     The following ten spots will hold bass for you this month. Brian and I fished them and caught about 15 bass, all but two were spots. Brian’s best five that day weighed 13.5 pounds and included a 4 pound, 1 ounce spot.  We quit early in the afternoon and missed some of the good bite, but it was still a very good day.

     1.  N 33 31.765 – W 86 17.015 – In Cropwell Creek the peninsular that separates the cove at Lakeside Landing and the creek itself is a good place to start early in the morning. Run around to the creek side and you will see a series of seawalls and small coves. Start fishing on the point between the creek and the cove in front of the brown house with a weather vane on top and work up the creek side at the seawall. 

     This rock seawall runs along the bank and there are rocks out from it. You will fish a variety of seawalls, docks and cuts with some grass. Fish all the way up to the point that runs way out, Be sure to cast your topwater right to the seawall and work it out.  When you got to grassbeds throw a buzz bait in them, working all through them.  Fish along the outside edges of docks, too.

     2.  N 33 30.862 – W 86 17.767 – Run down past the opening to the river, staying inside the creek, and watch on your right for a long dock running upstream on a point.  The dock is on an island that has a causeway to it and is in front of a white cabin with a screen porch and a chain link fence. Start on the back side of the island near the causeway and work toward the point, casting topwater right on the bank. Fish this side, hitting the docks there and the  brush in the water.  Work around the point and fish the dock on it.

     As you round the point you will see a big cement ramp. Fish it and then start working the docks down this bank.  We missed several fish here and Brian got a solid spot that weighed just under three pounds and I got a two pound keeper spot.  We also saw some schooling fish here.

     The first dock past the ramp has a lot of brush around it.  Fish over it with topwater and work on down the bank until the fish quit hitting on top. Fish between the docks, casting near the bank and working back along the edges of the docks. Be sure to cast to any rock or grass on the bank between the docks.

     After fishing the docks go back to the brush around the first dock and try your shaky head or Carolina rig. Brian likes a light jig head to work through the brush without hanging up, and be ready to set the hook and reel hard to get the fish out of the brush.

     3.  N 33 32.202 – W 86 16.522 – Head to the back of Cropwell creek and you will see some ball fields right in the back. To the left of the fences you will see a roadbed entering the water. That roadbed runs down the creek and makes a perfect ledge with cement rubble on top. Brian runs back to the little island on the left across from the area they are clearing for a new subdivision on the right bank and starts fishing.

     You will see two danger markers ahead of you, toward the back of the creek. Keep your boat on the outside of the roadbed in about 10 feet of water and work toward the back of the creek. Stay where you can cast all the way across the roadbed and bring your bait up one side, across the top and down the other.

     Brian fished a Norman’s Deep Little N here and warned you will get hung a lot on the rubble from the road. He keeps a spark plug with a clip on it to drop down his line to shake the plug loose and also keeps a Hound Dog type plug knocker with short small ropes on it to run down his line to pull his plug off hang-ups.

     I caught a two pound spot on a Texas rigged worm here and Brian got a slightly bigger spot on his crankbait the day we fished.  Both of us missed several hits but we did not stay very long.

     4. N 33 29.720 – W 86 14.641 – Run out of Cropwell Creek and head up the river.  Go through the big “S” bend past Powell’s Campground and watch for another area that is being cleared for a new subdivision on your left.  In front of it is a cove with an island on the upstream side. Stop out off the downstream point of this island in about 21 feet of water. A ledge runs along the island and the downstream side of the point and comes up to about 14 feet deep. Stay out and cast up on top of the ledge and work a deep running crankbait, Carolina rig or football head jig back down the drop.

     This ledge is a hard clay bottom without much cover on it so you won’t get hung up much. Fish from the middle of the cove upstream until you are even with the island.  Make very long cast so your bait has a chance to get down deeper.  You need to hit bottom for the best results, and Brian will sweep his rod when his plug hits bottom, making it dig along and draw a strike.

     Brian likes to sit deep and cast up shallow on all the ledges he fishes.  He is looking for active fish that have moved up to feed and thinks he does better fishing in that direction. He says he is also less likely to get hung up fishing from shallow to deep.

     5.  N 33 30.353 – W 86 13.605 – Heading upstream around the next bend you will see the bridge ahead of you, a house on a steep cleared hillside with a big cement wall between it and the water on your right, and a small creek entering on your right upstream of the house.  A roadbed crosses the mouth of this creek, creating a ledge, and it has concrete rubble on it from the old bridge or a house foundation.

     Stay out in 20 feet of water and cast up onto the roadbed that tops out about eight feet deep.  Brian will break off rather than go get his bait in a tournament because he feels getting on top of the shallow water spooks the fish. If you need to get your bait, or if you want to idle over the spot to see how it looks, it is a good idea to leave and come back later to fish it.

     6. N 33 33.732 – W 86 10.774 – Run up into the mouth of Choccoloco Creek, staying in the channel past the islands on your left. Straight ahead is a steep bank where the creek runs right by the shore on and outside bend.  There is a big house up on the hillside with several turrets and roof pinnacles.  There are some big white rocks on the bank on the left side when you are facing it and granite riprap on the right.  Stop out in front of this house. 

      Here you want to fish the ledge on the inside bend of the creek channel. Keep your boat in the channel and throw your baits downstream toward the river.  There is a shallow point just to your left if you are facing out from the big house and dock and you will be casting up into about 12 feet of water while sitting in 25 feet.

     Work all along this ledge.  Brian keeps a marker buoy on the edge of his casting deck and kicks it over the side as soon as he hooks a bass to mark the spot. That way he can go back to the exact same spot. That is important because bass stack up on these ledges in small areas and you should catch several anywhere you get one.

     Brian told me he caught a bunch of 1.5 pound fish here in the recent BFL and finally just gave up and left biting fish because they were not culling anything he had.  He caught three here on crankbaits the day we fished, all about 1.5 pounds.

     7.  N 33 33.533 – W 86 10.215 – Go up the creek around the bend and the creek runs straight for a long way.  Stop about even with the point on your left out in 25 feet of water and start casting toward the bank on that side, fishing up the creek. You will be downstream of a white house with red shutters. There are a lot of stumps along this creek ledge.

     Work up the creek, casting up into six feet of water. Brian says he thinks this was the area some of the pros caught fish in a big tournament and he landed the 4 pound, 1 ounce spot here. It hit his Deep Little N crankbait.

     Fish all the way up to the last dock on the point where the creek makes a bend again. This is over 200 yards of ledge to fish and they may be holding anywhere along it.  You will get hung up on all the stumps but they are why the fish are here.

     Brian will start fishing this ledge and others making casts across it at a 90 degree angle. Then, especially if he catches a fish or two, he will move in and change the angle he is fishing a little, casting up or down the ledge and coming across it at a different angle to show the fish something a little different. This will often trigger more strikes.

     8.  N 33 34.451 – W 86 12.834 – Heading up the river you will come out of a fairly  narrow stretch of the river and Dye Creek will open up on your left. Ahead you will see a power line crossing. On the left will be a danger marker sitting way out from the bank.  This hump has rocks on it and it a good place to fish a crankbait, Carolina rig or football head jig.

     Work all around this hump probing for rocks and bass. When you catch one mark it and fish that spot hard. If the current is running the downstream side of the hump is usually better.  Current and wind blowing across this spot make the fish bite better since both move bait across the hump.  Both help on any of these spots.

     9.  N 33 34.989 – W 86 13.120 – Go up to the power line and stop out from the small island with the power line tower on it on your right. A good ledge starts just downstream of this pole and runs up to the island on that side. It is a sloping ledge without a steep drop and Brian says it is usually better in the morning. Most sloping ledges seem to pay off for him better in the morning.

     Fish from the power line tower upstream, working crankbaits, Carolina rigs and football head jigs from shallow to deep.  Bright sun actually helps this and other ledges.  Cloudy days seem to make the fish scatter more and Brian says he does better on them when the sun is bright. It positions the fish in one area and they are easier to catch.

     10. N 33 36.943 – W 86 11.362 – Run up the river above the three bridges and watch to your left. There is a small creek with some houses on the downstream side and one of them has a tower. There is a green roof and an orange roof dock in front of these houses.  On the upstream side of the small creek you will see a white post of some kind in the water near the bank.     

     Start fishing out from the upstream point of the pocket and fish up past the white post working upstream. This area of the river has steep ledges and drops fast. There are a lot of stumps along this ledge. I hooked two small largemouth here, the only two we saw all day. Both hit a worm.

     11. N 33 37.348 – W 86 10.160 – A little further upstream you will see a brush top out way off the bank on your left. A good ledge runs along this side from the brush top all the way to the next creek entering on that side.  It is covered with big stumps.  Fish it the same way as the others, casting crankbaits, Carolina rigs and football head jigs from deep to shallow. 

     Give these spots a try to see the kinds of places Brian fishes this time of year. Once you get the idea you can find many other similar spots all over the lake. Catch bass on these then find others all your own to catch bass.  It is hard to beat Logan Martin this time of year.

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Water release info – 1-800-525-3711

with Captain Mike Gerry

See Captain Mike Gerry’s weekly fishing report here

     October is a great month for catching bass all over Alabama but Guntersville is hard to beat.  The lake is full of big bass in shallow water that will hit a variety of baits right now.  And you can be more comfortable fishing for them all day now that cooler weather is here.

     A dam 94 feet high and 3929 feet long was completed on the Tennessee River in 1939 to form Guntersville.  The lake has 67,900 acres of water and 890 miles of shoreline, but the average depth is so shallow that most of the lake holds bass in easy to reach cover. 

     The water level stays stable to provide a navigation channel, fluctuating only two feet between summer and winter pool.  This allows different kinds of grass beds to grow and get thick most years, and the bass use them for cover all year long.  A 15 inch size limit insures a good population of smaller bass that grow into bragging size fish.

     In the 2007 Alabama Bass Anglers Information Team report Guntersville had the highest average weight for bass caught in tournaments of all reported lakes, and it took less time to catch a bass over five pounds at Guntersville than any other Alabama lake.  Numbers of bass caught were not as impressive but the 15 inch size limit makes it harder to catch keepers.

     Mike Gerry moved to Alabama in the early 1970s and coached high school football for many years.  He loved fishing the area and participated in many tournaments, fishing on Guntersville starting in 1974. After a boating accident while fishing a night tournament and three tough years of rehabilitation he started guiding on Guntersville full time in 1997.  He lives on the lake near the ramp at Waterfront Grocery and Tackle and is on the lake about 200 days a year now.

     Mike netted the lake record 14 pound, 8 ounce bass for his partner Charlie Betus several years ago.  His personal best from the lake is an 11 pound, 2 ounce hog most of us can only dream of catching.  And his best five fish limit weighed 27 pounds.  He catches lots of bass and big ones.  He won the Guntersville Civitan Big Bass contest this past  June with a 7 pound, 4 ounce largemouth and got his best of the  year, an 8 pound, 14 ounce beauty, in mid August.

     Mike says this is an unusual fall for Guntersville because the grass mats are not as common and thick as normal.  Last February was real cold so the grass did not get a good start, and unusually strong winds all summer kept it broke up.  The rat bite is usually one of the strongest patterns on Guntersville in October but it will not be as good as usual this year.

     The water started cooling early this year and the bass started moving into the creeks and coves. Mike says they follow mussels and baitfish. The mussel beds offer a variety of foods for the bass as do the baitfish. Most of his fishing this time of year is from the mouths of creeks back in them.  He started catching good bass on this pattern this year in mid August and the 8-14 came on it.

     Early each morning Mike likes to start with topwater baits and says a fast moving bait like a buzzbait is his choice.      He will run it over hydrilla and milfoil that is not covering the surface, trying to draw an active bass up and out of the grass to feed.  If he finds a solid patch of grass on top he will fish a rat or frog on it.

     As the sun gets up Mike switches to crankbaits, spinnerbaits, a jig and pig and a Texas rigged Paca Craw.  He fishes the shallow running crankbait or a Punisher Lures spinnerbait over grass that is several feet below the surface, concentrating on edges where channels or ledges drop off and the grass stops.

     If the bass won’t chase the crankbait or spinnerbait he will make short pitches with the other two baits, let them fall to the bottom, then pop them up two to three feet and let them fall again.  He only pops them up one time since he gets almost all his bites on the initial fall.

     To get down through the grass he uses a black and blue one-ounce Tightline jig with a black or blue Paca Craw trailer.  He will go lighter for a slower fall with a Paca Craw rigged with a one-half ounce sinker if the fish seem to want a slower falling bait.  Both baits are pitched about 20 yards from the boat then reeled in for another pitch after one hop.

     The following spots have been holding bass for several weeks now and they will get better and better as the water cools more.  Give them a try to see the kinds of spots Mike looks for this time of year.

     1. N 34 31.400 – W 86 10.327 – Beshart Creek is the first creek on the west side upstream of the ramp at Waterfront Grocery and Tackle. It goes in and turns and there is a big bay with the Highway 79 causeway running along the west side. The bay is shallow and full of grass with a good channel running through it and Mike likes to start here with topwater baits in the morning.

     Run into the creek and you will see the causeway ahead of you. It is broken by an island with trees on it and you want to stop out in the middle of the bay about even with the island.  Watch your depthfinder and you will see the creek channel snaking across the flat running about nine feet deep. It has hydrilla on the edge of it forming a good grassline to fish.

     Keep your boat in the channel and make casts up to the shallow grass and run a buzzbait over it. There are some solid mats here to work a rat on, too. Fish the rat pretty fast to draw a strike.  Work along the channel from even with the island all the way to where it makes a turn toward the bridge.

     If nothing hits on top try your jig and pig or Texas rig, dropping it into holes and popping it up.  Mike uses Suffix monofilament 20 pound test on both jig and Texas rig. The mono is better in the clear water but you need heavy line to pull the fish out of the grass.

     The water in here is normally very clear and it is due to the hydrilla.  Hydrilla filters sediment out of the water more than milfoil so you can expect to find clearer water where hydrilla is present.  We caught four or five bass here on top early the day Mike showed me these spots a few weeks ago.

     2. N 34 29.787 – W 86 09.740 – Come out of the creek and head downstream across the lake, staying on the downstream end of the big hydrilla bed and shallows in the middle.  You will see two long riprap points running off the east bank where they used to fill barges with coal.  Upstream of the upstream one is a cove with a small island in it that Mike called Murphy Hill.  The downstream point of this cove has a good grass flat running out from it.

     Stop on the outside of the point and start fishing with your boat in about 13 feet of water, casting up onto the shelf that is four to five feet deep on top.  Work over it on top and try your crankbait and spinnerbait along the drop, too.  Work all the way around the point back into the cove then fish back around it, dropping your jig and Texas rig into the grass. You may need to get in closer to fish those baits.

     Mike says wind blows onto this point and pushes baitfish up on it, making it better. Some wind blowing into grassbeds helps concentrate baitfish and bass this time of year.  Current moving across them helps, too.

     3. N 34 30.162 – W 86 08.723 – Go upstream around the island and point into the next big cove. Mike calls it Church House Cove and you will see a pocket filled with big lily pads on your right as you round the point.  There are big stumps mixed in with the pads and grass that grows way out from them here.

     No matter what time of day, if Mike sees any movement in the pads from baitfish or bass he will work a frog or rat through them.  He throws it on 50 pound Power Pro braid to get the fish out of the thick stuff.  You can work all around this whole cove fishing pads if the fish are up in them.

     If not, start on the point staying out from the pads and pitch your jig or Texas rig into the grass.  Remember to fish fast, dropping the bait into holes you can see and popping it up high. Be ready to set the hook if you feel a bass as you start your pop, they will often grab the bait when it hits bottom and hold it, and you won’t feel them until you start to move it.

     If you hit a stump cast back to it again once you have it located. Big bass love to hold on the stumps surrounded by grass.  You can fish this whole area since it is filled with cover. Bass will often get in small areas within a big flat like this and you have to find where they are located, then you can often catch several.

     4. N 34 31.980 – W 86 08.562 – Back across the lake, again avoiding the shallows in the middle, go upstream to the Daylight Marker 373.2 on an island on that side.  Just upstream of this marker there is a cut running behind the island and the upstream point is clay.   You will see a big standing dead tree on the inside of this point and another one lying on the bank.

     If you idle across the mouth of this pocket the bottom will drop off to 14 feet then  come back up on a hump five or six feet deep. Baitfish and bass often stack up in the cut between the two and run up on the point to feed.  Current coming down the river will also make a good eddy here that attracts bass.

     Start out off the point with your boat in 14 feet of water and fish the top of the point with all your baits.  Mike says he usually finds bass here in the first 30 yards going into the cut so he usually does not fish all the way back unless he is catching fish.  This is a good schooling spot so start with a crankbait.  Work in with one bait then work out offering them something different.

     5. N 34 31.924 – W 86 07.354 – Back across the river there are a series of islands on the upstream side of the mouth of South Sauty Creek.  Stop downstream of the first small island off the willow grass point and fish upstream.  The point of the first island runs out shallow but there is a “U” shaped pocket between it and the next big island upstream. These “U” shaped pockets are a key to what Mike is looking for.

     Mike says a good depthfinder and GPS are essential for his type fishing and he uses Lowrance products, one of his sponsors.  Watch your depthfinder as you work upstream and you will see the bottom drop from about six feet deep off to 10 or more then come back up. This area has good access to deeper water and Mike says it is a good spot hole.

     Fish all the way up to the outside of the big island, working all your baits over different depths and through the grass here. Watch for schooling bass, too. I got a bass here on top right in the middle of the day when a small school busted shad within range of my popper.  Have something ready to throw to schoolies if they come up.

     6. N 34 31.863 – W 86 06.790 – Go around the islands into the mouth of South Sauty and there is a big bay to your left. The creek channel makes a sharp bend on this side and there are flats and humps all around the channel.  This is a huge area that holds bass this time of year.  Get your boat in the channel and work the edges as it cuts across the flat. Concentrate on the outside bends in it.

     Be careful as you go across this area with your big motor. Some of the spots come up to a couple of feet deep.  Use your trolling motor to fish the area until you learn where the drops and high spots are located.  You could easily spend a whole day fishing this area, starting on top then pitching jigs and Texas rigs into the grass.

     7. N 34 32.116 – W 86 06.197 – If you look up toward the bridge in South Sauty you will see a point to the left of it with houses on it. There is a cove to the left of this point that has grass in it that comes out then drops off into about seven feet deep.  On your right will be a gray double door boat house with a screen room on it and on the left point of the cove you will see a duck blind.

     Start out even with the dock and fish across the mouth of the cove, keeping in about seven feet of water and casting a crankbait up shallow and working it back. Mike got a nice 5.5 pound bass here on a crankbait the day we fished and another bass on the very next cast.  He was throwing a Bagley square lipped shallow running crankbait that stayed over the grass.

     Work across the mouth of this cove with the crankbait then try your other baits while fishing back across it. If you catch a fish make multiple casts with different baits to the same area.  You might get an active bass on the crankbait then pick up some other less active fish from the school on a jig.

     8. N 34 32.324 – W 86 06.227 –  On the other side of the point with the duck blind on it is a good example of the kind of “U” shaped cove Mike looks for this time of year.   The bottom contour swings back forming a pocket that drops off into the middle.  They show up on a map or GPS like a horseshoe.  Wind blowing into these kinds of pockets concentrates the baitfish and bass move in to ambush them.

     Work across the mouth of this pocket just like the one beside it. Keep your boat in about seven feet of water and follow the contour, throwing your baits up from deep to shallow.  Fish all your baits here before leaving.

     9. N 34 31.144 – W 86 06.335 – Head to the right point on the downstream side bridge in South Sauty.  A point runs out downstream from the end of the riprap and bass stack up on it, especially when it is cold, according to Mike.  It is six feet deep on top but quickly drops to 25 feet deep.

     Start out deep and throw your crankbait across the top of this point.  Work all around it with a crankbait then try a jig or Texas rig on the bottom.  Any current coming under the bridge when they are pulling water creates an eddy around this point that makes it even better.

     10. N 34 30.107 – W 86 06.524 – Go under the bridge and run up to the mouth of Yellow Creek where it splits off to the right.  Be careful here, the creek channel swings in near the bank and there are rock piles and shallows even out in the middle of the creeks.  Stop way out off the point where you see a grassbed on the bank in the edge of the water with your boat in 10 to 12 feet of water.  The ledge between the creek channel and bank comes up to four to five feet deep on top.   

     You can work this bank all the way back to the bridge.  There are a series of humps and shallow flats off the bank between it and the creek channel.  Mike says this is an excellent place in the fall to sit deep and throw a spinnerbait or crankbait up on the flat and work it back across the drop.  There is usually a lot of bait here in October to bring the bass in and hold them.

     Check out these spots then look for similar places to catch Guntersville bass this fall.  These spots hold bass but similar places all over the lake are good, too. Once you get the pattern you can find many more to fish.

     Contact Captain Mike Gerry at or visit his web site at to set up a guided trip to see first hand how he catches Guntersville bass.

with Damon Abernethy

     Catching spotted bass weighing three or more pounds is a thrill anytime.  When they hit in the dark it is even more exciting.  Jordan Lake just might be the best lake in Alabama to catch a big spotted bass at night right now and it is accessible to most fishermen in the state.  Plan a May trip to Jordan for some fast action.

     Jordan is a 6800 acre Alabama Power lake on the Coosa River 25 miles north of Montgomery.  It backs up to the Mitchell Lake dam and connects to Lake Bouldin with a short canal.  Jordan was built in 1928 and Bouldin added in 1967.  Bouldin is a good largemouth lake but the big spots live in Jordan and are the target of most bass fishermen.

      Since Jordan is very fertile there are excellent populations of baitfish in the lake.  Much of the shoreline of the lower lake is lined with cabins and docks but the river up toward the Mitchell Dam is more natural shoreline.  The banks of all the lake are very rocky with steep drops in most areas. 

     A good bit of natural wood cover from blowdowns and stumps has been increased by numerous brush piles and dock posts.   Almost all of the shoreline looks “fishy” and you can catch spots all over the lake, but the bigger spots tend to feed in specific kinds of structure and cover this time of year.

     Damon Abernethy loved fishing so much while growing up in northern Alabama he decided to become a fisheries biologists.  He went to Auburn and got a Masters in fisheries biology. After a few years working in South Carolina he moved back to Alabama and now works in the Montgomery office of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources as the Fisheries Development Coordinator.

     One of Damon’s jobs is to compile the Alabama Bass Angler Information Team (BAIT) data so he keeps up with bass fishermen and tournament results on a daily basis. He is in charge of state public boat ramps and the past year has kept him very busy trying to keep them open with the low water levels.  Damon also coordinates the reservoir sampling program so he knows about the populations of fish in Alabama lakes.

     Damon has fished all his life and bass fishing it his passion.   Jordan is close to his house and he really likes it this time of year.  Damon helped me set up the lakes for these articles and, when asked which his favorite lake was, did not hesitate in saying Jordan at night in May.

As a member of the Prattville Bass Club Damon fishes many state lakes in their tournaments.  He also fishes the central Alabama Fishers of Men tournament trail and enters some of the pot tournaments on Jordan, especially this time of year. On most of his days off he will be on Jordan studying it and looking for new spots to catch spots.

 Jordan had produced several spots weighing over five pounds for Damon in the past few years. His best is a 5.5 pounder and his best five-fish limit of spots from Jordan weighed 23 pounds.  He has a seven-pound largemouth but does not target them on Jordan. The fishing for big spots is just too good.

“In late April most of the spots have spawned and are moving to deeper water,” Damon said.  They follow predictable patterns of movement and feed heavily from late April through May.  Although you can catch spots all day this time of year, night fishing is by far the best way to catch the grown ones.

Damon looks for steep banks near spawning areas that drop fast into deeper water. Wood cover helps as do rocks.  The bass are holding on these steep banks and feed all night long but Damon usually fishes from about an hour before dark until midnight or 1:00 AM. He says the fish will hit later than that, especially later in the year, but he just gets too sleepy to keep fishing.

You need only two rods rigged and ready to fish at night, according to Damon. One will be rigged with a three-quarters ounce black spinnerbait with a big #6 Colorado blade and a dark colored Zoom Swimmin’ Chunk.  The other rod will be rigged with a half-ounce spinnerbait and chunk in the same colors. That is all you need.

Both of Damon’s Calcutta reels will be loaded with 20 pound test monofilament or fluorocarbon line.  You can get away with the heavy line at night and need it for the big fish around cover.  Damon does not use braid because he says it causes too much trouble at night. If you get a backlash you can not see it to pick it out.

Damon showed me the following ten spots he likes at night. We fished in early April and the night bite had not started. Most of the spots were on the bed. Damon said it was his worst day ever on Jordan but we still had ten keeper spots with two better than three pounds each, even fishing in the daylight.

1. N 32 38.237 – W 86 15.926 – The last big creek on the left heading toward the dam is Sofkahatchee Creek and YMCA Camp Chandler is in it.  Damon said most folks call this “Swayback Creek” because of the swayback bridge up the creek a ways. 

Run in past the marked shoals and two small islands to the first small creek to your left.  The upstream point of this creek runs way out across the mouth of the smaller creek. The point has a metal seawall or bulkheads around it and there is an open metal roof dock on the inside of this point.  A concrete walkway goes up the hill from the point.

The main creek channel runs in on the outside of this point and hits it well up from the point.   The point runs out between the big creek and the smaller one and drops off good on both sides. There are rocks on the point and along the bank upstream of the point itself.  The smaller creek is a good spawning areas.

This is an excellent example of the type place Damon likes to fish at night.  He will keep his boat in about 18 feet of water and throw up onto the top of the underwater point, slow rolling his spinnerbait back to the boat.  Work out 100 to 150 feet until the point ends.  Then fish on up the bank where it drops off, too, fishing it the same way.

Damon says to hit places like this several times each night.   You may fish it at dark and not get bit then come back two hours later and catch a 20 pound limit.  Spots move up onto the points to feed and a school will feed together, with a lot of fish active at the same time. Don’t give up on a place after a few casts.

2. N 32 37.405 – W 86 16.521 – Run across the lake to the cove just upstream of the canal.  As you go in you will see a lone tree growing on an underwater hump out from an island just off the bank. The island has a big tree and a smaller tree on it and there is a walkway going to it from the shore.  The island has a metal seawall around it and the point just inside the cove past it has concrete poured around it, with some areas broken up into slabs.

Start on the point of the island and work around it then into the cove. Fish the next main point with the concrete around it. Stay out deep and fish your spinnerbait right on the bottom all the way back to the boat. Damon says cast to the bank since the spots will often be very shallow at night but keep your bait in contact with the bottom out to about 15 feet deep.

Damon got a nice 2 pound spot here on a Fish Stalker jig head with a centipede worm on it here when we fished. That is one of his favorite baits when fishing during daylight but he would not be using it at night. If fishing during the day you can catch spots on most of these holes but they tend to be smaller and you need to use jig head worms and other baits.

  3. N 32 38.479 – W 86 17.552 – Back across the lake and upstream you will see a cream colored house with a bright red roof on your right going upstream.  The point upstream of it has a green house on it and it is the downstream point of a big cove.  This is another place the big spots stack up as they move out of the cove after spawning.

Start where the rock riprap on the point starts and work around the point and into the cove. There is a big flat on the inside of the cove out from an island that sits just off the bank. Damon will fish the outside of the main point all the way to the outside of the island at night, keeping his boat in deep water and casting up toward the shallows, but he says the outside of the main lake point is the best area.

4. N 32 39.763 – W 86 18.697 – Run upstream to the second point on the right past the mouth of Weoka Creek.  There is a rock and wood house on this flat point and it has a streetlight, bench and two deer on it.  The point goes way out and Damon says this is an excellent example of a main lake point where the bass hold after spawning.

Stay way out until you learn how the point drops off and cast your spinnerbait up onto the point, working it back to deeper water. Damon says he likes to tick the bottom fairly often to know he is right on the bottom when slow rolling his bait back.  He wants to feel the thump of the big blade as it turns and the bump of the bottom to know where his bait is. 

Depending on how fast the bottom drops, Damon will go with either the three-quarter ounce or half-ounce bait.  The bigger bait keeps in contact with a fast dropping bottom better but will get hung more. If the bottom has a flatter slope or lots of wood cover the lighter bait will not get hung up as much.  You can fish the heavier bait a little faster.

5. N 32 39.915 – W 86 19.649 – Across and up the lake a little is a cove with the remains of an old marina and restaurant in it.  The point is flat where it has been graded off and is covered with brush. It has a steel sea wall around it and there was a chair sitting on it when we fished. Near the chair is a monument sign that is made for reading while standing in front of it and another sign you can read from the water saying “Hungry Horace Restaurant” nearby.

Start on the outside of the point keeping your boat in about 18 feet of water and slow roll your spinnerbait from the bulkhead out to deep water. Work into the cove on the back side of the point. Damon says this is a good night time spot but he has not caught many fish here during the day.

     6. N 32 40.277 – W 86 19.854 – Just upstream on the left you will see a rock and wood house with a pretty green yard around it. Damon says this homeowner keeps his yard in pretty shape all year long.  There is a wood seawall with a walkway built on it going around the point.  Just upstream of the seawall the bank is very deep and drops fast.  A lot of brush has been cut on the bank and fallen into the water, giving a lot of cover here.

     Damon will stay about 25 feet off the bank and the water will be 20 feet deep. He makes short casts to the shallows and works his bait back. He usually wants his bait to hit within a foot or so of the bank.  When fishing close to the shore where there is a lot of wood he will sometimes turn on a light to help make casts that don’t get hung up.  He uses the black light type fluorescent light but only when he needs to see where to cast.  Normally he likes to let his eyes adjust to the dark and he can see well enough without any kind of light.

     Fish up this steep bank to the next pocket and work the docks and brush in the pocket, too.  It is a small cove with several docks in it and another secondary point that is worth a few casts before leaving.

     7. N 32 41.222 – W 86 20.156 –   Upstream on the right you will see a green roofed dock on a steep bank at the mouth of a small creek. There is a small wooden dock with white caps on the posts and a block seawall here.  Big rocks are on the bank here, too.

     Start fishing in front of the first dock and work around the point, slow rolling your spinnerbait down the bottom. The bank and bottom is very steep between the docks and this is a good spot to find bass holding.  Work the point carefully before leaving.

     Current helps here and on all other spots on the lower lake.  You are more likely to find current here since the lake has narrowed down a lot.  Current can come from the generation of power at the Jordan dam or from upstream from the release of water at the Mitchell dam.  There should always be a little current since there is always one generator on-line at the Jordan dam, according to Damon. Stronger current will make the bass bite better.

     8. N 32 45.389 – W 86 22.764 – The last three holes are really river holes and bass are hard to catch unless there is a good current. These spots do offer good places to try later in the month. Damon says river bass stay shallower later since the water is cooler and current makes them move up and feed.

     Run upstream until you see an airplane on a dock on your right. You will run a long way and not see any docks or houses then this one will be on your right.  It is on the upstream side of the mouth of Pinchoule Creek.  Damon says he has never seen the airplane move but if it is gone the heavy dock with wooden ramp is plainly made for an airplane. Also, on the point there is a wide concrete ramp with a divider in the middle, probably for the plane, and a smaller boat ramp.

      Start just upstream of the airplane and dock and work up.  This bank is rocky and drops fairly fast but you will be sitting in about 14 feet of water 30 feet off the bank. Fish upstream to the next point, a long way upstream.  Cast close to the bank and work your bait out some but Damon says most bites will come near the bank here so be ready for a hit as soon as your bait lands in the water.

9. N 32 47.520 – W 86 25.645 – Head upstream past the underwater pipeline crossing and the river makes a sharp bend to the right. When you come to this bend you can see the Mitchell dam, the bridge and the above water pipeline crossing.  There are some docks on the right and the current makes an eddy here since it is the inside of the bend.

Bass hold in the brush and rocky bottom off the first two docks. Start out about even with the first dock with a mercury vapor light on it near the gravel on the bank and fish upstream to the next dock with a mercury vapor light. The water will not be real deep here but it is deep enough to hold good fish feeding in the current.

10. N 32 48.177 – W 86 26.389 – On the right side of the dam facing it you will see two signs.  There are some big rock walls here running down into the water. Start fishing just downstream of the second sign and fish down to the rock point outcropping. There is a rock shelf that runs out under the water here and bass often hold on the drop and move onto the shelf to feed.

Damon says there is usually not much current here at night but the bass still feed well in this area.  If there is some current it might be better to start on the downstream end of the bank and work upstream. Make fairly long casts and work your spinnerbait across the rock shelf and over the drop.

Rig up a couple of rods and head to Jordan at night for some fantastic fishing.  Fish Damon’s spots then find similar places all your own. You don’t have to do much experimenting with baits this time of year, just fish your spinnerbait on the right places to catch some of Jordan’s magnum spots.