One morning last week I got up at 3:00 AM and drove four hours to Lay Lake to meet Chris Jackson to get information for an Alabama Outdoor News article. Chris guides on all the Tennessee River and Coosa River chain lakes and knows them well. He is also a professional bass fisherman and does well in many tournaments.

We started out fishing shallow grass beds with swim jigs and swim baits. Chris quickly caught a largemouth that weighed close to four pounds, even though it was very skinny. That made me think we were going to have a great day, but catching fish was tough after that.

We fished a lot of patterns, working grass beds early with swim baits and swim jigs, then flipping grass beds with a jig and pig or punch bait. We also tried jig head worms and big crankbaits in deeper water. After the sun got bright Chris fished a floating frog on scum mats and missed one good fish on that pattern.

I got a keeper largemouth on a jig and pig out of some grass and Chris got a spot a little bigger on a jig head worm. After checking out ten spots that will be good in September, when the article will come out, Chris caught a nice spot on a crankbait just before we headed in.

Although the sun was miserable hot and there was almost no breeze, it was a fun day. I love fishing shallow grass. There is something much better about pitching a bait to grass than throwing a big crankbait or heavy worm rig into deep structure and cover. And Lay is a beautiful Coosa River lake.

Lay Lake is a little south and east of Birmingham. All those Coosa River lakes are known for their big spotted bass and those fish are just mean, They fight extremely hard for their size. Chris said he thought just putting your boat in the water made them mad.

Chris has an interesting web site at ChrisJacksonfishing.com. There are some good articles on fishing and pictures that make you want to try those lakes. You can also contact him for a guide trip on any of the lakes he fishes. It would be well worth the money to see his methods and the places he goes to find bass.

Chris and I talked a lot about fishing information on the internet and using social media to contact fishermen. He is active on facebook and other social media – check him out through his web site.