Fishing was fantastic one weekend several years ago – if you could find water that was clearer than a dirt road. I fished at Eufaula on Saturday and Bartlett’s Ferry on Sunday. The results were very different.

At Eufaula, the creeks upriver were clearing and bass and crappie were feeding. Bass were hitting spinnerbaits on shallow grass and wood cover. Hybrids were running in the river. I saw a fishermen in a boat anchored in the mouth of Uchee Creek reeling in a hybrid as I went out at 9:30 am. When I returned at 4:45, someone in that same boat was reeling in another one.

Bartlett’s was tougher. I could not find any decent water anywhere. The lake was muddy and the creeks too stained to fish. Fifteen Flint River Bass Club members practiced casting for 8 1/2 hours and managed to bring in 16 bass weighing 21 pounds.

New member Shane Graham, in his second tournament, won with three bass weighing 3-10. He caught them on worms. I got desperate after lunch since I had not caught a fish and started throwing a spinnerbait at everything I could see. I had one strike and caught a 3-6 bass that won second and big fish. Ricky Skipper, another new member, caught three at 3-4 for third and old member Tom Perdue caught 2 at 2-5 for fourth.

I was fishing by myself and when I got my fish to the boat, the net was tangled in another rod. Rather than waste time, I lifted the fish over the side with the rod. As it cleared the water, it fell, hitting the side of the boat and going into the boat. When I got it, my spinnerbait had broken just above the hook.

A professional fisherman who makes his own spinnerbaits once told me to quit using a spinnerbait after catching three bass on it. I think I will remember his advice from now on. If my bass had gone back into the lake, I would have been sick!