with D.D. Murphy
May is a transition month for bass, especially on northern Alabama lakes. The bass are moving and you have to follow them to have good catches. But they do travel on predictable paths and they hold on predictable spots. Wheeler is an excellent lake to pattern May bass and catch numbers as well as heavy sacks.
Covering 60 miles on the Tennessee River, Wheeler is the second biggest Alabama Lake. This TVA lake runs from the Guntersville dam to the Wheeler dam and goes from a river run to huge flats near Decatur to a highland type reservoir toward the dam. Dammed in 1936, it contains 67,000 acres of water and over 1000 miles of shoreline.
D.D. Murphy grew up in the area and has fished Wheeler for 36 years. As a youth he fished the lake with family members for anything that would bite. When he was 16 Coach Ronnie Hindman took him bass fishing on Lake Eufaula and he was hooked. Since then he has concentrated on catching bass and has learned Wheeler’s secrets.
Owning a bait and tackle store in the area as well as fishing many tournaments on Wheeler helped D.D. figure out how to catch Wheeler bass. He has fished the BASS Weekend series the past two years and placed fourth on Wheeler last year and third there the year before. His best tournament catch on Wheeler was a five fish limit weighing 28.12 pounds and he has landed a 9 pound, 15 ounce lunker from the lake.
“Most tournaments are won on the flats between the nuclear plant and Limestone Creek,” D.D. said. The big flats in that area produce heavy tournament strings and it is the area he fishes. May is an excellent time to find schools of big fish moving across the flats and holding at the mouths of creeks.
By late April 90 percent of the bass have finished bedding, according to D.D. You might find a few still in the very shallow flats spawning but most are following ditches out to deeper water. Find a bend in a creek channel or ditch and bass will be holding on it. Points where the channels hit the main river also hold big schools of bass.
The flats on Wheeler are very shallow, with two to six feet of water covering huge areas. It does not take much of a drop to hold bass and give them something to follow. D.D. will watch for a change as little as six inches to one foot to know he is in a good place.
Hard bottoms are a key. Shell beds are a favorite feeding place for May Wheeler bass. Those shell beds attract baitfish, the key to finding active bass on Wheeler. Also, there will be some shad and bream spawning in May and they are attracted to the hard bottoms which brings the bass in to them.
The flats and ditches have many stumps on them and bass love to hold around a stump. That is also a good cover that D.D. searches for and if he can find a good stump bed near a shallow hump with shells on it he knows bass will hold there.
A variety of lures will catch bass right now on Wheeler. D.D. will have a Terminator spinnerbait, a Rapala or Strike King crankbait, a jig and pig, a Carolina rigged lizard and a Zara Spook tied on when he goes out. All are thrown on Castaway or GLoomis rods and he uses heavy line, usually 17 pound mono.
The water is usually stained at Wheeler but not muddy so shad colored baits are best and the heavy line does not spook the fish. White with some chartreuse is a good color for the spinnerbait. In late April smaller blades work well but as May progresses and the baitfish get bigger he will go with bigger silver blades on his bait.
Crankbaits that run ten feet deep or less are the best on Wheeler. Most areas D.D. will be fishing may drop off to deeper water but he expects the fish to hit in four to six feet usually. Shad colored crankbaits are the best for fishing this shallow water.
D.D uses a homemade jig and tips it with a craw trailer. Greens and browns are best in May. A jig and pig is his go-to bait for big bass. D.D. says more big bass have been caught on a jig and pig and more tournaments won on them than any other bait.
He will also drag a Carolina rigged lizard and uses one-half to three-quarters ounce leads unless the wind or current is strong. Heavier sinkers help locate the shell beds and rocks as you drag your Carolina rig along but since the water is less than ten feet deep you don’t have to go to a full ounce sinker.
The Spook is a great big-fish bait and chrome is a good color. It will draw strikes from fish holding at the depths D.D. likes to fish and a Spook walked over a drop with stumps on it will produce good bass.
The following ten spots all hold May bass and are some of D.D.’s favorites. The GPS coordinates are in degrees, minutes and seconds.
1. N 34 34 39.5 – W 86 53 13.4 – Creek mouths are good because bass migrating out of the creeks to deeper water will hold on cover and structure as they move out. But not all creek mouths are created equal. Limestone Creek is a good example of the kind of structure you need to look for to hold bass.
The upstream side of the mouth of Limestone Creek has flats and shallow water. There is a river ledge that runs between the flats and the mouth of the creek, dropping off at the end into the creek channel and on the side into the river channel. This point is covered in stumps and is the kind of point or ledge that will hold bass.
D.D. will position his boat in deep water off the end of the ledge, keeping it on the river side. He will make long casts with his baits so they work across the point from different angles but always coming downstream. You can work around the end of the point starting with one bait like the Spook then as you get into the creek side turn and fish back with another bait like a Carolina rigged lizard. That gives bass holding there a look at two different kinds of baits.
If you catch a fish continue to work the bait it hits. After going some time without a bite try one of the other baits. Sometimes a change-up will get bites from fish that won’t go after the bait that has been working. Try to hit stumps with your Carolina rig and crankbait here.
2. N 34 35 06.6 – W 86 55 32.9 – The mouth of Flint Creek is different in that it has more bends and flats on both sides with a river ledge on each side where it hits the main river. Start at the upstream river ledge and fish it from several angles. It is best. Then try the downstream ledge. You can also fish into the creek, keeping your boat in the creek channel and casting to the lips on either side.
There is a sharp outside bend that swings over close to the bank not far into the creek. Outside bends of channels always offer a hot spot where bass will hold up. The drop is usually sharper and it gives bass a quicker escape route. Always watch for bends like this one and fish them carefully.
Fish into the creek until you stop catching fish. In late April and early May bass will still be filtering out of the creek and more may be back in it than later in the month.
3. N 34 38 31.7 – W 87 0 31.3 = Go downstream under the Highway 31 and railroad bridges and watch to your right. At the second black channel marker buoy upstream of the Swan Creek Daylight Marker 302.3 slow down and idle across the river ledge. Watch your depthfinder and head straight toward the north bank. You will be in shallow water about six feet deep or less but you will cross an old lake that drops into 11 feet deep.
Start fishing as soon as the water drops off, working the lip of the old lake. Keep your boat out in the 10 to 11 feet of water and cast up across the flat, bringing your bait from shallow to deep. Fish all the way around the lake working like this. It will take some time to outline the lake bed but it can hold bass all around it.
This is a pretty clean bottom with no stumps. There may be a little grass growing here. Milfoil used to fill the shallows and make the lake better but low winter pools have killed off most of it. If you hit any grass fish it carefully.
This lake bed attracts lots of baitfish so watch for them. You will often see them skip away from your bait while it is in the shallow water and that is an excellent sign bass will be nearby.
Since the bottom is clean D.D. will often fish a lipless bait like a Rat-L-Trap here, one of the few places it can be worked without hanging up. If he needs a bigger bass or is looking for tournament fish he will go with a big bait, starting with a three-quarter ounce and even fishing a full ounce Trap.
This is also a good place to fish a crankbait, bumping bottom as you come across the lip of the old lake. A spinnerbait slow rolled across the drop is also good.
4. N 34 38 32.8 – W 87 01 28.9 – The mouth of Baker’s Creek is good but different. Upstream of it the plant on that side has two water discharges so there is often current here even when the river is not moving. There is a small island with trees on it in the mouth of the creek and flats on both sides of the channel. Where the creek enters there are rock piles on either side.
Fish all around these rocks. Shad may spawn on them and bait fish are drawn to them. The current improves fishing here as it does on other spots but it is more consistent here due to the discharges. Fish with the moving water as much as possible, keeping your boat on the down current side and casting back up and across the rocks.
Current makes bass feed and you will often find it flowing over the points at the mouths of creeks. Current coming down the river and out of the creeks will create eddies that confuse baitfish and offer bass a good place to ambush them. Watch for any changes in the current if it is moving.
5. N 34 39 11.6 – W 87 02 25.1 – Going downstream watch for the channel split where it goes on either side of Finley Island. The island is underwater but the shallows split the channel. Right at the head of the island, on the upstream end, is a red and green striped buoy marking the point of it. This point is three to six feet deep and holds bass.
D.D. will fish both sides of the point, positioning his boat downstream of the point out in the channel on either side and casting upstream, working his baits across the end of the point and down the sides. You can throw a crankbait, spinnerbait, jig and pig and Carolina rig here, fishing with any current coming down the river.
6. N 34 39 54.1 – W 87 03 28.4 – Across the river channel you will see Byrd’s Island Daylight Marker 299.3. Go to it and fish the river ledge on both sides of it. There are no ditches across it but there are shell beds on both sides that hold bass. You can feel them with a Carolina rig or heavy jig and pig to locate them and then fish all your baits over them.
Watch carefully for any rise, even if it is only six inches. This will often mark the shell bed so if you see your boat is coming up into more shallow water fish closer to it. You may be sitting on the sweet spot and casting past it. If you do get your boat up on top of the shell bed mark it then come back later and fish it. Your boat may spook the fish in the very shallow water but they will come back.
7. N 34 39 26.5 – W 87 03 28.4 – If you go straight south across the channel from the marker in hole 6 you will cross the middle of Finley Island. When it gets shallow idle across the flat and watch your dephfinder. The water will be three to six feet deep then suddenly drop off to 11 feet deep. This is an old farm pond that was on the island and you can see it on good maps.
Grass used to grow all around this old farm pond and hold fish. There are some stumps here and you may find a little grass now. Get your boat into the middle of the pond in the 11 foot deep water and fish all around it, casting your baits to the shallow water and working them back across the drop.
Here and other spots bass are more likely to be on the upstream side if the current is flowing. They can hold in the deeper water in the old pond and baitfish coming downstream with the current will wash across the lip of the drop and make and easy meal. Try to make your crankbait or spinnerbait look like a baitfish coming downstream with the current.
8. N 34 40 36.4 – W 87 03 17.2 – Several creek channels wind across the big flats in the mouth of Swan Creek and join up. There are also ditches off them and high spots on the edges of the channels and ditches. Bass moving out of the vast spawning flats behind these ditches will follow them out, stopping to feed on bends and high spots.
The mouth of the creek is between the marker in hole 6 and the power line but it is small and there are stumps here. Be very careful going it until you learn your way. You will be going across flats only two to three feet deep in many places and sometimes the deeper channels are lined with stumps. Idle speed is safer.
Go in and find the sharp bend in the creek channel. It is due north of the downstream end of Finley Island, although a long way from it, and south of the big island in the mouth of Round Island, Briley and Mud Creeks where they all come together.
There are two shallow humps just off the lip of this ditch. Fish all around it and work up the ditches, following them looking for breaks and humps. Bass will hold on any change and feed here.
Your Spook is a good search bait here and in other places. Make long casts across the ditch edges and work it along them. A hit will usually mean other bass are holding in the same area. Fish your Spook but also follow it up with crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jig and pig and a lizard.
9. N 34 40 32.7 – W 87 04 27.2 – If you follow the creek channel downstream it will run between two sets of towers on the power line. One tower set is out near the river channel and the next one toward the north bank and the ditch where two creek channels join and make a bend before going out to the river between is them.
Fish the ditches like the ones in hole 8 but also fish the towers. The concrete piers of the towers have rocks around them and often draw in schools of shad to spawn around them. Fish all around the tower bases with topwater then run a spinnerbait or crankbait right beside the legs. Stay downstream and cast upstream to work your baits with the current if it is moving.
D.D. says a big tournament was won here by fishing these towers. The channels are like a highway the bass follow and the towers are like fast food joints along the highway. Bass will hold and feed around them all during May.
10. N 34 40 33.9 – W 87 05 51.6 – The mouth of Fox Creek offers flats on both sides with a channel snaking across them to join up with the river. D.D. sits out on the river and throws across the upstream point formed by the creek and river channel, fishing a crankbait or Carolina rig across it.
Dark lizards seem to be better and D.D. likes the Zoom lizard in either black or Junebug. He will vary his sinker weight with the current but likes lighter leads when possible, unless trying to find new shell beds.
Fish both sides of the creek mouth and work into it, following the channel across the flat, especially in late April and early May. Search for schools of bass with faster moving baits then fish them and your slower moving Carolina rig and jig and pig for bigger fish.
Try these ten spots then find others by studying a map looking for ditches and humps. Spend time on the water fishing those places. Try D.D.’s baits and tactics and you will catch plenty of May bass at Wheeler.
