All the rain in December has really affected lakes. Most are usually several feet low this time of year, making them ready to fill up in the spring from rain to control flooding, but they filled early, with most above full pool right now.

Millers Ferry is south of Selma, Alabama on the Alabama River. Rain really changes river lakes like it, with flooding common. It is a beautiful lake with a main river run and miles of shallow sloughs and creeks off it that are full of grass and wood cover.

I went there the day after Christmas to get information for my February Alabama Outdoor News Map of the Month article with local fisherman Billy Black. He warned me the river was “blown out” from rain, bad conditions for catching fish. But we went anyway to meet my deadline.

The ramp we used had a dock about six inches above the water and water came to the top of the ramp. We had to idle over a mile through shallow water out to the river. Both were full of floating wood and the water was heavily stained. He caught one nice bass and a big catfish, and I got the information and pictures I needed for the article.

The next week he sent me a picture of the ramp, saying it was a good thing we went when we did. The water completely covered the dock and came half way up in the parking lot. Floating wood covered everything, and the water was very muddy. The land is so flat down there a couple feet of water rise really floods a lot of land.

The lakes like Millers Ferry are fun to fish and the scenery is beautiful, and you can catch big Alabama spots as well as largemouth, but you have to plan your trip more carefully than on the lakes around here!