with Ryan Branch
Big largemouth feeding in the grass. Coosa spots gorging on points in current. Both species are easy to pattern and catch this month on Lay Lake.
Lay is a 12,000-acre Alabama Power reservoir on the Coosa River south of I-20, running from its dam to the Logan Martin Dam. Its shoreline is lined with a variety of grass and lily pads, and docks are on most banks. Many creeks and sloughs enter it on both sides.
Ryan Branch grew up near Birmingham in Destadia Hills where he fished on the local high school team and now fishes with the West Alabama College team. Although his parents didn’t fish, local angler Bill Bonner took him under his wing, acting as boat captain and getting him into tournament fishing in the Anglers for Kids group.
Ryan credits much of his skills to reading magazines and the internet. He said he would pick a lure, watch and read all he could about fishing it, then go to local ponds to hone what he had learned. He took it step by step to reach his current skill level.
Lay is Ryan’s favorite lake and he fishes it often. He has learned to catch both largemouth and spots on the lake, and June is a great month to catch both.
“I like to cover water all day, looking for feeding fish on a couple different pattern,” Ryan said. His favorite way of catching them is flipping grass but he catches fish on a variety of patterns and baits.
For June, Ryan ties on a frog, swim jig, and flipping bait for the grass. He also rigs a shaky head, swim bait and drop shot for fishing current for spots. He has a few other baits to cast in specific situations, too. Largemouth win most tournaments but it is easier to catch numbers of spots.
We fished Lay in early May and caught fish on most of the following ten spots. Although Ryan said the bass were in a post spawn “funk’” not feeding much for about a week, we still caught fish all day and had some quality fish. These spots will be much better now and for the rest of the month.
1. N 33 10.631 – W 86 31.629 – If you put in at Beeswax Ramp, go under the bridge. The creek splits and a big grass bed is in the mouth of the right fork. Bass released at the ramp constantly restock this area, so it has a high concentration of fish.
There is a channel running down the right bank as you face up the right channel, and another channel runs down the middle. There are points with grass on them on both sides of the channels.
Ryan starts on the point on the right closest to the bank and fish a bluegill colored Spro Popping Frog early in the morning, and other low light conditions. He switches to a black frog when the sun is up, working the frog through the grass and across the points in it.
Watch and listen for activity in the grass. If you see any movement, grass moving, swirls or splashes, cast to it. Also hit any openings back in the grass. If you hear bream “popping,” indicating they are feeding in the grass, the bass are likely to be feeding on them.
When the sun is bright on the grass, drop a punch bait through the grass. Be sure to hit the thickest spots and any isolated clumps out from the main grass bed, too.
2. N 33 11.680 – W 86 30.238 – Run up the river and go into Bulley Creek. There is a small island about half way back and the channel runs between it and the right bank. Stop at the house with the cut yard running down to the water and start fishing upstream along the right bank.
Fish your frog in the water willow grass here. This bank stays shady for a while in the morning so it can be better for the frog later than places that get early sun. After fishing up the right bank to across from the upper end of the island, go across to the island and fish it, too. Work the channel side around the downstream point and up the opposite side until it gets very shallow.
Try a swim jig in this grass and all other grass. Ryan casts a white Super Cotton three eights ounce jig with a matching Zoom Z Craw when the bass are eating shad but switches to a March Madness black and blue jig and trailer with the main food is bluegill. Also punch the thicker mats.
3. N 33 11.410 – W 86 29.932 – Back out at the mouth of Bulley Creek, the downstream point is flat and shallow but slopes out and drops into the river channel. The creek channel swings in by the point, too. Spots group up on the point and feed, especially when current is moving.
Stop out on the river side of the point with your boat in about seven feet of water and fan cast the point, toward the bank as well as toward both channels. Ryan fishes both a shaky head worm and drop shot here. He rigs a morning dawn color Reaction Innovation Flirt worm 10 to 12 inches above a one quarter to three eights ounce sinker, using the heavier weight in stronger current.
Work around the whole point and check the upstream point at the green channel marker 43. Drag the drops shot slowly, twitching the rod tip to make the worm wiggle. Bump the bottom with a shaky head worm the same way. Ryan caught a good keeper spot here when we fished.
4. N 33 14.567 – W 86 27.455 – Up the river the discharges from the power plant produces current that attracts spots and largemouth. Its on the outside bend of the river and the water is 25 feet deep just off the bank. The current is so strong it can be hard to fish, but worth it.
Ryan stops about 20 yards off the bank about 50 yards downstream of the lower discharge and casts a green pumpkin three quarters ounce Buckeye Ballin Out jig with a matching Zoom Z Craw trailer close to the bank. Cast upstream and work it back to the boat with the current, keeping it on the rocks, working down them to 20 feet deep. He says you will get hung but can catch some good fish doing this. Work your jig all the way up past the upstream discharge.
Also throw a Tennessee Shad Kitech 4.3 swim bait on a half-ounce Dirty Jigs jig head. Cast it to the seams and eddies in the current and swim it back with the current in a natural movement. Be ready to set the hook fast, the current pulling your line lets the fish know to spit it out fast. I lost a 3.5-pound spot that hit my swim bait and jumped and threw it because I didn’t get a good hookset.
5. N 33 14.617 – W 86 26.820 – On up the river, Yellowleaf Creek enters the river on your left. The
downstream point is another good place to find spots and the occasional largemouth schooled up feeding in the current.
Stop out on the point in about 20 feet of water and idle over it, looking for brush and fish. Wood washes in and hangs on the point but it changes often with the current changes, so you need to find it. When you locate either, back off and cast drop shot, shaky head and jig and pig to it, working all around the area holding fish.
Ryan rigs a green pumpkin or Junebug Trick worm on a one quarter to one half ounce Davis head. Use the heavier head in current but the lighter head will get hung less if the current allows you to work it. Current does help the bite here and similar places.
Ryan says he catches about 95 percent spots here, but some largemouth do user the area. He added you can catch 30 fish here on a June day with current moving, and he landed a couple nice spots the day we fish, although it was early for them to be on this pattern.
6. N 33 12.037 – W 86 28.994 – Going back down the lake Dry Branch is on your right. Across from it and a little downstream, a small pocket has a downstream grassy point running out across the mouth of it. It is very shallow but creates a good ledge where it runs out and drops into the river channel.
Keep your boat in the channel in 20 feet of water and cast your drop shot, jig and pig and shaky head toward the grassy point. Work those baits from three to 15 feet deep, keeping in contact with the bottom. Angle your casts upstream to move your bait in a natural motion with the current.
Fish from the dock on the river just down the from the point up to the middle of the cove where the grass on the point ends. Work slowly and probe for any wood cove hung on the bottom. When you hit it make several casts to it with different baits.
7. N 33 08.560 – W 86 28.980 – Going down the river past Beeswax Creek, Kelly Creek enters on your right where the river makes a bend to the left. The point turns into a bluff bank going downstream. There are rocks and brush on the point, and current is concentrated by the outside bend.
Stop out even with the point in about 20 feet of water and cast to the point, working shaky head, drop shot and jig and pig down the slope. Fish from the end of the point in the mouth of the creek about 200 yards down the bluff bank. This place holds mostly spots with the rock and current.
When fishing a drop shot, Ryan keeps his sinker on the bottom and slides it along slowly, shaking his rod tip constantly to make the worm dance. With the shaky head, he starts with aggressive shakes and moves it fast, but he will slow down dragging it along with little action if he does not get bit. Try different actions until the bass show him the action they want.
8. N 33 09.237 – W 86 26.803 – The Cedar Creek Road Bridge is a good concentration area for bass this month. Late spawners are joining earlier ones that stopped to feed on the bridge, and shad have been spawning here in May, so many bass are still holding around the riprap, especially early in the month.
Ryan fishes the long, left side riprap and says the downstream side is best. Some current coming under the bridge will concentrate them on the corners, but they feed all along the rocks.
Try your shaky head worm, but Ryan will also fish a white and chartreuse chatterbait and shad colored squarebill here. Try to bump the rocks with both those baits then follow up with your shaky head in any area you get bites on the faster moving baits.
9. N 33 16.634 – W 86 29.553 – Down the river around the bend to right, as the channel turns left, a small double creek with Okomo Marina in the back enters on your right. It is lined with docks and has some grass in it.
Start at the downstream point and work the docks inside the cove. Ryan fishes them with a green pumpkin three eights ounce Ballin Jig with matching trailer and a Texas rigged green pumpkin Baby Brush Hog behind a three eights ounce sinker. In muddy water, go to black and blue on both baits.
Also skip your baits into shady areas along the seawall here. Pay attention to where you get bites and look for a pattern on the docks and in the shade. Bass tend to set up in the same places on docks all down the bank, so concentrate your pitches to those places when you get the pattern.
When you get to the back, punch the mats with your punch bait. Ryan rigs a black and blue Sweet Beaver behind a one-ounce tungsten bait to punch them. He caught our best bass of the day here, a largemouth pushing five pounds. It hit in a small mat out from the main bed.
10. N 33 04.974 – W 86 30.874 – A little further downstream, a big island sits in the mouth of Spring Creek. The river side of it drops off fast with a clay bank back off the water. It has a good grass bed running from the point where there is a danger marker for stumps down the outside bank.
Ryan says there is usually a lot of baitfish in this area, concentrating the bass. Fish your frog and swim jig in this grass. If you see a thick patch, punch it. Work this area slowly and carefully if you get bit since schools of bass often hold over deep water and run in to the grass to feed.
Try these places with Ryan’s bait choices or yours, find the pattern and use it on other places for Lay bass this month.
Ryan is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ryan.branch.3511