Locations like Town Creek and Douglass Branch are small cuts off the river with a heavily forested shoreline and a few docks for good measure. The key to fishing Wheeler Lake isnt targeting the popular fishing holes but looking for secluded offshoots a short boat ride from the launch. McCaig fishes bass tournaments 42 weekends a year. On this video we're fishing on lay lake on the famous Coosa River for those mean spotted bass! Anglers will find small sandbars, an island, and a handful of coves lined with docks, making it a prime location to angle from just a short boat ride from the docks at Bozo Fishing Camp. Even Texas-rigged weightless lures like a Gary Yamamotos Senko or Zooms air- injected Trick Worms are very weedless soft plastics and they are great lures for this type of application. Featuring prime locations such as Halawakee Creek and Mill Creek, the jagged lake footprint is riddled with undercut banks, points, and curves. The winner qualifies for a no-entry-fee championship with a grand prize of a 2015 fully rigged Phoenix 619 Pro bass boat. Offshoots and creeks call for some topwater action. On Lay Lake? With a highly diverse ecosystem hosting crawfish, shad, snails, and even freshwater mussels, there is no shortage of prey for bass. Marina: YES Way back then (over 100 years ago) Lay Lake was the first lake of six, man made Coosa River System impoundments built by the Army Corps of Engineers, located in mid Alabama, on the Coosa River System. Yes, even during the hot days of summer, while fishing in the sweltering sun often in the mid-to-upper nineties, big bags of bass are dredged from the depths of Alabamas Lay Lake. The best largemouth fishing is from Beeswax Creek south to the Lay Lake Dam, McCaig said. New growing aquatic weeds are found all throughout Lay lake and they enhance the spring spawn as well. ), So, sit down, relax and read it all! Like Sougahatchee Creek and Coon Creek below it, anglers will follow the main creek into a series of offshoots rich with structure and full of black bass. As 51 of the worlds best bass anglers converged on Alabamas Lay lake (for the fourth time the Bassmasters Classic has been held on Lay lake), that exciting, 2010 Bassmaster Classic revealed a lot of big, Lay lake spotted bass and largemouth bass, brought to the weigh-in scales, held at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center. "Tournaments can be won off five spots or five largemouth," Davis said. Mid-February is a great time to latch onto Lay Lakes prespawn fatties with an Alabama Rig. Below, we cover the six significant impoundments on the Coosa River for anglers looking to hook into a large lunker. and lots of other boaters as well! Airport Marine Tournament Trails and annual events should be on your list. #b. Chewalla Creek Marina offers a boat launch and a shore-angling location for fishermen to keep their feet on solid ground while catching big bass. Largemouth bass up to 18-inches are abundant and with moderate numbers of larger bass. An email address is required to associate with your Fishidy premium subscription. And during winter, next spring and the hot summer season too! Including those tackle-testing, Coosa River System breed of spotted bass found lake wide. Scott Canterbury ended up in second place with 83 pounds and 9 ounces. Alabama Student Angler Bass Fishing Association Eufaula Lakepoint State Park Marina 202306/2 06/24/2023 Safe Daylight . And dont leave out Old Harmony Branch, where just about any bass species is fair game. Although most tournament anglers target largemouth bass, Lay Lake also offers exceptional fishing for magnum spotted bass. For stripers, you will want to target the waters around the Pickwick Dam, which boasts a solid population of white, hybrid, and striped bass. If those times won't work for you, 12:00AM to 12:00AM looks promising. All just having fun this summer or fishing for fish species such as white bass, bream, catfish, crappie and striped bass. Anglers will find that Lake Harding is unlike most other lakes on our list because it is devoid of submerged grass beds and lilies common to this part of the U.S. Your goal is 20 pounds! This addition raised Lay Lake dam another 15 feet. By those very astute anglers that want to win. Yes, Read on, theres much more! This location is a favorite of spotted bass when the river is in flux, but the largemouth bite here is nearly year-round. Top Baits Reported. (It was Buddys first time to fish Lake Eufaula! You can do everything." Largemouth bass will both feed, and then make their beds, and then even hang around (to protect the newborn baby bass fry), while also mingling with other big, female bass, cruising daily in and around these many types of aquatic weeds. Since being impounded in 1914 by the Alabama Power Company, Lay Lake is best known for its spotted and largemouth bass fishing. Plus many anglers fishing weekly bass tournaments, (even at night!) full, and starve to death! The most active fishing spots in Alabama Lake Purdy Full lakeside bait/tackle shop, boat rental, rod rental. Stretching from downstream Lay lake dam, going northward on the Coosa River System to upstream Logan Martin lake dam (in Lay lakes headwaters), is some of the fishiest-looking aquatic weeds, varied wood, and rock-infested, bass holding cover an impoundment has to offer. He won, with his own 3 day prediction of an average of 22 pounds a day! Resembling splattered paint on a canvas, the lakes sprawling acreage consists of massive branches connected by channels instead of centering around a main body of water. Check out the new Ranger bass boats at Airport Marine in Clanton, Al. Anglers will have no trouble catching the full spectrum of Alabamas bass population in Wilson Lake, located on the Tennessee River near Muscle Shoals and Florence. Located mid lake, west side, off Lake Shore Drive, this is a two-lane, concrete ramp with a dock and paved parking. The western portion of the lake is fed by tributaries like the Sipsey River along with Brushy and Clear creeks. Before you visit Lay Lake, go to www.alabamabasstrail.org. Anglers should keep in mind, your lures will be in front of more big bass and always closer to their strike zone, while targeting these bunched-up bass, that will be gathering around Lay lakes many types of aquatic weeds this spring season. 256-286-0050. With plenty of forested shorelines and several significant offshoot branches, anglers will have little trouble locating bass on this Warrior River reservoir. Alabamas oldest professional bass fishing only guide service for over 40 years. The following Alabama waters range from some of the most famous bass lakes in America to some more under-the-radar lakes that you wont have to share with a flotilla of tournament anglers while reeling in bass after bass. From March on into summer months is the time to think shallow water bassin! You can use a piece of PVC or just long needle nose pliers. Bird Creek, on the west side, offers docks and overhanging trees for anglers to try their luck with spinnerbaits. Featured Articles Springtime Bass Fishing on Alabama's Lay Lake Posted on November 28, 2019 by Reed Montgomery Lay of the lake: Impounded by the Chattahoochee River, Lake Eufaula is 45,181 . Here youll find a series of small cuts with excellent hunting grounds for trophy lunkers. You owe it to yourself to go by Airport Marine in Clanton, Al. Or for that matter, Lake Eufaula, Guntersville Lake or basically any Alabama Lake! Many of the last days top ten were fishing from mid lake below the main lake bridge crossing, to the lower lake dam.). Tough on fishing tackle, tough on fishing line, rods and reels and often these little, balls of fighting fury are tough on themselves, often ripping theirmouths with your lures sharp hooks, in their attempt to escape capture. It was my worst tournament finish in. Hotbait. Marinas, fish camps, bait stores, boat rentals, camping and other amenities enhance a stay at Lay Lake. Another angler came very close to winning that FLW Outdoors 3 day tournament on Lake Eufaula Al. There are plenty to go around! They all practiced for a few days and some anglers fished shallow and some fished deep water. Like School, you have still got to do your home work! Lay Lake was the third stop for the Alabama Bass Trail South Division, and once again, Mother Nature wasn't providing favorable fishing conditions. Flooding many major feeder creeks, farm lands, flats, railroads, old houses and churches, standing timber, stump rows, and even old cemeteries. Fishing Alabama Reed's Guide Service Reed Montgomery, Fall Bass Fishing in Alabama By Reed Montgomery, Going Deep this Summer Season for Targeting Schools of Big Bass on all of Alabama's Lakes, Fishing Lures and Fishing Techniques for Fishing Alabama's Tallapoosa River System Lake Wedowee, During the Spring Spawning Season, Alabama's Three Upper Coosa River System Impoundment's Weiss Lake, Neely Henry Lake and Logan Martin Lakes for Targeting Big, Trophy Pre spawn Bass During the Month of March. I havent seen bass like that in any Coosa River lake in 10 or 15 years.. Information about the species of fish local to Lay Lake Alabama Lakes Lay Lake Login . So, if youre in a bit of a hurry, simply use the table of contents to jump straight to the fishing spots you want to explore. If youre a fan of crankbaits, you can cover plenty of water in the channel system off of Hatchet Creek and likely pull in a limit of spotted and largemouth bass. The species you catch will vary depending on the location, due to water type preferences and bait. On the other side, the larger Hatchet Creek area provides a maze of channels, coves, and cuts that twist their way into the Coosa Wildlife Management Area. A strong weather system was predicted to move through the area on Saturday with high winds, tornados and possible hail. Now, over 100 years since its impoundment, Lay lake (only 40 miles from Birmingham), still baffles even the best of todays, modern day, bass boat equipped anglers many that are constantly fishing for the ever popular, largemouth bass found in Lay lakes weed lined banks. That is, unless that is all they have to choose from! The Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series is a team fishing tournament located on 13 premier bass fishing lakes throughout Alabama. While fishing and competing against some of Alabamas best bass anglers in major bass tournaments. Further down, right in the city of Eufaula, Chewalla Creek keeps the bass out of the current and provides plenty of cover with grassy banks, tree-lined points, and several docks notorious for holding largemouths. Its more than 15,000 acres offer prime fishing for spotted and largemouth bass just 45 minutes east of Birmingham. This moderately-sized lake, about an hour from Birmingham or Tuscaloosa, hosts a substantial population of largemouth and spotted bass. Honestly, it went really bad. Glassware both old and new. The kind that may hang up if fished right in the cover. Simpson and Ryan creeks feed the eastern side. And plenty of time on the water. Other prime locations throughout the lake include Oakachoy Creek, with its miles of tree-lined banks with the occasional dock thrown in, and Parker Creek and its large population of spotted bass. Steep Creek, Willow Stump Branch, and Shoal Creek are all within striking distance, having recorded solid numbers of largemouths in recent years. Ideally, your boat should be floating in at least 4 feet of water when you are fishing this vegetation. #4.25.5. This huge reservoir northeast of Montgomery is populated with largemouth, striped, spotted, and smallmouth bass. This Tallapoosa River reservoir is one of the most popular bass fishing locations throughout the entire state. Spotted Bass with a Gary Yamamoto Original Senko Worms, 3 lb. But knowing how to navigate your boat up the cover-filled waters of Alabamas Lay lake (a lake that still displays both visible stumps and standing timber, including some wood cover hidden just beneath the waters surface), requires a little knowledge and knowing the entire lay of Lay lake. The shorelines of these cuts often have docks or piers, which provide structure for hungry lunkers to lurk beneath. Crappie can be caught on minnows near brush piles and fallen trees in the shallows. Stripes do not inhibit aquatic weeds so lures like fake frogs are usually meals for the largemouth bass. Before heading out searching for your next trophy lunker, purchase your fishing license and check all local and state regulations. Locations such as Trotter Cove, Spring Creek, Cowan Creek, and Little River usually have a decent crop of largemouth, while Black Mallard cove is infested with hungry spotted bass above the two-pound mark. But, thats not all. This reservoir is home to spotted, largemouth, and striped bass and is one of the best bass lakes in all of Alabama. this lake also is highly rated for catfish fishing, better known as a crappie fishing hotspot, our complete guide to bass fishing techniques and tips. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,600],'aa_fishing_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_9',132,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-aa_fishing_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0'); Paint Creek Boat Launch Ramp * Plus, get your Lay Lake topo map! But striped bass do not dwell in the weeds. To even hope of making the top ten payout spots in many one day bass tournaments, multi day major bass tournaments trails and annual events held on Lay Lake. So when you see either of these bass tournaments on T V apply their lures and deep water fishing techniques this summer season, you can too! Even though this is a heavily trafficked area, anglers can find some secluded coves ripe for the picking, especially during the wee hours of the morning or late evening. A series of small overflow ponds near Lick Branch has an excellent track record for producing sizeable largemouths, which prefer to stay just out of the current and hammer the schools of shad that shelter here. Rock Creek is a hotbed of spotted bass, and anglers can launch from Smith Lake Fishing Resort to take a quick boat ride to prime water. Popular lures here include shallow-running crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and soft plastics. View Map The next lake down stream (below Weiss Lake dam discharge), is Neely Henry Lake, located near Gadsden, Al. Like Mitchell Lake (situated right below Lay Lake dam discharge) and the next Lake downstream, Jordan Lake (situated right below Mitchell Lake dam discharge). Lay Lake, Shelby County, AL. For each day, there is something new added to this unique website! 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