Bass on the Fish List

With two months having already passed, my 2018 fish species list remains sadly sparse. I did add a two bass species a couple of weeks ago, though. Largemouth bass and spotted bass doubled my tally, and the list now includes two species of trout and two species of bass.

The bass came from Lake Eufaula, an impoundment of the Chattahoochee River along the Georgia/Alabama border, and the first of each came from creeks that come in on opposite sides of the river, so I actually caught my first largemouth of the year from Alabama and my first spot from Georgia. The day actually produced a handful of bass and I caught a few more during the days that followed while traveling. However, I only tally the first of any given species on my list.

Certainly March will bring spring fishing opportunities, and I can get this catch list cranking a little better!

Jug Fishing Lessons

Between living in Georgia and being a big catfish fan, it would seem like I should have some experience fishing jugs for catfish.

Nope.

Until yesterday morning, I'd never done it before. Let me tell you, though, I'm hooked. It will not be the last time. Beyond being wildly efficient, watching for jugs that are standing or bobbing or swimming and then running them down is incredibly fun. When you grab the line, you don't know whether the fish at the other end will weigh 3 pounds or 30 pounds.

Of course it helped that I got to go with Tony Adams, who is knows Lake Eufaula catfish like few other people and has a refined jug fishing system, and with Eufaula mayor Jack Tibbs, who is also am expert on the lake. It didn't hurt that we had perfect weather and the fish were really biting.

Tomorrow night brings another first -- bow fishing, and I'm definitely looking forward to giving that a try!

Destination Eufaula

There's just something about those classic fishing destinations. I leave tomorrow for one such place, Lake Eufuala, Alabama, where I will spend the rest of the week. I'm mostly going there for the conference, the annual meeting of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association, but I like just being around places that have rich fishing histories.

I will fish a little while I'm there. On the morning after I arrive I'm going out for half a day to fish for crappie and catfish. Then on Friday night I get to take part in a style of fishing I've never done before. I'm going out bowfishing with a small group. I don't know if I'll actually end up shooting the bow, or if I'll only be shooting photos, watching and learning, but I'm looking forward to getting out on the lake at night and to seeing what bowfishing is all about.

Watch here for reports!

Hybrid School for 22

We mostly fished for largemouths earlier this week on Lake Eufaula, but I can't say I minded the school of white bass/striper hybrids that briefly popped Monday afternoon while I was fishing with Brent Crow. We didn't spend loads of time trying to keep up with the school, but when a bunch of fish started breaking on the surface, and birds started diving among them, you can bet that Brent quickly steered the boat within casting distance. I grabbed a Pop-R rod, flung the little plug into the fray and started ripping. If you've been around schooling hybrids, you won't be surprised that it took one cast and about three pops to get attacked and hooked up for the first time. We actually hoped there might be some largemouths or spots among the hybrids, but we caught half a dozen hybrids  and no black bass in 15 minutes or so before the schools went down for good or migrated down the lake.

When I got home I pulled up my "2013 fish species" list, which tracks the species I've caught this year, because I didn't think I remembered having caught a hybrid yet. As suspected, I had not, so I added it to the list. I had added four saltwater species a couple of weeks ago after returning from Louisiana, so October was a productive month.

This year's tally stands at 22 species. I hit 30 last year, and it seems unlikely I'll match that in 2013. You never know, though. I didn't know I would catch any hybrids this week.

Eufaula, Alabama: a Fishing Town

It should come as no surprise that the mayor of Eufaula, Alabama is a serious bass fisherman. Lake Eufaula, after is, is often dubbed "the bass capital of the world," and folks in the town of the same name, whether or not they fish, obviously value the fishermen who come to town. Mayor Jack Tibbs has fished Lake Eufaula since he was a boy and began fishing tournaments while he was still in his teens. He loves to talk about fishing ad about Lake Eufaula with anyone who wants to exchange fish stories.

I enjoyed listening to Mayor Tibbs talking about fishing a few evenings this week as a group of outdoor writers, fishing pros and folks from the town Eufaula, Phoenix Bass Boats and the Alabama Bass Trail sat together around the dinner table after days on the water. Even outside our our group, I could tell that people in town appreciated visiting anglers and were hopeful that we were catching fish and enjoying the lake and the area.

I also got my first samples of Lake Eufaula bass fishing and learned that as legendary as the lake is for its offshore fishing, it's also a fine place to flip soft plastics or swim a jig around pads and other shallow vegetation. Elite Series pro Russ Lane found a bass that approached 10 pounds within the first hour of fishing while cranking an offshore ledge with another writer. An hour later, when I joined him in the boat, Lane moved shallow and proceeded to catch several chunky largemouths from less than a couple of feet of water before lunchtime.

I definitely was impressed with my first visit to Lake Eufaula and look forward to the next visit!

Closer-to-Home Eufaula

Until I was asked which Lake Eufaula I was headed toward this week I hadn't stopped to think about the odd fact that while I've spent several days fishing on Oklahoma's Lake Eufaula, which is 825 miles from my North Georgia home, I've never fished a day on the nearer Lake Eufaula, which straddles the Georgia/Alabama border and is only 250 miles from here. Making it even more unusual that I've never fished the nearer Eufaula, it's one of the South's true classic bass fishing lakes and in fact is commonly called "the bass fishing capital of the world."

I've been there once to do a brief photo shoot and attend a tournament weigh-in, but I didn't fish at all and didn't actually even go out on the lake. So it's almost like I've never even been there.

I'm fixing that this week. I leave this afternoon, in fact, to drive four hours to Lakepoint State Park in Eufaula, Alabama. Today's plan includes arrival and settling in and then meeting and eating dinner with with other folks who are part of the trip, which is being hosted by the Alabama Bass Trail. Fishing begins tomorrow morning.

My understanding is that Eufaula is largely a structure lake, but I don't know a tremendous amount about how it fishes. With two and half days of fishing time planned this week, I look forward to learning much more about the fishing. I'm also looking forward to spending a bit of time in a boat with Aaron Martens and Russ Lane, neither of whom I've ever fished with before. Hopefully I will have some good fish stories to tell by Wednesday afternoon when I point the truck north again.

Thursday Tips: Consider Water Color

The normally stained water in Oklahoma's Lake Eufaula dictates a great deal about guide Barry Morrow's approach to fishing.

Most fishermen give some thought to water color in terms of to the colors of lures they should use, but color considerations shouldn't stop there. The clarity of a river or lake helps dictate whether fish find food primarily by sight or with their lateral Ines, how deep they tend to be and how tight they hold to structure. In stained water, fishermen often are wise to pitch instead of casting, use bulky baits that are noisy or create a lot of vibration and fish shallow and tight to cover. Clear water typically calls for stealth and either subtle offerings or quick moving baits that draw reaction strikes without giving the fish too good a look. Most waters fall between the extremes, but it's critical to pay attention to the color of the water and to consider how it is likely to impact the behavior of the fish.

Crappie on Ice & a Cold Classic Start

We won't quite need augers to fish for crappie tomorrow, but the banks of Oklahoma's Lake Eufaula might be snowy, and the foul-weather gear might play an important part for warding off an icy rain. That's OK. I'm glad to have my long drive to Fort Smith behind me, with no problems caused by the fairly heavy snow I drove through for the last couple of hours.

Of course, from the photos I've seen that pros have posted, the snow I drove in was light compared to what the 53 Bassmaster Classic contenders fished in during today's final practice day. Looks like it snowed pretty much the whole time. Given the snow that fell today, the wintery mix that continues to fall and a forecast low in the low 20s on Friday morning (when the competition starts), it would seem the fish might be in true winter mode to start the tournament. However, by Sunday afternoon, the temperature is supposed to climb into the 60s, so I'm really curious how the fishing will change over the course of the tournament.

That's getting ahead of things, though. The cold crappie come first!

No Snow Today

My most recent fishing trip, which was a little more than a week ago, had me landing in Minneapolis in the middle of the Twin Cities' first major snowstorm of the year. Somewhat amazingly, the plane landed on time. However, travel north out of the cities was slow and somewhat treacherous. We drove out of the heaviest snow but not out of the cold. The highest high in three days of fishing was 12 degrees. That's what you should expect when you fish in northern Minnesota in December, though, so I'm not complaining. And the ice served up big fun.

Today's travel forecast looks much better. I'm flying now, and the pilot just announced that it's 71 and sunny in Dallas.  That's not my final destination, but I feel confident that the weather is pretty nice in Tulsa.  A front will push through, and it looks like Thursday morning will be pretty chilly. Still I'll bet we won't have to hurry and take picture of our fish before they get coated in ice.

Stay tuned for fishing reports from Eufaula and Fort Gibson.