Miller's Ferry 8

I recently bought the new Livingston Schoolmaster. I haven't had a good opportunity to throw it yet. Has anyone had a chance to try it out? It looks like it has a lot of potential.

Once it gets into April you can flip a heavy jig around sandy areas that might be a spawning area or near one. Color is dependent on your water clarity. Black and blue works well in all water clarities. Use a 3/4 ounce jig with a black and blue Netbait paca punch trailer. Every time it hits bottom the heavy jig head kicks up sand much like a crawfish would moving across the bottom. If theres any grass a black and blue chatterbait works well too.

Thanks guys. I'll be making a trip to Basspro this week sometime to grab some of these. Even though I'll pay an arm and a leg for them. And papajoe222, to answer your question, I'm about 99% sure they're spots. On the Alabama River the spots are almost always on the main river drop. Also, one of my buddies caught one down there on a shakeyhead.

I have a tournament coming up this weekend. I haven't had a lot of success in practice but I have seen huge groups of spotted bass in 40 feet of water. They are anywhere from the bottom to about 10 feet off bottom. The water temperature is around 48. I've thrown a lot of different things at them and no luck. Any ideas on what to do? Keep in mind the water clarity is always stained on the Alabama River. Current is normally from 10pm to 8am then no current the rest of the day.

I have a college tournament coming up November 22nd on Logan Martin in Alabama. I have fished the Coosa before but never there. Also, I haven't fished it this time of year. Anyone insight on fishing spots or colors to use? I've heard the spots are very active this time of year on the Coosa.

I fish for the University of South Alabama. We have a tournament on Seminole November 1st. Does anyone have any tips or pointers? I have never been on the lake and I'll only have 4 hours to prefish. Just trying to get an idea of where they are at right now.

Thanks Paul.

What exactly is the thermocline? I have heard it said many times but I've never quite understood the science of it.

Thats weird. Our depth finder said 84 last saturday. I wonder why the big difference? I will have to throw on the ole deep diver and see what I can come up with. I know this time last year they were in about 25 feet of water on ledges in cover. The jig worked well. I will for sure give it a try down in about 25 feet this saturday. Thanks.

Ever since spring, we have been tearing the bass up every single weekend. Even in the heat of June. Well, the last two weekends the water temperature has increased to 84 degrees and higher. Early in the morning we have caught a few decent fish but once the heat really sets in they SHUT OFF! Like the Dead Sea. In June we caught them cranking in deep water but now they aren't there. Any ideas on finding these fish again?

In Alabama we call them Gargalye (Gar-ga-lie) In private lakes or creeks off the river you can drop a cricket down in a hollow stump and just about always pull one out.

There is a very good looking point on the north side of the lake that looks like an amazing place to crank.

I don't even have to think about this one. Mid-day use a deep diving crankbait on ledges in about ten to fifteen feet of water. Just make sure your retrieve is slow and your crankbait is on bottom.

Good question. I judge it according to where I KNOW the fish are. For instance if I know they are in the grass I will prefer to be there at daylight. If like now in the summer months I know the bigger fish are gonna be out on the ledges later in the day then I will get out there around 9 or 10.

Thanks WRB! I will look into getting that book.

Roadwarrior- Well its down river from Lake Martin. This lake is formed by the Alabama River. Lake Martin is way up river but yeah 90% of our fish are spots. Sam- Well I'm 20 and I have a hard time finding a partner to fish with. Everyone has a "set" partner already that they fish every tourney with. And Roll Tide!!! haha

Ok thanks. The reason I think it may hold bass is because we have loaded the boat with crappie there before and a lot of times on this river the bass and crappie are around the same type of cover and structure. But the crappie only get there in certain times of year so like you said the bass may do the same thing.

My mistake. It was Alabama spotted bass i was catching. I thought there was only one type of spot. But yeah they are very fun to catch when you hook up with one that size. Today I went to the same spot and fishing was slow today but I caught two spots around two and a half pounds each and one LMB around three. The Large mouth came on a slow retrieve with my crankbait like you said. Unfortunantely, I didn't get your comment till now but you were right regardless. The reason I want to catch more LMB is because a friend of mine is catching 4 and 5 pounders on a regular basis but he won't share his secrets or fishing spots.

There is a rock bluff in a lake that I fish but I haven't had much luck catching bass on it but they have to be there. Especially in these hot summer months. It drops to about 25' probably fifteen feet off the bank. Any tips on catching these bass?

I'm from Alabama and at the plant where I work we are right on the river. At break and lunch the subject of bass fishing always comes up. Theres roughly two hundred workers here and I would say 50% bass fish. Just in my office there are five of us and three bass fish. Two of us fish tournaments and the other just for fun. Every Monday is like story time of the weekend fishing trips.

I would recommend upgrading after you get very consistent throwing the old one. And as for line I would use fluorocarbon. 12# - 15# will be good unless you plan on fishing in heavy cover then 20# or 65# braid would be better although braid is harder to cast. The best brands in my opinion are p-line and seagar. I have had fluorocarbon on for a couple years now and I can count on two hands how many times I've backlashed with it. And I bass fish about every other weekend. It's just a very easily thrown type of line.

I have a pond behind my house and when it gets into mid day and gets hot, and in Alabama it gets pretty hot, I fish the deepest part reeling a crankbait on bottom with a slow retrieve.

I fish in two different spots almost everytime I go fishing. Either its the river near my home or a lake thats formed by a river like most of Alabama's big lakes. Both of these have something in common though. They both have large bridges. One even has two bridges. Now looking at them I know by common sense that fish must be around them because its no different from cover or structure. But I just don't know how to approach it as far as how to fish it and what to fish with. How would you fish it?

I went on a guided trip on Lake Tohoe with a very good guide around this same time two years ago. I caught two fish over 7 pounds and got both pics on his website. I highly recommend him. His name is Steve Boyd. You can find his page at this link: http://laketohoguide.com/