High Stained Water Along with Falling Water Temps Making Things Tough

With the weather North Alabama has had in the last two weeks things got kind of rough for me and clients. Most of the time if the water gets up on Guntersville and other lakes and the water temps start to drop fast anglers can make a few adjustments and still catch some big fish. When you toss heavy stained water in the mix it makes things alot harder. You have to slow down due to the temperatures falling but when there is alot of stain those baits we use when things get tough have to hit the fish on the nose due to them not being able to see it. Well I made sure to tell clients it was going to be hard and weather was just nasty. Everyone client wanted to hit the water and watch me scramble all day. They were not disappointed at all. We hit the water each day working Jackall TN70 lipless crankbaits in shad colors and did boat a few aggressive fish in a couple of areas. The better bite with better fish seemed to be in areas I found some clearer water in pockets on the Jackall Smash Minnow in Ayu color. One thing I noticed over the last 5-8 trips is each day the bait had to sit longer. By this weekend clients had to let the bait sit around 12-15 seconds twitch the bait once and let it sit again. Working the bait on this time is very slow and even tested my patients but was productive. I did fish some causeway areas and found several good fish on them on the lower end of the lake but those fish seem to need sun for the bite to be better.

Most of the better fish are in shallower water ranging from 1-5 feet with the smaller fish still hanging with the shad in pockets feeding as the shad start to die off. We found some numbers in a couple of pockets that would still topwater baits like the SK Grande' and Bonnie. We also hit a solid numbers day twice on the new Jackall Super Pintail. I will have an article on this awesome little bait in a day or so. We fished the bait, which is designed as a primary dropshot bait, on a small jighead. I would have clients swim the bait a little and twitch it into schooling fish then let the bait fall on slack line. We were amazed at the numbers we boated and the bait saved several trips for me in the last couple of weeks when fishing got tougher.

Hope everyone has had a great week and staying warm. I will be back at it on Guntersville a few days this week before taking a trip or two to the Coosa River for some famous Spotted Bass. One thing to remember is be sure to watch the water when running. With the high water there is alot of stuff floating on the river just under the surface. Also the water temps are falling fast and seem to be ranging from 46-50 in most areas of the lake. I carry some extra clothes in the boat just in case of someone falling into the water. I would suggest this to everyone that is fishing in a boat or on the bank. This time of year we seem to always hear of someone loosing their life due to drowning. Please be safe and let someone know the areas you plan on fishing in case of an emergency. Thank you for your continued support and see you on the water.

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