I'm not familiar with fishing the lakes you're talking about, but at Guntersville, Ohatchee (Neely Henry Dam) and Leesburg (Weiss Dam), a Sassy Shad is hard to beat. I can't imagine that another lake in Alabama would be vastly different. A Creek Chub, Rapala J-13, Spit-n-image, Zara Spook, Top Dog, and a Redfin all will catch their share too. As will a bucktail jig, and a large inline spinner at times. Live frisky Threadfin Shad or Gizzard Shad is the absolute best bait I know of if you are not an artificial purist. Rig up like a Carolina rig, hook them through the nose and hang on to your rod real tight. When your Shad get lipstick, toss them and get some fresh ones. Stripers hate lipstick. A good great aeration system will keep the lipstick away. Otherwise, toss them and get fresh Shad. I like to drift in the tailrace current with the shad cast slightly upstream or straight below the boat, but on the upstream side. Slow current and they will likely be stacked close to the dam. Fast current and they will likely be scattered a little further downstream. Set your graph to scroll fast and watch for humps. As you drift past the apex, hang on. Try to keep your bait just a little off the bottom to start with. You should bump bottom occasionally and will probably lose a few rigs if you're doing it right. There are exceptions to that last statement though. Good luck.

Lipstick = red lips and or nose