We had 28 boats show up for our club derby, we launched from the new ramp in Canoe. Strangely I didn't think the boat traffic was all that bad, but then again we really didn't fish many places that were affected by it either. They had 1 turbine on at both dams starting at 7:00AM, so we eased out on a ledge around 9:00, but (just like I've been saying for weeks now) there were no fish on it. I'm not dumb enough to think fish aren't stacked offshore somewhere, but by crocky I haven't found them yet (and that's sorta my forte). Also hit a hump in Beaver and a roadbed near Broughton Springs and NO fish. So by 11:00 we went back to the grass and docks and proceed to crack em again.... we caught fish from the grass all day, actually culled 3 of our fish between 12:30 and 1:30, we weighed in at 2:00. We finished 4th with 14.88.
I think 3rd was around 15.5 and 2nd and 1st both had mid 16's. We fished clean for the most part, but my partner did lose a fish right at the boat that I think would've given us 3rd place, by my estimation it was clearly a pound larger than our smallest fish. At one time we had 5 fish in the livewell caught on 5 different lures, but at the end of the day 4 of our 5 were caught the same way. We didn't weigh a big fish (another member had already weighed in a 5.21 and we didn't have one that big), but I caught our biggest fish on the very first cast of the day (I'm estimating it was approx 4 pounds).

But I'll tell you this....we went to Logan yesterday morning from daylight till 10:00 and it was freakin' idiotic miserable already, and I mean it started the earliest I've ever seen. First, there must've been 1,587 boats in that stupid-@$#@ kiddie pole tournament. We were in Choccolocco at daybreak and you could hear them when they left Riverside, I swear it sounded like the cars going around the Superspeedway in Talladega, you could hear them coming for 10 mins and it sounded like they were stretched over 3 miles, all of a sudden they started coming through the S bends in Chocco and it was a parade for 5 mins. Apparently somebody THOUGHT they knew something way up in the creek.

At 6:40 there was a pontoon boat idling out of pocket we were in. We were fishing up a stretch of grass and he comes within talking distance of our boat (this pocket is huge, you could literally fish several boats in there and not bother each other), when he gets even with us he cuts the motor off and walks up front with a rod n reel, and the momentum of his boat takes him about 40 yards behind my boat to the edge of the grass, and he proceeds to fish. He then cranks up the motor and follows us (way too closely), does the same stop and fish routine, cranks up and does it again for a good distance. We finally leave, but about 30 mins later we round a seawall and I'll be dang if he isn't around the corner fishing the same way. I had just told the guy with me, "Somebody must've fished this seawall already because we shoulda caught something here." Well I'm sure the problem was that @#$#@ pontoon boat cranking and idling within about 20' of that seawall. At 8:15 we eased out to a ledge and the spots were STACKED on it, and we proceeded to mash em with a drop shot, when all of a sudden here comes a Moomba with the boom-boom-boom radio and straight-headers sounding exhaust pulling a kid on a slalom, and of all the !$#@ river they had, they wanted to seemingly make circles around us. We were way up in Choccolocco anyway where it's narrow, but dangit man they could've went somewhere else. Within a few mins they just ran us off. I assumed they must live in one of the houses right there (it was one man with about 4 or 5 boys), so I figured he just didn't wanna get far from the house. We left from there and went to one last place up in Poor House creek, which is probably 3 or 4 miles by water, and I'll be a sonofagun if that same boat didn't almost immediately show up and do the same freakin thing around our boat right there! I gave him the WTF arms in the air and he yelled something inaudible.

By the time we left at 10:00 the main river had huge boat wakes crashing against each other. Yeah, fishing boats are the problem.

I do not think I have ever seen that many boats on the water from Greensport all the way to Bridge Creek. It was nuts. Saw the same due Sunday and Monday by himself, WAO, in a pontoon with a 250 verado. He went across a wave off a wakeboard boat and I honestly thought he was going to flip the boat over he tilted so far. I told my wife "look at that idiot".

Why didn't you fish the Kiddy Pole Tournament Ilkillbux I saw that posted a few weeks ago and thought no way no how. What's the purpose .

A friend of mine won it, actually had a 3+ pounder!!! I learned earlier that Honda had a tournament with 56 boats in it, that has to be all those boats I heard screaming down the pond.

Going this afternoon and try my luck. Hope they kind to me.

I was hoping to go to Logan this afternoon, but work blew up! We're fishing the Spina Bifida tournament there this Saturday, gonna be a big crowd of local sticks in that thing, I'm just hoping to have a punchers chance (because I'm certainly not on any pattern of fish big enough to win that thing). I'm betting it takes real close to 20 lbs.

I did not go yesterday had too many things to do when I got home. Gonna go Sunday afternoon in amongst the pontoons and what nots.

My partner is/was on Logan this morning, ain't heard from him since about 8:00, but up to then he said it was poor. I'm concerned we're gonna need the water on to make the spots he's fishing any good, and I don't think they had any juice on though.

Only caught one fish yesterday afternoon. Fished about 2 hours. The humminbird I am using (trying to buy) on the front does not have a map card and I have yet to get the GPS puck hooked up so middle of river fishing is extremely hard. May try and go one afternoon this week.

My normal tournament partner fished a high school tournament out of Canoe on Saturday, they won it with 3 fish weighing about 11-1/2 pounds (all largemouth). Said they all came from deep structure....they did catch fish shallow during the day, but nothing over 2 pounds. Also talked to a guy who lives in my neighborhood, he fished the FOP tournament that Canterbury won, said he watched them fish a ledge for 2 hours (and saw them catch fish). Sounds like the switch finally flipped.

We fished the Spina Bifida tournament on Logan Martin, finished 11th with 15.68 pounds, won our money back. Went to Weiss after church yesterday afternoon, but good golly that wind blew 20MPH, it was rotten.

What's the most northern ramp that y'all utilize on Neely?

Croft Ferry. Don't use it. Chit will be missing, maybe your truck!

No doubt if you want a insurance claim put in here it will be gone

I appreciate the replies. Is Tillison Bend as far as y'all go?

Hokes Bluff Ferry has a good launch.

City Docks in Gadsden is as far as I'll launch. It's a closer boat ride up the river than it is to drive and put in there, plus you don't have to worry about the sketchy stuff. Not to mention, if they have turbines on, it's like a monkey humpin' a football to load/unload at Tillison Bend...you literally have to come in from an angle at 20MPH.

Does no one here fish upriver past Slaught McMahan and up past the powerhouse in the dead river ?

Several years ago (early 2000's) we used to spend a lot of time up there. If there was a tournament, you could be that's where we were going.... we always had good catches around Turkey Town, but then that bite just died....you'd waste a lot of time up there. Truth is we've just forgotten about it, gotten out of the habit of going up there, but from what I hear that's where many of the big sacks are coming from again.

Its a 5 minute drive for me to be at the powerhouse launch. and I've fished between the McMahan bridge and past the powerhouse a lot. Pro's - there is not a lot of competition, Cons - The turbine activity , or lack of, does seem to affect the bite a lot more than downriver.