Anyone been lately? They have finally stopped the three turbine pulls in Ragland for a little while. I am gonna try and go this weekend sometime. We are off Monday, but Sunday looks like a wash out.

Most recent I've been is Saturday before last (so what, about 12 days ago?). Water was much muddier and colder than I expected it to be....I put in at the dam and ran up to Shoal, spent till 9:30 in there and literally had ZERO bites. Water was anywhere from 44 to 46 degrees, but just way more stained than I anticipated. It can be cold, and it can be muddy, but it can't be cold and muddy. I fished the deep side on the left about halfway to the back, fished parts of the shallow bank on the other side of the creek, threw an A-rig and couple of other lures at suspended fish out in the channel and on the hump/stumps nearby (may have been crappie). It was tough. Before I left I ran into Lakeshore for maybe 30 minutes and caught a 3# largemouth under a dock on a chatterbait. That was it, one lousy fish the whole trip.

There is a big TX our of city park tomorrow. Actually two I think. I will look on FB to see how thy did. Canoe Creek was real clear two weeks ago and people were catching crappie spider rigging. Good ones too. Big Head's Bait Shop posted up some good pics.

Just an FYI. The river is still very TRASHY! Saw a whole top of a pier floating Thursday down river. Based on what rain is coming tomorrow, it may be weeks before it starts to get back to normal. Ragland showed 502' 3" yesterday afternoon. At Little Bridge Marina, I guess it was about 503'. IF you launch, be careful running.

Just as a side note, Coosa Riverkeepers had a good article on Facebook explaining the whole Coosa chain of lakes and rivers from a electricity/flood control perspective. Me personally, I want them to go back to lowering Neely in the winter months like they used to. But, Neely Henry Lake association will fight this tooth and nail. Took them a long time to get APCO to leave water up in winter months. All because of "property values" and useability year round.

Fished at neely yesterday. Rode from 77 to the neely dam. Lots of trees and other debris still floating. And they were ripping current through there like I have never seen.

What were all the people catching at the boat ramp on hwy77 yesterday in the rain?
They sure were bunched up in one spot at the mouth of the FLOODED creek.

Dunno. Had a wildcat out of Rainbow Landing Saturday I think.

I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want the lake lowered in winter to help with vegetation control, along with flood control.

Who the heck is using their lake home so much in winter and being actually IN the water that it helps-boosts their property value? I mean, if I'm shopping for a lake house in winter and see the water level lowered IMO it's a bonus because I could see their dock or boathouse, ramp and shoreline. THAT would be a helpful thing to know about.

Lower the lakes and then when we get a bigass rain, it fills up and they can dump them. If they keep the level the same in winter it floods yards, ramps and other stuff.

Good gosh. THAT'S THE ENTIRE POINT OF FLOOD CONTROL PREVENTION.

Some people f'king bitch about anything.

Spot on my man! Been a lot of talk since the flooding in Weiss the past two weeks and yesterday they got more elevation because of the rain. Coosa Riverkeers article is good IMO. There has GOT to be something done on Neely. The grass in sloughs is out of control in some areas and preventing owners use of these sloughs. APCO will only come a few days in the summer and landowners are SOL unless they are well connected to get them to spray.

Flood control-IMO we need to go back to a winter drawdown from November to sometime in March. Does not take a scientist to know Minnesotta Bend is the culprit and will not let water flow out fast enough. Hell, it was 511' in North Gadsden this morning and straight line 10 miles down stream it was 503' at hwy 77 and lower at Ragland. Flood control needs to be number one, invasive species control second. We NEVER had a grass problem when winter draw down was still in effect. Too many of the sloughs and creeks are sifted in and actually shallower than they were 20 years ago. This is also causing landowner access issues. Something has to be done or some kind of agreement met that benefits all parties involved.

I believe I'm right that Logan Martin is the only Coosa lake that fluctuates, and it's supposedly for "flood control". Not sure I understand how ONE LAKE in a chain can manage "flood" for all of them???

It can't. These home owners started back in early 90s wanting the tree lines removed, it happened. Then, they started with Neely Henry Lake Association forming with a group of "concerned" owners wanting the lake level left up all year long for "recreational benefits and accessibility". They got it. What happened next, ALL the damn grass started growing that was never here on this lake EVER! Don't get me wrong, some grass is good and I catch fish out of it, But hell, there are more sloughs now choked out with grass and sifted in with silt. How's that for homeowner values? A slough 20 years ago you could navigate with most pontoons and flat bottoms now are too shallow or too much grass to be a viable waterfront access.

Take Neely back to a winter drawdown.

Also, I head someone say the other day that APCO was toying around with getting some sort of commercial dredging operation in here to clean out the sloughs. Never will happen...…………………..

I’m below Minnesota Bend off canoe creek and water is crazy low right now with the dam ripped open.

I stopped at City Docks area downtown around lunch today just to look. The current is so strong I don't believe the strongest 36v Tm could even make a dent against the current. Never seen it that strong other than right below the dam.

Desertdog, it has not let up at Little Bridge for over three weeks now. This has been the longest stretch of 2-3 turbines on at Ragland I can remember since I got back on the river in 2001.

Anyone fish last weekend? I saw some pics of CRTL and there were some good fish. One 7+ and several spots over 5. I may try and go this weekend.

I haven't been nor talked to anybody on Neely for a couple of weeks at least. I crossed the bridges in Gadsden last Friday and it still looked high and insanely muddy, ain't seen the lower end though.

We fished Logan Saturday, everybody caught a ton of fish. We had 30 boats and I think our top 10 all had 12-1/2 pounds or more. Took 20.10 to win (all largemouth), we finished 8th with 12.92 (all spots).

Don't know if Neely is fishing like Logan or not.... water temps were generally around 59 on the river, 61 in the pockets/creeks. Water is slight stain on the river, clear in the pockets, too clear almost (for the Coosa). Fish are not everywhere, you could hit multiple similar places and only catch fish on one. We caught fish deep on the river, a foot of water in the back of pockets, mid depth on secondary points. But we didn't catch a single largemouth the whole day, not a one. Wasted a couple of hours mid-morning specifically trying to catch largemouth, immediately went back to our first spot hole and BAM they're still chomping. The guy who had the 20lbs was above Riverside (that's all I really know), pretty sure I know what/where, but I'd just be guessing. We put in at Pell City, I just didn't have the will to run that far upriver. Choccolocco was as far as we went.

I was over there Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. The water was still quite low, and looked like weak coffee. Still lots of trash in the river and heavy current. Early on, the water temp was mid 50s, but we saw temps rise to just above 60 in the backs of the creeks by late evening. It was a struggle for us the first day to even get bit, but made some changes to our thinking and caught some good ones the second day. Only one largemouth for the trip, but it was a 5-14 kicker. The rest were all spots, with the biggest one pushing 4 pounds. I caught them in a couple different places, but couldn’t get the pattern to replicate itself in other areas. Seems like they are really bunched up right now and if you can find em, you find em. Going back Friday to fish with my son who has a tourney there on Saturday. I’m hoping they are still there.

Precisely what I've been saying for a couple of weeks. Fish ain't everywhere, you can run a lot of similar stuff and not get a sniff on it. Then another guy comes in talking about how many 3 pound spots they caught off a place exactly like you fished.

I have never understood that river.

Kicks my butt more times than not.

Me neither, and I LIVE here. LOL.

I'm planning to sneak off to Neely this afternoon, put in at either the dam or Lakeshore. Probably fish in Shoal and Beaver mostly. I'll brag if I do any good, or pretend I forgot to reply if I don't!

Don't hold out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got three words for ya: Tough.

Okay, that's just one word. Man, I fished 4-1/2 hours all over Shoal, Beaver, Lakeshore, and a couple places on the main river. Caught 1 small largemouth (C-rig on a long gravel point) and 2 small spots (LOL, actually caught both of them on a crappie jig from a boat dock). That's it, literally the only 3 bites I had.

Dang, you don't make it too tempting to go this weekend. But, I will anyway, LOL.

Talked to a retired man who fished at Logan yesterday morning, said he had ZERO bites from daylight till 9:30. Another buddy of mine went to Wedowee yesterday and also had zero bites. Both of those fellas are good enough to catch fish. I don't feel so bad now.

I'll say this... the main river was just slap muddy, and rolling like Niagra Falls. The creeks and pockets weren't bad, I'd call them "lightly stained", but I liked the color....you could find some clear water in the really protected shallow areas. But the water is down roughly 2 feet, and I suspect it is / was dropping, which is where the fish went (sucked them out). There was ZERO other excuse for those big spots not to be on their usual bedding locales right now. The last Saturday of March last year we won a tournament with 17# of spots, caught them on all the places I fished yesterday. Heck, I caught fish on a couple of those places a month ago.

But piss, I fished some "transition" areas too, stuff back out towards the river, they just weren't biting is my conclusion (based on the reports from those other two guys on other lakes)

I will tell you this, them rolling three at Ohatchee still has the water messed up at my locale (Tommy's Marina). Spots should have by now been on rocky points, hell, any point with a little current. They guys I know that fish the Tuesday/Wednesday tx out of coosa landing are smashing LM & spots up river. It will take APCO turning off one turbine to help clear the river up but realistically, it may take another 2-3 weeks for it all to clear.

I really don't know where I will start when I put in Sunday. I guess it all depends on the reports from the high school tx Saturday.

That is SO hard for me to wrap my mind around....it's beyond insane how much current there is, like "I don't believe my trolling motor would hold me still" kind of current. Even on the low, wide portion of the river in front of Willow Point there was visible current seams, running 50MPH you could feel the boat shimmy in those seams.

To say Neely is tough is an understatement. I fished for about 3 hours yesterday got bit once and caught one. A dink. It took a little over 14# to win high school tx Saturday. Water is still dirty, sloughs look good but best water I could find wat 60.5 deg. Most in river was 56-58 deg. It should be on fire right now but it was rough.

Yeah, that's what I saw when I was there last week. Water at Guntersville on Saturday was 52-54. Went to Wedowee yesterday afternoon and the water was 65-67....not all, but some of the fish there have already spawned. Caught one around 8-1/2 or 9 pounds and she was skinny-bellied and her tail was worn off and bloody, she was halfway back out to the main river.... but I caught another fish in there about 4 pounds, it looked like it had a softball in it's belly, and it was just colorless like it had been deep till now. We caught a few small spots out on the main river in about 10-12' of water too, didn't catch a single spot in a pocket.

Teams from Scottsboro took the top 3 places in the junior division. I know the top weight was 15.55 for them. We didn’t stick around after we weighed in for the senior division. My boat only had 3 for a little over 6 pounds. We had trolling motor issues and weren’t able to fish where we found them in practice. Lots of people I talked to really wanted to catch them shallow, but they just weren’t there yet.

That's my assessment too.... it's interesting how many fish are still out on the river (or close to it in deeper water), especially with how much current they've been rolling!! And dang, it's basically friggin' April, most years they would have long been up in the petunias by now. The whole Coosa has been a crapshow for me so far, I've been stubborn trying to make the fish be where I want them to be, but it hasn't worked with any consistency. I swear a month ago they pulled up in the pockets on the shallow clay/gravel points, but now it's like they've never pulled in at all. I've been lost honestly.

Only fished for about an hour today but not a strike. I fished a gravel bank and some gator grass stalks that always have fish this time of year and nothing. I saw a bunch of folks crappie fishing around canoe creek, but could not tell if they were catching.

They are still killing the crappie from all the pics I see from Big Heads Bait Shop. I looked at the APCO app this am it this is the first time in over a month they are not running three at Ohatchee. Maybe they will settle down and provide some good fishing this weekend.

I watched a couple boats rack up on the crappie in Cove Creek and another place down river I don’t know the name of. They were all trolling jigs.

Had a chance to go yesterday. Man, let me tell you, the water was unbelievably clear. I fished toward Tommy's in shallow and in deeper water. Caught three fish. One LM about 3# that had something growing out of its back like I have never seen. I will try and post a pic later. Caught one spot over 4# and she was full of eggs. But, the highlight of the day, was a 20+# appaloosa cat caught on a Bomber crankbait. I was wore out when I finally got it in boat. LOL.

Looks like that fish is tagged by either a fisherman or the state. Several years ago a company was selling tag kits, so you could tag your catch and keep records. The fish I've caught that had state tags were just one long wirelike tag with a number on it.

That is not a tag. It is a growth coming out of it about the size of a dime and about an inch long. I have never seen anything like that before.

They had some MONSTER sacks there this weekend.... Something called the Neely Henry Trail (i think???) had like 10 bags over 18 lbs, first three places I believe were over 20. Took 19.63 to win that Super Tournament out of Gadsden, had a 6.47 kicker. Then again, I also saw some notable names on that Super Tournament list that had little to no weight.

Yea I had a friend that had a 6.79? I think it was, and that was second place. Airport Marine and the Super TX at Coosa Landing. There was a lot of people upset that City of Gadsden did not have the 2 day TX like in past they dropped one day off. Had like at 50% decline in registered boats also.

All those guys fishing up river or did any of those sacks come from down river?

Went down Saturday to show a guy around for an upcoming tourney. We didn’t catch but a fish or two off a spot then Leave. We had around 18lbs with a 5lb spot and 4 lb largemouth. Also we turned the trolling motor on high and cruised the banks for a hour and saw a good many large heads bedding. Also saw a guy jack a 7lber out of some dead weeds up in ankle deep water. They sure was excited.

Icducks I need you to show me around

I will but when it gets hot I can’t catch the bigger ones down there. Unless I get lucky

I did see two fish bedded but did not have anything tied on to mess with them. Swim jig did not phase them.

But they hate a soft plastic lizard and will deystroy it.

Yes they will. Junebug with chart tail.

Well, I went yesterday afternoon and SUXED IT UP! Only got one bite and did not catch it. I fished from 0 to 20' of water and nothing. Talked to a boat pre fishing for the TX this weekend and they tore them up Tuesday and had one just shy of 8#. Yesterday, they had one fish. So, I did not feel too bad but damn, I took off 1/2 day for this? LOL.

Anyone been last couple weeks? I am going to try and go this weekend some. All the big mammas still on bed or they off?

I went yesterday afternoon from about 1:30 till 5:30, fished in Lakeshore and Shoal, caught 13 total....all largemouths. Caught fish in the grass (it's starting to emerge), boat docks, humps....and I caught them all the way in the back, halfway in, and all the way out to the river. I weighed the two biggest ones at 4.48 and 4.01, the rest were anywhere from about 10" long to maybe 2-1/2 pounds. I saw no evidence of bed fish, even the ones I caught looked WAY post-spawn. They weren't beat up or bloody, nor were they especially fat or skinny, just looked like healthy Summertime fish. The odd thing to me was I couldn't find a spot anywhere, not even on the humps. The 4.01 largemouth I caught was on a hump with a dadgum C-rig centipede in chartreuse pepper (affectionately called the "spot remover")...that rascal was lost out there!

It was a pretty good afternoon, but honestly it wasn't "easy"...they were scattered. You had to cover water, a bite here, a bite over yonder. Some of them hit it aggressively, but also some of them seemed finicky. I had a couple of fish that would swipe at something moving, and I'd finally throw a wacky worm back in there and just as it sunk out of site they'd eat it. Even then I didn't feel them, you'd just pick up and they'd be pulling down on it. I figure I would've had somewhere between 13 to 14 lbs (but heck 8-1/2 of that was two fish)

You are dead on about the spots. None of my "spot" holes have had ANY fish on them when I tried them and that is VERY unusual. There is one area, this time of year, I can usually catch them from 1# all the way past 5# and numbers too. Nope, not there. The only bass I caught last Sunday was a spot about 2# outside of grass just cruising I guess. I am going to try and go again this weekend. LM should be getting on points by now and in some grass. Grass, to me, seems to be late coming up this year.

I caught that biggest fish (4.48) on a big Smash Tech swimbait, I mean seriously it's a 7" Gizzard Shad line-thru as big as your palm. I came over some old grass and just as it got to the edge this fish flashed on it, but didn't get hooked, I kept reeling and she followed it. When it got dang near back to the boat I just killed it and as it started sinking she grabbed it. I swear she looked bigger than 4.48 in the water, if I wouldn't have caught her I would've said she was 6-7 lbs. I was actually disappointed when I got her in!

LOL. There was a bass last Saturday at my pier at LBM swimming with the bream while I was feeding them bread. It made one big splash after something. Usually there are some 3-6" shad in with those bream and there was none to be seen. I went back with a white swim bait a couple hours later and she would not show back up. That fish looked to be between 5-7# form the top side. She was less than a foot under the water.

Went to Logan this morning from about 8:30 till 12:30, absolutely donkey-punched em!! Just went by my lonesome, put in at PoorHouse and fished in/around Choccolocco, estimate I caught 30+. Best five might've went 13-14 pounds, but dang I'll bet I had 20 fish I could've made that weight with. Caught three spots on topwater at 12:00. It was just one of those days where they were everywhere and it was easy. Grass, docks, long points / high spots, seawall, did I say grass?

Yea we did the same thing put 14 in the boat and had numerous get off! I was in choccolocco creek also! What kind of boat was you in?

Silver Ranger w/ Mercury motor

Went yesterday for about two hours and caught 4 fish. My "spot" holes are still not holding any fish, WHY? All but one of the fish came off red eye shad including a blue cat about 15 pounds. WTH is it with me and crank bait catfish this year? LOL.

Talked to a guy that fishes 4-5 days a week this time of year and he has been having trouble catching fish. He is GOOD too. He complained about the spots not being where they normally are. His shallow bite has not been good, and his river bite has been so so.

What are you guys seeing that fish up towards Minnesota Bend area?

My last trip on Neely I didn't do any good at all. I was further up river than Minnesota Bend. I was past the steam plant. That was a couple weeks ago.


J.R.

Only person I've talked to went Saturday morning and fished the lower end, caught some fish out of the grass, but no size. He's not a deep water / offshore guy, so I didn't even ask him about that. If he can't see the bottom or reach the bank, he thinks there aren't any fish around.

Simply for bragging reasons, I'll report on Wedowee

I played hooky from church Sunday and went to Wedowee from daylight till a bit after 1:00, absolutely crushed em. Down there, the spots are DANG sure stacked on the points (you don't really have a "ledge" there, it's primarily points and some humps). I caught two really good heads early on a buzzbait, and few other decent largemouth on trick worms around the floating stuff in the pockets, then about 9:00 I went to the points and dear mercy they were on fire! And for Wedowee I was catching some grown spots, 2-1/2 to 3+ pounders. I would safely bet I caught 25 to 30 spots, mostly on C-rig centipedes, a few on a big crankbait. Fish were anywhere from 10' to 20' deep, no shallower, no deeper. I caught one other 3-lb spot from under a floating dock, but that was the only bite I had doing that.

Good report ikillbux. I plan on fishing there Saturday morning weather permitting. I want 20 spots for the freezer. For the first time in years I have no fish in the freezer.

I swear I'm not joking about this... I left the house with intent to catch some crappie, OR small spots...maybe 10 of them. I wanted some 12" fish. I didn't catch one that small all day!!! I brought home 6 spots that probably averaged 1.75 pounds.
I did have one crappie about 10" long too (only crappie I caught). If it helps, I put in at Swagg and fished downriver from there, just looking at my electronics and fishing any random point that had some longer taper to it.

I'm was thinking put in at fox creek & fish down to hunter. I might put in at the lonnie white ramp & fish around swagg since the water is full pool now. I've caught a lot of spots there at either location.

Well, I played sick yesterday and went. Got on water about 5:45 and fished topwater until 7. Not even a whiff on a ribitts or buzz bait. I was puzzled and still am. Put them down and started using chatterbait and caught three but no size at all. But, did have a pretty good one throw the chatterbait. Pissed me off. Caught one spot about 2# off one of my "spot" locations, that was it. The spots are STILL not in their usual places. I have talked to several guys, good sticks too, that said the same things about the spots. Opinion, I think the flooding Neely had back in February/March messed up their normal patterns and they still have not recovered. But, I may just be that bad at fishing!

Here's a simplified version of all the reports I've heard for 10-14 days now (especially this past weekend):

Ain't nobody got a clue where the offshore fish are. Largemouth are in the emerging grass, but you gotta cover tons of water and expect only few/scattered bites, however you're likely to catch a really big fish (I saw multiple 5 to 7 pound fish on Facebook from Neely this past weekend)

A friend who fished that Lakeshore derby on Saturday morning said they fished "several hundred yards" of the grass in Beaver and caught one keeper fish.

Those fish I caught out of the grass was not in the emerging part, they were on points of green grass where an ambush spot was located. Hell, I did not even see and small stripe or LM pushing shad on some shallow flats Like I usually do this time of year.

Drake, were you fishing slack water or were they pulling current? I figured they were pulling a little water.

Pulling 2 when I got out. I usually watch the app daily and there has only been one time all spring where there were pulling 0. Most of the time they have two on.

Whatever you find today at Neely (shallow) won't work tomorrow! One of the most trustworthy laws of the universe is they WILL drop Neely 6" every Friday night.

ikillbux, you need to go and find the article that was written by Coosa River Keepers. It is very interesting on how APCO defined the whole Coosa chain. Either the location was for power generation or flood control.

You need to come on up toward Southside bridge. It could be down to 507 at Lakeshore, but be 507' 9" at the house. Bend at Broughton Springs and Beaver Creek does just about as much as Minnesota Bend does.

Well, like a dummy I went yesterday afternoon. I fished from 12:30 to 4:30. Wind was out of S-SW and if you know anything about Neely, You can hang up anything from the bend at Tommy's all the way to Broughton Springs. I fished everything from a jig, chatterbait, brush hog, swim jig, square bill. I did not catch a fish. Don't know if the moon had them messed up or what. There are some ladies on bed according to some reports. It makes for a long day to only get one bite. Anyone else fish this weekend?

We have a tournament there this coming Saturday....yeah, on Memorial weekend ( ) The wife and I went late Saturday afternoon, got there about 3:00, put in at Rainbow Landing and ran straight down to Canoe (all the way to the bridges in the back) OH...MY....GOSH!!!!!!!!!....at the frickin' boat traffic!!!!!!! This is a bold statement, but that may have been the most pleasure boat traffic I've ever shared a lake with. No exaggeration whatsoever, you could NOT even dream about fishing ANYTHING on the main river. I tried a couple of ledges and had to do something I haven't done but one other time ever in my life.... I literally had to wave my hands over my head, else I'm pretty certain this wake/ski/wtf boat would have run us over. No joke, my wife was sitting in the seat reading and I told her to stand up real quick because we might have to jump off. I would bet you my boat at that one time I could see over 50 pleasure boats. There were places in the creek where I actually wanted to fish (high spots), but there would be 3 or 4 pontoons anchored out on top of it and people just standing around in the water drinking beer. When you are in the back of a pocket trying to fish docks, and three different pontoons are going round and round and round and round and round and round so bad that wakes are hitting the underside of docks and spraying water up through the cracks, it's time to just go home. But bass boats are the problem. Yeah right. The amount of people who find it "fun" to just ride on a boat is incredible.

However, I did manage to catch two spots that weighed about a pound apiece, a largemouth that might have been 2 pounds, and had another largemouth on that looked about the same size.

We went to Logan yesterday from about 2:00 till 6:00, boat traffic was slightly less, however we did catch a boat-load of fish deep. If you know where any structure is in the 15' to 20' depth range, it's loaded with spots.

We were on our pontoon Saturday and YES it was stupid with traffic. Yesterday also. Good ole marine police is giving everyone hell again this year. He calls it "a safety check" with an attitude. With all the fines he as generated, you would think the state could put up some markers on the floaters that are stuck. There are several bad ones from Rainbow Landing to Canoe Creek.

I went to Wedowee again on Friday afternoon (probably my last trip down there till October), I put in way up the big river at Fosters and just tinkered around up there in some pockets. Caught 13 total, and similar to my last trip they were all dang good fish. I brought home the 5 smallest spots I caught, and 2 of them had eggs. Caught fish on a swim jig, buzzbait, trick worm, shakey head, Carolina rig, and tube. These were all surprisingly shallow (esp for Wedowee), most of them were right up on the bank. Most docks on that lake are floating, but if you found a wooden dock it was a guaranteed fish.

I have noticed what seems more than normal boat traffic even for the beginning of Summer. Ilkillbux how do fish numbers compare from Logan to Neely. I have very little experience on Logan but have heard people say numbers are much better but overall weights about the same.

That would be pretty accurate.... it's much easier to catch bigger largemouth on Neely, but it's WAY easier to catch tons of small spots on Logan.

I actually went to Neely this morning from daylight till 9:00, it was doggone miserable. Everything was just dead...I fished 100's of yards of grass, skipped shaky heads under docks, Carolina rigged some humps, scanned / fished two ledges, and drop shotted an old blown out bridge, caught two small spots. I literally didn't get a single bite on a doggone trick worm in the grass!!!!!

I had to do that! See, it is a Wednesday morning thing! I talked to a friend of mine Monday. He and his wife went Sunday afternoon from about 4:30 to 8:00 and wore them out! SPOTS! Biggest he said was nearly 5 by guestimate. They caught over 40 and very few were heads. He found a ledge on the river that is rocky from the shallow down to river bed. Carolina rig and shakey head. Rough as hell he said to keep boat straight with all the waves off others. Funny thing, he wont give me the coordinates.

I'll be out there contributing to the waves this weekend. May fish early in the morning, or catch catfish off the dock in the evenings, but during the day, I'll be pulling the kids around on the tube.

Saw where it took almost 24 lbs to win the Solo Tournament yesterday. Geeze strong bag for this time of year.

Lynn Johnson's son I believe is who won it. Nice little payday at 18 boats $100/boat.

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.