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| Lay Lake Bass From The Headwaters To The Dam |
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| By Reed Montgomery |
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Originally published in the February 2010 issue of AON
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Reed Montgomery has been fishing Lay Lake for 40 years, and guiding on the lake for the past 30 years. He said a warming trend in late January and February is a great time to catch quality largemouths on Lay.
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Bass anglers who frequently fish Alabama’s Lay Lake on the Coosa River have two very worthy adversaries to target this time of year. Lay Lake is loaded with Coosa River spotted bass and plenty of largemouth bass.
Knowing a little about each of these bass species on Lay Lake means knowing the lake. After fishing bass tournaments on Lay Lake almost weekly for the last 25-plus years, and winning my share, you could say I know this lake very well. I’ve also been guiding on this 12,000-acre impoundment for more than 30 years, plus there have been lots of trips just plain exploring Lay Lake’s weedy waters for 40 years now. There is not a pocket, cove, creek or main-lake spot I have not explored or at least fished nearby in every season.
The weather can make bass fishing tough this time of year. Even the 2007 Bassmasters Classic contenders struggled to get a bite this time of year while pre-fishing. A severe wintertime cold front, coupled with cold, muddy water conditions, made fishing very difficult two weeks prior to the Classic.
A warming trend changes all that quickly on Lay Lake. In the Classic, Boyd Duckett, of Demopolis, eventually won with almost 50 pounds of hard-earned bass after a warming trend turned the bass on.
With Lay Lake’s various types of aquatic weeds for fish-holding cover, wood cover of all kinds, rocks, boulders, rock bluffs and rip-rap, there are a lot of choices to consider. There is also man-made cover to consider fishing this month — places like bridges, piers, boathouses and marinas. With more than 50 miles of navigable waters — from Logan Martin Lake dam to downstream Lay Lake dam — first-time visitors can get confused as to where to begin their fishing day.
Breaking down Lay Lake into an upper half and a lower half, here are some tips and lure suggestions for targeting both Coosa River spotted bass and Lay Lake’s largemouth bass. Both bass species are found in abundance lakewide.
Lay Lake Headwaters to Wilsonville Steam Plant
From late January and through February, big spotted bass gather in the Lay Lake headwaters to feed and fatten in the current-laden waters. Swift, often stained water with temps as low as the mid 40s can position these spotted bass tight to cover. From Lay Lake’s headwaters to the mid-lake area at the Wilsonville Steam Plant is similar to fishing wintertime waters on any long, winding river system.
Heavy 1/2- to 3/4-oz. jig combos work great during these conditions. These lures simulate the crayfish that spotted bass dine on. These tasty crustaceans are found all among the rocky tailrace waters below the Logan Martin dam. Choosing jig models with built-in rattles is suggested. Good color choices are black/blue, pumpkinseed, watermelon/black flake, brown on brown with tiger-striped strands, or triple color combos like brown, black and pumpkinseed. Oversized trailers on these jig combos such as a big piece of pork, a big plastic chunk, a big plastic crayfish imitation, frog imitation or even a creature-type bait are good for a slower lure fall and to help create a bigger, more easy-to-find lure profile.
In the upper section, fish the many laying trees, stumps, log jams and brushpiles. Some anglers slowly flip or pitch jig combos, tube baits, big worms or oversized lizards in and around this upper-lake wood cover.
Eddies just out of the swift current are where bass lie in wait for an easy meal. These bass can be located right along the edges, hugging these eddies along the wood and rock cover found in these lake headwaters. Also, swimming a jig works great here for targeting bass holding along the edges of wood and rock cover. Swimming a jig is also great for covering water fast.
Heavy line of 17- to 20-lb. test monofilament, braided line or fluorocarbon is suggested. Strong rods with plenty of backbone and dependable reels are needed for getting these very strong bass out of cover and into the boat.
Although these lake headwaters are great places to target spotted bass, anglers should keep in mind there are some big largemouth bass living here, too. Big baitfish such as gizzard shad, threadfin shad and bream are in abundance in these lake headwaters. Like the spotted bass, these largemouth bass dine on baitfish and crayfish throughout the winter months.
Jig combos are great lure choices for targeting largemouths. Swimbaits, both soft-bodied and hard-bodied models, including oversized swimbait models with jointed bodies, are great choices for targeting big largemouth bass. Shad and bream colors on your swimbaits are good choices. Strong hooks, strong rods and strong line are suggested.
Mid- to deep-diving crankbaits in shad colors, crayfish colors or with some red or chartreuse are good choices. Both floating and suspending hard-bodied jerkbaits and rattling lipless crankbaits simulate the baitfish found here. Try shad or crayfish colors.
Always have tied on a 1/2- to 3/4-oz. chartreuse-and-white spinnerbait with either gold or silver No. 5 to No. 7 Colorado and willowleaf blade combinations on the blades.
Wilsonville Steam Plant to Lay Lake Dam
Fishing from below Logan Martin Lake dam to the Highway 280 bridge crossing is mostly for targeting bass around wood and rock cover, but main-lake aquatic weeds will become more evident the farther you fish downstream on Lay Lake all the way to Lay Lake dam.
Lay Lake will begin to display a more lake-like appearance as you head farther downstream of the Wilsonville Steam Plant, located right beside Yellow Leaf Creek in the mid-lake area.
You will also begin to see a variety of aquatic weeds both on the main lake and up in its dozens of major feeder creeks and small pockets. This calls for the use of weedless lures.
After three or four days of warm weather, topwaters, like buzzbaits, work great around weeds. Try weedless spoons, spinnerbaits, floating worms, frog and rat imitations, slow-sinking Senkos and Zoom Trick Worms. Fish these types of lures in and around the weeds as the day warms up. Most of these bites will be from midday to late evenings.
As you pass the islands about 1 mile below the Wilsonville Steam Plant, many major feeder creeks, main-lake flats and small cuts and pockets become more evident. Heading down the lake you will see rock bluffs and some water deeper than 70 feet in The Narrows area. Jigging spoons or fishing with tail-spinner lures in deep water of 20 to 40 feet deep works well both in February.
Piers and boathouses adorn this lower-lake region. Worms, lizards, tube baits, jig combos, creature baits and finesse plastics work great during late January and early February around these piers and boathouses.
Most anglers target Lay Lake spotted bass on the main lake. Ledges, drop-offs, creek mouths, islands and around rock bluffs featuring standing timber are places that all hold quality-sized spotted bass throughout the winter season.
Rock bluffs are especially good places to fish with bream- and shad-colored crankbaits, chrome lipless lures, shad- or bream-colored swimbaits, white or chartreuse spinnerbaits and suspending hard-bodied jerkbaits in shad colors.
When targeting spots this month on the lower end of Lay Lake, use finesse worms rigged on jig heads and Texas- and Carolina-rigged worms and lizards. A good color to try is watermelon/black flake. Try rocky points and the mouths of small cuts and pockets along rock bluffs, fishing in water down to 30 feet deep with 6- to 8-lb. test monofilament or fluorocarbon line.
Living right next to the spotted bass, largemouth bass can occupy the same wood or rock cover. But during late winter, the bigger largemouth bass really prefer the thicker, matted weeds close to deep water.
Lay Lake’s largemouth bass thrive around aquatic weeds year-round on the mid to lower lake. Weeds provide plenty of oxygen and plenty of green cover for them to hide in. But in winter some weed types die off. So late-winter anglers should look for the greener weeds, like those that receive a lot of sunshine throughout the day, for the most oxygen-rich environment for these largemouth bass and the prey they dine on to relate to.
Big largemouth bass can often be found in good numbers around isolated wood cover — like one, lone lay-down tree — in this mid-to-lower lake region. Or find them mingling with spotted bass along standing timer and weeds leading into small cuts and pockets on the lower lake.
Coosa River Spotted Bass
To me, pound for pound, there is not a more formidable adversary than a spotted bass. If they grew to the proportions of the largemouth bass, their strength would be comparable to that of hooking into a 15-lb. hybrid striped bass.
Huge spotted bass can be found all throughout Alabama’s Lay Lake, from the lake’s headwaters which often features swift current and stained water conditions to the much deeper and clearer water found on the lake’s lower end at Lay Lake dam.
In most anglers’ eyes, a spotted bass exceeding 5 pounds is considered to be a real trophy. Spots 6 pounds or better are rare — many anglers have yet to even see their first spotted bass exceeding 6 pounds.
However, spots weighing in the 4- to 6-lb. range are weighed during bass tournaments held weekly on Lay Lake, including major annual events like Mark’s Outdoors “The Lay Lake Tournament,” which has to be limited to 500 boats and 1,000 anglers.
Lay Lake Largemouths
Largemouth bass were originally stocked in Lay Lake when it was impounded in 1914, almost 100 years ago. Besides the stocking of these thousands of fingerling-sized largemouth bass, there were lots of largemouth bass already here prior to the lake being impounded.
The old original Coosa River waters were teeming with largemouth bass in the early 1900s. So were nearby ponds and small lakes. In recent years, Mark Whitlock, of Mark’s Outdoors, began to stock largemouth bass. Every year since his huge bass tournament has been held, Mark’s Outdoors <www.marksoutdoors.com> has stocked 100,000 fingerling largemouth bass in Lay Lake.
Lay Lake has made a terrific comeback and is now heralded by many as Alabama’s best bass lake. Many bass exceeding that magical mark of 10 pounds have been taken from Lay Lake, with one known largemouth bass caught that exceeded 13 pounds.
Try Lay Lake during this late-winter period. Some of the year’s biggest spotted bass and some huge largemouth bass are taken by anglers searching for big winter bass on Alabama’s Lay Lake.
Editor’s Note: To contact Reed Montgomery for a guided trip to Lay Lake, call (205) 663-1504. You can also e-mail Reed at <alabassgyd@aol.com>, or visit his website at www.fishingalabama.com.
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