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| Fishing |
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| Low Water Bassin’ On West Point Lake |
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| By Shaye Baker |
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Originally published in the December 2011 issue of AON
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West Point local Derek Yasinski said low water may change where he fishes, but not how he fishes. Chunk rock and rip-rap will still be where the water is warmest, and ditches leading to deep water, roadbeds and standing timber will still be good locations to find a deep bite.
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There’s a new lake along the Alabama, Georgia state line. Midway down the Chattahoochee River, you’ll find an expansive waterway dotted with standing timber. The tree-tops barely protruding from the surface are a small indication of what lies just beneath. Throughout the lake there’s a minefield of unmarked underwater islands that are unknown to most fisherman, even those who have run their boats through the wide waters of West Point for years.
That’s right, I’m talking about West Point Lake, which is about 12.8 feet below full pool and 10 feet below its normal level for this time of year. The lake falls to a winter pool every year but has already well surpassed its normal low pool by about 7 feet and shows no sign of slowing down.
Under continuing drought conditions, an increased demand for power generated by the dam and the mandated 5,000 cubic feet per second of water that must be sent downstream — both for use in power generation and to maintain minimum flows for endangered mussels and sturgeon — the Corps of Engineers continues dropping the bottom out of West Point.
This drastic drop has removed hundreds of acres of territory and rendered many ramps useless. All shoreline brush now resides high and dry. Brushpiles sitting in 15 feet of water in the summer are now peeking all around the lake giving fisherman a little something to throw at.
So for all intents and purposes, West Point Lake is a new body of water. There is no more running to your old honey hole. It’s either dry or drastically different from the way you left it on your last outing. But the fish haven’t gone anywhere. They are still in the lake, and by theory they should be easier to find since there’s less water to hide in.
Which sounds good “in theory” but isn’t entirely true. Since the locations that anglers have frequented in the past are a thing of the past, it will take some effort to relocate the little green fish. However, the how to catch them part shouldn’t change much once you find the fish.
Roadbeds are still as good as ever for congregating bass that are susceptible to a Carolina rig or football-head jig. Standing timber can still be fished vertically for bass perched along the tall stumps. While crankbaits, Rat-L-Traps and spinnerbaits are all still wintertime classics that will produce fish. They just might not work where you want them to.
One pattern local angler Derek Yasinski keys on every year as the water starts to fall is cranking rip-rap. The chunk rock warms water around it quicker in the winter sun than most underwater objects, and the consistency in the rock contour from the top of the water column to the bottom offers a little normalcy for a fish that is fighting falling water.
Slow-moving jigs and shaky heads can be fished along the rocks, but for Derek it’s all about the crankbaits. Square bills and Shad Raps seem to work best. If he can’t catch them just along the edge on the square bill, he’ll back off a little and fish a No. 5 or No. 7 Shad Rap attempting to pull the slightly deeper fish up to the boat.
“I’ll fish clay banks with big chunk rock, too,” admits Derek.
If you can find the chunk rock along the clay banks, it can be a little better than the rip-rap simply because the more condensed rockpiles will group the fish up. But then there is the problem of locating the rocks. If you have a few winter rockpiles in less than 5 feet of water committed to memory, then they are probably out of the water already and getting drier by the day.
Ditches that empty out into deeper water are an additional ideal fishing location for the late fall and early winter. Drop shots and jigging spoons work well here since a lot of the fish will be suspended and relating to shad.
A sonar unit like Derek’s Lowrance HDS-10 can help locate the shad and bass that are too far below the surface to be seen by the naked eye. Once the boat is over the bait and bass, it’s virtually a video game where you try to get the little blips on the screen, the bass, to bite the smaller blips, your spoon or drop shot. It takes some getting used to but is a neat alternative to the bank beating that happens at other times of the year.
However, Derek does like to fish shallow in the winter as well. He has noticed a lot of other people won’t attack the skinny water in the winter, but he believes there are resident fish that live there year-round. The shallows can produce some good stingers if they are hit when the timing is right.
Time of day and speed of retrieve are two key elements to getting these shallow-water bass-sicles to bite. Although they choose to stay in the frigid shallow waters, bass are not necessarily prone to eat or chase a lot since they are cold-blooded creatures and their intake is based on how much energy they need. The warmer the water, the more apt they are to bite. So be sure to fish slow, and focus on the warmest part of the day.
Largemouth bass in the shallows this time of year must be hit on the nose in order to get a strike typically. They are not likely to chase your bait, so be sure to fish an area thoroughly if you believe fish to be there. Target what you can, but be sure to fan cast every few feet since these fish will often sit out in the open and sun.
Stumps and brush will hold fish, according to Derek, but again rocks are the main key since they warm water faster than the wood. Either way, Derek still sticks with his square-billed, lipless and shallow-running crankbaits. The problem with West Point currently is that nearly nothing that anglers are used to targeting is in the right amount of water.
However, there are few advantages to the low water level. Reconnaissance is probably the biggest one.
Have you ever wondered exactly what it is under the water you are fishing? New-age side-imaging and structure-scan units are awesome tools that can be used to give us a better idea of exactly what that ledge, rockpile or roadbed looks like. But seeing is believing, and that’s exactly what you can do right now on West Point.
Or have you ever found a great bite on offshore brushtops and wished you knew where a ton more were? Now you have the chance to go around the exposed contours of the lake and find exactly what you’ll be looking for when the lake inevitably makes its return to previous levels. This is something that several anglers took advantage of on Georgia’s Lake Lanier during its recent drought in 2009.
Extensive research was done while Lake Lanier was at record lows, and loads of fish have been caught as a result. Several individuals and some groups used GPS, cameras and camcorders to document everything that the low waters had revealed. Some groups even created websites like <www.laniermapped.com> as a resource for anglers looking for offshore structures to target the large spotted bass that inhabit the lake.
Even though West Point is nowhere near as low as Lake Lanier was and is not expected to reach that level, there is a fair amount of knowledge to be gained from a leisurely stroll around the lake on a Sunday afternoon. Riding around in search of brushpiles, creek channels, roadbeds and rockpiles and marking them on a GPS along with any other form of cover you might run across can really up your chances in the coming years. A little hard work can go a long way. Just be sure you are mindful that all hazards won’t be marked. And if you are running by GPS, your new shoreline is going to be several topo lines farther out.
Look at the low level of West Point as a challenge. It’s a great way to test your skills and see if you can adjust to adverse conditions. Just be sure to be careful if you head out this month. Try to steer clear of any high spots and long points, since much of them are covered in standing timber. Call ahead to the marinas since they will know what ramps are still accessible.
Try Shad Raps and other shallow-running crankbaits along whatever rock you can find. And if you choose to fish shallow, be sure to slow down and fish as thoroughly as you can.
The offshore game will still work, too. Look for channel swings and ditches dumping out into deeper water. Look for suspended fish on the graph, and drop a jigging spoon. Or sample the standing timber with a drop shot.
Although West Point Lake is down, there are still a lot of options for the bass fisherman. And even if you don’t typically fish the lake this time of year, you should get out there because there is a lot to learn just by looking around. It could really help your fishing on into next year.
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