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| Fishing |
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| Escambia County’s World-Class Bream Fishing |
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| By Don Baldwin |
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Originally published in the June 2012 issue of AON
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Harold and Rose Malone, from Milton, Fla., made the trip north to fish Escambia County Lake. They caught this nice mess of bream on April 26. The best bream fishing will be around the full moons from June until August.
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When was the last time you caught a really big bream? I mean a serious sunfish. You know what I’m talking about, the fat feisty ones you have to stretch your hand to get around and have fins sticking out in every direction when you pull them out of the water. I remember going after them with a cane pole and a can of worms when I was a kid and filling a bucket when we could find them on the bed. They were really fun to catch and some mighty good eating when fried up with some corn meal.
Well, if you remember those days fondly like I do, I have some good news for you. There is a pretty little body of water in south Alabama loaded with big bluegill and shellcracker, and during the summer months, they are hungry and available.
Escambia County Lake (also known as Leon Brooks Hines Lake) is one of 23 public fishing lakes managed by the state. At 184 acres, Escambia County Lake is the largest of the bunch and is managed to produce big fish. The lake is well known around the state for its trophy largemouth population, but folks in southern Alabama and the panhandle of Florida also know it as a fantastic bream fishery.
Starting in May, around the full moon, big schools of bream head for the banks to spawn. And they are more accessible to anglers than at any other time of the year.
I had the opportunity to fish Escambia County Lake at the end of April and was excited about the opportunity to catch a few big sunfish. My son-in-law Kevin Graves and I met John Samson at the lake office mid-morning on a windy Thursday, and John gave us an overview of the lake and the sunfish activity in the spring and summer. John has managed the lake for the last three years and has caught quite a few big bream during that time.
“The lake is known for its big bluegills and shellcracker,” said John. “Every month from April to August the bream will head into the shallows to spawn, and they are relatively easy to catch when they do.”
John said the bream will usually go on the bed about three days before the full moon and stay there until about three days after its peak. And, once you locate a bed, the action can be nonstop. The fish generally bed in 3 to 5 feet of water, and shellcracker and bluegill beds will often be right next to each other.
John said that while the beds are sometimes accessible from the bank or the fishing pier, you’ll have your best luck with a boat. The big bream tend to return to the same spots on each bedding session, so once you figure the lake out, it is pretty easy to find the fish. This style of fishing is pretty simple and can provide a great family outing.
“Most folks use crickets fished under a float near the bottom with a small weight to keep the bait down,” said John. “It’s not all that complicated. Get your cricket in the vicinity of the bed, and you are likely to get bit.”
Spinning tackle spooled with light line is the outfit of choice, and that makes it easy for the kids to be productive. In addition to the crickets, worms are also excellent baits, according to John. Wigglers, red worms and earthworms work best, and all are available at the tackle shop, as are the crickets.
“Some people fish the worms under a float with a small weight to get the bait near the bottom,” said John. “But many anglers prefer to fish the worms on the bottom with a tight line.”
The lack of the float makes casting a little easier as well as providing more control over the bait as it sits on the bottom.
John said one of his favorite ways to fish for the bream is with a small lead-head jig tipped with a curly tail grub. John makes his own jigs from a No. 7 or No. 8 light-wire hook with a small split-shot, about size three, crimped on the hook shank. He wraps the head of the jig with chenille in red, blue or black for a little added color. The resultant jig will weigh between 1/64- and 1/32-ozs. John tips the jig with a 1 1/2 - to 2-inch curly tail grub. Black with chartreuse, blue with chartreuse and Tennessee shad are excellent colors for the grubs.
Since the jigs are so light, you need a lot of leverage to cast them far enough to get to the fish. John uses 10-foot light-action spinning rods with ultra-light open-faced spinning reels mounted on them. He finishes off the outfit with 2-lb. test monofilament line.
“With that setup, you can get plenty of distance on the cast even into a reasonable breeze,” said John.
Once John makes a cast, he lets the jig fall to the bottom on a tight line. Strikes will often come quickly, so you need to stay in contact with the bait as it falls. The retrieve consists of a lift-and-fall method where the jig is lifted gently off the bottom with the rod tip and slack is taken in on the fall.
“If the fish are in the area, you won’t have to move the jig very far,” said John. “Often the fish will be on the jig when you make the first lift off the bottom.”
Since the fish often return to bedding locations previously used, it is usually pretty easy to find the fish once you get familiar with the lake. For newcomers, John recommends the lower end of the lake near the dam as a first choice.
“As you are heading down the lake to the dam, there is a big flat on the left side between the left shoreline and the dam,” said John. “That spot almost always holds a lot of bedding fish on the full moon.”
John said there will be bedding fish all over the lake, so experiment on both sides of the lake on the lower end. While bedding fish are accessible from the bank as well as the fishing pier, your best bet is to fish from a boat. That way you can cover more water quickly as you search for the beds.
There is a ramp at the lake, so you can launch your own boat, but Escambia County Lake is an electric-motor-only lake. No gasoline motors are allowed. If you don’t have a boat, you’ll be happy to know that boats are for rent at the management office. A complete package, including boat, electric motor, battery and life jackets are available for just more than $25 for the day. This is not a bad deal for a good day on the water.
When the fishing is tough, John sets up in an area where he thinks the bream will be holding and drifts with the breeze while casting the jig. Once he gets a bite or two, he’ll anchor up or hold the boat in place with the trolling motor and fish the area more thoroughly. Sometimes this is the only way to locate the beds.
One of the reasons the fish grow so large in Escambia County Lake is the lake is managed with a regular fertilization schedule.
“We fertilize the lake throughout the year to maintain visibility of no more that 24 inches,” said John. “That makes it difficult to see the beds, but it provides for a healthy food chain and rapid fish growth.”
The tackle shop at the management office is well-stocked with virtually everything you will need for your day on the water. You can even rent rods and reels if you didn’t bring any. You need a fishing license, and regular creel limits apply. A $3 daily-use permit is also required for access to the lake.
Every fish caught on the lake is weighed and recorded. Each Monday the lake creel data is sent to the regional office for study. This is true of all the public fishing lakes in Alabama.
The day Kevin and I were out, the fishing was slow. The moon was in the wrong phase and a major cold front had come through creating cool gusty conditions. There weren’t many people on the lake, but it was mid week, and the conditions probably drove some away. Still there were quite a few nice bream caught and weighed in.
The Escambia County Lake record bluegill tipped the scales at 2-lbs., 6-ozs., while the record shellcracker weighed in at a whopping 3-lbs., 13-ozs. That’s two pretty good specimens in my book.
So if you are like me and reflect longingly on loading a bucket with bream, Escambia County Lake may be just the place for you this summer. There are plenty of bream for the taking, and John will give you the tips you need to have a great trip. So load up the family and head down to south Alabama for some great panfish action. I don’t think you will regret it.
Directions To Escambia County Lake
From Buddy Mitchell Bridge in Brewton, take Highway 29 north for 9 miles, and then turn right on County Road 4. Drive for 10 miles, and turn right on County Road 11 (Beaver Creek Road). Go for 1 1/2 miles and turn right on Parker Springs Road, and turn left on Barney Road. You will take a right to go into the lake. For additional information, call the lake manager, John Samson, at (251) 809-0068.
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