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| Key Feature Homepage Stories |
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| Dog Days Bassin’ On Wheeler |
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| By Shaye Baker |
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Originally published in the August 2012 issue of AON
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FLW Tour pro Jonathan Newton chunks a deep diving crankbait, one of several productive patterns he’ll use on Wheeler in August.
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In Alabama, it is hot. It has been hot, and it is going to be hot. The weather is hot. The water is hot. It’s even hot at night. So it makes perfect sense that the fishing would be terrible.
But that’s not the case. Thankfully the good Lord saw fit to bless the state of Alabama with a gigantic thirst quencher of a waterway known as the Tennessee River. The fish are always biting on the Tennessee River.
Severe drought has supplied little rainfall to the region, but fortunately the heat has helped generate a little current of its own. Air conditioners have been running full force across the state, and although we are not seeing flows of 80,000 cubic feet per second from Tennessee River dams like we would after a heavy rain, the TVA has been generating around 20,000 cubic feet per second to keep up with power demands.
A little current goes a long way on a river system like the Tennessee River. Although it doesn’t boost the nutrient levels like a heavy rain would, current certainly helps the fishery by keeping oxygen levels high and the fish and their forage thriving. The current also concentrates fish, and their competitive nature in close quarters makes them a lot easier to activate.
This is something that FLW Tour pro and Rogersville native Jonathan Newton knows well. Jonathan spent hundreds of hot summer days figuring out how to consistently catch fish on Pickwick, Wheeler and Wilson. He has guided on these waters and has worked closely with the Florence Lauderdale Tourism Bureau to let others know what his hometown has to offer.
With two awesome fisheries like Pickwick and Guntersville just down the road, Wheeler can sometimes be viewed as the ugly duckling by outsiders. Anglers come from all over the country to fish the lakes that they hear are “On fire!” But as the locals know, Wheeler has a fire all its own.
Not many are more local than Jonathan, who has competed in hundreds of tournaments on Wheeler through the years and lives a mere 10 minutes from Joe Wheeler State Park ramp in First Creek. Even being on the road all year fishing the FLW Tour, with the lake in such close proximity, he is able to keep tabs on how the fishing is at all times. And currently, Wheeler is fishing pretty good.
There are multiple options on Wheeler right now. You can go up the river, down into the lake or into any of the small tributaries that flow into Wheeler and likely catch fish wherever you go. But for Jonathan, some of the most fun is offshore on the lower end. Gradual slopes, hard drops and any other contour change can certainly congregate fish, but the most important factor is bait.
“I like to start my search between Elk River and Joe Wheeler State Park,” said Jonathan. “As far as what to look for, the fish are just where they are. They are going to be where the baitfish are. There’s usually some kind of difference there, but sometimes you won’t see what that is. It could be something as noticeable as a bend in the creek channel or as subtle as a transition from mud to rock.”
When the baitfish congregate in an area and a school of bass locates them, you have everything you need. The fish may hang around for a month or swim off within an hour, but for the time being they are there to feed. The bass will usually move on with the bait if it decides to pull out, but if bait is in the area, you should be able to catch fish. The main problem is pressure.
“The fish get on some of the more obvious offshore points early in the summer, and they are found pretty quickly by a lot of fishermen,” said Jonathan.
Late in the summer, Jonathan recommends doing one of two things: searching for the subtle areas that a lot of anglers miss or picking the more popular areas apart with finesse tactics.
“Early in the summer, deep-diving crankbaits, Zoom Ol Monster worms and football-head jigs are all great baits to fish offshore,” said Jonathan. “But after a while the fish get beat up on pretty good.”
Around July and August, Jonathan changes how he fishes offshore. He’ll still start off with some power-fishing baits, but he’ll keep a drop shot handy. After he catches whatever aggressive fish are willing to bite the big baits, he’ll circle back and work the areas over thoroughly with the lighter tackle.
“The fish really stack up offshore on Wheeler, and if you can catch one or two on a crankbait or a jig, there are probably more fish there,” said Jonathan. “I like to use a Zoom Meat Head in morning-dawn color on my drop shot and really work the area over.”
Jonathan stresses the importance of quality electronics when you are fishing this way. Often you can actually see the fish on the graph and then drop your bait vertically down on them triggering a strike. If the fish are up in the water column and streaking or arching, they are likely feeding and will be easier to catch. If they are stationary or sitting directly on the bottom, it may be a little tougher to trigger a strike.
Current definitely helps the offshore bite. It not only positions the fish where they are easier to catch and more concentrated, but it also activates the fish. A lot of times a school will not feed until water starts to move. You may fish an area for an hour or two without a bite, and then as soon as the TVA starts generating, the bait begins moving around and the fish start to feed.
Within minutes you can catch 10, 20, 30 fish or more where you couldn’t buy a bite in slack-water conditions. The offshore bite is largely dependent on timing. Being around fish isn’t going to do you any good unless you are around fish when they are feeding. Usually if you can trigger a bite you can ignite the whole school and start a feeding frenzy with or without current. But there are times where you could throw whatever you want into the lake and nothing short of dynamite would bring a fish to the boat. Don’t resort to dynamite, though.
The other way to continue capitalizing offshore late in the summer is by looking a little off the beaten path. Moving away from the areas that have always produced can be a bit of a gamble, but there are usually a lot of places that anglers overlook. Jonathan will leave no stone electronically unturned, so to speak.
He uses the Structure Scan feature on his Lowrance HDS 10 mounted at his console to scan the bottom of the Tennessee River in search of roadbeds, trees, rockpiles or any other type of cover whether it be manmade or natural habitat. Easing along on his big motor, he is able to watch the screen on his Lowrance as images are brought up from the cool depths. This technology in recent years has taken a lot of the guess work out of where to fish and given anglers a better understanding of the areas they have been fishing for years.
“The HDS units are pretty impressive,” said Jonathan. “Now I can move away from the areas that get so much pressure and find new places to fish. They make it easy to search points and ledges for baitfish, and they can even show you the schools of bass when you run over them.”
Partnering this technology with GPS has made offshore fishing more like a video game at times and less like a shot in the dark. After Jonathan finds a school of fish or some type of structure he wants to fish, he can mark a waypoint on his HDS at his console, and then the waypoint magically appears on the HDS screen on his front deck. OK, it’s more computer science than magic. But either way he is now able to approach the waypoint on his trolling motor, and he knows exactly what he’s throwing at even though he’s 25 feet above it. Pretty impressive indeed.
For those who don’t like the offshore game, there are other options. The small creeks above Decatur as well as the creeks on the lower end like First and Second Creek are all producing. Fish are biting up shallow, and this is something Jonathan believes will continue into August and September.
“The hotter it gets, the harder it is to catch fish shallow without current,” said Jonathan. “But as long as a little water continues to move, there are ways to catch fish shallow.”
Jonathan will target a variety of bank cover. Rock and wood are some of the most plentiful, and shade is always a bonus. Any time you can find overhanging bushes or docks, there’s a good chance a bass is seeking refuge in the cooler water.
Pitching soft plastics like the Zoom Z-Hog to isolated cover is one of Jonathan’s favorite techniques. A light Texas-rigged soft plastic can be presented in a non-threatening way to a docile bass and is viewed as an easy meal usually.
However, there are times when fish are already chasing bait in the shallows and a squarebill or topwater is the way to go. As the summer progresses and the thermocline is pushed lower and lower into the water column, fish sometimes find it more suitable to move into shallow, shady waters and feed on what forage is in the area. When most people have given up on the shallow bite, it can be the best and least pressured pattern on the whole lake.
“You may not catch the numbers of fish up shallow that you can catch offshore,” said Jonathan, “but you can sometimes catch bigger fish.”
The shallow bite is usually best early and late in the day. Sunny, high-pressure days typically bury the fish in the thickest cover they can find and can make them quite reluctant to bite. Your best windows for activity are before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. An overcast day can change that window, however, and if you happen to experience a summer storm, you can have a lot fun by just putting the trolling motor on high and keeping a topwater in your hand all day.
The summertime shallow bite is also spurred on by bedding bream. These panfish offer up a great food source to shallow bass that might find shad a bit scarce in the hot summer months. Topwaters and soft plastics also work well for these fish.
As you can see there are a lot of things working out on Wheeler right now. Some may be better than others, and with the unstable weather we have had this year, it’s hard to predict what tomorrow will bring much less how the fish will bite. The best way to figure them out is to do just that. Put the boat in, and spend some time on the water.
Hopefully this will give you a good place to start your search. Don’t be afraid of the path less traveled, whether it’s a new offshore spot you’ve never seen anyone fish or in a foot of water without a soul around. Sometimes the best part about being on the water isn’t the catching, it’s the fishing.
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