Alabama Friday fishing report
Longer days, warmer afternoons and an end to freezing nights means the largemouth bass spawn is rapidly approaching across all of Alabama, and probably already underway in lakes in the southern counties.
Largemouths typically spawn on firm bottom around stumps, blowdowns, docks, seawalls and scattered weeds any sort of cover where the baby fish can find at least some cover from the panfish that will move in and try to eat them when they’re a few days old.
McDonald’s Big Bass Splash will be on Lake Guntersville in Scottsboro, AL on March 26, 27 and 28th at Goose Pond Colony. In person registration will be held on Thursday, March 25th from 12 pm - 8 pm. The tournament awards prizes for the biggest fish caught in each hour, so it allows novice anglers to have a shot at big prizes if they get lucky. The company says there’s a total of $260,000 in cash and prizes, including a Nitro Z20 bass boat with Mercury outboard, Minn Kota troller, Lowrance elec
Friday Fishing Report
Warmer weather this week along with showers could turn on the bite in area lakes once the storms have passed. Bass have been hanging on shad schools at the larger lakes including those in the TVA system find the bait by following the gulls, or scope them out with big screen sonar and fish the bait pods with 3-inch swimbaits, similar-sized crankbaits or lipless cranks.
According to Guntersville guide Mike Gerry, from now through February will also be a good time to try lipless crankbaits like the Spro Aruku Shad over areas where hydrilla and milfoil have died back. Gerry says the fish particularly like areas where the new growth has just started to sprout from bottom, typically in 4 to 8 feet, during warm spells in late winter and early spring. Gerry likes both the yo-yo and the “rippin’” tactic, the latter jerking the lure free as it catches strands of weeds he says the abrupt dart often triggers bites; www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com.