LAKE EUFAULA - CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER SYSTEM
By Reed Montgomery / Reeds Guide Service
Birmingham, Alabama (205) 663-1504
Website: www.fishingalabama.com
" Over 40 Years Guiding, Fishing and Exploring Every Lake in Alabama For Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass and Striped Bass "
Always Call on Reeds Guide Service...first! Alabama's Oldest Professional, Freshwater Fishing Guide Service!

Impounded 1964
Lake level: Down 2.90 Feet
Water Temperature: Mornings upper 50's / Evenings low 60's.
Water Clarity: Clear main lake, some creeks stained
Air Temperature: High 65 / Low 35
Predicted Weather: Sunny, high pressure conditions and colder this week. Warming trend of 70 degrees on Sat.&Sun. Mid-70's and chance of rain Tuesday - Thursday.



TEN LAKES IN TWO WEEKS - LAKE EUFAULA, LOW WATER AND BIG BASS IN THE LILLY PADS

LAKE EUFAULA By Reeds Guide Service 11-10-1.jpg

While taking clients of Reeds Guide Service, fishing for smallmouth bass, spotted bass, largemouth bass and even some big striped bass! (See pictures and lake reports links on my website www.fishingalabama.com) my travels recently took me to Walter F. George reservoir. Better known in the south as, Lake Eufaula. Named after the nearby town of Eufaula that borders the lake. A huge, man-made, 70 mile long, Chattahoochee River System reservoir that sits along the Alabama/Georgia state line.

Although Lake Eufaula does not have smallmouth bass, it does have a similar cousin to the northern Alabama brown bass, the shoal bass, found far upstream in the lake's headwaters. Eufaula also has a good population of spotted bass and some big, striped bass. But the lake is really known for its excellent population of big, largemouth bass.

Our target that day, while fishing on a cold, foggy mid-week morning launching out of Lakepoint Resort, located at mid lake.

Some visitors to this lake (and other Alabama lakes) are just taking a few days off work, to just relax and go fishing in some great weather in the mid-to-upper 70's. Other, often more astute anglers, are here practicing or competing for either a local bass tournament, or an end-of-the year major bass tournament trail championship. Like Tom, who was here for a recent bass tournament...and a great practice period, while fishing with me on a cold, November morning.

Still, the excellent weather that eventually rose into the mid-60's, made the long drive (of close to 200 miles from Birmingham, Al.), well worth the 3 hour trip. And some big bass as well! Fishing Lilly pads, mostly found in Cowikee Creek near Lakepoint resort where we launched, we tried a number of lures. In all we had up to 20 bass. A good day anytime! Or biggest bass was close to 5 pounds, but we had several 2-3 pounders. Here's what worked best for us;

LAKE EUFAULA'S DEADLY DOZEN - Jigs are only one of a dozen types of lures an angler can fish in and around Lake Eufaula's Lilly pad fields."Swimming a jig combo" is truly a big bass tactic (normally much better for a weedy impoundment like Lake Eufaula, when it is at full pool like during the summer months), even when there are only Lilly pads in the water (due to low pool) for an angler to target.

On this lower Chattahoochee River reservoir this is a very good "crayfish imitating lure" right now as waters begin to cool and lake levels drop. With its very clear waters, Eufaula's big, largemouth bass can be fooled with this lure alone, especially while fishing the lake's last, remaining aquatic weeds. Lilly Pads.

Try, either swimming a jig combo along pad weed lines, or fish it far back in the openings found within the Lilly pads. Or try flipping or pitching a 3/8 to 3/4 ounce jig combo (colors of black and blue / brown on brown / or in clear water pumpkinseed / with green flakes) at times, a shad imitation jig combo with colors of white on white, will work just as well on Lake Eufaula. Swimming a jig combo, (in a lake with little or no weeds) may work better right now, than other lures and presentations.

* If there is no wind or evident current a half ounce jig combo may be needed for most jig fishing situations.

On Lake Eufaula in November with the lake's winter water level currently down (about 2.90 feet and falling), there are really very few weeds left visible for anglers to target. Weeds that normally grow in water less than 3 feet deep like coontail moss, Eurasian milfoil, hydrilla weeds or any type of aquatic weeds very visible for these bass to relate to, are now high and dry.

Wood cover and rock cover, and even slight bottom irregularities found along or within lilly pads, will hold schools of bass. Or at times, this last remaining weedy type of cover can hold one big ol' loner bass, that may be dominating a certain clump of weeds, Lilly pad, stump, laying log, tree, brush pile, or even a small rock pile, usually real close to deep water, but still plenty of cover in shallow water less than 5 feet deep for a few big bass!

* Water temperatures can be close to 60 degrees in the morning right now. Especially if this southern reservoir has been under a week-long warming trend. But by evenings, like seen just recently, it has risen to the mid-to-upper 70 degrees. That's over 10 degrees in one day! So by midday to late evenings, these feeding bass can get much more active in these much warmer waters!

Or you can choose to fish along Lake Eufaula's now very visible stump-filled flats, creek flats and main lake drop-offs, or around islands, or within openings within any type of wood cover you can drop a worm, lizard, tube bait, creature bait, or jig combo right down in a stump, within tree limbs, in brush piles, etc.

Also any point with wood, weed and rock cover should be fished hard with a variety of lures, in many ways. Dropping your lures in these small wooden openings, is just like dropping them in those thicker, more matted-type aquatic weeds, like seen on Lake Eufaula in the spring and summer months.

Jig combos can produce big bass that many other anglers often miss on Lake Eufaula. Or you can choose to fish with lures like spinnerbaits right up in the Lilly pad fields, or shallow-to-deep running crank baits along weed lines, (chrome or shad colored) and lipless lures, plastic worms, lizards, tube baits or topwater lures like buzz baits, zara spooks, poppers and prop baits fished in and around Eufaula's Lilly pads. Frog imitations are very weedless and one of the best lures in early winter around Lilly pad fields.

Lake Eufaula also has loads of schooling bass in open water situations that can now be fooled on a variety of lures! Although many anglers may just choose to fish the now, "low water exposed banks" for more easier to locate fish, always keep in mind to have schoolie lures like jerk baits, swim baits, crank baits, lipless lures and topwaters already rigged and ready! For some explosive action during these fall and early winter feeding frenzies on Lake Eufaula, good for the next few weeks!

Or you can always call on Reeds Guide Service...first! "Lake Eufaula's and all of Alabama's oldest, professional - bass fishing only - guide service for over 40 years."

* REEDS GUIDE SERVICE
Only one professional, Alabama fishing guide service can claim to be "Alabama's oldest fishing guide service." Guiding on Lake Eufaula for over 40 years. Reed Montgomery, owner of Reeds Guide Service based out of Birmingham, Alabama has taken anglers from all over the globe to fish Alabama's many lakes, offering bass fishing state wide, year round. Targeting largemouth bass, spotted bass, small mouth bass and striped bass. (See: the pictures link on my website www.fishingalabama.com) year round.

Same rates for either one or two anglers with discount rates available on two day trips, to any Alabama lake. We welcome (with several qualified guides and insured boats), corporate guided trips, family outing fishing trips, parent and child learning trips, lake residents, both the tournament angler and the novice angler. All are welcome!

Call today (205) 663-1504 or E-mail me alabassgyd@aol.com for more info. Or see my website www.fishingalabama.com for my guide service info, seasonal fishing tips and lake reports for all of Alabama's lakes, fishing articles, fishing links, pictures and more!

* WBRC FOX 6 T V "GOOD DAY ALABAMA" - Call in with your fishing questions (205) 741-7474 as Reed Montgomery answers with his, "Ask the Angler" question and answer session. Reed Montgomery (an Alabama native) is on this very popular morning T V show the last Tuesday of each month. Reed is on just after 8 a.m. Central time.

Reed has been on "Good Day Alabama' now for over 6 years on Birmingham's WBRC Fox 6 Television (seen state wide). Mark your calendar and make plans to tune in to "Good Day Alabama" morning show! Reed's next live appearance will be on Tuesday morning just after 8 a.m. November 29 of 2011!

* NEW! ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THE SOUTH'S BEST BARGAINS? - Check out www.bargainssouth.com A great discount website to find anything at a great low price! Order online! Christmas is not far away! Find those hard-to-find (and often very cute) gifts, for those hard-to-shop-for loved ones in your life..all at the best prices in the south! Check back often for new added items!

* HUNTING AND FISHING - Check out www.marksoutsdoors.com for all your fishing and hunting needs! Great gifts for Christmas, now on sale!

* NEW AND USED BOATS - See www.airportmarine.com for new and used boats, end-of-year boat clearance sales, great parts department and expert mechanic work!

* BASS TOURNAMENTS - See www.airportmarinetrails.com Fall buddy trail now going on!

* FISHING TIPS, LAKE REPORTS, FISHING ARTICLES, BASS GUIDE SERVICE INFO AND MORE! - See www.bamabass.com

* WORLD'S BEST BASS BOAT - See www.rangerboats.com

* COMING SOON! - THE BIRMINGHAM BOAT SHOW! - See their website www.birminghamboatshow.com for more info on this huge, annual Birmingham Boat and Sport show, held in Birmingham each winter season for over 40 years! Scheduled for January 19-22 Thursday - Sunday of 2012!

* REED MONTGOMERY'S TENTH ANNUAL (FREE!) 2012 KIDS FISHING SHOW! - To be held on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 2 p.m. at the 2012 Birmingham Boat Show! (SEE THEIR WEBSITE FOR MORE INFO.) * Donations are welcome and donators are promoted on stage by either you, a representative of the donating company, or promoted by Reed Montgomery!

Come help us make this the best kids show to date! Donations of anything shirts, hats, decals, stickers, pens, pencils, fishing lures, line, rods, reels, tackle boxes. Anything!
In January of 2011 we had over 500 kids and their parents attend this very popular kids fishing show! Bring yours...its all free and lots of nice donated prizes!

Thanks and Good Fishin'!

Reed Montgomery / Outdoor Writer
Owner / Reeds Guide Service
Alabaster, Alabama (205) 663-1504
E-mail: alabassgyd@aol.com
Website: http://www.fishingalabama.com
" Over 40 Years Guiding, Fishing and Exploring Every Lake in Alabama For Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass and Striped Bass "
Always Call on Reeds Guide Service...first!
Alabama's Oldest Professional, Freshwater Fishing Guide Service!