MITCHELL LAKE By Reed Montgomery Reeds Guide Service 12/19/11
MITCHELL LAKE - ALABAMA'S COOSA 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 (and Logan Martin lake's), Oldest Professional, Freshwater Fishing Guide Service!
Impounded 1923
Lake level: full pool
Water Temperature: Mornings 55 / Evenings 61
Water Clarity: Clear main lake, some creeks stained
Air Temperature: High 62 / Low 45
Predicted Weather: Partly cloudy all week. Highs - Low to upper 60's / Lows - low to mid-30's / Warmer in the mid-60's and 80% chance of rain, Tuesday -Wednesday.
MITCHELL LAKE'S STRIPED BASS FEEDING IN LAKE'S HEADWATERS
(AND SOME BIG SPOTS!)
* (Note - Info on attaining a guided fishing trip "Christmas Gift Certificates" at the end of this lake report)
We launched at Higgins Ferry Boat Launch at mid lake on Alabama's Mitchell lake at 6:30 a.m. and it was not as cold, (with some previous trips showing the boat covered in ice, in the upper 20's) as other trips earlier this week.
The air temps were 45 degrees, with water temperature at 55 degrees mostly due to a rather warm evening the night before. As the sun came out that morning air temperatures quickly rose close to 60 degrees and by midday to evening in the mid 60's and the lake's water temperatures rose to 61 degrees by evening.
We ran several miles up the lake, where we found some very cooperating spotted bass and some striped bass in the lake's headwaters. On this day we fished right below upper Lay lake dam. It was a good day for a dozen or so spotted bass, including several nice 5-10 pound striped bass caught on suspending jerk baits in shad colors and rattle traps chrome/ blue back.
Later in the day our biggest bass (a 5 pound largemouth bass) hit a zara super spook topwater lure, while my client was retrieving the lure through
a tree top laying out over a deep rock bluff. It was a very nice bass, caught at the end of a partly cloudy warm day in the low 60's.
When we launched the boat that morning we were all alone at the boat dock, but we were not alone by mid morning in the lake's headwaters. It turned out to be a rather good day for both bass fishing and stripers and lots of company as well! With company on each stop we fished in this area (as much as a dozen other boats) we still emerged there just after dawn all alone! Not a lot of really big bass bites, but maybe about 15 bass in all. Including a dozen big striped bass!
Some bass species did bite very well (especially to our surprise as soon as we got there), like early in the morning at dawn when it was normally slow and we expected the bite to be slow...but it wasn't! With the bass biting good as soon as we got there, making the cold run up the lake well worth the ride that cold morning.
Once again, I enjoyed fishing with the pleasant company of an out of town client, on just another day on Alabama's Mitchell Lake! Fishing with Reeds Guide Service! Mitchell Lake's oldest, professional -- bass fishing only -- guide service!
We saw lots of shad and bass busting and some very swift current in these main lake headwaters. More current laden rocks and rock bluffs are found here too. Deeper water areas, around rocks or boulders, were our targets that day as we stayed in Mitchell lake's headwaters fooling bass all throughout the day! Never a dull moment!
Some places we fished were out of the wind and were bathed in water warming sunshine by midday. We fished these places from mid-morning to late evenings along small cuts and pockets lined with aquatic weeds. We fooled some nice 1-3 pound largemouth bass in these weeds, with Zoom's white trick worms and Yamamoto's black Senkos.
* Lures and Techniques - We fished mostly shallow, rocky flats, boulder-strewn banks, rock bluffs, and some small pockets fishing around weeds, wood cover, around stumps, brush piles and laydown trees. Slow, stop-and-go presentations elicited most strikes on just about all lures, but the cold water striped bass hit hard no matter what the lure or retrieve!
Shallow-to-mid diving shad colored crankbaits, lipless lures, suspending jerk baits, and in the weeds we even fooled some bass with black and blue jig combos and one strong spotted bass, (caught on a white spinnerbait). It was a three pounder that nailed the spinnerbait while fishing around a stump, with a laying log beside it.
No topwater bites! But you know we tried! These bass were biting every hour of our day in water temps of 59 degrees and by evening we both had achieved at least 25 bites each! Some bass we missed, some came off the hook, with mostly "reaction bites" from steady moving or stop and go presentations on our lures.
* Pictures - As you can see (if there is a picture with this article, if not, see it on my website's Mitchell lake and other lake reports www.fishingalabama.com)
* On Mitchell lake, even in late December with the lake's water cooling down there are always some cooperating bass to target!
Always call on Reeds Guide Service...first! "Mitchell Lake'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 professional fishing guide service." Guiding on Mitchell Lake 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 all of 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).
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! For fishing any Alabama lake, year round!
GUIDED FISHING TRIPS FOR ANGLERS FOR CHRISTMAS!
* KEEP IN MIND CHRISTMAS IS NOT FAR AWAY! A GUIDED FISHING TRIP WITH REED MONTGOMERY OF REEDS GUIDE SERVICE FOR, "THAT LOVED ONE THAT LOVES TO FISH" MAKES A GREAT GIFT FOR CHRISTMAS! E-MAIL OR CALL TODAY (205) 663-1504 TO RESERVE YOUR CHRISTMAS GIFT CERTIFICATE !
* 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" 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. on December 27 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! We are working on new categories! Including. Fishing items, that will be added soon...
* 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!
* 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! Come hear Reed Montgomery's, "Springtime bass fishing" seminar, to be held Saturday January 21 evening around 6-7 p.m. Come by the, Fishing Alabama / Reeds Guide Service booth upstairs! All at the January 19-22 Birmingham Boat Show!
* REED MONTGOMERY'S ELEVENTH ANNUAL (FREE!) 2012 KIDS FISHING SHOW! - To be held on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 2 p.m. at the JANUARY 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!
"REED MONTGOMERY'S 2012 KIDS FISHING SHOW" - DONATIONS - WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Come help us make this the best kids fishing 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!
* Call (205) 663-1504 or e-mail me alabassgyd@aol.com with your donations!
I will commit to giving a good "promotional plug" for all kids show donators during the 2012 Kids Fishing Show!
Thanks and Good Fishin '
Reed Montgomery / Outdoor Writer
Owner / Reeds Guide Service
Alabaster, Alabama (205) 663-1504
E-mail: alabassgyd@aol.com
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!
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MITCHELL LAKE By Reed Montgomery Reeds Guide Service 12/19/11
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