CA fishing is so different from Alabama.

We've done great in the days following flooding rain that's capped the spillways to max water depth on these reservoirs. We catch fish while it's raining. Caught em during a tornado. That is, as long as the Barometer doesn't rocket skyward, temps rising and Sunshine beginning to glisten. Got a few days of rain, welp that's pretty good fishing for me.

Especially best if I can fish the 4to6 hours just before the rains arrive. Some days, we've had to shine the spotlight and motor along slowly just to meander our way through the dense fog, pre-sunrise.

Guess the general rule for me: When it stops raining that day and the barometric pressure starts rising fast, "lock-jaw" sets into these Bass. If temps, weather, barometric pressure, general winds, and the moon remain relatively stable, aka stable wet weather, then the hardest part is convincing the wife that you ain't coming home anytime soon.

Ocean fishing down here on the LA Gulf Coast is different. Sure can't explain all that. Maybe one of those Bayou La Batre Boyz or those in Orange Beach or from Ocean Springs might kn fill in the blanks. If you get one them Louisiana boys, welp, they got some different secrets, and they just don't really tell what they do or how they do it. Assured, if it's flooded in LA, they prolly eatin' pretty good.


Creek.

Let's see. Welp, I learnt ta catch Lake Erie perch from Grampa beginning Age_3. Every once in awhile we'd catch a pike or a musky. We caught 'em by the bathtub loads, and we fillet'd them to hand out to about 16 family members. When we cooked, welp, probably 25 fillet'd fish at a time.

Then, got stuck on catch'n as many bullhed as we could take back to the campsite to feed two families of 6 and one family of 4.

Nowadays, we catch and keep BASS from 1 - 1.5 lbs, while all the rest go back into the creeks, rivers, streams, lakes, and private ponds. If we have 10 people, welp, we're frying fish for awhile. If it's just me an that Acadian, welp, we prolly put down about 6 cut-up half fillets each, two fillets per fish, cut in two, each.

We salt and pepper them, dip them into mustard, coat 'em or lightly shake 'em in a bag of 1/3 cornmeal and 2/3 flour that's been seasoned with some Tony's (chatcheree, original). Sometimes we use peanut oil to fry in an iron skillet, but most the time it's Crisco Shortening. AL, GA, MS favorite always refers back to shorening for frying Southern Style. On occasion, welp, I'll dip em in milk before salting and peppering, simply because there's never any Buttermilk in the fridge.

So, everyone else is talking Fillet size portions. We always seem to prefer BITES, the 1/2-size fillets; they're alot easier to pan fry to us, therefore, a little easier to judge the ideal crispness with the right juciness and tenderness inside. We always did that with Crappie, too. Bream, well, their so small, you use the whole fillet. Remind you, we can find crappie up to 3 lb size, especially late Winter/early Spring.

Nutshell: I eat about 3 fillets from 1 - 1 1/2 lb bass when served with hush puppies, coleslaw, baked potatoe or some other combination. If there's also some frog legs or venison or wild pig or shrimp or oysters or something else joining in, well, we probably be cookin' a little less Bass.

And, when we're at the campfire, could be 6-8 fillets or 12 - 16 bites when that's the whole dinner, served just with a vegetable salad.

We're all over the map.

Creek

As well, if you exit I-65 212, go N on Hwy145 to CR55, drive N until you get to the fork in the road to veer LEFT toward the State Park Landing/Launch, which is just North of the Lay Dam by a creek, Chilton County side, just about across from Paint Creek, Coosa County side, then follow the sign to the launch site. There's enough bank to fish for a whole morning and afternoon. But, some of it, you have to be pretty good at pitching and flipping in order to get around some of the trees and branches along some of the banks. These coves are much better fished from the boat than from the banks. But if you try some live baits and have some patience, you can prolly find a few good fish.

Hi Dawne,

I'm in Clanton, maybe 35 min N of you. BeesWax Creek@Hwy145 is pretty good to bank fish. Probably better to use a worm, a trickworm or a lizard, sometimes opting for 4lb - 6lb line on a light spinning reel, maybe med-light backbone on the rod versus an ultralight, super flexible rod. Too heavy-backbone a rod, a 6-Lber might snap that light a line, mighty fast. You can also opt for a 7' heavy or med-heavy rod with 12 - 16lb line and fish a pig n jig

Can't zactly quote the colors online. But, if you ever want to canoe fish, well, look me up, the weather should allow a few warmer days in the near future amongst all these cold n wet days. Colors generally depend upon the water clarity, the time of day, the water temperatures, the depths your fishing.

Sometimes, you can get into some of the shallow creeks of Jordan or Mitchell; wade into the water with your jeans and tennis shoes and sneak near the weeds. Just gotta watch out for them copper-rattl-mocassins. If you got a pair of heavier chest waders, kinda like "duck-huntin' waders," welp thems jest might be the best to find your comforts.

And, there are plenty of bridge rip rap (ROCKS) to fish. I'd angle the throws 30 - 60 degrees along the rip-rap versus throwin out deepest at 90 degrees. That is, unless you can throw under the bridge into an area where some Christmas trees were sunk or maybe some floating timber gathered some moss along some of the rip rap along the insides of the bridges.

Hope maybe some of that helps. I fish for Bass versus Crappie, but Crappie's pretty fun, too.

If you got a hankerin' to try gettin' ur arms jerked off by Stripe, welp, Stripers gonna be feeding pretty soon, too near and about the lower side of the Coosa dams. Heck, you can almost catch them on the Silver or Gold foil ripped off a cigarette pack stuck onto a #3, 4, or 5 Gamagatsu hook when they're really active.

Lots of ways to catch fish around here. You can probably catch 'em by #10 trebble hookin' some frozen baby shrimp, thawed. Ain't no trout about, but it'll work for bass, too. NC/VA border rainbows ain't the only fish that can't resist some thawed baby shrimp....

Creek

I'm closing in on 3-Score, soon.

Murdock,

Wanta' do some Canoe Fishing? Anywhere Alabama. Have canoe fished Cahaba River, parts of Lake Gainesville, way too many spots on all the Coosa River chain lakes, some of the Warrior River, plenty of National and State Parks, Lake Eufaula. Once, the Bass Masters held their 1st Day Championship on Lay Lake. I smoked all of 'em that same day from a 12' v-bottom boat with a 6hp Johnson and a minnKota trolling motor that I loaded in back of my pickup truck and launced from BeesWax, after filming the opening morning hour launch, maybe 40 boats. Mr. Yakamoto told me he was fishing with a "Japanese Secret." One of the big Boyz told me he had 10 sandwiches for lunch. I caught 4 fish, 10#8oz in less than 2 hrs, and barely could show the tournament directors that I knew how to operate my video camera. Funny CD, still got access to it, somewhere. About the Marines, welp, the only Sempre Fi I can speak is from Puerto Valaparaiso, Chile, Armada de Chile. Almost got in trouble floating about one of the Naval boats, sometime following the Great8.2 and the Tsunamis rattled 27 febrero 2010, maybe 18 hours after I showed up.

I've fished during floods, tornadoes, frozen cold days, some mornings you can't see the front of the boat from the back, some days the fish have jumped into the boat, and some days it was easier to snag a mallard outta the air. Prefer BASS fishing, but there are other fish in the water, too.

Lemme know what you think. I just registered for this Forum, today, so this is my first Reply to post.

Creek