Lake Eufaula Fishing Report – April 2010

Eufaula: Level: Full pool. Temp: High 50s to mid 60s. Clarity: Muddy on the main lake and main creeks, especially down the lake. A little clearer in some of the backwaters.

Bass: Very good. Stephen McCord said the prespawn bite is strong right now in the shallows. He’s been catching most of his fish in less than 18 inches of water and nothing deeper than about 4 feet. There are a few fish already on the beds, and a strong bed bite could turn on at any time. Fish shallow blowdowns, grass and spawning flats, and key on ditches with spinnerbaits and rattle baits. Stephen likes a Terminator spinnerbait to fish the edges of ditches and grass. He’ll go with double, gold Colorado blades and slow it down in muddy water, but he’ll speed up and really burn double willowleafs in the clearer water. To get down in those ditches and also to cover a lot of water quickly, Stephen goes to the rattle bait. He likes an XCalibur XR50 in Tennessee shad. Once he fills a limit on prespawn fish, he’ll go big-fish hunting on shallow beds. For this, he likes a 6- to 8-inch lizard in either black or white — something he sees the take on. He will also sometimes go with a Zoom Trick Worm in white, black or bubblegum. To keep the bait in the bed, he Texas rigs his plastics with a 1/16-oz. weight, but if it’s windy he’ll go up to 1/4-oz. Stephen always fishes a big hook, like a 5/0, so even if the fish doesn’t take the whole worm, it will still get the hook. Topwater is also effective on bedded fish. Stephen’s favorite is one of his homemade buzzbaits. He likes a black skirt in muddy water, but he’ll fish a more natural sexy-shad color in clear water. He always goes with a white head. If he spots a bed in heavy cover, he’ll switch to a swimming frog. A watermelon Horny Toad is a good one. “If I was going to fish some lily pad stems, I would have a Mann’s Baby Minus 1 tied on. I like that ghost-shad color, and I’d fish that same spinnerbait, as well,” he said.