Flats Fishing For Eufaula Bass

Lake Eufaula is famous for its shallow flats and big bass. February is a good month to find bass beginning to move out of the river and creek channels across the flats toward shallow water. Find the right spot and you can load your boat right now.

The flats at Eufaula are extensive and shallow, causing the water to warm fast in late winter. Warming water puts bass on a prespawn pattern early at Eufaula and provides some of the hottest fishing of the year. The 16-inch limit was lowered last year to 14 inches, so there is a good stockpile of bass in the 14- to 16-inch range to catch. And Eufaula has always been known for producing lunker largemouth, so your chances for a 7-lb. plus fish are better than on most reservoirs.

A jig ‘n pig is Larry’s first choice when fishing the February flats at Eufaula.

Larry Jones fishes Eufaula often and knows it well. He has been bass fishing for about 20 years and has been in two clubs in the Eufaula area. About six years ago, he joined the Bass Club of Fort Benning after another club he was in folded. In 2000, he placed second in this competitive club and then was first in 2001. At the 2001 Top Six at Eufaula, Larry tied for ninth place. He went to the Southern Regional on the state team and was the top man on that team at Santee-Cooper. That means Larry will fish the BASS Chapter Federation Nationals this year as the Georgia representative.

Larry agreed to show me some of his favorite places to fish in February on Eufaula and tell me how to catch bass there. His tips and spots will help you if you head to Eufaula this month.

“The most important thing for the success of any fisherman is to be on the water,” Larry told me.

Most fishermen will agree that nothing beats spending time on the lake to learn it and figure out how to catch bass. Larry’s suggestions will give you a good start and eliminate some of that time on the water, but if you want to be successful consistently, you must get on the lake.

“I don’t do a lot of running around trying different things,” Larry said. “I know these patterns work, so I don’t try a lot of other things,” he added.

Larry has two basic patterns he fishes in February and will stick with them. He fishes ditches running across shallow flats on the main lake and up the river, and he fishes blowdowns up the river. Those two patterns should keep you bush all day and produce all the fish you need in a tournament or when fun fishing.

“Find a ditch and follow it, and you will find bass,” Larry said.

He looks for a ditch running out to the channel and then fishes it from the channel to the bank. Depending on the weather, the bass will be holding somewhere along it. They will be deeper and near the channel if it is cold, but bass will move up onto the flats and toward the bank as it warms.

“I stay close to the ditch within two casts at the most,” Larry said.

Even when there has been a warming trend for several days, Larry does not expect the bass to move far from the ditch in February. He starts with his boat in the channel and casts up onto the flats.

A jig ‘n pig is Larry’s first choice for February fishing around these flats, but he keeps a Carolina rig handy to throw as a backup. Larry likes both the Rattleback and the Sloan jigs, and he sticks with black with some blue or red in it. He uses a Zoom Chunk trailer in the same colors.

Larry likes a 1/4- to 3/8-oz. jig for most of his fishing and throws it on Stren Hi-Vis line so he can watch for little twitches showing a bite. This combo is good for fishing down to 8 feet or so. If fishing deeper, Larry will go to a bigger jig, up to a huge, 1/-oz. jig for fishing deep ledges and channels.

On the Carolina rig, Larry will throw a green pumpkin or junebug Finesse worm or a 6-inch lizard in the same color. He says he uses the green pumpkin about 80% of the time. A 1-oz. sinker keeps it in contact with the bottom and stirs up a little silt to attract bass, no matter what the depth. Larry fishes 15-lb. Ande or 17-lb. green Trilene line, and he does not watch his line while Carolina rigging. Rather, he goes by feel.

The key to fishing the ditches is finding cover. Stumps, brush or even a hard bottom can be the cover that holds bass. This is where time on the water comes in. Even when you see the places Larry fishes and locate the same ditches he catches fish from, you must find those sweet spots that hold the bass. The only way to do that is to make a lot of casts!

When you hit a stump or brush, pull the jig up and then let it fall over the structure. That is when a bass is most likely to bite. If you are fishing a hard bottom with clay or rocks, hop the jig to get the same effect. With the Carolina rig, you will have a natural flutter to the bait as it moves across brush and rocks.

The following eight holes will show you the kind of structure and cover Larry fishies and give you an idea of what to look for. The first five spots are around the mouth of Barbour and Cheneyhatchee creeks. You can put in at ramps at the bridge in either creek and be on those holes quickly.

No. 1 on the map: A big point, known locally as Hummingbird Point, between the river and Barbour Creek has a big tank up on the bank. There’s a sharp bend in the creek channel coming into a big flat between the creek and the river. Larry likes to ride the edge of the creek channel here, watching his depthfinder for ditches. When he finds one, he marks that end with a buoy and then follows the ditch across the flat. First find the edge of the Barbour Creek channel and follow it. The several ditches that run off it are the ones you want to fish. Keep your boat in the middle of the ditch and cast up onto the flats on both sides.

No. 2 on the map: Go up Barbour Creek past the barges and watch for the creek channel to swing out away from the north bank. Between that spot and the small islands toward the bridge are several ditches that run into the bank. Bass will hold near the creek channel early in February and move up toward the bank as soon as it starts to warm. Sometimes the bigger bass move in to spawn ahead of the others, so don’t hesitate to fish very shallow even early in the month, especially if there have been a few warm, sunny days in a row. Fish all the way from the lip of the creek channel up to water 3 feet deep. Probe the lip of the ditch for any change like a bend, a hard spot on the bottom, a stump or brush. All will hold bass. Look for anything different—that is what the bass are looking for and holding on.

No. 3 on the map: Across Barbour Creek a small creek enters behind a long, shallow point. The flat between this small creek and Barbour Creek is good, and Barbour Creek makes a couple of bends right out from the flat. Follow the lip of the small er creek and go shallow, but also look for ditches running off the smaller creek. A ditch with stumps is an excellent place for prespawn bass to hold. Don’t expect to find huge stump fields. Instead look for isolated stumps or clusters of two or three. If the water has been warming for several days, go well back into the small creek, fishing water you might consider too shallow for February. Look for those early spawners that have already moved in close to the bedding areas. You can catch a hawg back in these spots in February.

No. 4 on the map: The point between Barbour and Cheneyhatchee has a big flat on it running back toward the north. Ditches run from this flat into the Cheneyhatchee Creek channel. Spend some time idling along the creek channel lip and watch for dips in it that indicate a ditch. Find the dips and follow the ditches across the flat. Larry likes to fish the ditches from 12 feet deep all the way up to 3 feet of water. This is another spot with several ditches and lots of bass, so keep moving until you find the fish. If you catch a bass, fish every stump or brushpile there. Bass school up on these structures. And be even more thorough if you catch a good fish, since they tend to school with others of the same size.

No. 5 on the map: Across the river channel an unnamed creek enters north of the Cool Branch Recreation Area and Cool Branch itself. This creek cuts across a huge river flat, and ditches run north off of it. It hits the river right at channel marker 91.8, so start there and go toward the Georgia bank.

Watch your depthfinder and look for the drop from the flat into the creek. When you find it, start looking for ditches cutting across it. Follow them north across the flat just like in the other spots. This area takes the full force of the west wind, and it can be impossible and dangerous to fish. If it is fishable, stick with it. The wind can make the fishing better. Boat control may be tough, but as long as it is not dangerous, Larry will fish these ditches even in high winds.

For a different area to fish, head up the river or trailer up and put in at River Bend Park. The following three spots are in the area Larry fishes when he goes up the river.

No 6. on the map: The river bank from Ihagee Creek down to the next small creek entering the river is a favorite of Larry’s. He will fish this whole bank, throwing his jig ‘n pig to every bit of wood in the water. Blowdowns along this bank hold good bass in February. If the current is moving, it is easier to fish upstream than down. Position your boat so you can cast to the wood cover and work with the current. Fish each blowdown with several casts. Don’t just hit one spot and move on. There are some big trees underwater.

No. 7 on the map: Across from River Bend Park, a big flat sits north of the channel between it and the old oxbow channel. Bass move up onto this flat from the river channel by following the ditches, just like they do on the lower lake. Find the ditches coming off the river channel and follow them, keeping your boat in the channel and casting to the flats on both sides. Some of the wood cover you want to fish here is visible. Logs and brush wash in during floods and hang on the flats. Fish the ones you can see, but probe for the hidden cover, too.

No. 8 on the map: McLendon Slough is part of the old river channel that has filled in and become almost like an oxbow lake. It has access from both the river end and the upper end back off the river. Larry likes to fish along the edge of it where the water drops off, fishing a jig ‘n pig in the wood cover just like out on the river. Fish brush, stumps, blowdowns and logs all along the edge of this old channel. Concentrate on the deeper banks early in the month and work the more shallow areas as the water warms. This area is protected and a good place if the wind is up.

All of these are places where Larry fishes and catches bass. He has spent the time to learn them but was willing to share them and give us a shortcut to fish-holding areas. Study them, catch fish on them but also learn what you are fishing. Use this knowledge to find more spots just like them either up the river or on the main lake.

February fishing at Eufaula can be excellent. You now have a head start on finding and catching bass there this month. Don’t miss the chance to get on the water and put Larry’s information to good use.