Prespawn Patterns And Locations For Weiss Bass

Fish docks and rocks to catch March prespawn bass on Weiss Lake.  That pattern may seem too simple, and it can be if you don’t fish the right docks and rocks. Focusing on the prespawn movement of bass will head you in the right direction.

Weiss is a shallow 32,120-acre Alabama Power Co. lake on the upper Coosa River. Big creeks and the river wind through huge flats on most of the lake, and creeks and coves are full of grass, docks, stumps and rocks. It is an ideal habitat for bass, and both spotted bass and largemouth grow big in Weiss.

Although most of the lake is in Alabama and you need an Alabama fishing license, the upper river is in Georgia. Its easy access and quality fishing attract many Georgia fishermen to it for bass. The lake is called the “Crappie Capital of the World,” but the habitat that produces great crappie fishing does the same for bass.

Brody Robison grew up a few minutes from Yellow Creek Falls Fish Camp and learned to fish Weiss while young. He says when he had days off from school his mother would drop him off with his boat on her way to work and pick him up at dark.

His dad, Daniel, got into bass fishing, and he and Brody joined the Dekalb Bassmasters and started fishing tournaments when Brody was 11 years old. They were Anglers of the Year the first two years in the club. Brody helped start a fishing team at Sand Rock High School, and his dad is their coach.

Brody won a junior state championship on Lay Lake and a high school Alabama Bass Federation tournament on Wheeler. He and his dad fish the Alabama Bass Trail Top 100, and Brody also fishes many local tournaments. Next year Brody will join the fishing team at Sneed State College.

Weiss is known to produce quality largemouth and Coosa River spotted bass. These bass gave Brody Robison a win in a Weiss tournament that had a three-bass limit.

David Ayers has been a mentor for Brody over the years and has taught him a lot about the bass in Weiss.  David now works at Weiss Lake Tackle and Outdoors. Stop by and talk to him or others there for up-to-the-minute information and any hot tackle you need.

“Spots and largemouth want to spawn as soon as they can,” Brody said.

The bass are setting up close to spawning areas and feeding, getting ready to bed as soon as water temperature and length of daylight is right.

To catch March bass, Brody relies on a Senko rigged Texas style, a shaky head, a DT 6 crankbait and a jig. Those baits will cover the types of places he expects bass to be feeding this month, and they give him the range of lure speed, depth and look of bait to fish.

Although the lake is full of rocks and docks, the ones that are on paths bass use to go to the spawning areas will produce better than those not on them. Rocky points and banks near the mouths of the spawning areas will produce first, then the ones back in them will get hot. Docks on the same kinds of places, especially if they are on a rocky bottom, are especially good to fish.

We fished the following 10 spots in late January and were too early for them, and the bass just did not cooperate in the 43-degree water. There was a local Weiss Lake Tournament trail tournament that day, and after lunch when we talked with four different teams out fishing, only one of them had one fish. By late February warming water will produce fish like Brody is used to catching.

No. 1: N 34º 53.360 – W 85º 43.420 — Bridges create chokepoints for bass moving up creeks to spawn, and the rip-rap on them are great feeding areas. The Yellow Creek bridge is a good one to catch fish this month, and it is right at the Yellow Creek Falls Fish Camp ramp.

Brody starts fishing first at the right downstream corner, working down the rip-rap toward the bank. Cast your crankbait at an angle with your boat in about 5 feet of water and bump the rocks from right on the water’s edge out to the boat. A DT 6 works well, running at the right depth on the rocks.

After fishing a crankbait, Brody will switch to a jig ’n pig and fish it the same way, flipping it ahead of the boat, letting it sink to the rocks about 3 feet deep and hopping it a couple of times. If he doesn’t get bit, he will reel in and make another flip ahead of the boat.

Brody likes a 3/8-oz. Dirty Jigs or Tightline jig with a green pumpkin and orange skirt. He puts a green-pumpkin Speed Craw on it since it slows the fall some and gives the right amount of action in cold water.

If Brody gets bites on this section of rip-rap, he will fish the rest of the rip-rap on the bridge. This is his best section, but others will usually hold fish if they are on this one.

No. 2: N 34º 12.785 – W 85º 41.830 — Going out of Yellow Creek, before you get to the river there is a big wide bay on your left. Past it a long bank with docks lining it is a good staging area and path for bass moving from the river to spawn in the bay. Brody says this is one of the biggest spawning areas on the lake.

The bank behind the docks rises steeply and the peninsula they are on is called “Round Mountain.” Brody starts at a red roof dock in front of a red cabin. It is past a green roof dock in front of a green cabin and the next white roof dock. There are rocks all along this bank, and some of the docks have brush under them, making them ideal for prespawn feeding stops.

Brody picks apart every dock, bumping posts with a crankbait and pitching his jig to every post and any brush. Sun on this bank warms the water, and the docks offer shade and ambush points. Brody caught a 6 1/2-lb. largemouth under one of these docks on his jig last March. He doesn’t expect to get many bites here, but they are the right ones in a tournament.

No. 3: N 34º 11.827 – W 85º 42.447 — Going down the lake, the first creek on your right goes back and splits into two arms. The Highway 44 causeway runs along the right bank of the right side split. Go to the downstream point of this creek. The point has a block seawall, and there is one small dock on the river side of the round point. There is not a house up in the oak trees, but there is an orange and blue metal seesaw back in the trees.

Stop at the small dock, and fish into the creek. Rocks run out shallow from the seawall, and the creek arms back from it are good spawning areas.  Brody says there are two shelves on the point, one about 4 feet deep and one about 9 feet deep. Those shelves give bass great holding areas to feed prespawn.

Stay out in about 10 feet of water, and fan cast ahead of you with a shaky head, covering water 2 to 10 feet deep to hit both shelves. Brody rigs a black or green-pumpkin Trick Worm on a 1/8-oz. Buckeye Spot Remover head.

Watch your electronics to stay out deep enough—the point gets shallower as you go into the creek. Fish down to the first dock and hit the posts. If you catch a fish, keep going down this bank, following the fish that are probably moving back to spawn. Brody says he got his personal best bass here, a 7-lb. largemouth. Both largemouth and spots stage here, and some big spots can be caught here, too.

No. 4: N 34º 12.064 – W 85º 42.670 — Go across the mouth of the creek to the rip-rap on the causeway. Stop at the first dock on the rip-rap, and fish down toward the back of the cove. It is very shallow here, and some sandbars were above water when we fished the lake at about 4 feet low.

Pitch or flip your jig to the rocks and hop it a couple of times, and then flip ahead of the boat again. When you get to the docks, flip the posts on them, too. This shallow bank with rocks gets sun all day, so it warms fast and draws in fish early in the month, as well as those moving in later.

No. 5: N 34º 12.641 – W 85º 36.924 — The Highway 9 causeway, the long one at Cedar Bluff, divides the lake. The Coosa River makes a hairpin bend around it, going all the way across the lake downstream of it and then back across above it. The deep water near the rocks and three bridges on the causeway concentrate bass here, especially spots.

Go to the middle bridge—Brody calls it the “spot hole.” Current coming down the river runs through here turning on the fish, and they set up and feed all month. They will move to protected areas nearby to spawn but come back postspawn to feed here again.

Cody will fish all his baits here. Run your crankbait along the rocks, bumping them out to 6 feet deep. Cody likes a DT 6 in the disco-shad color, since it looks like a shad. Move it with the current like a shad would move through here.

Pitch your jig, Texas rig and shaky head to the rocks, and work them back with the current, keeping them in contact with the bottom. Bass stack up here when feeding, and you can catch a bunch when they turn on.

No. 6: N 34º 12.292 – W 85º 37.183 — There is a ramp on the downstream side of the causeway between the two small bridges. Tournaments held here release fish that move to the causeway to stage and feed. Go down the causeway from the bridge in hole 5 toward the ramp, and stop at the third big cedar tree from the ramp, and start fishing there going toward the ramp.

Brody keeps his boat in 8 feet of water and casts at an angle ahead of the boat to the rocks. Bump them with your crankbait, and follow up with your jig and Texas rig. Brody rigs a black-and-blue Senko with a 1/4-oz. sinker, and he works it through the rocks with hops like he fishes his jig.

Fish all the way to the very shallow water near the ramp. Hit any wood cover on the rocks, and look for bigger rocks out from the bank and fish them. Anything a little different will hold bass.

No. 7: N 34º 12.929 – W 85º 41.199 — Driftwood Campground is back in a creek just upstream of the mouth of Yellow Creek. Go back in toward it. There is a big flat point in the middle where the creeks split. Go to the left of the house to the rip-rap causeway in the back of it.

Fish the rocks on the causeway with a crankbait and jig, and look for the culvert coming under the causeway. If the lake is full it will be underwater, but there should be a current line or stain line coming out of it. If not, line up the big pine tree behind the causeway. It is straight out from it.

If water is moving through the pipe, fish will set up on it and feed. Run your crankbait and jig along the seam at the edge of the current to put it right in their faces. Also parallel the rocks with both baits around the causeway to the left corner.

No. 8: N 34º 10.671 – W 85º 43.157 — Bay Springs Marina is back in Bay Springs Creek on the left before you get to the Highway 411 bridge. Go back into the creek to the point across from it where the creek splits. Stop at the second no-wake buoy out from the bank on the marina side.

This rocky point runs out almost to the buoy and is between two big spawning flats. Stay out in deep water, and make long casts toward the bank with your Texas rig and shaky head. Work them slowly, probing for rocks and wood on the point. Brody says there is a big log pile put out by crappie fishermen that almost always produces a keeper bass or two. The spot reloads with bass from tournaments at the marina, too.

No. 9: N 34º 09.494 – W 85º 46.111 — Run through the canal to the small lake created by the second dam. Stop on the point on the right side of the canal where it opens up into the lake. This point runs way out parallel to the canal mouth, and there is a ledge along it where the canal was dug.

Keep your boat in 6 to 8 feet of water in the canal, and cast across the point with your shaky head. Bump the rocks and gravel for bass feeding here. Some spots will spawn on this flat point, too. Work your bait to and down the drop into deeper water.

Current from generation coming through the canal makes the bite here better. If the current is strong, keep your boat down current and cast up current so your bait moves naturally. Brody says he caught a 5-pounder here in a tournament last year.

No. 10: N 34º 09.185 – W 85º 48.201 — Lack’s Fish Camp and Pine Cone Marina are back in the pool on the right. Go back to the bank between them where a shallow chunk rock ridge runs out near a boat ramp. It is very shallow all around it, so it warms fast and bass move in shallow to feed.

Stop out from the bank in 6 feet of water, and bump the deeper rocks with your crankbait. Then work your Texas rig, shaky head and jig on them. Fish the rocks to the ramp to the left facing the bank. Brody says this and other similar places are better in the afternoon after the sun has been on them. He likes sunny days better than cloudy days for that reason.

Give these places a try in March to see the kinds of places Brody expects to catch fish.