The Shallow June Bass Bite On Eufaula

Bass in the grass, and bass feeding on channel drops. Eufaula is full of 3- to 5-lb. bass, and they have been on fire this year. In June, you can catch Eufaula bass both shallow or deep—it really just depends on the way you prefer to fish.

Eufaula is known as “The Bass Capitol of the World,” and it is holding up to that moniker this year. Tournament stringers weighing at least 25 pounds are necessary to win most tournaments of late. Eufaula’s miles of flats that are full of grass and lily pads with channels snaking across them provide the perfect habitat for largemouth bass.

Parker Guy grew up fishing with his dad in Ocilla and has been on the Irwin County High School fishing team for five years, starting in the eighth grade. He was named to the 2019 BASS High School All-American Bass Team, one of 12 young anglers honored as such nationwide. Parker will attend Emanuel College near Lake Hartwell and will be on the fishing team there this fall. 

Two years ago Parker and his partner won the Georgia Bass Nation tournament on Eufaula, and they placed second last year. He and his partner won the Chewalla Creek Marina trail the first Saturday in May with five bass weighing 25.64 pounds and had big fish with a 6.85-pounder.

Parker also fishes with a local club, sometimes with his dad and other times with a friend. He fishes the Reel Money Trail and other local tournaments. He and his partner won the Wiregrass Student Angler Trail last year.

“In June, bass feed shallow around grass and lily pads,” Park said. “Then some of them move out to brush in 8 to 12 feet of water,” Parker said. 

He prefers to fish shallow. Some bass will stay in the grass all day, hiding from the sun under mats and pads. They can be caught all day, but Parker will go to brushpiles and docks if necessary.

For June, Parker will have several baits ready to fish shallow, like a swim jig—his favorite, a buzzbait, a swim worm and a frog or toad. He also has a punch bait rigged for the mats of grass. 

For deeper fish, a Strike King 5XD crankbait, shaky head and Carolina rig are ready.

Last month when Parker Guy showed the author 10 locations for June bass, their best five weighed about 18 pounds.

Parker and I fished the second week in May, and the fish were feeding on the shad spawn in grass. He helped teach me how to fish a swim jig effectively, and I caught three bass. Parker caught about a dozen during the same time. We caught fish on buzzbaits, spinnerbaits and swim worms, too. Our best five weighed about 18 pounds.

The following places are good right now, and fish will feed on them the rest of the month, both shallow and deep.

No. 1: N 31º 57.651 – W 85º 05.407 — Going into Cowikee Creek, the long downstream point on your left has the creek channel swinging in right beside it just inside the creek. There are lily pads along it where the water is shallow enough for them, and then the bottom drops fast into the channel. It is an ideal place for bass to feed shallow and then move deeper as the sun gets bright. 

Start the end of the main point, keeping your boat in deeper water outside the pads, and fish up to the next point where a bay opens up and the channel swings away from the bank. Cast a buzzbait, toad or frog right against the bank, working them back through the pads. Parker uses both a toad like a Ribbet or Horny Toad and a Popping Frog like the Spro and likes black in both kinds.

Also try a swim jig and swimming worm, working from the bank out to the edge of the pads. Wind can mess up the frog and toad bite, so go to these baits if wind is rippling the pads. Parker fishes his swim jig on a 7-foot, 3-inch heavy fast action FX Custom rod and Suffix 65-lb. braid to get the fish out of the pads.

No. 2: N 31º 56.136 – W 85º 05.916 — Going up Cowikee Creek, a string of islands is on your right. Between the last two downstream, the channel swings in near them and a thick mat of grass is a good place to punch when the sun is bright.

Stop near the last island, and work the pads and grass with your moving baits as you move in close to the thick mat. Get in close to it, and use a bait like a fighting frog or Sweet Beaver in hematoma color rigged on a 5/0 or 6/0 hook and a 1 1/4-oz. tungsten weight.

Drop the bait so it goes through the mat. Be ready for a hit as soon as it goes through. Some bass will hold right under the mat. When it hits the bottom, jiggle it a couple of times, and then pull it out and drop it through the mat a few feet farther along.

Fish will feed in the pads all around both these islands early and on cloudy days. Work them with a buzzbait like a Buddha Sleep Alarm. It comes through the grass and pads well, and the blade hits the head, creating a clack that attracts the fish. Work it slowly as you can keeping it on top.

No. 3: N 31º 58.187 – W 85º 06.144 — Go up to the big island, the last one before the channel turns to go toward Lake Point. Start on the downstream side and fish upstream, working pads and cypress trees. Cast a buzzbait, swim jig or swimming worm under the trees and around the pads.

Parker keeps moving and fishing the pads—covering water but also hitting every tree he comes to. Some trees have limbs high enough to easily get a bait under them, but the better ones have low limbs. Skip a frog, toad or swim jig under these to fish that are harder to reach.

No. 4: N 31º 58.739 – W 85º 06.706 — Going toward Lake Point, the causeway for Highway 431 runs along the left side out to the bridge. Two points come out from it with pockets going back to the rocks. The points and pockets have lily pads, grass and cypress trees to fish.

Work both points and the two pockets downstream of the bridge. In low light, fish a buzzbait, frog and toad through the pads and around the grass. Try a swim jig or swimming worm like the Buddha Swagger Swim Worm in white through the pads, too, especially if wind is blowing in on them. Peg a 1/16-oz. bullet weight ahead of it.

There are a lot of released fish from tournaments at Lake Point that constantly restock this area. And fish here and other spots will feed at different times. You may fish an area like this without a bite then come back a couple hours later and have a good catch.

No. 5: N 31º 58.341 – W 85º 06.557 — Going back downstream, there is a green channel marker sitting out from a point of cypress trees on your right. A ditch runs in on the upstream side of the trees, and there are lily pads all around the point.

Fish move in and feed all around the pads and trees. Work your moving baits through the pads and under the trees. Since wind can make frogs and toads less effective, Parker will cast a lightly weighed white Buddha Baits Swagger Worm through the pads and pitch it under the trees.

The deeper water on the upstream side has some thick grass over water deep enough to punch. In bright sun, work this thick grass with a hematoma-colored Fighting Frog or Sweet Beaver. Since these baits imitate bream, Parker will dip the tails in chartreuse JJ’s Magic.

No. 6: N 31º 58.064 – W 85º 06.434 — A little farther down the right bank, Mann’s Slough runs back from the creek. There is a pumping station just inside it. The channel swings in toward the bank, and the channel of the slough offers a highway for bass to move in and out.

The downstream point of this slough is a good bank to fish. It is covered in pads and grass. Work your buzzbait, popping frog and toad in calm water, and try the swimming worm or swim jig in choppy water. Fish all your baits on braid to cut through the pad stems and make sure you are able to land big bass.

Fish from just inside the slough down to the next green channel marker. You can go over the area multiple times since bass will move in at different times, and sometimes bass that don’t hit on the first pass will turn on and hit the next time.

No. 7: N 33º 58.153 – W 85º 04.777— Across the mouth of Cowikee Creek, Wylonia Creek enters between it and the river. There is a pumping station back in a cove on the right as you go into the creek. Bass move in and out of the creek and cove to feed. The downstream bank of the cove has a deep channel running out from it, and the bank is covered with pads and water willow beds.

Fish all the grass, from inside the cove even with the left point, out to the point between the creek and river. Run a buzzbait, frog, toad, swimming worm and swim jig through the grass. Parker likes a Dirty Jigs or Buddha jig with as Big Bite Baits craw on it. White is good, but he will also go to browns and black and blue to imitate bream.

He makes long casts into the grass and works it back to the boat with little twitches of his rod tip to make the jig jump and the craw legs move in an erratic action. When a fish hits, give it a second to take the bait before setting the hook.

No. 8: N 31º 55.445 – W 85º 06.841 — If the lake is full and you are careful, you can run down the Alabama side of the river. The water is shallow, so the lake needs to be at full pool. If it is, run down parallel to the Alabama bank to the small cypress island upstream of Old Town Creek Park. If the water is low, follow the channel to the causeway and come back up past the park to the island.

A 9-foot-deep creek channel runs in near the cove behind the island. It is lined with stumps, and you can follow it with your electronics and fish the stumps going in. The bass stage and hold on the stumps as they move in and out of the cove. Fish them with a shad-colored Rapala 5XD crankbait, a Carolina rig or a shaky head, dragging them along bumping the stumps.

When you get to the bank, fish from the downstream point of the cove all around it to the upstream point with willow trees on it. Work the pads and grass here like in other shallow grassy places. 

No. 9: N 31º 54.747 – W 85º 06.977 — Eufaula is legendary for its ledges, and one of the best is called “The Clothes Line,” a long straight ledge running across the river. It starts just downstream of the point at Old Town Creek Park with the fishing pier on it and runs hundreds of yards across the river, getting deeper as it goes.

Some bass hold on this ledge year-round except when they spawn, and others join them as the water warms. The ledge is covered in brushpiles from 8 to 20 feet deep. Keep your boat out in the channel in 30 feet of water, and cast up on top of the ledge in 10 to 20 feet of water.

Parker usually starts where the ledge top is about 12 feet deep in June and works it out deeper. Ride over the ledge to see where the fish are on it with your electronics. Watch for any cuts in the ledge, they are key places.

Cast a 5XD, a Carolina rig or a shaky head up to shallow water, and bump the bottom and you work your bait back over the drop. Parker rigs a green-pumpkin Zoom Trick Worm or lizard about 18 inches above a 1/2- to 3/4-oz. sinker, depending on wind and current, for his Carolina rig.

Current makes a huge difference here. Current moving down the river turns the fish on as it moves bait across the drop. Wind can help, too, especially on days with less current. Fish the ledge at different times to find when the fish are feeding.

No. 10: N 31º 54.284 – W 85º 06.409 — Across the lake on the Georgia side, a red channel marker sits close to the bank. It is the closest to the bank after going upstream past River Bluff Park. Behind it, two ditches run out to the river channel and the point between them has rock and brush on it. The ditches and point have grass and pads on them.

Fish the grass early then move out and fish the point with shaky head and 5XD. Keep your boat in 25 feet of water and cover the whole point. Parker rigs a 1/4- to 3/8-oz. Fish Hammer head, depending on depth, wind and current, with a green-pumpkin or junebug Trick Worm and dips the tails in JJ’s Magic.

Work the shaky head slowly along the bottom, and shake it when you hit brush. Fish the point from both sides and the end. Parker says sometimes changing the angle of your cast will make a fish bite.

Try these spots and similar ones for great June fishing.