January 2012

WEST POINT LAKE IS DOWN 5.84 FEET, DIRTY & 52 DEGREES BY CHRIS BELL

Bass fishing has been good. Patterns have remained consistent this week with continuous cool evenings and periodic rain. Offshore hotspots on spotted bass have continued to produce with drop shot rigs and jigging spoons. If largemouth are your focus you are going to need to cover a lot of water with shallow crank baits and spinnerbaits. Look for red clay points and rocky banks with sunlight on them most of the day. Most of these points and banks will be north eastern shorelines. Make long casts with crank baits and spinnerbaits on the shallow end of points. Slowly reel baits making sure to keep continuous contact with the bottom. The best crank baits are a Bomber 4A and Bandit 200 series in a red craw pattern. Spinnerbait patterns can be limited to a ½ ounce War Eagle white with double willow leaf blades gold and silver.

Hybrid and striper fishing is great. Fish have positioned on top of humps and road beds. Using live shad dropped down to schools of fish is working the best. Use your depth finders to locate fish. You may have to check multiple areas before locating fish with the recent changes in water levels.

Crappie fishing has been great. Crappie are beginning to show up mid way in pockets on cover and points. For your trolling bite troll Jiffy jigs in a black chartreuse pattern to depths of ten to twelve feet. Whenever cover is present in the way of brush piles and lay downs will hold multiple crappie this time of year. Use live minnows down lined to depths ten to twelve feet in and around cover