Russ Lane is hoisting a good spotted bass from Lake Jordan. Photo by Chris Dutton (Vicious-Fishing.com)

"Thank goodness for hunters and golfers," my husband said as we crossed the deserted parking lot to the boat ramp. It was mid-morning, the day after Thanksgiving, and it looked as if we had the entire lake to ourselves.

Just a few months earlier, waiting in line to use that same ramp was like sitting on the tarmac at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta during a snowstorm.

Nevertheless, the lack of boaters on the lake in November and December was but icing on the cake. Our reason for being there was the great fishing.

Across our state, the declining water temperatures and daylight stimulate predatory fish to feed aggressively in preparation for the impending cold winter. Savvy anglers, whether fishing for panfish or trophies, wait with great anticipation for this seasonal action to begin.

Here are a few of the places -- and species -- that offer great fishing for the remainder of the year.

GUNTERSVILLE
Deepwater Crappie
"My best 30-fish stringer on Guntersville was in November," recalled Alex Rawleigh of Hazel Green, "and it weighed 64 pounds. Three fish weighed more than 3 pounds, with the largest weighing 3.4 pounds.

"Guntersville has some monster crappie."

Rawleigh has fished the 69,100-acre lake located in the northeast corner of our state, for 30 years. He enjoys fishing for most of the species swimming in the Tennessee River, but crappie fishing from late October to mid-December is the highlight of his angling year.

For most of those years, Rawleigh has kept a log of fishing conditions when searching for bass, bream, crappie and sauger. A review of his records revealed that he occasionally caught trophy-size slabs in November with a 1-ounce jig-and-pig while fishing bluff walls for bass.

"I was catching crappie that weighed nearly 3 pounds," he explained. "While recording a trip and looking at the map after a week of fishing, I discovered every time I caught crappie, it was where the river channel swings into the bank."

To test the pattern, Rawleigh decided to try it in a different location 20 miles away -- and found similar structure on his map.

"Not knowing what to expect," Rawleigh admitted, "I cast my jig. When it reached a depth of 18 to 20 feet -- bingo -- the line jumped and a big slab came into the boat! In 30 minutes, I had a limit in an area I had never fished before. I knew that I had stumbled onto something special."

To duplicate Rawleigh's success, follow the Tennessee River channel on your map to where it makes a sharp bend toward shore and back out again. On the map, tightly stacked contour lines above water level show bluffs.

Above water, Guntersville's bluffs loom as fractured rock walls with cedar and pine growing tenaciously along their edges. In places, you'll see deep cuts where the wall has collapsed. Below water, the bluffs' staircase steps down into the channel with a collection of blown-down trees and boulders from above. These are mixed with debris washed down by the current.

Rawleigh pointed out that current flow is critical, as it positions the shad and crappie behind current breaks on the rock wall. It takes about two hours of current to concentrate the fish.

"As you approach the bluff," he explained, "you'll see large balls of baitfish 18 to 20 feet deep on the depthfinder. And you see bigger returns just below the shad. Ninety percent of the time, these are crappie."

To tempt these deepwater slabs, Rawleigh casts a 1/16-ounce jig rigged with a 1 1/2- to 1 3/4-inch soft-plastic body. He uses a 5 1/2-foot ultralight spinning rod spooled with 4-pound-test monofilament in fluorescent blue.

"Work the jig by counting down to where the fish are positioned on your depthfinder," he said. "Then twitch the line, let it fall, and repeat. The crappie position themselves nose up and move up to take the jig, so you won't feel the bite. But you will see your line snap or jump. That's why I use fluorescent line. You must watch your line to catch fish."

Rawleigh said that as the water cools, crappie move deeper. In early November, look in water less than 15 feet deep. But by late December, they may be as deep as 40 feet.

For current fishing information on Guntersville, drop by Waterfront Grocery and Tackle on State Route 79, or call them at (256) 582-6060.