Chris Rutland hoists a spotted bass taken on Jordan Lake on a spinnerbait. That's Jordan Dam in the background. Photo by Stephen E. Davis.

This is Alabama. No other place offers bass anglers a better opportunity for catching largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass. In fact, our lakes are legendary. Largemouth anglers in South Africa, Spain and Japan who have never even visited here have heard of Eufaula and Guntersville. Smallmouth anglers in Canada envy the huge bronzebacks of Pickwick Lake.

Our only remaining international secret may be the 6-pound spotted bass in Jordan Lake on the Coosa River. Since Jordan is a small reservoir on the Coosa chain, it has avoided major publicity.

These are not the only places to fish in our great state, but they are some of the best available on the planet.

LAKE EUFAULA
Like the heavyweight boxer in the "Rocky" movies, Lake Eufaula has had its ups and downs, but in the end it always delivers a knockout. Following its impoundment by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s, Eufaula gained national attention with photos of anglers straining to lift stringers of 7- to 10-pound largemouth bass. It was a tremendous fishery throughout the '70s, declined into the mid-'80s, recovered into the mid-'90s, and then was decimated by largemouth bass virus in 1996-97.

Fortunately, that was the bottom.

"We had a tremendous year-class of bass in '98," reported Ken Weathers, District VI fisheries supervisor for the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, "and found that with the 16-inch limit, we had traded having a high abundance of fish for a lot slower growth rate. Due to the slower growth and the loss of so many fish from disease, we lowered the size limit to 14 inches in November 2000.

"We sample the lake every spring and fall," he continued. "Last spring, 46 percent of the fish collected exceeded that 14-inch limit. There are not a lot of 8- to 10-pound fish, but we are seeing good numbers of 4- to 5-pound fish."

Stretching for 87 miles on the Chattahoochee River from just below Phoenix City to the Walter F. George Lock and Dam, Lake Eufaula covers 45,181 acres with 640 miles of shoreline. It's a fairly shallow lake with a fertile watershed.

The lake's shallow water is a cornerstone of Eufaula's great fishing, yet it is a worry for biologists.

"When hydrilla was found in Eufaula about 10 years ago," Weathers explained, "it was a real concern, because more than 70 percent of the lake is less than 10 feet deep. The first eight years it grew in patches, and then last year it jumped to more than 1,000 total acres."

According to Weathers, as long as the aquatic vegetation doesn't exceed about 20 percent of the lake's surface area, it's beneficial to both the fishery and anglers. The weeds provide a nursery for small fish and edge cover where anglers can catch bass.