"He paid me, got in his car and left," Thompson said with a grin. "I'll never forget that. He'd just caught the biggest bass he'd ever seen. You see all kinds."

That 8-pound bass might take more than an hour and a half to find these days.

Putting a quintet of 5-pounders into a livewell might not be as easy as it once was on Eufaula, but the lake still ranks No. 3 among Alabama reservoirs for "average weight" and fewest hours invested to hook a bucketmouth surpassing the 5-pound mark. That's according to the most recent Bass Anglers Information Team report, published by the fisheries biologists of the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, who draw their conclusions from tournament results.

The lake began to have problems in the late 1980s, and the catch rate fluctuated wildly. Bass fishing became as cyclic as it is for crappie. In addition, sampling indicated that the bass were in poor shape and growing much more slowly. One guy even wrote, "Eufaula is dead!"

In 1992, Georgia and Alabama biologists ultimately agreed to impose a 16-inch minimum length limit for largemouths in hopes of seeing more young bass reach maturity. It obviously worked, as Padgett's eye-popping haul in 1996 proved.

Sampling in 1993 revealed an abundance of mature largemouths, although their weights were not impressive. But then, following the '97 spawn, a die-off of adult bass occurred. Largemouth bass virus was deemed the culprit.

Things are looking up now, however, and the 16-inch minimum length restriction has since been lowered to 14 inches. Furthermore, as the lake's population of spotted bass has climbed as well, many biologists recommend catching and keeping as many of the spots as possible.

Nevertheless, it does not take a limit of 5-pounders to win a tournament at Lake Eufaula these days. A respectable five-fish creel weighs between 15 and 18 pounds in the spring -- and that might well be anchored by a hawg that tips the scales at 6 to 7 pounds.

A year ago, a 17.99-pound bag of bass cinched a win. Those fish were hugging the thick weed lines inside Grass Creek, on the north side of the main creek channel. Both spinnerbaits and a 1/4-ounce jig did the trick by 10 a.m. Another top finisher opted for buzzbaits in 2 feet of water at the back of Little Barber Creek. Spinnerbaits also were responsible for a 10-pound bag a mile up Uchee Creek, and a pumpkinseed-colored Texas-rigged lizard proved deadly in the flats near the Florence Marina.

It took slightly bigger hauls to win when the BASS Masters returned to Eufaula in recent years. Denny Brauer managed a one-day catch of 19 pounds, 2 ounces, and his catch was eclipsed that day by rookie Bink Desaro's 24-pound, 5-ounce load. Brauer wound up winning the event with a three-day tally of 76 pounds, 14 ounces, bettering Desaro's 76-pound, 11-ounce three-day total.

That tournament featured lots of fishermen using lots of patterns. Spinnerbaits, flukes and finesse worms rigged on jigheads were responsible for many limits. But it was the flippers and pitchers who fared the best in the stained, 70-degree waters.

Brauer has finished in the top 20 three times at Eufaula, winning outright twice. His latest victory came while fishing a jig with a chunk trailer.

"I was fishing stuff so ugly that it wasn't something you could put anybody on," said Brauer, who told fans all week that he had no special fishing spots or even a set strategy. "I had never fished that area before, and I was catching fish there the first two days.

"They quit biting at about 9 a.m., because the water was dropping. I was pitching to the edge of some vegetation, pitching to grass or anything that would come along. There were so few bites to be had, though, that it was kind of a lucky deal."

Desaro was pitching with a black-and-blue Sweet Beaver flipping bait, punching through heavy mats of vegetation and alligator grass to find the bass lurking below.