Shan Schoenrock of Aliceville caught this 8-pound largemouth from Aliceville Lake on the lower Tenn-Tom Waterway. Photo courtesy of Shan Schoenrock.

Summer patterns for bass on the lakes of the lower Warrior and Tombigbee rivers are as predictable as the weather in July. The methods and techniques for finding and catching bass this month rely on the tremendous numbers of baitfish found throughout the lakes.

As a result, most bass easily satisfy their hunger by waiting for prey to pass within their target zone, while others -- often smaller fish of similar size -- form schools to follow shad in open water. Both feed heavily, but the former use less energy.

The mystery lies not in summer patterns but in being in the right place at the right time. The abundance of forage reduces competition for food, so discriminating bass become more difficult to catch. Get it right, though, and the action is as hot as fishing in a hatchery pond.

"In July of last year," reported Shan Schoenrock of Aliceville, "I caught over 100 bass in one morning on Gainesville. It was incredible! I had three or four days where I caught bass on every cast. The best times are the first few hours of daylight and the last two hours in the evening."

Schoenrock is a well-known winning tournament angler who competes in open tournaments. His amazing success on Gainesville doesn't represent a typical day on the water, yet it does show what's possible on Gainesville, Aliceville, Warrior, Demopolis and Coffeeville reservoirs when everything comes together.

GAINESVILLE LAKE
Between Aliceville and Demopolis lakes on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Gainesville Lake stretches for nearly 47 miles from dam to dam. Its 6,400 acres lie north of Interstate 59 and west of Tuscaloosa. In addition to the Tombigbee, Gainesville is fed by seven creeks and the Sipsey River.

Gainesville is a river-run lake with limited backwater areas and 200 miles of shoreline. To straighten the winding waterway for barge traffic, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged eight cutoffs, which added a few miles of shoreline, and enhanced the habitat in the remaining horseshoe bends.

"If I had to choose a favorite," Schoenrock said, "it would be Gainesville. It is currently producing more and bigger fish." He credits the lake's superior fishing to a lack of pressure from anglers, especially tournament fishermen. Even so, winning tournament weights decease to just above a 3-pound average in summer.

The summer pattern Schoenrock used to generate those high numbers of bass works not only at Gainesville but also at any river-run lake with an inundated river channel. "Look for an old river ledge with stumps or an area where erosion has created a hump in 6 to 8 feet of water," he offered. "The best places are a combination of humps with stumps. Often, water has removed the dirt below the stumps, but the roots are still holding in the firm bottom. If you could see underwater, it looks like a hotel for fish."