With large balls of shad roving the lake, it's not at all surprising that bass follow bait, but Aliceville's big bass hold on structure rather than forage in open water. Accordingly, Schoenrock heads to underwater humps to work a topwater lure in the stillness of first light.

"Always keep a topwater lure and a crankbait ready," he recommended. "If small fish are feeding on the surface, often bigger fish hold around them. Fan-cast with a crankbait to catch those bigger fish."

Schoenrock's topwater lure is a walk-the-dog bait, a Sammy by Luck Craft in sizes 100 or 115 that he fishes on 12-pound-test mono.

Creek mouths are another key structure for early-morning topwater fishing. Fish often feed on the surface above dropoffs created by the creek flowing into the river. Schoenrock usually positions his boat over the river channel and makes long casts toward the creek.

Since it's summer, expect Aliceville's winning tournament weights to hit the same 3-pound average as is turned out at Gainesville -- although you never know when an angler may weigh in a 7-pounder caught in the morning.

To fish Alabama's section of Aliceville Lake, launch your boat at the Raleigh Ryan Access Area on the west side of the river across from Pickensville.

DEMOPOLIS LAKE
Downriver from Gainesville, the Corps created Demopolis Lake by damming the Tombigbee River a couple of miles west of the city of Demopolis and just below the confluence of the Tombigbee and Black Warrior rivers. The lake extends 53 miles upstream on the former and 48 miles on the latter. Nearly all of these miles are riverine.

As the largest reservoir in the Tombigbee-Black Warrior drainage, Demopolis covers 10,000 acres and offers 500 miles of shoreline. Amazingly, this run-of-the-river lake provides exceptional habitat.

"It's my favorite lake," Haffner said, "because of its diverse habitat. Demopolis has more creeks per river mile, more backwaters -- and it has plenty of laydowns and weeds. The weeds along the shoreline are abundant, but nowhere near a nuisance level that discourages fishing. We have water-willow, water primrose and cutgrass -- weeds that start at the edge of the water and grow out."

Demopolis has had a 14-inch minimum-size limit on bass for 13 years, and state biologists have sampled the lake often to evaluate if it's improving fish size and catch rates for anglers. Biologist Jay Haffner is pleased with the results so far.