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Late Fall, Low Water at Coffeen Lake
At times many different factors contribute to bass fishing success, but bottom structure and cover are usually near the top of the list. Kevin Huprich and I headed south to Coffeen Lake on November 24, 2006, launching the boat at 8:30 a.m. The lake was about six feet below normal pool, exposing much of the structure and cover. Coffeen Lake is an 1,100-acre power plant lake, located in Montgomery County just southeast of Hillsboro. Kevin had never seen the lake and I had not visited it since 1991, so we decided to fish a few areas where my log book indicated that I had previously caught fish, covering water quickly with crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and Carolina rigs. I write fishing logs as often as possible to give me a starting point on where to fish and which lures to try if I return to a lake. We wanted to start with fast-moving search baits to try to find some actively feeding fish that were fattening up prior to winter. Not being familiar with the lake, we agreed that moving quickly was the best plan. The sky was mostly sunny with winds from the south at 10 mph and air temperatures in the mid-to-upper 50's. The water was slightly murky with a white lure visible 2 1/2 feet deep. Water temperatures were 67-68 degrees in the cold arm (west arm or the lake) and in the upper 70's in the hot arm (east arm of the lake).
We left the boat ramp, located in a cove on the west side of the cold arm, and headed north up the cold arm. Water temperatures were warm enough that we wanted to try to find feeding fish in the cold arm and save the run to the hot arm until later. Our first stop was a main lake area in the cold arm near the campground where my fishing logs indicated that I had previously caught bass. Despite the low water, there was still some visible coontail moss along the shoreline, with small minnows present, and wind blowing directly onto the bank. With baitfish, wind, and weeds, we thought this area had potential. We tried a buzzbait, several spinnerbaits, and a couple of crankbaits with no hits. Then we went back through the area with a Texas-rigged worm and Carolina-rigged lizard, getting three hits on the lizard, but no hooked fish. We then moved to the east side of cold arm and fished some secondary points in Twin Ponds Cove (a Hot Spots maps of the lake is worth the cost). We found one point with underwater brush and caught a bass that was 1/2-inch short of the 15-inch lake limit. A few minutes later we caught the largest fish of the day, a 17-inch keeper, on a homemade purple/black 6-inch lizard. Once we began waiting longer to set the hook, we started hooking more fish. The Carolina rig consisted of a 3/4-ounce egg sinker, a glass bead, swivel, a 2 1/2-foot leader, and 3/0 straight-shank worm hook. I use 30-pound braided line on the reel spool and 12-17 pound fluorocarbon line for the leader, with the heavier line being used in dirtier water.
We headed to the hot arm after Twin Ponds Cove, where I switched to a Zoom watermelon seed lizard to see if color was a key factor in getting bites. My second cast in the hot arm answered the question when a small bass gobbled it down. Since we were only catching small fish in the hot arm and because the wind increased from the south, we decided to fish some bluff banks near the dam on the calmer, west side of the cold arm. Here we found our most productive area. Just north of a bluff bank that faces east, the shore goes west and there are a series of gradually sloping points that extend north. We got bites on Carolina-rigged lizards on all these points. What makes the points even more appealing as bass habitat is that they are not obvious when the water is at normal pool. We finished the day with at least a dozen bass, but the most valuable thing we learned was about the bottom structure and cover in Coffeen Lake. There is no better time to learn your favorite lake than during the fall when lake levels are typically low and structure and cover are exposed. This is the time to take some photos of cover that will be unseen when the water level is up and structures such as extended points that are undetectable by looking at the shoreline during normal water levels. Look for weed remnants, stumps, laydowns, long points or underwater humps near deep water. A photographic record that is indexed on a map can be a valuable aid for years. It has been said that 90 percent of the fish are located in 10 percent of the water. Looking at the exposed cover and structure in Coffeen, it is not hard to imagine why this may be true. There are long stretches of bank that contain minimal, scattered cover, while other areas have bunches of good fish habitat. The next time water levels are low, take along your camera, map, and notepad and start making yourself a record that will help you boost your fishing success by learning bottom structure and cover. Coffeen Lake |
