Dwayne Mills gunny@hook1.com

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"GUNNY'S TACKLE BOX"
Fishing Reports And Articles On Lower Alabama Rivers


27 October 2001
Air Temperature - 48 - 63
Water Temperature - 56 - 62
Water Clarity - Clear - Stained

Put in on the lower end and stayed down south all day. Started the day throwing floating worms and sallys in the grass, as soon the sun came up the small fish began cooperating. Picked up 12 short fish and one keeper. The tide was just starting to fall good with the North wind blowing, so I decided to fish points and creek mouths. As the morning wore down I picked up another keeper, 10 more shorts, two reds and two specks using a rattle-trap. Continued working the same pattern with floating worms and picked up one more keeper (a little over two pounds) and another seven or eight short fish. Just about all fish were found in 2' - 4' of water with grass on the bottom. The day became pretty hard to fish in the wind so I decided to call it a day. Hope to see you on the river, good luck and be safe.



4/1/01
Air Temperature: 68
Water Temperature: 62
Water Clarity: Clear - Stained

Decided to take a trip to the river this afternoon to get rid of those Sunday afternoon blues, and take a prospective buyer for my boat out on the water. We hit the water about 3:30 and ran for about 20 minutes. I asked him if he wanted to run all afternoon or try to get some fishing in. He decided to try and get some fishing in. I had brought two rods so we were all set.
One was rigged with a floating worm and the other with a soft jerk bait. We were down in the grass and I saw fish swirling all over the place. We immediately started getting hook-ups.
Was I happy to see that we were able to put some quick fish in the boat. Sure makes selling a boat much easier. The action was fast, but the presentation had to be slow. The bass were deep in the grass and even the little ones were hard to pull up out of that stuff. We pulled the boat out of the water at 6:00 and we had put 12 fish into the boat, four solid keepers that didn't need measuring and eight shorts. With the bass in post spawn mode they wanted the bait slowly falling. With the river starting to fall the fishing is picking up quite a bit.
Till next time, good luck on the water and tight lines.



8/09/00
Air Temperature: 86 - 94
Water Temperature: 85 - 91
Water Clarity: Clear - Stained

Been awhile since I had been on the River, so I decided to take a trip and stretch my line a little on some Alabama bass.
The reason I hadn't been on the Tensaw lately is because I have been fishing down in Louisiana. We have been catching quite a few flounder, speckled trout and red fish. It is hard to just quit bringing home a 100 quart cooler full of fish.
Well let's get back to the fishing at hand. Got out on the water about 11 o'clock and there was scattered thunder storms all over the place. The skies were letting loose every now and then so it wasn't to bad. Just had to dodge those lightning bolts.
Started the day out throwing floating worms and Texas rigging. I picked up one keeper and three short ones. Patience and slow presentation was the only way to get a bit with the sun up in the sky. I then moved to a couple of deep ledges and tried some Carolina rigging and got two keepers and two short ones to take my lizard. Had to make sure that I hit structure with my weight to get a strike. I packed up and moved up River and started fishing the main River bank, hooked a couple of good ones on Texas rigged worms. I decided to finish off the day in an area that I knew had some good fish. Yes, they were ready to bite when I got there. I was able to entice four solid keepers to pick up my bait. Ended the day with two over four, two over three, one at about one and a half, a few at about one and some short ones. Floating worms and Texas rigged worms and creature baits are working well. Patience is the name of the game, work it as slow as possible. Don't get frustrated if you aren't getting the bites just work every piece of cover you can find.
Be safe and bring plenty of water to drink out on the river.
We will be getting some relief from the heat in a few weeks and the bite is going to pick up quite a bit.



6/28/00
Air Temperature: 79 - 86
Water Temperature: 83 - 88
Water Clarity: Stained - Muddy

Decided to take an old friend fishing this afternoon. He and I hadn't been on the water together since the first time I put my boat in the water. We had a lot of catching up to do.
The skies kept letting loose some of that liquid sunshine for the whole ride to the River. We put the boat in the water at about 1:00. My buddy kept asking me if we were going to catch some fish in the rain. I assured him of the last trip that I had to the ol' Tensaw River. All the assurance in the world wouldn't have soothed his worries. I just told him to put on his rain suit and start chunking and reeling. He asked me what to throw and I told him to pick up my rod-n-reel that was in the rod box.
Of course he had no confidence in what he was throwing, but he was very much assured once he saw that I had three keepers in the boat before he had picked out his first back lash. As soon as the rains stopped the bite was very good. The rain cooled the water surface down enough to get the fish active and ready to feed. We started out by throwing floating worms around lay downs and brush piles. We continued to work the same patten over the same bank and picked up a few short fish and two more keepers. All I heard for the rest of the afternoon was "When are we coming back?" We then moved to another area that I knew had fish and after everything was all said and done, my buddy assured me that he had all the confidence in the world with the new found bait and pattern that I had showed him.
We had a pretty good day ending it with nine solid keeper bass (1.5 - 4 lbs.) and six short fish. My buddy told me that he was free to come back fishing any day that I wanted to go.
Floating worms are working great, work it slow and let the worm do the rest. Good Luck and hope to see you on the water.



6/12/00
Air Temperature: 83 - 86
Water Temperature: 80 - 82
Water Clarity: Stained - Stained

Got out on the water this afternoon at about 2:30. I kept looking at the skies and wondering what was going to happen. I decided to go and try a different area up river to see if I could find some good fish for an up coming tournament. I started throwing a floating worm and picked up one keeper and one short one. The wind started to pick up and I could feel the temperature start to drop, this only meant one thing, power storms on the way. It started raining and rained for about 45 minutes. At first I started looking for cover, but then decided to keep fishing. Boy am I glad that I kept fishing. As soon as the rain stopped I picked up two more fish. Then all of a sudden the fun started. I was working lay downs and brush piles and had a huge tug on my line. After all the excitement was over I had just landed a five and a half pounder. Well I though the day was over for me after that fish, but it was far from over. On my next cast came a four pounder and I decided that I was going to stay for a bit longer. I kept working the area that I had found and picked up another four and one three pounder. I hadn't found good fish like this in one area before on the river and I was in amazement. I would have to say that it was a great day with my best five going about 18 lbs. My only hope is that they are going to be there for the tournament. Keep those hooks sharp and be safe.



6/6/00
Air Temperature: 83 - 89
Water Temperature: 80 - 82
Water Clarity: Stained - Muddy

Hit the water this afternoon in search of some nice size bowfin for the up coming bowfin tournament on the 17th of June. Started in a couple of creeks that I could barely get into with my boat, in hopes of finding some big ones. After about an hour of getting frustrated from the yellow flies and not catching a single bowfin we decided to move to another creek. As soon as we got into the creek we saw them coming up and gulping for air all over the place. Our expectations were high seeing this and we started chunking everything that we thought they might bite on. And again we couldn't get them to take our baits, but we did entice two short bass to stretch our lines. After an hour of no bowfin, we moved to another creek and the fun started. We started getting hook ups from some little ones and a few nice ones. After playing with the bowfin for awhile we decided to try and finish off the day with a few bass on some top water action. We then moved to one of my week day favorite spots and picked up two shorties and one keeper, we were only able to fish top water for about thirty minutes then headed home, because of darkness. Till next trip good luck and be safe.



6/3/00
Air Temperature: 72 - 88
Water Temperature: 78 - 82
Water Clarity: Stained to Muddy

Hit the water quite early this morning, as a matter of fact I left Pensacola at 3:15 and was fishing by 5:00. Couldn't see much that early in the morning so I decided to throw something that would make a bit of noise. On my second cast had a blow up on my Buzzbait and the fight was on. Finally got the first fish to the boat and it was a solid two pound fish. I kept working any piece of cover that I could find and made multiple casts to each piece. As I found out the multiple casts were the ticket. Sometimes I was making five to six cast to one Cypress tree and I would finally get a fish. The morning action was great I had 10 fish by 6:30 with 5 keepers. I guess that is one of the greatest feelings in the world, to be culling for the rest of the day with 9 hours left to fish. Once, the sun came up I started working the same area with lizards, worms, and jigs. I was getting the same result with all the different baits, a fish on about every fourth or fifth cast. Once the sun was pretty high in the sky I decided to head up river where I knew I could get a few more fish. Once I got there I knew the fish were still there because I saw some of them being caught by fellow anglers. I wasn't discourage even though I knew I was going to be fishing right behind a few boats. I just knew that I was going to have to do something different to get some of those fish to bite on my line. All I did was back off the bank and fished the drop off with my jig-n-pig. I guess it worked well enough because I ended up catching 8 fish with 4 keepers right behind another boat. I would have to say the day was very productive as a matter of fact ended the day with 25 fish including 12 keepers. SLOW seemed to be the big ticket after the sun came up. Have a great day and hope to see you on the River.



5/30/00
Air Temperature: 81- 89
Water Temperature: 78 - 81
Water Clarity: Clear to Stain

Hit the water about 11 o'clock today in hopes to get some fish in the boat. Just trying to get some time on the water and to get some practice in. Well I headed down river and stayed down because the fishing was great. I started fishing a worm texas rigged and dug a keeper and a shortie out of some wood. I then switched to floating worm and worked it slow around laydowns and picked up four short ones and two keepers. After I didn't get anything for awhile decided to try some topwater action, boy was I glad I did. I was getting a fish on just about every cast, they weren't big ones, but I sure was getting my line stretched. The fellow angler that was fishing the opposite bank came over to find out what I was doing and I showed him and he started catching fish. He was very pleased with the help because he hadn't brought a fish to the boat all day. We both caught about 15 fish in about an hour. Ended the day, and when I say ended the day, I had to put the lights on the boat. It was a great day, not many keepers but a lot of fish. Good luck and hope to see you on the river.


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