Upcoming Trip to Eufaula - First Time Fishing Eufaula

[marshall256]

I'll be traveling to Eufaula on June 10th to fish the 11th - 13th. Going with a bunch from work and none of us have ever fished Eufaula. My assumption is that I'll need to fish Shallow Water bordering Deep Water Early in the morning with Topwaters and then move out to the ledges during the heat of the day with Crankbaits or C-Rigs. I've got a couple Lake Maps on order that should be here this week. I'd like to find some grass and/or pads near deep water...can't really tell by the satellite views where any grass or pads are...possibly at the North end of the lake?

Anybody got any advice on locations to try? Lures to bring along?

[-Joe-]

Eufaula is one of my home lakes and is a great fishery. You are on the right track as far as shallow grass flats near deeper water, but find the isolated deep water and fish those grass flats. I realize there are good fish in the deep water when its hot but I still catch mine in 1-2' of water 365 days a year and normally will cash a check doing so. There is enough areas between Buxtahatchee and the Causeway to fish a full week and never fish the same spot twice.

Good Luck and let us know how it went,
Joe

[marshall256]

Made it back from Eufaula...good trip...although not so good on the catch ratio. There was a Georgia TBF tournament out of Lakepoint Resort Thurs - Sat and the Lee King Benefit Tournament on Saturday. Needless to say...somewhere in the area of 150 - 300 boats per day going out of that area with about 300 on Saturday.
Weather was HOT, HOT, HOT, and Bluebird Skies. Water Clarity at the South end of the Lake was about 5-6 feet, but only about 1-2 feet at the North End. Looked like most of the Fishing Pressure was from the Causeway area North. Didn't see much pressure on the South End of the lake.

I fished the South End most of the time I was there. Fished all in Sandy Creek, the islands just north of Sandy Creek, the island near the mouth of Pataula Creek (Gopher Ridge? Gopher Island?), In and Out of all the little pockets on the Alabama Side just North of Hardridge Creek and South of Thomas Mill Creek, and in Chewalla Creek.

I only managed about 3 fish per day over 2-1/2 days there. My biggest was a 4 lber that came off a laydown in Sandy Creek while slow rolling a 3/4 oz Sexy Shad Spinnerbait. Most of my fish came from slow rolling this spinnerbait, althought I did catch a 3 lber near the mouth of Chewalla on a Stanley Ribbit early one morning. Tried to make them bite the frogs and buzzbait early in the morning with little success...had several misses and one nice one lost on a frog. Tried fishing some Zoom Mag II worms in a few deep areas with no success, tried chasing some schooling fish with Lipless Crankbait...but they'd drop down just as I kept getting within casting distance...no luck there either.

Most of the guys in my group had similar or worse success rates, but one guy was catching about 10-15 fish per day...only problem was...none were over 14 inches. I believe he was up the river throwing stickbaits.

In all, it was a good trip. I believe I would do waaaaay better in the Spring as I identified alot of good areas for Spring Fishing on the South End of the lake. If you ever get the chance to go to Eufaula...take it. Lakepoint Resort is a nice area and the cabins there are pretty nice. For $15 a day you can rent out a boat slip and leave your boat in the water to avoid the traffic at the launch ramps. Not a bad place in all.