EUFAULA LAKE MARCH 2008

Eufaula: Level: Full pool. Temp: High 50s in the mornings, climbing to the mid 60s by late in the afternoons. Clarity: Clear on the lower end; light stain in the creeks and up the lake.

Bass: Excellent. There are bass in all stages of the spawn, according to Randy Tharp of Gardendale, who won a new boat with a first-place finish in the Sten Series tournament at Eufaula last weekend. “There are lots of bass that have already spawned, lots still spawning and lots still prespawn,” said Randy, who was AON’s expert for a Guntersville map-of-the-month article in February. “There are so many bass shallow — that’s what I keyed on all week. I caught some on the lower end sight fishing.” Randy was fishing a green-pumpkin Zoom Critter Craw and a watermelon lizard on the beds. Wind and fishing pressure caused Randy to leave the bedding bass and head up the lake. “Up the lake I caught most of them swimming a jig or fishing a spinnerbait. I was keying on what I call gator grass, it’s green, thin, viney. That, and where I could find little clumps of hydrilla just out from the gator grass. I’d swim the jig out to the hydrilla and just kill it.” Randy was using a 3/8-oz. Hawg Caller spinnerbait, and his jig was a white homemade jig with a white Zoom twin-tail trailer. Look for a good topwater bite to get started in the next few weeks for postspawn bass in and around the grassbeds and wood cover. Try a buzzbait or Bang-O-Lure. When the sun is up and bright, try medium-running crankbaits and Carolina-rigged worms on main-lake ditches and points for postspawn bass.