Anybody been lately? Went to logan martin this past weekend before the rain, caught 15 in less Than 3 hours. Thought about trying neely this weekend. Just wondering if anybody had been and had any tips.

Spots should be on fire.

I haven't been to Neely since maybe Christmas. Bet it'll be way different now than it was a few days ago... I'm guessing the water has/will drop from the mid 50's to low-mid 40's. It's also been really muddy, and you know the old saying, "It can be cold, and it can be muddy, but it can't be cold and muddy."

That said, we got a derby on Logan this Saturday and frankly I'm not looking forward to it. I haven't been on Logan in weeks, maybe even since Thanksgiving or early December (unless I'm just forgetting a trip).

Muddy as hell but the trash has stopped floating. Have not and will not go in these conditions.

Trying to decide fish or hunt? Just don't know... Wanting to fish bad lol

Went today...didn't do any good

Ikillbux, how did it go on logan today?

Got our butts kicked. We had 11 lbs (which included a 3.38 largemouth), caught about 20 fish total, just a bunch of small spots and two decent largemouths. In hindsight I think we should've ran further upriver than we did, or even into Choccolocco. We fished mostly from Lakeside to Stemley. The big spots are gone, just gone, they don't live in Logan anymore. If you ain't committing to largemouth fishing, you've lost. After 20 years of being able to win with spots, I just have to chalk it up to "I don't know what I don't know." 19.6 won, then I think the top 11 places had 15-1/2 and above....I think the top 5 places all had closer to 17. And I don't think I saw ONE single spot in the entire top 5 bags. It just completely blows my mind that you cannot find the big schools of 3 to 5 pound spots anymore, you used to could pull up on a windblown clay/gravel bar or point this time of year with a rattle trap and catch those magnum spots till you got tired of reeling them in. They are just simply GONE. I mean we weren't targeting spots, but there's just NO reason why we shouldn't have caught some. Five 3-1/2 pound spots weigh exactly the same as five 3-1/2 pound heads, and it used to be that there were 10,000X more spots than largemouths, but no anymore. I simply don't know how/where they're catching 20 pound bags of largemouths on Logan freakin' Martin EVERY-DADGUM-WEEKEND.

Yeah my buddy fished one down there might have been the same one... He came in 3rd with 16.9

Jeff I caught some good largemouth on Martin Saturday and it definitely ain’t known for 18 lb bags on heads but it was on Saturday

Coincidentally, the last weekend of January last year I fished Martin because our club was supposed to go there for our first tournament in mid February. I was telling a mutual friend of ours that I had about 15 pounds of largemouth that day (actually it was 4 heads and 1 arm-long spot). I can do that pretty much everywhere we fish, except Logan. I wish Logan Martin would dry up and they'd make a parking lot out of it, I absolutely hate that place.

Man I have did great at logan on catching fish..... I'm not a tournament guy just wanting to catch fish... I would love to be able to go to neely and catch 20, I just can't get them figured out... Maybe you need to take me lol

I hate the place too. I can catch a good one everyone now and then or (5) squeakers. I can't put together a good bag there.

I ain’t fished Logan since summer and don’t plan on it unless something changes. I’ll take Weiss,neeley,lay,Mitchell or Jordan any day over Logan

I have spent the majority of my time on Neely,Weiss and Guntersville. I have fished very little on Logan . A couple guides have been reporting 75 to 100 fish days on Logan throughout Winter. Is it just the size fish or other reasons.

It’s the size fish. I just don’t stay on top of them on Logan like I use to. I fish Guntersville,Eufaula and Neely more now

Yeah, ol Joey Nania is down there sore lipping every little spotted bass on the lake every day, but he ain't coming in with 18/19/22 pound bags. Every freakin' weekend, regardless of weather or ANYthing else, somebody is bringing in a 20 pound bag of largemouths. And the story is always the same "they ran to the dam and fished swimbaits in the tailrace", or "they went in Choccolocco and threw a-rigs on the stump rows". Heck, two junior high kids had 23-1/2 down there last weekend, supposedly on a-rigs. Logan has no grass, has very little wood, is generally just barren clean bottom and banks, and gets more boat traffic than even Guntersville (pound for pound). I just simply don't know what I don't know.

Something changed on Logan perhaps 5 years ago (give or take). I spent the last 25 years winning tournaments on Logan, especially this time of year, with spots. NOBODY, EVER caught largemouths. EVER! But nowadays the big spots are gone, just gone. Yeah, yeah, someone occasionally brings in a meat dawg spot, but you rarely see a 17 or 18 (or bigger) pound bag of only spots now. Heck we won tournament on Logan maybe 6-8 years ago now with 20-10 of only spots, including the big fish of 6.01 (still my biggest spot, although I had one jump off one day that we both say was bigger, but that was 10 years ago). I don't know if flooding or current has changed the bottom composition, or if the PCBs have finally killed them (sorta joking), or honestly I have no idea, but those big big big schools of magnum spots just ain't there. And how these boys are catching 5 big largemouths is the greatest of all mysteries.

I heard from the dad they caught all there fish in choccolocca on a arig

I've heard multiple folks say about the top two places that they all came off a-rigs, but I've heard about 50/50 say they were in Choccolocco, or all the way to Ohatchee dam. I'm 99% sure the 2nd place bunch was in Choccolocco, but I didn't know the 1st place folks.

It's funny, YEARS ago (had to be early 2000's because I still had my Skeeter back then) we used to fish at the dam all the time. It was a normal routine to put in right there on 77 below the railroad trussell in the afternoons and fish all that stuff....we'd fish the tailrace, go up in the canal and fish the old lock wall. We did okay, but we never caught big fish there back then, in fact mostly we'd catch hybrids. You never even heard about folks coming up there to fish in a tournament, besides you gotta be a half daredevil to even navigate that stretch below the bend in a high dollar bass boat. Honestly, if they have 1 or no turbines on, you've got about a boat's width under the far left of the railroad trussel to navigate, or you'll hit rocks. These boys are just crazy.

But my real point is it's just another example of somewhere we used to fish religiously, but there weren't tournament winning fish there, and nowadays you can't win if you DON'T go there.

My parents have always had a recreational lot or home on Neely my entire life. Grew up fishing a ton and still do fish a pretty good bit. I would much rather fish guntersville, Logan, Weiss, or lay over Neely. I don't know, maybe I'm just burned out on Neely.

I love the setup of neely and it's close to me, I just can't figure the fish out there. Like I said I'm not a tournament fisher, just starting out and I just want to catch fish. That's why I go to logan,90% of the time I can at least catch 10 but on neely I'm just looking for one fish so I don't get skunked that day. I normally put in at daylight and fish till about lunch and it's brutal going and not catching them trying everything. Maybe this year will be different.

Makes sense, that's sorta my feelings about Logan. I know the whole place, nothing is ever new and exciting.

Headed to neely tomorrow putting in at rainbow landing! Anything particular I need to be looking?

Haven't been to Neely, but I'd be going SHALLOW. I fished Logan yesterday afternoon (and last Saturday) and the fish were way off the main river, and I mean trolling motor stirring up mud shallow. I caught a 4+ and some 2+ largemouths yesterday that couldn't have been 18" deep, and they were 100 yards from any remotely deep water. Oddly enough, the water on the main river and bigger creeks was 53+ yesterday, and the water was only 51+ in the backs of those pockets, but that's where all the bait and bass were. I caught fish on rock, wood, and clean hard dirt.

Thanks ikillbux I was hoping you would chime in on Neely! You can pm me some of your honey hole coordinates lol just jk

If I had gone to Neely this morning I would probably have started my day with a swim jig. I would also have a jerkbait and a lipless crankbait on my deck. I really want to focus my efforts on Lay Lake this spring. I can't say exactly why I'm so interested in Lay, but I do know that I'm ready to look at something different.

Threw a bunch of diff stuff at em today but only got 1 bite! Never found any water warmer than 48.3 maybe next week will be bttr.

55 is optimum as far as them moving shallow to spawn. They should be active at 48. You just need to fish vertical areas. Riprap with a slow retrieve on a crankbait. Bluffs with a jig. Shaky head on bridge pilings. Just remember in the winter to fish vertical areas where the fish can make the most depth change without moving hundreds of yards.

Prespawn
Early spring is one of the easiest times to catch largemouth bass. They will start to move up from deep water when the water temperature starts climbing above the 45 degree mark. Keep an eye on the weather. Warm rain warms up a lake faster than air temperature. Generally you will find largemouths in 2 - 12 feet of water. Start fishing for bass in the early spring in the Northwest corner of the lake or reservoir, where the water temperature will be slightly warmer than elsewhere on the lake. Concentrate on outside structure off spawning flats (points, logs, humps, rocks etc.).

I fished Lay more last year than I had in the past few years put together, did pretty good, but was really just junk fishing and got lucky a little bit. We just went down there fun fishing in May (or June?), then our club fished it scheduled in July, then it was drawn from a hat for our Classic again in October, then I fished an "open" tournament there in November. One of my funner memories from this past year was on Lay.... I didn't even catch the fish, but I had what looked like a 6-7-8 pounder DESTROY a buzzbait on back to back casts and never hook up. Well actually it toilet flushed the buzzbait first cast, but missed it. I immediately picked up a wacky worm and threw back in there a couple of times, nothing. Picked that buzzbait back up and made another cast and I'll be dang if she didn't flush it again and still miss. I guess she got smart that time.

We're headed to Wedowee after church/lunch this afternoon.... ought to be good.

Neely is my home lake, I practically live on it, but that doesn't mean I don't get skunked. Logan is a more consistent lake in my opinion whereas Neely can be good when the fish are on, but you can get skunked in less than 24 hrs after a good catch.

Yeah I'm ready to get back into fishing.. I'm done hunting for the year

That may be the best quote about Neely I have heard in a long time!

Neely was a lot better before they cut the timber out. The timber was great for crappie and bass if you knew how to fish them, plus it slowed the weekenders down and kept them away from most of the good fishing areas. Since it has been cut there are no off limits to where they go

Only real men be fishing today🎣🎣🎣🎣

I woulda been, but came down with the flu starting last Saturday evening, and I STILL feel like trash. I wouldn't wish this stuff on a demon.

Think of Neely henry as a Brittany Spears kinda lake.....you wanna hit it but it never works out.....

I've been through it too, that was awful! I need a fishing break.