Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk AL Fishing Talk Millers Ferry is red hot!!!

Awesome photo and memories!

What a stringer! A buddy and I had a similar one but it would have been 1974-1975. I grew up in Huntsville and and bass fishing was an obsession for me in high school. One beautiful spring morning we got on a stump flat off the main channel, the grass was up to about 2 feet below surface, and all the stars aligned. We were running spinnerbaits just above the grass and it was pretty much non-stop catching for hours. Actually dinged my boat on dock coming in hot because we were so dang excited. Only time I have experienced a day like that except in the early days of the Stick March/Farm 13 here in central Florida. We would take 5-10 dozen wild shiners a trip and use every one of them.

Great photo Mr. Steve.

I recall one day my best friend who we lost back in February to cancer having an amazing day of catching bass on Millers Ferry. It was sometime in the early to mid 90's. We caught so many bass that day we wore the paint off both of our rattle traps. We caught some big ones as well. A special memory and a very fun day on the river with my buddy.

I fished the Stick Marsh quite a bit back then. At times you could catch a nice bass in every cast with wild shiners. I heard it has made a comeback and Fellsmere reservoir right next to it is a great place to bass fish now.

That’s an awesome photo. Thanks for sharing

Thanks! I had a lot of good days on Miller's Ferry over the years. My dad lived near the lake and most any time I visited we would go fishing. I eventually talked him into buying a Bass Tracker, but most of the time he wanted to take the jonboat and drop it into Liddell's slough at the bridge. It would take all morning to fish from the bridge to the upper end and back and we didn't have to use an outboard. From February to June, you could expect to catch a bunch of fish on that little trip. He loved to fish a topwater, but I preferred a buzzbait. Most of the time he would beat me when fishing that topwater, but occasionally there would be a day that bass were really aggressive and he would grudgingly put on a buzzbait himself.

Ray Scott would have been aplexed with our system for handling fish. The boat didn't have a livewell, and my dad didn't like them making noise flouncing around in the cooler, so he carried a hammer. Did you know that one good lick to the right spot on the top of his head will kill a bass instantly?

If we caught the limit, we immediately turned around and went home. My father saw no point in fishing if you weren't keeping the fish. He grew up hard in the depression and fishing and hunting were for the purpose of feeding your family. Both of my grandfathers had the same mindset. I can't help it if they passed it on to me.

Cool pic
Nothing better than fishing at that age.

My uncle showed me that trick - he carried a hammer handle - whack In The top of the head and they were dead

I grew up in an old wooden Jim Walter house. My dad planted a garden and would store onions and potatoes under the house. He tied old metal milk crates up off the ground and stored them in those. I can remember crawling under there and getting them when we needed them.

Thanks for the memories. Nice catch also.

You were high tech with the milk crates. We put a piece of army surplus canvas on the ground under the house and just spread the potatoes out on it. As long as they didn't touch each other, they would go a long time without rotting. Of course, getting them out was always my job.

There was a lot of army surplus stuff in my life growing up. The jackets we are both wearing were army surplus, and they were actually pretty warm. I wore mine for many years. At first it was too big for me, then it was just right, and then it became too small, but I kept wearing it.

I believe that these were Miller's Ferry fish too. We had a camper near the mouth of Cedar Creek for several years and caught a bunch of fish from there. I think these were caught over several days. We would gut them and put them on ice and finish cleaning them when we got home.

My wife found a box of old pictures, in case anyone is wondering.

Those are some beauty's ..... I could spend the rest of my days bass fishing Millers Ferry and never get tired of it. My first trip there was with my club back in the late 70's and 40 something years later I still fish it to this day. I've released a lot of big bass there and had some fish frys too. There are more creeks, coves and pockets than you can shake a fishing rod at and any one of em could have a batch of bass waiting for ya.

You have been blessed with a great childhood. Thanks for sharing the pictures.