* Alabama’s Lay Lake Saturday, July 27 2013 / Airport Marine’s (See: www.airportmarinetrails.com) Summertime Buddy Bass Tournament Trail Yields Five Big Bags of Bass! Each of the Top Five Weighing in Over 20 Pounds! Including First Place with Five Bass Weighing 22 1/2 Pounds! Big Bass of the Day 7 Pounds!
* Alabama’s Lay Lake Wednesday, July 31 2013 / Airport Marine’s Solo Trail Championship. Won With Five Bass Weighing Over 20 Pounds! An Unbelievable Big Bass Weighing Over 11 Pounds!
Well, records are made to be broken. Could this just be the beginning? Will this late summer, “Big Bass Bonanza” just be the beginning of more big bass being caught on Alabama’s Lay Lake?
Traditionally, the hottest months of summer in Alabama, July and August (and even early September), often display the worse conditions a summertime angler, fishing during the daylight hours, can face.
With past summer’s showing the air temperatures soaring past the 100 degree mark (and very slow fishing for Lay lake’s largemouth bass and its Coosa River breed of spotted bass), many anglers just stayed home as others resorted to night fishing to beat the heat.
But not this summer!
After spending over 40 summer’s guiding on Alabama’s Lay Lake I do not remember a cooler month of July. Mid-summer is when it is supposed to be in the upper 90′s! Still, the constant upper 80 degree air temps coupled with weekly thundershowers has kept Alabama’s (almost 100 year old impoundment), Lay lake, cooled down tremendously.
Normally in late July/early August, water temperatures hover near 90 degrees on Lay lake, the fourth of six Coosa River lakes found running from north to south Alabama.
Mid summer on this 50 mile long weedy lake (impounded in 1914), traditionally shows little relief for Lay lake’s shallow water largemouth bass, with low oxygen content often sending many bass towards deeper, cooler water. Offshore spots featuring more current and oxygen as well, much better conditions than the lake’s stagment, shallow backwaters.
But like said, “not this summer” as recently proven when some of Alabama’s best bass team trail anglers converged on Lay lake for Airport Marine’s last tournament of the summer season. Held on Saturday, July 27 out of Paradise Point Marina at mid lake. (The Airport Marine summertime buddy trail classic championship will be held Saturday, August 24 2013.)
*Saturday, July 27 2013 - I watched (while filming this tournament now seen on www.anglerschannel.com ) as team after team was de-throned with an even bigger bag of bass brought to the scales. Airport Marine Tournament Director Flynn Gerald exclaimed, “I’ve not seen a July summertime weigh-in like this in years and years, even on Lay lake.”
During the weigh-in there were dozens of bulging bags of bass continuosly brought in. As the weigh-in began I observed one very happy team seen “high fiving” each other as the scales read 16 1/2 pounds, which included two largemouth bass weighing over 5 pounds each! Sadly in the end, they did not even earn a dollar for their obviously great day of fishing.
With 50 boats in this July Lay lake tournament, it still took over 17 pounds to make the top ten places paid that day! Again, I watched as the scales climbed with each sack of bass brought in. Including one very happy team that had a seven pound largemouth bass, that turned out to be big bass of the day.
For a while a weight of 20 1/2 pounds led the tournament. But we all knew that would soon be beat. It was…four times! Then another sack over 20 pounds, and another and another. Two anglers that have been in the winners circle before, thought they had it won with five big bass weighing 21 1/2 pounds, as the weigh-in slowly wound down.
But its not over until its over.
I watched as this team was very reluctantly knocked back to second place. Another more successful team brought in five bass weighing 22 1/2 pounds and won the tournament’s first place guarenteed payout cash prize of $3000.00. Including bonus bucks as well.
* See the interview of this first place team and how they caught their bass on www.anglerschannel.com and go to www.airportmarinetrails.com for results.
* Wednesday, July 31st 2013. Airport Marine’s Solo Tournament Trail end-of-season Championship Tournament held out of Beezwax creek boat launch on Lay Lake. First Place angler had five bass weighing over 20 pounds! It took over 15 pounds to get in the money with 50 anglers!
* (The previous Airport Marine solo trail tournament held on July 17 on Lay lake showed First Place had 18 1/2 pounds and it took 16 pounds to get in the money!)
Althought the two previous Airport Marine Solo Trail tournaments held on Lay lake displayed bulging bags of bass, including several big bass weighing over 5 pounds brought to the scales, there was one particular largemouth bass brought in July 31 that no angler could possibly have a chance of beating as “big bass of the day.”
I know, I tried while proudly weighing in a 7 pounder on that July 31st Solo Trail Championship. A big bass (caught on a spook at midday) that would normally have taken big bass honors. But as I released the big bass it barely even turned a head. Why? Because right before I weighed in, a much more fortunant angler had just weighed in a huge bass exceeding 11 pounds! Caught on a buzz bait!
So what does an 11 pounder look like? Heres one an angler caught while fishing with me on Guntersville Lake that weighed 11 1/2 pounds! I’m sure like this bass it to was a real battle…
Good Luck and Good Fishin’ Reed Montgomery owner of Reeds Guide Service Website www.fishingalabama.com Alabaster, Alabama (205) 663-1504
