Capt. David B. Hare
As seen below in the pictures Lake Martin trophy fishing is alive and well. All of the trophies were caught in August and at the time of writing this it¹s only August 12th. These stripers range from a 27 lber to a 37 lber with two them being 30 lbs each. Our clients caught these fish trolling artificial lures with us . Along with the trophy fish (not every trip) but 99% of our trips have limited daily with 8 to 15 lb stripers.
When your guide service is putting you on catches like this not only are they doing something right it also means the reservoir is definitely alive and well. Along with great striper catches in August I have seen many photos of some nice spotted bass caught by the local bass anglers.
Moving on to September predictions I don¹t think you will see many changes from August. I think you should still plan on the majority of the stripers still moving around as singles and not big schools or at least not schooled tight together. Your best chance of finding or catching stripers in September should still be in the deeper cooler areas of the lake. I for one will not be spending much time in the creeks unless it¹s at the mouths of the creeks where the water depths are very deep.
A new Alabama law has went into effect that states you can no longer transport bait fish from one reservoir to another, you must catch your bait fish on the same reservoir you are fishing that day or buy bait from a local licensed bait shop. (be sure and keep a receipt of purchase on boat) All of these changes have been put in place due to trying to prevent the silver carp (Asian Carp/ flying fish) from being transported from one reservoir to another. At this time my understanding is Lake Martin has no reports or findings of this invasive species in its waters. We all hope everyone will follow the rule change and not chance this harmful fish getting in our waters. In saying this we will definitely still be offering live bait trips, but it will just be a bigger burden on us to catch shad on our local waters. It can be done, but it¹s a much much harder task than catching and transporting from other locations that we’ve always depended on.
Also, at this time it is my understanding that it¹s still illegal in
Alabama to fish with blue back herring even though our lakes are absolutely full of them it¹s still considered an invasive species. We all hope that our law makers will see to changing that law ASAP. We personally (especially me) don¹t understand if the lake is full of this bait fish and they are here to stay, why wouldn¹t it be legal to use it since you would not be transporting from one reservoir to another. I¹m sure there will be lots of discussion in the coming weeks and months on this subject and my personal hope is that we all can come to an agreement that is good for everyone. None of us want to ever do anything that is detrimental to Lake Martin and for sure never want to have the Silver Carp problem here, but the herring are here to stay and multiplying by hundreds of thousands or more annually. Let¹s make it legal to fish with them for two reasons: one to hopefully control the population a little bit, second because it has become the preferred bait fish for both stripers and bass(green bass). If you have any questions or concerns about any of the new changes you can find more info online at alabamaoutdoor.com or contact your local agencies.
In the mean time catch one for me.
Capt. David B. Hare
Alex City Guide Service
256-401-3089
2036 Cherokee Rd
Suite 205
Alexander City, Al. 35010
davidbhare@yahoo.com
www.alexcityguideservice.com
Fbook/alexcityguideservice/LakeMartin