BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – This week’s 2024 Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Powered by OPTIMA Lithium on Lay Lake takes place on a classic bass fishery, but there’s a lot that isn’t common knowledge if you aren’t from the area. As a whole, the Coosa River chain is one of the more intricate systems in the Southeast, and Lay is extremely diverse, with largemouth, Alabama bass, grass, docks, timber and all sorts of other things on offer for pros to fish.
One of the biggest drivers of the fishing on Lay is the current, and to understand it, you can’t just look at the lake by takeoff. You need to know what’s going on up the river — at and below the Logan Martin Dam — and also be cognizant of how Alabama Power is operating the Lay Lake Dam at the bottom of the lake.
So, to break it all down, we talked with Jon Canada, a Helena, Alabama, resident and an expert when it comes to casting for cash on the Coosa.
The aspect of the current that gets the most press on Lay Lake is water coming out of Logan Martin on the upper end of the lake. There, up to three turbines (each rated for 42,750 kilowatts) and the spillway can deliver a rush of electricity to Alabama and water to the bass. Living below the dam, abundant and large spotted bass can win someone a tournament in a hurry given the right conditions.
The three turbines at Logan Martin have larger capacity than the turbines at the Lay Lake Dam (it has six rated at 29,500 kilowatts), so it’s not unusual to see the numbers at each dam mismatched. For the purposes of tailrace fishing below Logan Martin, the key is knowing how much current is too much and how much is just right.
“When they’re running three up the lake, the pros won’t go up there,” said Canada. “They might fish some current breaks down from it, but when they’re running three up there, you can’t fish. If someone fished up there, he’ll have to fish in two little minute places that are eddies.”
Fishing with one or two turbines on at the dam is ideal.
“Each turbine that goes on up there, the water goes up about a foot and a half,” explained Canada. “When they turn two turbines on, it’ll go up 2 ½ to 3 feet. When they turn three on, it gets way up, but it blows it out. It’s so shallow up there, there’s just one hole where they can get. With two turbines, it’s all you can do to sit and try to fish with your trolling motor on high. With three on, you’ve got to anchor.”
Fishing up by the dam is more complex than you might think on the surface of things, but if you know what you’re looking for, it’s also very predictable.
“You want consistency, you want them to run two every day,” said Canada. “You want (the fish) on the same rock, the same seam, where you can call your shots. When they starting doing three, two, one, two, one, and changing it up, that’s when it gets inconsistent, and they keep moving around.”
Watching current rush out of a dam and tumble through boulders is dramatic, but the effects of the current down the lake can be just as important. Lower in Lay, the first concern is not so much the current, but the actual water level. When there is more water leaving Lay than there is coming in, it can drop quickly.
“The biggest problem that happens when we have a lot of rain is somebody will get on a shallow bite, where they can catch them in the grass,” said Canada. “Then, they’ll turn the water off up the lake and keep running it on the lower end. You’ll go out one morning and the water will be down 3 to 5 inches. That’s not a big deal, but on that lake, when the water goes down a few inches, it just shuts the largemouth down. You can go out there and strap 20 pounds one day swimming a jig, pitching in the grass, and then they drop that water 3 or 4 inches, it only takes a little bit, and it’s over.”
This week, that could happen, but recent rains in Alabama — with some more projected through the tournament — could keep the water flowing strong. If two or three generators stay on at Logan Martin and four to six stay on at Lay, there will be a ton of current in the system.
“On the Coosa River, current means you get bit,” said Canada. “Our fish rely so much on current, especially spots. We’re seeing now how much spots roam, but with the current, they position a lot better. I like the current, because it’s fixing to showcase how many big spots we’ve got in that lake.”
Strong, continued current could put fish in all sorts of interesting places.
“Three or four days is a lot of time for fish to set up and get on some stuff,” said Canada. “There’s going to be current on docks and places all over that don’t normally have it.”
Canada also thinks that the strong current will set fish up in places where they can dip in and out, finding slack water nearby when they’re not feeding.
“Lay has some big creeks off the lake where the fish can get out of the current,” he said. “They’re gonna catch them in the timber down there, or in the little blow-throughs with timber.”
There’s every chance that the water could keep churning out of Logan Martin so much that it makes the tailrace area barely fishable, but it’s no sure thing. If the flow does slow down, Canada thinks it could really favor local favorite Dustin Connell.
“They normally don’t run it as much on the weekend, but with the rain we’ve had, they’re going to run three all the way to Wednesday,” he said. “It is actually favoring Dustin, because what will happen is nobody will practice up there. It’s going to be one of those ‘wing it’ deals. If they turn it down, he’ll have a chance to crack them.”
Though Canada is pretty high on Connell’s chances to become the first two-time REDCREST champion, he did note that Josh Butler, Keith Poche, Jordan Lee and Greg Vinson are all experienced with Coosa current and could be dangerous competition (they might also be good picks in Phoenix Boats Fantasy Fishing).
If the current never slows enough up the lake, don’t fear – that’s not going to slow the fishing down.
“It’ll make the fishing down the lake better, because now you’re creating current places that don’t typically have current,” said Canada. “Those little channel swing spots, some cut-through places where it blows through the timber, those spotted bass are going to be chewing.”