SHELBY COUNTY, Ala. — You’ve heard stories the previous two days about how finicky and inconsistent the bass fishing can be at Lay Lake. Jason Christie put on exclamation point on it Saturday at the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite.
His 23-pound bag, anchored by the biggest bass caught on the Elite Series this season – a 9-pound, 4-ounce largemouth, rocketed Christie from 17th place in to 2nd, only 2-5 behind leader Brandon Palaniuk. It came one day after Christie had fallen from 4th place to 17th after weighing only 9-13 on Day 2.
Matt Herren, 60, has spent many days fishing on Lay Lake. The Ashville, Ala., pro is in 4th place, 7-12 behind Palaniuk. But Herren hasn’t experienced the inconsistency of this lake like he has this week.
“I’m figuring out a little every day, but the problem is it changes every day,” said Matt Herren, the 60-year-old, Ashville, Ala., Lay Lake fishing veteran. “This lake is so predicated by current and water level, that you literally have to change with it every day.”
Herren has managed to be consistent, moving from 11th on Day 1 to 8th on Day 2 to 4th Saturday, but he’s still frustrated by not being able to catch bass in Lay Lake like he has in the past.
“It’s almost like fishing a tidal river,” he said. “It’s like a heavily pressured tidal river. I have no idea what I’m going to do (Sunday).
“I’ve not gotten to fish anything I really want to fish, what I’d typically fish this time of year. Typically, for years and years and years, the middle of May I’d have a heyday punching mats. I’d catch ‘em on a frog and a swim jig and punching mats. But the water is so stinking low, they won’t get under it. They’re not on anything I want to fish. That’s the reason I’ve been up the river the first two days.
“Finally, this afternoon I got in an area and got three or four largemouth bites. I’m like, hey, they still live here.”
Uncharacteristically, Herren’s 15 bass the weighed-in the last three days have included 10 spotted bass and only 5 largemouths.
Brandon Lester thought he’d found the sweet spot Friday when he zoomed 60 places up the standings with a 17-pound, 6-ounce limit of spotted bass, including a 4 1/2-pound spot that was a personal record. However, the current changed Saturday and Lester’s hot spot wasn’t so hot. He weighed 11-15 to finish in 31st place. Of course, that didn’t much dampen his joy at rising from 100th place to 40th on Day 2, but it was still frustrating. Just when you think you’ve got something figured out on Lay Lake, it changes.
“When that current kicks up and really gets going, it creates those little eddies and current breaks,” Lester said. “You can go down through there and really get dialed-in. You can almost call your shots, and say, hey, there’s going to be one right there.
“When the current is not really flowing like that, you’re liable to catch one right up against the bank and one 15 feet off the bank. It’s just hard to tell where they are, so you can’t cover as much water.
“Across the board – for spotted bass and largemouth – I don’t think there’s anything you can do that’s not affected by current and water level. It’s just a river system. The Coosa River is the epitome of a river system.”
And, as Jason Christie showed Saturday, anything is possible on Championship Sunday in this Coosa River impoundment that is Lay Lake.
