Editor’s Note: During the middle of July, 2021, my granddaughter Abbey Hudson and I went to Eufaula, Alabama, to photograph fishing for crappie, catfish, bream and bass and to explore the possibility of sinking deer attractant blocks to attract crappie, catfish, bream and bass. We planned to: photograph my friend Tony Adams, a crappie and catfish guide on Lake Eufaula, and his new boat and equipment; and fish for 4 hours with a photo session tied in at the end of the trip with the fish we’d caught. However, I learned many years ago that you never precisely could time when you’d come off the water from a fishing trip. Stuff happens that you don’t expect to occur when you set a timetable to return from your destination. As we sat in a driving rain storm late in the afternoon, this trip reminded me of episodes of the old TV series, “Gilligan’s Island,” that was on TV from 1963-1967 and in reruns for years. The crew and passengers of the S.S. Minnow had set out for a 4-hour cruise, but got stranded on an island for many years, including the Skipper, Bob Denver as Gilligan, and famous actors – Jim Backus, Tina Louise and Dawn Wells. Well, our trip lasted much longer than the original four hours we’d estimated.

Our morning of fishing started out fairly well. We caught a few crappie on the first two spots where Tony Adams had sunk brush. However, even though we could see fish holding on Adams’ Humminbird Helix 12 depth finder (https://www.humminbird.com/), the crappie weren’t actively feeding. If you’ve ever watched bass tournaments on TV or participated in bass tournaments, you may have heard the term, “The fish are on a timing pattern, which means the bass may bite at some time during the day.” By returning to that same spot several times during the day, you should be able to determine at what time the bass are in an active mode and wanting to feed. If you guess right and reach your spot where you know the fish are holding, you often can limit-out on one spot. However, in the meantime, you may want to check several, different, underwater locations where you’ve seen fish holding. Perhaps one of those other spots will have actively-feeding fish when you get there.

So, Adams’ game plan was to fish different spots, various locations and several water depths on Lake Eufaula to try to find fish for us to catch. “This next spot we’re going to is where I sank a deer attractant block,” Adams told us. “Let’s see if it’ll produce some fish, because we’ve got the attractants in that deer block that fish love.” When Adams turned his Spot-Lock on for his Minn Kota trolling motor (https://www.minnkotamotors.com/), the boat stayed right where he’d sunk the deer attractant block. Immediately Ron Pollard, the homebuilder fishing with us, caught a catfish. The next time he put his live minnow down to where the deer block was, he caught another catfish. Then I caught a catfish, Amie Pollard of radio fame caught a crappie and a catfish, Adams caught a couple of crappie, and Abbey Hudson caught a crappie. However, when we didn’t get a bite for about 15 or 20 minutes, Adams suggested, “Let’s go check some other spots in the upper part of the lake.”

As we motored up-lake, we began to feel stinging drops of the first part of a rainstorm. The further up-lake we went, the faster the rain cloud moved to catch us until we were in a bad rainstorm. “I know where there’s some covered boat docks in a creek that we can get under until this rain stops,” Adams said, “and at least we won’t get soaked.” So, we motored into the creek and got under the covered dock, as rain poured down in sheets. When I looked at my watch, it reported 10:15 am. I decided that the Good Lord wanted to start a little bit early on putting the rain on the lake that He’d held off for about 3 hours. Then we saw a bright sky moving toward our location behind the rain. As soon as the rain passed, we went back out and started fishing again. We caught several nice crappie and were enjoying a pleasant fishing trip, until we spotted a big black cloud that stretched as far as we could see from left to right, behind us and moving toward us. Next we heard thunder and saw a dim glimpse of flashing lights in that black cloud indicating lightning.

“Y’all want to keep fishing? or, do you want to see if we can find some shelter to get under before this rain hits us?” Adams asked. I heard someone say, “The fish are biting. Let’s stay here a few minutes longer,” which proved to be a very-bad decision. The number-one rule of thumb is, when you see lightening, get off the water. Then the storm seemed to move away. But 2 minutes later, the rain was on top of us and coming down so hard we couldn’t see the bank on either side of the lake. The waves swelled and white capped as Adams pushed his War Eagle boat (https://www.wareagleboats.com/) as fast as it could go in that rough water. Finally, we reached a slough but it didn’t have a boat slip we could get under. So, we sat there in the driving rain, with no waves and waited for the rain to stop.

As the rain became lighter, Amie Pollard asked, “Is that an alligator?” I looked and saw two beady eyes, a little of a back and the tail of a critter swimming out of the grass bed toward another slough not 40 yards from us. Ron Pollard answered, “Yep, that’s a good ’un. He’s about 8-10 feet long.” Amie and Abbey got out of the boat, went to the edge of the little slough where the alligator was headed and made pictures of him. When the rain finally stopped, we decided to head back down the river, take the boat out, pack up and leave for home or our motel room. But just before we got to the boat ramp, Adams spied an old covered boat dock and said, “John, we can get to that boat dock, and you can shoot the pictures you need to take to document the trip.” I answered, “Okay, let’s do it,” even though we were all soaking wet.

For more fishing information about Eufaula, visit https://alabamablackbeltadventures.org/, and to
learn more about a great place to stay with nice amenities right on the lake – Lakepoint Resort Lodge – visit https://www.alapark.com/. You can reach top fishing guide Tony Adams at 334-695-3003 or check out his Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/.

To learn more about fishing for catfish, check out John E. Phillips’ book, “Catfish Like a Pro,” available in Kindle and print at https://amzn.to/2LNt0dK. You may have to cut and paste this link into your browser. (When you click on this book, notice on the left where Amazon says you can read 10% of this book for free).

Tomorrow: Realizing That a Bad Fishing Day Still Can Pay Off