Bass Pro Staff Angler Mike Giles displays an early morning bass caught on a Scum Frog on Lake Eufaula last week.Ê

Daybreak was imminent and my adrenalin was flowing with anticipation of fishing on Lake Eufaula as we launched our boat, but my enthusiasm was tempered by the post cold front conditions and plummeting temperatures. Electricity filled the air as memories of Tom Mann came flooding to mind while we idled across the cove near Lakepoint State Park Resort last week.

    My host for the day was Sam Williams, a veteran angler, guide and friend of Tom Mann who knows a thing or two about catching bass on the lake, but would that be enough to catch anything on such a day as this? We would soon find out.

    With darkness slowly giving way to first light I could see a lily pad field and bass were starting to feed on shad. Williams kept the boat within casting distance and we made a pass down a stretch without a strike.

    What would Tom Mann do in this case? Mann was on my mind as I quickly switched to a black ScumDog Walker and started casting. The bass had ignored the white frog I’d started with.

    Ka-woosh! A lunker bass exploded from the pads and crushed my frog with a ferocity rarely seen these days. I drove the steel home and turned the bass toward the boat but it was touch and go as the enraged bass wallowed on the surface and exploded skyward time after time. Minutes later my dream of catching a bass on Lake Eufaula was a reality.

    I can still remember reading stories of Blake Honeycutt’s massive 138 lb. string of bass that won a national bass tourney on Lake Eufaula in 1969. I was young and the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) was in its infancy, but the memory is still fresh today and my first Eufaula lunker jolted my memory again.

    We continued working the pad field as fog rolled off the water and the sun peaked over the eastern horizon.

    Wham – another lunker smashed my Scumfrog and I drove the steel home, deep into the bass’ jaw. A few minutes later Williams netted the bass and we admired him a few seconds before putting him in the livewell for a few pictures later. There’s just nothing like catching a bass on a frog in the pads and the bass in Eufaula were ferocious and didn’t disappoint.

    As the sun rose high in the sky the post cold front conditions kicked in and the topwater bite was over. Williams tried a few more spots and we finally gave up on the shallow water bite and motored up river to try a ledge or two.

    I was still pumped up when we arrived at a submerged ledge just off the edge of another pad field. This time we’d be working structure along a steep drop so I switched to a shaky head rig with a Zoom worm. It didn’t take long before Williams had us on the fish again and I felt just a hint of a strike. Reeling up the slack I set the hook on a spotted bass and quickly wore him down and landed him also.

    We continued working the ledge and enticing strikes from my Spot Remover shaky head rig. Williams took a break from running the boat and caught one on a shaky head rig also. By now the bite was slow due to the post cold frontal conditions but Williams kept us on fish.

    We moved further upriver and I switched to a Carolina Rig and it didn’t take long to catch another bass. Williams found another submerged ledge and we combed it with shaky heads and Carolina rigs and picked a few largemouth and spotted bass off of it.

    Lake Eufaula is still home to some of the best bass fishing in the country, it’s known as the “Bass Capital of the World” and I was able to experience some of that magic with Sam Williams.

    If you want to experience the trip of a lifetime and feel the thrill again and again, contact Captain Sam Williams and plan your own trip to Lake Eufaula. The lake is full of bass, with spectacular scenery, wildlife galore and some of the best food and hospitality you’ll find anywhere in the world at Eufaula, Ala. But don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself and line up a trip with Captain Sam at 334-355-5057.

    Contact  Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or e-mail him at mikegiles18@comcast.net