What kind of Christmas gift can you get for the person who has everything he needs?

That’s just the question many people are asking right now.

Patti Brown thought about it for quite some time last year and wanted to get her husband, Steve, something special, but she just couldn’t come up with anything.

Then it dawned on her that she might treat him to a bass fishing trip to a lake where he could have a reasonable chance to catch a monster bass.

When she called me for advice, I had no doubt that Triple D Ranch, in Emelle, Alabama, was the place to go. We quickly arranged a guided bass fishing trip to the famed West Alabama Lake after it warmed up this past spring.

Due to several factors including hot weather, timing and numerous other obstacles popping up, we were unable to make that trip until last week after the water had cooled and temperatures stabilized briefly.

We launched my boat and quickly made our way to shallow water and started working the shallows looking for an aggressive bite. I’d caught several bass in the 3- to 6-pound range the day before while scouting for a pattern.

We finally found an area that had a lot of shad and bass that were chasing them. As we came across a point I cast out a crankbait and cranked it parallel to the bank but it didn’t get far.

Wham! A lunker bass smashed my BooYah Crankbait and almost took the rod from my hands. After a short battle Brown netted the bass and our day had begun in earnest.

As we continued working the shallow water Brown tied on a Bass Pro Shops Stiko and quickly got bit. A hungry bass smashed his Stiko and he quickly reared back and set the hook deep into the bass’s jaw.

His first bass of the day was history and things were looking up.

As we worked our way around the lake, it was obvious that the bass weren’t biting aggressively but they would bite if you put the lure right on them. We continued catching bass in the shallows on shallow cranks and BPS Stiko’s.

Steve caught fish on his Stiko all morning and the fish were quality bass.

As we worked the shallow water with crankbaits, we bounced the lure off brush and structure and triggered reaction bites from nice bass. Due to the mild case of lockjaw, we had to entice the bass into biting by reaction or finesse.

About midmorning, we worked magnum BPS tubes in the heavy cover and continued catching quality bass. Brown kept working his Stiko, employing a technique he developed on Lake Guntersville, and he continued coaxing bites.

The action was steady and intense, and you never knew when you were going to get another bite, so it was 12:30 before we took a break for lunch.

After a good meal and brief respite from the cold breeze, we hit the water again and continued picking up bass on Bass Pro Stiko’s and tubes the rest of the day.

With the sun falling fast, we hit one last spot and hooked up with a double.

A few casts later Steve caught another bass (his largest of the day) and the action continued. He caught a few more before running out of daylight and our day was done.

Steve Brown had received one of the best gifts an angler could get for Christmas — a guided fishing trip to Triple D Ranch, thanks to his wife, Patti.

It just doesn’t get much better than that.

Call Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or email mikegiles18@comast.net.