More of this Feature • Part 1: Busting Bottom On The Flint • Part 2: Catching Shoal Bass In Albany

Join the Discussion "I see you made that trip on the Flint R. and did pretty well." Jack

Related Resources • Shoal Bass Pictures • Shoal Bass Made My Day

Past Articles One Year Ago -   5/22/00 - A New Sight Fishing Technique For Bass Two Years Ago -  05/24/99 - Why Fish For Bass Three Years Ago - 05/25/98 - Backyard Camping Four Years Ago -05/26/97 - Watching and Learning

I will never forget the first time I went fishing on the Flint River near Griffin. Jim Berry and Emmett Piland invited me to go wade the shoals with them. I could not wait since I had heard them talking about the great fishing there.

All the way to the river both of them cautioned me to be careful, the rocks were slippery. I was dressed in tennis shoes and jeans, my usual fishing attire. Since I had waded many ponds growing up, I was not too worried.

I stepped off a dry rock on the side of the river onto one that was wet, and immediately busted my bottom. I was totally unprepared for how slick those rocks really were. Even though wet I had a great afternoon wading with them and catching bass, my first experience with shoal bass.

Over the years I have spent many happy hours wading and fishing. It is especially great when the weather is hot and the water keeps you cool. And the bass bite in the moving current.

Three years ago I fished a Top Six tournament at Seminole and my partner talked me into running up the Flint River about 30 miles above Bainbridge. It was a dangerous run but we could see humps in the current where underwater rocks were close to the surface. We made it up to the shoals he wanted to fish without much trouble.

I caught three bass weighing 11 pounds that day, including my two biggest shoal bass ever. One weighed 5 pounds and another weighed 4 pounds. Those three fish put me in 6th place out of almost 600 fishermen but I was afraid to go back up there the next morning. Running downstream that afternoon to weigh-in I could not see the humps in the water and almost hit several big rocks!

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