1. N 33 16.264 - W 88 18.814 - If you put in at Raleigh Ryan Access ramp run up the river to the second opening to your right. It is not the opening at the red channel marker; it is past it and is one of the entrances to Coal Fire Creek. Be careful since it is shallow and there are stumps here. You will go back and turn to your left as you follow the bank. There will be standing trees on your left and you want to go around to the back side of them.
When you get behind the timber there are two good pockets on your left across the timber field. There are lots of stumps under water as well as visible ones and standing trees. Go in carefully to the cove on the left and start fishing near the blown down tree with the big root ball sticking up on the bank. Work to your right, fishing around this pocket, across the point between them and around the next cove, too.
Steven likes to start fishing early moving fast with a spinnerbait or topwater in areas like this. There will be lots of grass to fish and the bass can be anywhere in it. When you catch one, especially if it is a good one, slow down and probe the area carefully with a plastic bait or a jig and pig. Pitch them into holes in the grass and also rig one on a heavy tungsten sinker that will punch through the mats to bass holding under it. Work a floating worm over and through the grass, too.
2. N 33 15.757 - W 88 17.587 - Coming back out the way you went in watch for an opening to your left. There is a big island to the left side and a very small island to the right of it. Start fishing on the point of the big island and fish back into the slough to your left. There is a lot of grass and pads in here and it will get very thick toward the end of April.
Out on the point the water comes up from 11 to six feet deep pretty quickly and the bass will hold along this drop in the grass. It gives them access to deep water so this is a very good place later in April. They can feed all the way back into the slough so work your spinnerbait, shallow running crankbait and topwater all around this slough. We caught four bass and Steven caught one of our biggest bass here when we fished. The water was a good color although many other areas were muddy.
Watch for open areas between grass mats and work your Spook through them. If that does not draw a strike try punching through the mats with a creature bait like a Little Chigger Craw or a lizard. Be ready for a hit as soon as it falls through the mat and set the hook hard. You will need braid and a heavy rod for this kind of fishing.
3. N 33 14.825 - W 88 88.954 - You can go all the way back out the point of the main river where you came in or start working the bank to your left a couple of hundred yards before you get to the river. A ledge with grass growing on it runs out from this bank then drops off fast and is a good area for post spawn fish. Overhanging brush offers some shade, too.
Run a buzzbait over the grass then work your plastics through it. Keep your boat out in deeper water and fish the edges of the grass then work back into it. Here and in all other spots pick apart the cover if you catch a good bass, there are likely more nearby. Watch for patterns, too. If you catch a couple of bass from milfoil but not other grass, concentrate on the milfoil.
4. N 33 15.122 - W 88 18.286 - For something a little different run up to the big grain bins up the river from the campground on your left. Start working the left bank, fishing the docks and riprap along this bank all the way to the barge landing. Fish around the barge if one is there.
A spinnerbait or crankbait is good here and you can also fish a floating worm or jig around the docks. Fishing upstream gives you more control of the boat and also allows you to fish slower. Work your bait with the current as you work upstream, presenting the bait naturally like a baitfish moving with the current.
5. N 33 15.580 - W 88 18.985 - Run upstream and you will pass some houses on your left. Just above the green channel marker 310.7 in front of one of the houses is the opening to a big creek. Run back in it to the small island on your right. It is across from a big house with a screen porch that runs all the way around it, the fifth house from the end.
There is deeper water around this island and grassbeds fill the shallows near it. Bass hold here both post and pre spawn because of this deeper water refuge and feed in the grass. Fish all the way around the island covering it with all your baits. Steven says grass will often grow to within six inches of the surface out away from the island and you can work a topwater bait like a Spook or buzzbait over it to pull bass up out of the grass.
